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Originally Posted by oracle80
Slewbopper,
I know that the Breeders Cup is here to stay, so the whole conversation/debate is moot. But I think its done more to harm racing than any other innovation in recent times.
The reason we can't generate a fan base that is consistent from June-February, is that we give people no reason to be fans.
People like rivalries, always have and always will. Baseball is a 162 game tedious and long season. Its hard to get worked up about any single game within that span. yet, when the Yankees and red sox play, people tune in. WHy? because of the rivalry of course.
College football is the same way.
In the good old days of my youth, rivalries existed because the only way to win a championship was to beat most of your opponents all year more times than they beat you.
The Breeders Cup was a great idea in theory. A year end celebration of racing that would move from place to place in order to expose more fans to racing.
But what its done is create a voting system for champions that ignores the rest of the years accomplishments and in the process has destroyed the stature of many races. Trainers no longer wanna hook up with the main rival in the year, they play dodgeball, and who can blame them? Its crippled the product all year long and I just don't think that one fantastic day is worth all that.
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I agree that rivalries create interest, but when horses run 5-6 times a year, they are not going to meet enough times to create the kind of rivalry that will captivate new fans. The BC may have had a small impact on the number of races a horse runs in a year, but I don't think it is the source of all evil that you make it out to be. Horses just aren't running as often, and they are not running as long. It's hard to have a rivalry when the very best horses retire as 3-yr-olds.
Red Sox fans tune in because they have rooted for that team for years. Ohio State fans tune in because they know they will meet Michigan yet again this year. But if there are Bernardini fans out there, they know (if they are smart) that there is less than a 25% chance that they will get to root for Bernardini this time next year.
Without a BC, we would still have had no more than one chance this year to see Lava Man face either Invasor or Bernardini. Maybe no chances.
I agree with your point that the BC gets too much emphasis at Eclipse time. However, I don't remember being personally outraged at any picks because of the BC factor. (I WOULD have thrown a fit if Leroidanimeax had been denied an Eclipse because of his BC loss, though.) Are there any Eclipse winners that you thought were particularly poor choices (because of over-emphasis on a BC win/loss)?
--Dunbar