Boring Derby??

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

No, I cannot agree with you at all.

If you want change you have to be vocal and if something that could be vastly improved never is one can at least bitch about it.

There is no excuse.

I cringed when I read however far back it was that NBC had secured the rights to the broadcast for X number of years, how ever many it was.

My friends who are not in to horse racing at all thought it was the most inane waste of time...

A beautiful thrilling and historic sport deserves better. I'll bet you one day, when NBC is done with it, some other network invests the time and resources and does it right.

This is just silly, pointless fluff and it is maddening to try to defend such a unique and riveting sport.

Sorry, makes me sick. I will not keep my mouth shut.



Right!

Oh a great deal about it was ridiculous, but it just got the highest ratings since 1992. Apparently whatever they're doing works. I get complaining about just focusing on spectacle, but people love their sound and fury, don't they? Personally I wish they'd covered some of the stories we'd heard about in the other areas of the media. Dortmund's breeder's story that I posted earlier was making the rounds and yet the most you get from the tv coverage is 'wow what a big horse,' an interview with Kaleem Shah, and asking Baffert about having 2 top horses. Nice and all, but not taking advantage of a perfectly good excuse to bawl like a baby.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

Oh a great deal about it was ridiculous, but it just got the highest ratings since 1992. Apparently whatever they're doing works. I get complaining about just focusing on spectacle, but people love their sound and fury, don't they? Personally I wish they'd covered some of the stories we'd heard about in the other areas of the media. Dortmund's breeder's story that I posted earlier was making the rounds and yet the most you get from the tv coverage is 'wow what a big horse,' an interview with Kaleem Shah, and asking Baffert about having 2 top horses. Nice and all, but not taking advantage of a perfectly good excuse to bawl like a baby.

I would like to think more people watched because they heard that we had a really good field this year.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Danzig

I would like to think more people watched because they heard that we had a really good field this year.

IMO the tie-in to "the best sports day of the year" tag helped more than anything. It was essentially marketed nationally as part of the package deal w/playoffs and the fight all on one day.

[MaTH716]

I thought the race was great. Although maybe not the balloons everyone was looking for, it was the battle that I at least wanted to see at the top of the stretch.

[-BT-]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

I thought the race was great. Although maybe not the balloons everyone was looking for, it was the battle that I at least wanted to see at the top of the stretch.

it was essentially a conveyer belt around the track, nobody moved.
The top 3 into turn one were the top 3 into the stretch, nobody closed, except Frosted, too late.
Had a great view as they came into the lane as i was in section 127 2nd row, and Espinoza was working on AP, no cake walk by any means.

boring? i can't say i've seen too many boring derby's, War Emblem comes to mind, gate to wire. Let's just say it was very "formful", and the fact that "formful" horses didn't have to carve out a trip but rather just went on/near the lead, i can understand how some would think it might have been boring.

as far as the tv coverage leading up, if you don't like it, you're not required to watch it, change the channel, soooooo many people on this site saying how this is a dieing sport that get's no coverage. When it get's coverage, it's too much fluff for your taste, this aint Burger King, you can't always have it your way. ANY horse racing coverage is better then NO horse racing coverage is how i view it.

-bt-

[GPK]

Originally Posted by -BT-

it was essentially a conveyer belt around the track, nobody moved.
The top 3 into turn one were the top 3 into the stretch, nobody closed, except Frosted, too late.
Had a great view as they came into the lane as i was in section 127 2nd row, and Espinoza was working on AP, no cake walk by any means.

boring? i can't say i've seen too many boring derby's, War Emblem comes to mind, gate to wire. Let's just say it was very "formful", and the fact that "formful" horses didn't have to carve out a trip but rather just went on/near the lead, i can understand how some would think it might have been boring.

as far as the tv coverage leading up, if you don't like it, you're not required to watch it, change the channel, soooooo many people on this site saying how this is a dieing sport that get's no coverage. When it get's coverage, it's too much fluff for your taste, this aint Burger King, you can't always have it your way. ANY horse racing coverage is better then NO horse racing coverage is how i view it.

-bt-

What did your part in that pick 4 net you? $1.45?

[MaTH716]

Originally Posted by GPK

What did your part in that pick 4 net you? $-1.45?

Knowing how those syndicate bets usually go, I FTFY Kev.

[-BT-]

Originally Posted by GPK

What did your part in that pick 4 net you? $1.45?

which would be $1.45 more then you're allowed to have in an ADW account registered to your name/location


KABOOM!!!

-bt-

[3kings]

The new point systems has gotten rid of the majority of cheap speed. I have a feeling that future Derbys will be much more formful than in the past.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by 3kings

The new point systems has gotten rid of the majority of cheap speed. I have a feeling that future Derbys will be much more formful than in the past.

How can you say that. Stanford doesn't scratch and we are looking at a different pace scenario not just which Baffert would engage Firing Line.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

Oh a great deal about it was ridiculous, but it just got the highest ratings since 1992. Apparently whatever they're doing works

I just want to point something out.(Glad to see you around, Merlinsky! ).

First off I think the ratings system is completely outdated and has been for oh... about two decades or so and second the actual figure really does not have much to do with it "working".

I mean it's not like there were choices... most Americans watched it on tv and your choice was NBC or not watching it.

Network execs who have no interest in the sport put the show together.

It will remain pretty much the way it is until another network has a shot with it.

Hopefully when that happens (2026? God I will probably be dead by then. ) things will (yes, that was for Cardus. Maybe it'll bring him out of the woodwork ) change.

[alysheba4]

Billy R the producer is a big horse racing fan.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by alysheba4

Billy R the producer is a big horse racing fan.

Well I'm not sure how many producers there were total or the hierarchy for the endless coverage but if he was, as you say, a fan and in a position of power it's a real shame he didn't or wasn't able to help guide the broadcast toward a new (and better) direction.