What a shunda! (1 Viewer)

Lolita Twist

Rose-hustler
I went to the track (Saratoga) yesterday for the first time all meet on account of a horrible death in the family (as opposed to a wonderful death? Well I suppose if it was someone you didn't like...)... and I got there to find that mostly everything up there is done by machine betting now, I found one row of actual, human tellers in the clubhouse. ONE. It made me incredibly sad that even the track I've been going to since I was born is now "stepping into the 21st century". I just think it's horrible. What's the use of that? Isn't it just part of track tradition to banter with the tellers, and you'd go to the same one every time and get to know them a little bit, tip them at the end of the day and you go home just a little bit happier. You can't do that with a machine.

I'm really starting to hate modern technology.

:(
 
Well, it's seen as a cost-cutting move, since the tellers are earning union wages and machines are a one-time purchase. But when you look at it closely, how much $$$ are they really saving ? The idea that machines don't have scheduling issues, sick days, vacations, etc. is negated by the fact that they can and will break down. Especially when the owners cut back on their service contracts with the tech guys. If a track/OTB is in operation 12 + hours a day, but they only want to pay for 4 or 5 hours of maintenance service per day, what do you suppose happens ? Breakdowns and customers being shut out of their wagers, that's what.

Plus, you lose the human element, as you say. For one thing, customers make their own mistakes on those machines, then have to bring them to a teller to cancel and re-punch correctly (self-serve machines do not allow for canceling of wagers in order to prevent manipulation of the odds). It is also easier to place wagers by simply calling them out to the teller, instead of looking back and forth from program to screen to program to screen....

They are here to stay unfortunately, but I don't see them entirely replacing the tellers ever. The sport itself will fade out before the customer/teller relationship gets erased.

BTW - I hope you had that 7 horse in the big stakes race !
30-to-1 would make for a fun trip to the windows.
 
Well I hope the sport itself doesn't fade out. I have this fear that in 2012 there will be no more tellers... maybe that's what Nostradamus is babbling on about.

And, I didn't hit a single fucking thing yesterday. I did the Late Pick 4 and didn't hit a single thing expect for the 9th, and 1 out of 4 don't pay heh. I was quite disgusted at the end of the day. And totally broke.

I don't even know why we're smiling here.

http://i26.tinypic.com/akil9t.jpg
 
Just about ;). Haha, thank you. We went with his parents, his sister & her beau, and his father's friend... it was a nice day, up in the Carousel Lounge... but no wins for just about anybody. Which makes me feel like an asshole, because mostly everybody was betting with me. :(
 
I immediately thought shunda means shame, because the German word "Schande" sounds similar to shunda - the "Sch" is pronounced exactly like "sh", the "an" like in "unkind" and well, the "d" is a "d", no difference, but the "e" at the end is pronounced like in "end" or "animal". So shunda sounds like Schande.

My first impression Lolita knew the German word and somehow turned it into the way it would be written in English was seemingly wrong, though.
 
My first impression Lolita knew the German word and somehow turned it into the way it would be written in English was seemingly wrong, though.

Let's stick with that, makes me sound smarter.


And since I seem to think it's some sort of Jewish word... it would be fitting I think if it was actually a German word, but the Jews spelled it differently? I have no idea. I'm going to ask my father in law, actually, he seems to know more of these things his half-breed son doesn't ;). Hahaha.
 
Lolita shunda sat like that for the photo because we can almost see......I'm not going there.
I have been told you need to study the horses for several races to get the feel. Of course I've heard the jockeys know who will win.
 
Well I hope the sport itself doesn't fade out.
Sport?

Anyway, Hollywood park is closing in Los Angeles, a victim of internet betting and people's continued reluctance to venture into Inglewood for fun.

But it seems pretty obvious and inevitable that human cashiers would be replaced by machines. Especially if receipts are dwindling at the tracks. If the owners were smart they would race robot horses with monkey jockeys, and let everyone who lost their rent money betting on them tear apart the losing team with their bare hands. That and have rollerball games between races.

I could be wrong, but if you made those small adjustments I think the crowds would return.
 

Yes, it is a sport. Jockeys are among the best athletes around. Let's see YOU try to control a 1000 lb. thoroughbred in a race and guide him to the finish line. Balance yourself perfectly throughout the entire race - don't slip or he'll spook and you're both fucked. Be constantly aware of the entire field around you at all times and when you make your move, handle those reins right and sit up just enough to let him know this is it.

ANNOUNCER 1
Here they come down the stretch.....And in the lead is BUKDOTNET ridden by mjp.....mjp has ridden a masterful race up to now......and now he's asking for everything BUKDOTNET has in the tank...... and here they come.....mjp goes to the whip....and Oh No !.....that's unfortunate...

ANNOUNCER 2
It certainly is. For some reason, mjp thought he could use a razor strop for better results and of course BUK would have none of that ! Tossed him headfirst !

ANNOUNCER 1
Buried headfirst in the track dirt and kicking his legs like an upside-down unicyclist ! A sad day for racing, indeed.

ANNOUNCER 2
Or maybe that's what you get for questioning whether or not horse racing is a sport !
 
National Hunt jockeys (not sure if you have that in the States), i.e. the ones who go over the jumps are the really brave jockeys. Not that riding flat races is easy or safe either.
 
Let's see YOU try to control a 1000 lb. thoroughbred in a race and guide him to the finish line.
I'm not four feet tall and 80 pounds, so I think that rules me out. Unless they grow some really big horses. But I could control a 1000 pound thoroughbred, nothing to it. You just tell the fucker, "You win or no oats for you!" Done! ;)

Anyway, questioning whether it's a sport, to me, only has to do with the huge variable in the equation; the horse. Until the horses are all equal, the jockey is only a small part of the combination. I'm not saying they aren't good at what they do.

But - if the jockey was the deciding factor, the best jockey could ride the worst horses and win consistently, and you know that's not possible. So the races are not a fair competition between relative equals, which casts doubt on it as a sport. To me. But what do I know. Sports make me sleepy.
 
It's still a sport whichever way you look at it. You have to be super fit, strong and skillful to be good at it. I know you're taking the piss a bit by the way. :)
 
But - if the jockey was the deciding factor, the best jockey could ride the worst horses and win consistently, and you know that's not possible. So the races are not a fair competition between relative equals, which casts doubt on it as a sport. To me. But what do I know. Sports make me sleepy.

Did you not see the Kentucky Derby this year? It's the only race I watched and some scrappy old jockey upset the whole field at 40 to 1. It is a sport and he is a great competitor, no doubt. Bukowski would smack you up side the head.;)
 
Great post, Dave :D.

And, mjp, Buk would certainly slap you. With a losing ticket. Or a handful of cash from a winning one. When you insinuate on here that the sport is, for lack of a better phrase, a waste of time, I have to laugh. My grandfather was/is a professional handicapper and always walked away with a profit. Just another way to pay rent and enjoy ones' self while we're at it.

As for the mechanical horses and angry monkeys...in America, I'm sure that would go over just as well and draw a crowd umpteen of 400,000+ ;).

There is no racing without betting.
- Richie Dreyfus, Let it Ride
 
Did you not see the Kentucky Derby this year? It's the only race I watched and some scrappy old jockey upset the whole field at 40 to 1.
Oh, come on. One fluke does not a rule make. Show me the jockey who consistently rides the 40:1 horse and consistently wins and you'll convince me that the jockey is the athlete, and not the thousand pound horse. Nothing against the jockeys. I'm sure they are cool little dudes.

Be honest; horse racing is just a pretense for wagering. Take away the wagering and the "sport" would disappear faster than stated income loans. People gamble on all sports, but if you took away wagering people would still fill arenas for NBA games. The stands at the track would be virtually empty.

When you insinuate on here that the sport is, for lack of a better phrase, a waste of time, I have to laugh.
Well, you're laughing at yourself, since I didn't say or insinuate that.

Horse racing is an activity or a pastime for people, like fishing or NASCAR.
 
If a jockey could consistently win races on mediocre horses then the odds would even out quite a bit. The Jockey Calvin Borel worked the field and made the horse win. Calvin Borel is a sportsman. In a sport. A very ancient sport.
 
ESPN thinks it's a sport. They even had a special on Secretariat a while back. In my opinion, both the jocks and the fine animals are athletes, both.

IF THEY SAY IT IT MUST BE RIGHT!
Right?
Yeah I think we're right.
 

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