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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Time for Thoroughbred Times Again

As was the case last year, the Thoroughbred Times website looks to be the only place to go for Breeders' Cup information that is presented in a sensible, organized, and concise fashion. Click on their Breeders' Cup section, and choose a link to a specific race.

You get a list of contenders, each of which links to connection, pedigree, and race record info; a list of preps complete with a handy link to a video of each in most cases, and links to relevant news stories. Voila.

This is not rocket science, just commons sense, yet the other major sites, including the Breeders' Cup itself, just don't seem to be able to grasp the concept. The Daily Racing Form announced its intention to be primarily a commerce site with its recent redesign - they should really consider going into the ADW business in my opinion - so I wouldn't count on it to provide much more than the cursory link depository that they have there now (other than to provide easy access to purchasing their past performances). Bloodhorse.com is a bit more organized, but doesn't contain nearly the depth of information as TT. And the Breeders' Cup 360 site is just an unruly mess worthy of the LIE at rush hour. Click on a division, and you don't even get a complete list of contenders, just Jeff Siegel's top six with some meaningless arrows and numbers. (Though, on the plus side, no sign this year of Jeremy Plonk.)

- The Yankees' 8th inning rally last night was surely one for the ages. You (especially you Red Sox fans) just had to love the way that, after Darren Oliver came in to walk the only two batters he faced to load the bases, Rangers' manager Ron Washington marched in his right-handed sidewinding specialist Darren O'Day, only to see A-Rod whack his first pitch into left field to make it 5-4; and then his left-handed sidewinding specialist Clay Rapada (activated for the series specifically for this purpose), only to see Robinson Cano rocket his first pitch to center field to tie the game. Oh man. Derek Holland was much better, but Marcus Thames laid off a nasty 1-2 slider (after lunging at a similar pitch earlier in the sequence), and fought off the next pitch to single in the winning run despite breaking his bat. If the Rangers recover from this, I'll be quite surprised.

- By the way, just wanted to mention that we thought that the people in Paris couldn't possibly have been nicer. So, so much for that stuff about how they are cold and don't like Americans, especially ones who don't make much of an attempt to speak their language. (I didn't encounter anyone who didn't speak at least rudimentary enough English to communicate.) And also wanted to add that in addition to the low retirement age, government-run health care, post-pregnancy state-paid, extended course(s) of vaginal gymnastics, complete with personal trainer, electric stimulation devices and computer games that reward particularly nimble squeezing, and other benefits of a socialist democracy, I found that there are no ATM fees. At all. So, I could walk around the block in Queens and get charged $2.50 to use my ATM card in a non-Chase bank; but I can go to Paris and use my card at any bank to withdraw Euros with no fees at all (and a very fair exchange rate to boot). Welcome home to capitalist greed.

13 Comments:

SaratogaSpa said...

Were you listening to John Sterling's call of the A-Rod hit? :)

wacked into left field???-It was a hard one bouncer hit right at the 3rd baseman, but he chickened out and tried to catch it like he was in a bull ring, instead of getting in front of the ball and at least knocking it down.

that was the ballgame, right there.

Alan Mann said...

>>It was a hard one bouncer hit right at the 3rd baseman, but he chickened out and tried to catch it like he was in a bull ring.

No, didn't hear Sterling, but he might have said it was a "bullet." I think you might be going too hard on the third baseman....I don't know if Henrik Lundqvist could have stopped that one.

steve in nc said...

What's the ADW business?

El Angelo said...

The Bloodhorse's new website is just a disaster in general. It's impossible to see anything but clutter. I agree on DRF shifting over to more of a pay model than news delivery. I get it, it's just not what we're looking for.

Anonymous said...

As a true Socialist, you're welcome for the portion of my hard earned income you don't deserve, haven't earned, and will piss away.

steve in nc said...

Anon, just pray you never become disabled, old, and without family, having to listen to some young suit telling you to get out of that wheelchair at age 83 and get a job.

Anonymous said...

I want to be treated like an Illegal Alien.No taxes,no tickets,no insurance no...........

steve in nc said...

Anon, anyone who works gets income taxes deducted from their pay unless they're totally off the books or working too few hours. Lots of working illegals pay taxes year after year but get no benefits for them.

No welfare, no unemployment checks, no drivers' licenses, no health insurance, constant fear of deportation. No rights. No ability to do anything if an employer shorts their pay, makes them work in dangerous conditions, or abuses them.

Illegals can get caught in a sweep at work, or caught if they roll a stop sign, spend months in detention with no real representation, and then get deported, not back to their home town, but just across the border in Mexico, perhaps with no money.

It's tempting for me to say, "given your harsh and selfish politics, you deserve to have your wish come true and be treated like an illegal immigrant." But I won't say that. You sound like an American who cares about stuff and is being fed a lot of lies.

Glen Beck doesn't tell people that social security, medicare, public schools and public libraries are all "socialist" programs. Do you want to see those programs all eliminated or are you a socialist too?

El Angelo said...

Anyone who even jokes that they want to be treated like an illegal alien clearly has no concept of reality.

Figless said...

Steve - in fact Glenn Beck often states that SS And Medicare are socialist programs and calls for the complete elimation of the Federal Dept of Education and many other departments and programs.

He believes in States rights, that they should handle these issues, not the Federal Government.

He states almost daily that the Federal Goverment needs to have an adult conversation with the public and explain to them that these programs are unsustainable and that drastic cuts need to be made.

He always explains the consequences of of what he preaches, explaining that everyone needs to stop relying on the government and start looking out for themselves, with of course a limited safety net for those that truly, truly, need one.

He is quite clear that there will be short term pain if his policies are implemented explaining that this generation must sacrifice to make the country strong long term.

The last thing he should ever be accused of is misleading his fans, his message is actually quite depressing and echoed by many respected economic minds.

Figless said...

Another point Steve, most illegals do not pay income taxes. The vast majority ARE totally off the books, in fact they have to since they do not have a valid SS#.

Those that work temporarily under a fake SS# (this is now discovered by government in a matter of months thanks to modern technology) usually have only 7.65% SS and MED tax withheld for the time they are on the books.

And they recieve free health care (far superior to that received in their home country) in most states at our emergency rooms, the unpaid fees for which are picked up by the federal governement. No one is refused at an emergency room.

But to claim to wanted to be treated like an illegal is of course absurd. It sucks, actually very similar to being an indentured servent. Long hours, no protection from abusive employers etc, all the things you state except lack of "rights" that they have not earned.

But I admire those that risk everything to come here to try and better their families lives at home, I really do, and wish a logical guest worker program could be established without permanent residency or amnesty being part of the deal.

Its a simple fix, really, if both sides in Washington would stop playing politics.

Dems need to drop the demand for amnesty or permanent residency or voting rights, a blatant self serving attempt to inflate the democratic voting rolls.

Reps need to stop protecting industries that hire and prosper off these folks and both need to protect the border and put the interests of this country ahead of their own.

Fat chance.

Anonymous said...

In the past three decades, the GOP has manipulated the tax system and corporate welfare so that the middle class no longer can earn a pension, the living wage has stagnated or dropped, and the fat cats have gotten fatter. At the same time, they've declared war on a boogeyman country 6000 miles away that's being completely fought by lower and middle income class families. Now you want to take away healthcare and social security from them too. What else do you have in store, charging them for air?

Anonymous said...

Alan, couldn't agree more with the organization of the new DRF site vs Thoroughbred Times. This is the first year I have to use multiple sites to figure out what is really going on... DRf used to be fine, now it's a disaster.