I'm a bit of a thinwallet and not entirely on board with buying my news. I will consider your advice however. As I said the NYT has co-opted The Athletic for it's sports and features. The NYT digital rate has more the doubled in the last few years. I suppose I'll get a crowbar in my wallet and spring for the Athletic. Thanks for the perspective.
In today's PC world, I am surprised to see my word Wigwam in print. I grew up in Connersville, Indiana. I think our gym was about 3500? Maybe more. I thought it was HUGE!! Two state championships back in the day.
I agree that Bryant was probably not Satterfield guy and do wish him luck. As a certifiable OG, I just am not a fan of the transfer portal. I guess I realize times are changing but…. It just seems very hard to be a true fan anymore.
You are killing me this week. I had 3 best friends growing up. Robb was a very talented musician who God decided to take away a few years ago. He loved D Fogelberg. He dragged me to two concerts to see him. Anybody heard of the Anderson Indiana Wigwam? Now defunct (I think) biggest high school arena in the country. I forgot all about this song. Made me cry. Please keep up the good work.
The Masters of horse racing? Unless the Masters has a secret infield where rampant sex and drug use openly occurs, I don’t buy it. I mean, look, name one golfer in the week leading up to the Masters that was euthanized because he broke his leg. Churchill Downs had two this week. An additional two were severely injured.
Horse racing might seem romantic in the same way Elvis singing Love Me Tender is romantic but underneath is entertainment propped up by enough drugs to, well, kill a horse. And kill horses they do.
Great to hear that Secretariat’s kids are ok because most retired horses aren’t. The chance is small but any one of us could have fed our dog portions of prior race winning horses and most certainly many of us have fed their dog a horse without knowing it. Yeah. The sport of kings. Name one king who wasn’t an asshole. Enjoy the Derby.
Perhaps Ben Bryant accepted Northwestern for the Educational end...he may be what we used to call "a professional student". "Northwestern University's ranking in the 2022-2023 edition of Best Colleges and National Universities, #10" and it is located in a beautifully landscaped high end location in Evanston Illinois near where I grew up...We used to drive up there when I was in high school just to look at the mansions for something to do on the weekend.
NIL money and the transfer portal were a blessing for the kids that want to use college for whatever money and exposure they can get from sports. Other than that, pure anarchy. I do support it over the old under the table system but, as a fan, it’s not doing anything for my love of college football or basketball. I don’t spend thousands on tickets anymore, so I really don’t have a dog in the fight but if your team prospers because you have the most money to pay the best athletes, how different is that from MLB or LIV Golf? Nothing good for fans, IMO.
As for thoroughbred racing, it used to be a major American sport but now will only thrive in boutique environments like Keeneland or Saratoga or the big tracks like Churchill and Belmont with marquee events. California and Florida and Maryland are on life support. The little people (Turfway/Charlestown/Lone Star/Canterbury/etc.) will need significant investment or sports betting or something or the real estate values will win at some point. Why? The alternatives that didn’t exist legally before – casinos, lotteries, sports betting – have ravaged the industry. For a long-term player like me, it’s a tragedy.
Depending on your view of gambling or animal rights this can be good or bad. I see it as one of Kentucky’s greatest assets in a state that needs all the economic fortune it can get. I enjoy the culture and heritage aspects as well as the handicapping thought process and so it works for me but that is just one view. Beats one arm bandits or tumbling dice by miles!
Playing football isn't the easiest way to work your way through college. Northwestern is a great place for grad school an hour from home. Sounds like a reasonable choice for young Mr. Bryant to me. None of the young people who have traversed undergrad through the Covid years shares your romantic notion of college bonding. It's a nice dream, but a dream all the same.
Haven't bought my two Derby glasses yet. Will likely wait until Saturday or after when they are still available but cheaper. One goes in the kitchen for daily use. One goes in the hutch with its peers. Not an extensive collection.
Derby television coverage (of the all day variety around here) will be interrupted by King Charles III and his coronation. I record the race beginning closer to the almost seven pm actual race time. Like to watch during the last bit before they head to the gates. Churchill Downs has redone the whole paddock area. Looking forward to seeing that part. Will watch the Secretariat movie again in a few days. It has the triple crown race recordings at the end. Big Red. What a horse. He loved his retirement with all that tasty limestone nourished Kentucky grass.
Justify has a son scheduled to race Saturday. Name is Verifying. Odds are decent, not great. My wish is always that the race runs without injury to horse or jockey. Not a fan of the song because I understood it from the first time I heard it. It was written as a counter to Uncle Tom's Cabin and was the star of minstrel shows for many years. Changing the lyrics from darkies to young folk doesn't make much of a difference. Still selling a human down the river.
A lot of locals aren't aware that one of Fogelberg's best hits, "Hard to go down Easy", was written by a local fellow, long-time Cincinnati artist/musician, Jay Bolotin. As the story goes, Jay spent time playing and hanging out in Nashville with the country crowd when he was younger, and has other work that was recorded by some of the legends of country. He's had many shows/exhibits of his art locally and nationally and once created some amazing woodcut/woodcarving art as part of a musical story/opera thing, which I did get to see. Good stuff.
Here're links to the haunting, beautiful version of his song by Fogelberg; this one has a great 2 minute acoustic guitar intro:
Bryant’s college “experience” will have allowed him to be a popular student across multiple universities. He obviously took his studies seriously enough that he has already graduated while playing semi-pro football. What’s not to like about that?
Do you want to know what a shitty college experience is? Because of “the sky is falling” Covidians, ask any kids that busted their rear to get excepted at great universities across the country only to find they had to take online courses from their bedroom at their parent’s house where they have lived their entire lives. That’s shitty…and was entirely avoidable.
Taking it one step further, great friends of mine had two kids at an Ivy school. They were paying tuition plus ROOM and BOARD and neither kid was on campus to experience college life and in-person education for TWO YEARS.
Dan Fogelberg entered my musical life when I lost my Dad in 1984 . " The Leader of the Band " became an anthem trying to process his sudden death due to an aneurysm. I didn't have a great college experience, but, boy I sure had a good high school one ! My buddies, at the age of 70, are still great friends. We went from kindergarten to graduation together. I wonder if Ben Bryant has that. Thank you for the song today !
I agree with your sentiment on Ben Bryan and the broader narrative on college athletics. I do admire Ben Bryant for getting two degrees from Cincinnati - my hunch is that he will have a life once he hangs up the pads. Unfortunately, I don't think most of the portal hoppers will be as academically decorated as Bryant.
The best description ever of the Kentucky Derby -- the Masters of horse racing.
I was a latecomer to the world of horse racing. My interest didn't begin until 2004, while stationed at Fort Knox. My military police company, as part of the fundraising effort for the annual Military Police Ball, were serving as security at the Kentucky Derby. Prior to that day, I had never watched a horse race, nor stepped foot into a horse track.
That day was magical. Being "security," we had the run of the place. Granted, those of us who volunteered stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the finely- and not-so-finely dressed racegoers, as we were clad in our old woodland camouflage Army battle dress uniforms, but it was still amazing to be able to walk through the paddock, the infield, the grandstands, the suites and more, just drinking in the pageantry and spectacle of the fastest two-minutes in sports. I even, for a brief 10 minutes, took off my BDU top and cap, and snuck to a betting window to place a show bet on Imperialism in the Derby race -- despite not knowing squat about horse racing or how to read a racing form. I won a few bucks from that bet, believe it or not, as Imperialism did show that year. I picked him because I liked his name. Haha.
As the actual Derby race was about to begin, a fellow soldier and I got tagged to provide security for Bob Costas and the NBC crew at the finish line while they did their pre-race spot. (he is a very short man in person, I must say). That alone was amazing, but then came the singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" and the procession of horses out onto the track. It gave this guy goosebumps, and mind you, I was not a horseracing person whatsoever. Then the next thing you know, there's 20 horses thundering off from the gates and flying past my spot at the finish line, the crowd roaring like nothing I'd ever heard before, and the whole place becoming chaotic as the horses hit the finish line.
I was hooked. I followed Smarty Jones that year through his Preakness victory and quest for the Triple Crown at Belmont, and felt disappointment when he couldn't pull it off. Since then, the Derby, at least, has been must-watch TV for me, and many a bet has been made either at Turfway or through TwinSpires on each year's Derby. I got back in person with some friends from UC in 2012, and drank in (literally and figuratively) the infield carnival at the Derby, and watched I'll Have Another win that year's edition.
My goal is to get back again, in person, within the next five years, with my wife in tow. This time, it'll be in the grandstands, mint juleps in hand, and hopefully a winning trifecta bet.
Dan Fogelberg had some great tunes. My sister used to play Longer quite a bit when I was growing up. She is 13 years older than me, so I grew up listening to a lot of stuff she liked (and it was good stuff). I prefer Leader of the Band, because he wrote it for his Dad.
Coaches are adults? Have you seen Brian Kelly dancing and generally looking like an idiot in Baton Rouge with 18-year-olds when they are signing with LSU? Coaches should be adults, but often times they look like petulant children. Tom Izzo on the sidelines comes to mind.
...
Bearcat,
I'm a bit of a thinwallet and not entirely on board with buying my news. I will consider your advice however. As I said the NYT has co-opted The Athletic for it's sports and features. The NYT digital rate has more the doubled in the last few years. I suppose I'll get a crowbar in my wallet and spring for the Athletic. Thanks for the perspective.
In today's PC world, I am surprised to see my word Wigwam in print. I grew up in Connersville, Indiana. I think our gym was about 3500? Maybe more. I thought it was HUGE!! Two state championships back in the day.
Way late to the race but the best thing the Kentucky Derby ever produced was Hunter S. Thompson's "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved (https://sensitiveskinmagazine.com/hunter-s-thompson-the-kentucky-derby-is-decadent-and-depraved/)
Also, since my dad is Kentuckian (Fort Thomas/Highland High for you locals), I always enjoyed the adage "Raised in Lexington, raced in Louisville"
I agree that Bryant was probably not Satterfield guy and do wish him luck. As a certifiable OG, I just am not a fan of the transfer portal. I guess I realize times are changing but…. It just seems very hard to be a true fan anymore.
You are killing me this week. I had 3 best friends growing up. Robb was a very talented musician who God decided to take away a few years ago. He loved D Fogelberg. He dragged me to two concerts to see him. Anybody heard of the Anderson Indiana Wigwam? Now defunct (I think) biggest high school arena in the country. I forgot all about this song. Made me cry. Please keep up the good work.
The Masters of horse racing? Unless the Masters has a secret infield where rampant sex and drug use openly occurs, I don’t buy it. I mean, look, name one golfer in the week leading up to the Masters that was euthanized because he broke his leg. Churchill Downs had two this week. An additional two were severely injured.
Horse racing might seem romantic in the same way Elvis singing Love Me Tender is romantic but underneath is entertainment propped up by enough drugs to, well, kill a horse. And kill horses they do.
Great to hear that Secretariat’s kids are ok because most retired horses aren’t. The chance is small but any one of us could have fed our dog portions of prior race winning horses and most certainly many of us have fed their dog a horse without knowing it. Yeah. The sport of kings. Name one king who wasn’t an asshole. Enjoy the Derby.
Perhaps Ben Bryant accepted Northwestern for the Educational end...he may be what we used to call "a professional student". "Northwestern University's ranking in the 2022-2023 edition of Best Colleges and National Universities, #10" and it is located in a beautifully landscaped high end location in Evanston Illinois near where I grew up...We used to drive up there when I was in high school just to look at the mansions for something to do on the weekend.
NIL money and the transfer portal were a blessing for the kids that want to use college for whatever money and exposure they can get from sports. Other than that, pure anarchy. I do support it over the old under the table system but, as a fan, it’s not doing anything for my love of college football or basketball. I don’t spend thousands on tickets anymore, so I really don’t have a dog in the fight but if your team prospers because you have the most money to pay the best athletes, how different is that from MLB or LIV Golf? Nothing good for fans, IMO.
As for thoroughbred racing, it used to be a major American sport but now will only thrive in boutique environments like Keeneland or Saratoga or the big tracks like Churchill and Belmont with marquee events. California and Florida and Maryland are on life support. The little people (Turfway/Charlestown/Lone Star/Canterbury/etc.) will need significant investment or sports betting or something or the real estate values will win at some point. Why? The alternatives that didn’t exist legally before – casinos, lotteries, sports betting – have ravaged the industry. For a long-term player like me, it’s a tragedy.
Depending on your view of gambling or animal rights this can be good or bad. I see it as one of Kentucky’s greatest assets in a state that needs all the economic fortune it can get. I enjoy the culture and heritage aspects as well as the handicapping thought process and so it works for me but that is just one view. Beats one arm bandits or tumbling dice by miles!
Playing football isn't the easiest way to work your way through college. Northwestern is a great place for grad school an hour from home. Sounds like a reasonable choice for young Mr. Bryant to me. None of the young people who have traversed undergrad through the Covid years shares your romantic notion of college bonding. It's a nice dream, but a dream all the same.
Haven't bought my two Derby glasses yet. Will likely wait until Saturday or after when they are still available but cheaper. One goes in the kitchen for daily use. One goes in the hutch with its peers. Not an extensive collection.
Derby television coverage (of the all day variety around here) will be interrupted by King Charles III and his coronation. I record the race beginning closer to the almost seven pm actual race time. Like to watch during the last bit before they head to the gates. Churchill Downs has redone the whole paddock area. Looking forward to seeing that part. Will watch the Secretariat movie again in a few days. It has the triple crown race recordings at the end. Big Red. What a horse. He loved his retirement with all that tasty limestone nourished Kentucky grass.
Justify has a son scheduled to race Saturday. Name is Verifying. Odds are decent, not great. My wish is always that the race runs without injury to horse or jockey. Not a fan of the song because I understood it from the first time I heard it. It was written as a counter to Uncle Tom's Cabin and was the star of minstrel shows for many years. Changing the lyrics from darkies to young folk doesn't make much of a difference. Still selling a human down the river.
A lot of locals aren't aware that one of Fogelberg's best hits, "Hard to go down Easy", was written by a local fellow, long-time Cincinnati artist/musician, Jay Bolotin. As the story goes, Jay spent time playing and hanging out in Nashville with the country crowd when he was younger, and has other work that was recorded by some of the legends of country. He's had many shows/exhibits of his art locally and nationally and once created some amazing woodcut/woodcarving art as part of a musical story/opera thing, which I did get to see. Good stuff.
Here're links to the haunting, beautiful version of his song by Fogelberg; this one has a great 2 minute acoustic guitar intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvnO43MRgeA&ab_channel=Michael.Konvicka
Shorter version; skips intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf11Q4p1G4Y&ab_channel=DanFogelberg-Topic:
Bryant’s college “experience” will have allowed him to be a popular student across multiple universities. He obviously took his studies seriously enough that he has already graduated while playing semi-pro football. What’s not to like about that?
Do you want to know what a shitty college experience is? Because of “the sky is falling” Covidians, ask any kids that busted their rear to get excepted at great universities across the country only to find they had to take online courses from their bedroom at their parent’s house where they have lived their entire lives. That’s shitty…and was entirely avoidable.
Taking it one step further, great friends of mine had two kids at an Ivy school. They were paying tuition plus ROOM and BOARD and neither kid was on campus to experience college life and in-person education for TWO YEARS.
Yeah…I’d say Ben did quite well for himself.
Dan Fogelberg entered my musical life when I lost my Dad in 1984 . " The Leader of the Band " became an anthem trying to process his sudden death due to an aneurysm. I didn't have a great college experience, but, boy I sure had a good high school one ! My buddies, at the age of 70, are still great friends. We went from kindergarten to graduation together. I wonder if Ben Bryant has that. Thank you for the song today !
I agree with your sentiment on Ben Bryan and the broader narrative on college athletics. I do admire Ben Bryant for getting two degrees from Cincinnati - my hunch is that he will have a life once he hangs up the pads. Unfortunately, I don't think most of the portal hoppers will be as academically decorated as Bryant.
The best description ever of the Kentucky Derby -- the Masters of horse racing.
I was a latecomer to the world of horse racing. My interest didn't begin until 2004, while stationed at Fort Knox. My military police company, as part of the fundraising effort for the annual Military Police Ball, were serving as security at the Kentucky Derby. Prior to that day, I had never watched a horse race, nor stepped foot into a horse track.
That day was magical. Being "security," we had the run of the place. Granted, those of us who volunteered stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the finely- and not-so-finely dressed racegoers, as we were clad in our old woodland camouflage Army battle dress uniforms, but it was still amazing to be able to walk through the paddock, the infield, the grandstands, the suites and more, just drinking in the pageantry and spectacle of the fastest two-minutes in sports. I even, for a brief 10 minutes, took off my BDU top and cap, and snuck to a betting window to place a show bet on Imperialism in the Derby race -- despite not knowing squat about horse racing or how to read a racing form. I won a few bucks from that bet, believe it or not, as Imperialism did show that year. I picked him because I liked his name. Haha.
As the actual Derby race was about to begin, a fellow soldier and I got tagged to provide security for Bob Costas and the NBC crew at the finish line while they did their pre-race spot. (he is a very short man in person, I must say). That alone was amazing, but then came the singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" and the procession of horses out onto the track. It gave this guy goosebumps, and mind you, I was not a horseracing person whatsoever. Then the next thing you know, there's 20 horses thundering off from the gates and flying past my spot at the finish line, the crowd roaring like nothing I'd ever heard before, and the whole place becoming chaotic as the horses hit the finish line.
I was hooked. I followed Smarty Jones that year through his Preakness victory and quest for the Triple Crown at Belmont, and felt disappointment when he couldn't pull it off. Since then, the Derby, at least, has been must-watch TV for me, and many a bet has been made either at Turfway or through TwinSpires on each year's Derby. I got back in person with some friends from UC in 2012, and drank in (literally and figuratively) the infield carnival at the Derby, and watched I'll Have Another win that year's edition.
My goal is to get back again, in person, within the next five years, with my wife in tow. This time, it'll be in the grandstands, mint juleps in hand, and hopefully a winning trifecta bet.
Screaming John Sadak! hahahaha
Dan Fogelberg had some great tunes. My sister used to play Longer quite a bit when I was growing up. She is 13 years older than me, so I grew up listening to a lot of stuff she liked (and it was good stuff). I prefer Leader of the Band, because he wrote it for his Dad.
Coaches are adults? Have you seen Brian Kelly dancing and generally looking like an idiot in Baton Rouge with 18-year-olds when they are signing with LSU? Coaches should be adults, but often times they look like petulant children. Tom Izzo on the sidelines comes to mind.