AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > May > 04 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDerby just another day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Tastes change. Time and distance have their inexorable effect. Things that used to hold — nay, command — my interest now leave me cold. I don’t know if this says something about those things or more about me.
Those things: The Kentucky Derby and the NBA playoffs. I used to love both. Now I care little for either.
The Derby is probably a function of location. I lived for 28 years in Kentucky, where everything stops for the big race. I remember my mom and dad attending Derby parties at the Maysville Country Club. I remember Mom cutting the names of that year’s entries into little strips so we could have our own Derby pool at home. I used to be able to name every Derby winner from 1963 on, but now I can’t tell you who won last year.
For me, the Derby ceased being a big deal when I stopped being a Kentuckian. My waning interest in the NBA playoffs knows no similar line of demarcation. Over time, I’ve simply and gradually stopped enjoying the sport. (And I used to enjoy it immensely, much to the chagrin of my college neighbors who couldn’t understand how someone could get so excited over basketball that wasn’t of the amateur strain.)
I don’t like the way the sport is presented — everything glorifies the individual, as opposed to the team — or played anymore. I haven’t watched a minute of this postseason, choosing to watch the Stanley Cup instead. There was a Sunday in May 1977 when I skipped my college graduation because the Sixers were playing the Rockets in the Eastern Conference finals on TV. I wouldn’t skip a root canal to watch the NBA on TV now.
As for the Derby: I still watch, but it doesn’t really resonate. It’s just another sporting event. I never thought I’d feel this way, but I do.
Permalink | Comments (20) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
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By Gumbo
May 4, 2006 12:02 PM | Link to this
An interesting comment. It is hard to say what the future of horse racing is. I live in Tampa where our local track is about to close its winter meeting having broke every wagering record you can think of for the fourth or fifth straight year. Several other tracks (most notably Keeeneland recently) have done the same thing. At the same time, attendance is declining. In my 35 years of following the sport I do not recall a time when there was less interest (or media coverage) in horse racing than now.
I suppose the evolution of on-line and off-track betting explains the revenue increases, however, I have long believed that the extraordinary “tax” that the sport places on bettors (15% to 25 depending on track and bet type) will eventually kill it anyway. There is hardly a worse deal (save for lottery and keno) in the betting world.
Makes me kind of sad……
By WAR EAGLE
May 4, 2006 12:32 PM | Link to this
Horse People are more interested in the Dressage, Combined Training and Cross Country Events than in the Racing aspect. I agree-Basketball is BORING. How exciting would Baseball be if every batter hit a homerun? Not very. Since Basketball has taken on a Racist tone, it is only fitting that the ticket purchasers stop buying the season tickets and Suite packages and concentrate on sports that do not condone race bating nor have athletes that pray to the hip hop gods.
By WAR EAGLE
May 4, 2006 12:33 PM | Link to this
Horse People are more interested in the Dressage, Combined Training and Cross Country Events than in the Racing aspect. I agree-Basketball is BORING. How exciting would Baseball be if every batter hit a homerun? Not very. Since Basketball has taken on a Racist tone, it is only fitting that the ticket purchasers stop buying the season tickets and Suite packages and concentrate on sports that do not condone race baiting nor have athletes that pray to the hip hop gods.
By WAR EAGLE
May 4, 2006 12:33 PM | Link to this
Horse People are more interested in the Dressage, Combined Training and Cross Country Events than in the Racing aspect. I agree-Basketball is BORING. How exciting would Baseball be if every batter hit a homerun? Not very. Since Basketball has taken on a Racist tone, it is only fitting that the ticket purchasers stop buying the season tickets and Suite packages and concentrate on sports that do not condone race baiting nor have athletes that pray to the hip hop gods.
By WAR EAGLE
May 4, 2006 12:36 PM | Link to this
Horse People are more interested in the Dressage, Combined Training and Cross Country Events than in the Racing aspect. I agree-Basketball is BORING. How exciting would Baseball be if every batter hit a homerun? Not very. Since Basketball has taken on a Racist tone, it is only fitting that the ticket purchasers stop buying the season tickets and Suite packages and concentrate on sports that do not condone race baiting nor have athletes that pray to the hip hop gods.
By Me
May 4, 2006 02:14 PM | Link to this
Apparently WAR EAGLE is a moron.
By TMR
May 4, 2006 02:29 PM | Link to this
I thought War Eagle and Moron were the same thing…
By Kentucky Yellow Jacket Fan
May 4, 2006 02:37 PM | Link to this
Mark, if the Kentucky Derby is just another sporting event to you now, then it must not have been that much of an event to you before. Trust me, your supposed change of heart is no loss to anyone. It is the greatest two minutes in all of sports. Ask Furman. In stead of watching from Maysville come enjoy the two weeks of the Kentucky Derby Festival beginning with Thunder over Louisville and tell me then you have changed your feelings. I also agree War Eagle is a moron.
By Sports Fan
May 4, 2006 04:53 PM | Link to this
I enjoy both the Derby and the NBA playoffs. I think many other people in the world do also. I feel sad for you. I have a good friend in Louisville who proclaims there is nothing like the Derby in world. I plan to go someday to check it out for myself. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. I usually enjoy your column, this is just sad.
By Ace
May 4, 2006 05:52 PM | Link to this
I’m with you, Mark.
I’m a native Atlantan who has been transplanted to Louisville for several years. The Derby is certainly the most exciting 2 minutes in sports. But the breathless and intense buildup that we endure for weeks and even months is just annoying. Its overdone. I can enjoy watching the race (and the fireworks) without devoting my life to it for a couple weeks each year.
And the NBA…. they’re still playing, huh?
By Dbow
May 5, 2006 11:23 AM | Link to this
My wife and I were lucky winners of a trip to the Derby back in 1987. One of our local radio stations here in Atlanta used to have the “Rock Around the World” trips and I got picked. The Kentucky Derby, to me, is one of those events that you need to take part in at least once in your life. I would guess that the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and the Super Bowl would be in that category as well. We really enjoyed that trip, especially since someone else footed the bill, but I don’t know if I loved it enough to go back some day. Maybe if I had bet on the right horse? As for the others I listed, I haven’t made it to any of them! As for the NBA, who cares?
By Hammerin' Hank
May 5, 2006 12:15 PM | Link to this
I feel the same way about NFL football. Used to love it back in the 60’s & 70’s, but I got tired of all the end-zone antics and look-at-me showboating.
And the show-biz approach the networks give it doesn’t help either. Dennis Miller as a “color commentator”? Give me a break!
Give me a good college game ANY day.
By Bob in SF
May 5, 2006 01:02 PM | Link to this
Pro basketball has been ruined by poor officiating and allowing guys who should be playing semi-pro football to hang off of and constantly foul the few guys who can actually score until the game slows to a crawl. The so called bad boy Pistons and Riley’s Knicks of the 90’s opened a door that the NBA has never found a way to go back through. The NBA used to be a game of elegant passing and scoring, now huge guys clog the lanes in zones and give the “hard” foul to anyone who dares penetrate. Any team that tries to play a free flowing, entertaining style (the Suns) is punished by the lack of calls in the playoffs that inevitably turn the game into a half court slog. As for the derby, it’s 2 minute race book-ended by endless hours of talking heads; yes it’s exciting and beautiful to watch but I couldn’t care less about having to wade through the monotonous telecast and commercials to get to those two minutes.
By PreyDawg
May 5, 2006 01:12 PM | Link to this
Mark,
As the my teens say “I feel you man.”
My wanning enthusiasm is for sports in general. Though I still love the Bulldogs and watch all Falcons games on satellite, I dont have near the level of obsession I once had. My reason is this: When I hit 40 it suddenly occured to me that if the Dawgs win the national championship and the Falcons win the Super Bowl in the same year, it will not change my life one bit. Also if I never watch or attend another game no one in either organization would ever know or care.
Part of this is age and part of this is that the world right now is just too serious. I cannot seem to escape into sports the way I once did. Overall I think it is a good thing.
All that being said: Some people once in their life want to bungee jump or leap from an airplane. For me, one time in my life I would love to come out of that starting gate with one of those magnificent thoroughbreds beneath me. MAN what a feeling that must be! And then to be shoulder to shoulder coming out of turn two and feel the determination of your horse as he reaches forward to gobble up more of the track!
By Not a war eagle
May 5, 2006 02:16 PM | Link to this
All auburn fans are morons. I mean, you have to be a moron to pull for auburn. You have to be a moron to go to auburn.
As for horse racing, who cares? It takes an hour to get ready to run for 2 minutes. Plus, Northern Dancer, or some such horse, set the record at 2:00 back in the mid 60s, and what’s the record now? Roughly the same. Those horses aren’t improving.
please don’t bother to attack me if you are annoyed by what i’m writing. I’ll never look at this again.
Oh, i didn’t capitalize the A in auburn because they don’t deserve it.
By jo jo
May 5, 2006 02:26 PM | Link to this
Yeah, I just checked. Smarty Jones 2 years ago ran it in 2:04! Last year’s horse was 2:02 or something. Secretariat has the record in 1:59 and 2/5ths. (unless I missed another better time)
So, the best time has improved by virtually nothing in 40 years. That’s pathetic!
Oh, and I hate pro basketball, too.
By northwestDawg
May 5, 2006 02:56 PM | Link to this
I, to , am one of those who could care less about the Derby. If I happan to be around the Telly, I’ll watch. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the “Y” running my race. Pro basketball? They are still playing I heard.
By Ryder
May 5, 2006 04:48 PM | Link to this
It’s not a race, it’s a bet.
By Hammerin' Hank
May 5, 2006 08:20 PM | Link to this
I’m not a war eagle either, but what’s the bet that “not a war eagle” who won’t capitalize the “A” in Auburn is a bammer?
Don’t bother to be annoyed, ‘cause he won’t be here again.
bammers just talk, they don’t want to listen.
By Brian, Sandy Springs
May 5, 2006 11:52 PM | Link to this
WOW! Mark Bradley and I finally agree on something. I was born and raised in Louisville (moving to Atlanta after college), and I attended the Derby for the first time since I left in 1985 and was over it by the 5th race.
I just think that age has something to do with our feelings. I still enjoy my Louisville Cardinals (even though your a Kentucky fan)
Take care Mark…and drink a mint julep tomorrow.