Odds and Ends

- Quick!! - Who won the Breeders' Cup Marathon?

- Table games in Pennsylvania are just a matter of time.

- The rookie stud class of 2009. (Oh, and this guy too.) War Pass, at $30,000, has to be the joke of the group.

- Far too little, too late.

- A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that, by a margin of 48-25, New Yorkers think that Governor Paterson will select Caroline Kennedy to replace Hillary Clinton. Y'know, I admit that I was wavering there for awhile, but, after the events of the past week, I'm now convinced more than ever that those 48% are dead wrong. Since Ms. Kennedy's much-ballyhooed hire of Josh Isay to run her "campaign," we've had the upstate tour during which she held nary a press conference and generally declined to answer questions (except for a grand total of 11 according to the NY Times), refused to release any information regarding her finances, and, in the absolute height of audacity and arrogance, had a spokesperson respond to written inquiries via email. If I were the editor of the Times, Politico, or the Buffalo News, I would have told them to stick those responses where the sun don't shine.

I find it hard to believe that Ms. Kennedy's handlers really believe that the Palin strategy is the appropriate one here. Is she really paying this guy for this? Or perhaps he's being compensated from somewhere else? We've been told that Isay is close with Andrew Cuomo and Senator Schumer, and that he wouldn't have taken the gig if they were opposed. But his approach seems so ill-conceived, that I can't help but wonder if those two are paying Isay to sabotage her! He's certainly doing a good job of that if nothing else.

- Racing resumes at the Big A on Friday. If you'd like to get a head start, check out the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance site for some free BRIS past performances. Click on free pp's in the left hand margin, choose Aqueduct, be patient, and viola! These pp's are magically compiled from all of the various trainers' and breeding farm sites who carry them for their runners or sires, and every race from Friday and Saturday is available except one. Get them now before it gets shut down!

- One of the many shocking aspects of the Jets collapse is that the team is totally healthy. How many other teams can say that? Certainly not the Seahawks! In my mind, injuries and schedule strength are two of the most, if not THE most important factors in an NFL team's success or lack thereof; and it's unlikely that the Jets will have things go their way in those respects again anytime soon.

Turns out that us Jets fans were being far too optimistic to think that we'd see Chad Pennington eliminate us on the last day of the season. Instead, it's quite likely that it will become apparent from looking at the out-of-town scoreboard around half-time that it will be the home team trying to play the spoilers' role. If that's the case, you can expect a lopsided final score, and the always obnoxious Dolphins fans who regularly help fill Giants Stadium taking over by game's end. Hopefully, they'll be some snow for Shaun Ellis to throw at them, because I'll be long gone by that point.

Yeah, they still have a shot, but I don't think it's premature to express astonishment at the turn of events. We'll be reading a lot of I-told-you-so's with respect to the Jets' decision to get Brett Favre, but personally, I will never regret it. With all due respect to Chad, this team had no upside with him at QB, and they surely would have endured another bland season of anonymity in a Giants' town. Instead, if even for a fleeting moment, the Jets electrified the city and, though in what seems very likely to be in an ultimately perverse way, provided a season which will be remembered for a long time.

And soon, it's back to the drawing board...

- My Christmas wish list? To not read anymore Christmas wish lists....