i prefer vs coverage to nbc. but that sport absolutely is best watched live. i will get nhl center ice come fall, so much better to watch than to listen to the radio.

The NHL needs Slots at all arena's to save itself!!!!

The Center Ice Package is awesome, but make sure you can also get the NHL Network so you can watch the Hockey Night in Canada package every Saturday night. That's hockey coverage.

You wouldn't know anything about gambling which is puzzling because you're on a forum that deals primarily with a sport that exists because of gambling.

That's...odd.

Whatever.

I guess you follow me to the track.

yeah, i have that.

Handle up, Attendence down is a good thing? The only people who want her to run in the Belmont is NYRA, ESPN, Casino's, and sport writers. Jackson is a hero???

If she runs in 3 weeks, I hope she comes out ok. She won't win the Belmont anyway.

Assman knows best for the horse, which some could care less about.

Well, how many of the 35,000 drunks they were missing actually put more than $2 down on a bet?

I don't think anyone missed the "Running of the Porta Potties" this year.

The AP story speaks for itself:

To compensate for not allowing fans to bring in alcohol, Pimlico sold beer at modest prices. From 8-11 a.m., fans could get a cup for a buck. After that, it was $3.50.

"Kids my age won't pay that much," said Kendall Wadsworth, 21, who went to the race with her father. "If you could pay $1 all day, that would be different. It wouldn't cost that much to get wasted."

Good riddance.

And you couldn't find 500 people at the track after the one day wonder. People talk about bringing the young into the sport?? With over 50 years in this sport, I can say it's soon disappearing in the rear view mirror.

Could care less about the pot smokers, beer bongs, and potty runners.

or, like most sports, in HD!

I didn't know that was the reason only TVG is on DirecTV (although it makes sense). Anyone know when the current contract expires? -- said the DirecTV customer.

Much of this is attributed to my comment that she didnt need to run back in two weeks. They did and she won...I am glad I was not "proven" right by her becoming injured. Your views do not take into account the wellfare of the horse, but rather the sport in total. That is fine...we just see it different.

I, for one, would love to see a RA/MTB rematch in the Belmont if both are able to run back. Nobody's really talking about that here. That final stretch run in the Preakness was really exciting. "Can MTB get there?; Can Rachel last til the wire?; Where the heck IS the wire?" The early speed/closer dichotomy is very fun to watch.

I hope not... they were closed on Sunday

I think that is a given. You'd be hard pressed to find anybody on this board that wouldn't want to see them go at it again.

That was funny! :D

This has to be the biggest rivalry since Affirmed and Alydar .

;) I dont know if its reached the Sunday Silence/ Easy Goer yet.. I mean, they have only faced each other 1 time!!

Really:rolleyes:

Did you go to the Preakness on Saturday? Or are you just speaking in hyperbole?

You are complaining about the game not attracting new fans, but there's FIVE people celebrating birthdays on here today, of which FOUR are under the age of 30.

The other one, Dellinger, is just young at heart. :o (sorry Dell)

No, I didn't travel 1,000 miles to go to the races. But I do travel 150 miles many times to go to Belmont. I am there more than the people who live there.

All we need is to get a couple more under 30, and we will be all set.

This site has good energy, some youth too. This is a good thing.

Now they only need to find a way to clone Byk, and start 1,000 more sites.

The sport is not dying, people have to stop buying into this. I don't know the exact number, but when you count the total attendance of every racetrack around the country on any given day, racing still draws a ton of fans and likely more than the combined attendance of any other single sport attending a live event on a given day. The ban on bringing liquor into the infield is the primary factor in the reduction of attendance at Pimlico this year, however, the obvious conclusion is that those that didn't attend don't really pump much money into the handle anyway.

Then, when you factor the ease of placing bets over the internet from your living room couch, it becomes clear that the dynamics are simply changing and the sport must (and has been) adjust to it. I still love taking in a day at the races, but I don't go to the track as much even though I am 20 minutes from Belmont and Aqueduct simply because I really enjoy going to my couch and enjoying a day "at" the races on a large flat screen television. The sport will be fine going forward.

:tro: Here here to that, the greatest ambassador to racing I know and a good friend as well.

As for generating new fans, it's all about getting people to show up who want to learn. I brought a newbie on Saturday (a thanks again to MD's greatest host, the Doc) and she had a wonderful time. This person grew up literally a mile from Pimlico and had NEVER been there. We didn't do very well at the windows, but she cashed one nice WP ticket and was hooked. She wants to go again next week!