The Importance of Being Earnest

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

I'll admit that it was a poorly worded post as I was refering to the post season awards which the thread was started about.

Of course I want the game to be fair. But once again, where's the integrity for the bettor when a horse tests positive a week after you ripped up your tickets? Sure the purse money goes to the right person, but do you honestly care about that? If you had a bet on Life at Ten in the BC, would it make you feel better if someone gets suspended? Me personally, no. The boat has sailed and the damage has been done already. My tickets are dead and I moved on to the next race. Does that mean I don't care about the integrity of the sport? I don't think so, I just consider it one of the pitfalls of the game that I have no control over.
Unfortunately while I could 1000% wrong I really believe that many other people that play the sport think the same way.

THis was a great post and yeah you're absolutely right.

Mathie I don't sit here thinking about this stuff too much. I don't play every single day but I do enough to focus on that, on playing, and not trying to come up with all the things that are wrong with the sport and need to be changed, etc.

There's one line here that I keep coming back to...

You said you consider it one of the pitfalls of the game that you have no control over.

We all talk about changes... drugs and suspensions and what a joke it is and fixing the allegedly dying sport.

Maybe this is why nothing really changes (?).

Maybe it's too big of a monster and no one knows where or how to start and there are politics involved...

I'm not accusing you of being apathetic... I'm accusing no one and everyone. I'm accusing the people who do have some amount of power and who send out emails and compose their thoughts and then go back to doing nothing about any of it.

Does anything actually ever get done? Are there ever real changes?

This is a silly popularity contest as you said but if the whole thing needs to be overhauled then this does as well.

Maybe it all needs to start with a small thing (like this?).

We've all written and or read posts and pieces about the idea of a governing body with a spokesperson who is well respected (cough cough The Mig)...

If it ever were to happen (not holding my breath) how about a timeframe with changes in no particular order but with an end date, and something like this as the beginning... to show they mean business.

They ARE just awards but the thing is the people who are up for them want them. You'll not see any Brando-esque speech come Monday night.

Starting small.

One final thought / question (not just for you... for you in general)...

When Michael Gill won did it make you sick at all?

I'm with Sightseek and Wingnut. There should be exclusions.