Just One of the Crowd
A studious vibe at Saratoga, the way it should be (zpousman)
Things get crowded at Saratoga. On our last day we were sitting in front of a row of yammerers. You know the type, they’re not their for the races so they’re gonna chit chat all the live long day.
One woman, with voice so piercing I thought my eyes might pop out of my head every time she spoke, prattled on about the Today Show (multiple segments no less), how one of her craft projects got messed up, gossiped (”he was the best thing that ever happened to her”, “for someone with no money she sure does buy a lot of new things”), and so on. All day. I think she also went on a long soliloquy about some cookies.
In a perfect world, ticketing at Saratoga might work something like this: On the lottery form there is a simple questionnaire. For each ticket requested you must indicate if the potential ticket holder is a racing fan or a tag along such as a spouse, your best pal who’s really not into the ponies and/or any children i.e., anyone likely to chat all day and not pay attention to the races. If anyone in your party is a potential chatter, you all get seated in sections W-Z (sorry, you shouldn’t have brought them or better yet, let them enjoy the picnic area in the paddock).
This would leave the better sections free extraneous blither blather about god knows what and when Jason Blewitt and Jan Rushton give their report from the paddock, those of us who are interested could actually hear it. Another upside is that if all the chatters are sitting together, they might actually end up having more to chat about which could make it a nicer day for them too… see, everyone wins!
Posted by dana on Jul 29 2008
Filed Under: NYRA, Handicapping, Saratoga, Fans, Racing
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So wait a minute, should we check with you at the gate before sitting down. Do you give us a test also to see if we like the game as much as you do. I go to the track all 36 days-most days I bet, some days I go alone, some days I go with several guests. Some days I just go, don’t bet at all and just sit around and Bulls**t with my buddies. But I guess that would piss you off.
It’s called having friends, it’s called paying my 3 bucks to get in and do what I want.
Hitler had very similiar thoughts on who should fit in society, read the history books it did not go over well.
Good luck trying to throw me out, hot stuff.
For the humor impaired, this was was meant to funny… not offensive, like your Hitler analogy.
And where exactly did I say chatters should be thrown out?
Gotta tell you, Dana… the people you mention were nowhere near as annoying as the guy behind me two years ago. Freakin’ guy spends the whole weekend loudly proclaiming things about which he knows nothing… then, when my wife has to go to the IRS window two days in a row (can ya believe it… I couldn’t touch her, she was on fire), loudly proclaims how he’d rather hit a smaller bet so he wouldn’t have to go to the IRS window… I think even his wife was ready to pitch him over the rail!
Oh yeah, the self pronouncement types are the worst, that sounds awful.
And go Mrs. That’s Amore! Very nice… no doubt it made up for some of the pain.
I always thought that if you couldn’t name the maternal grandsire of all 11 triple crown winners then you had to be denied entry.
Then again, who is going to pad the win pool?
For what it’s worth…I found it funny.
Yes. It is called having friends and I am the friend who sat next to Dana during this trip and can confirm how annoying these folks truly were.
Dana’s write-up was hilarious and true. Get a sense a humor, Joe.
I never thought that I’d see Godwin’s Law invoked on a horse racing blog, much less in the first comment. Truly, the internet never fails to deliver.
On my last trip to Prairie Meadows (which suffers from no such overcrowding issues) twice I found myself on the rail next to some guy who kept saying ‘Come on number 5′ in this high, nasally monotone, from the break to when they crossed the wire. No emotion at all. He just repeated that line over and over and over.
Neither of his horses won, and it was all I could do from turning and saying ‘Maybe you should say it a few more times, it might help’.
I’m not sure whether I laughed more at the post or at the comment about Godwin’s Law! Truly, it is a magnificent series of tubes.
GbG, be thankful they are not your season tickets. I have two old guys that sit behind me at the Ralph during Bills games (all 8 games for 60 straight minutes for the past six years) and complain about the quarterback, the coach, the defense and the sandwich their wife made them. If I have enough Budweiser Light in me I usually let them know how annoying they are, but typically I just invest in some good earplugs. I feel your pain.
winston - wow, I wouldn’t get in under your guidelines, but then again I’m not gonna yammer up a storm either. however, I do put more money in the various pools than I get back (usually)
Swifty - you may have heard some interesting tidbits that I missed…
Nick - ha! AND he commented within 5 minutes of it being published.
SF - now there’s an analogy I can get with!
Geno - ugh, sounds awful! I had a prescient vision earlier in the week of what my future might look like… a total shut-in with wall to wall flat screen TVs, several online wagering accounts and a parrot on my shoulder taunting me “you shoulda played the tri, you shoulda played the tri”. I hate crowds!
and thx all!