Thursday, December 18, 2008

Thank You Readers, For Everything

Whenever anyone asks how I’m doing, I tell them never better--that I’m having more fun now than any time I spent at Newsday, or anywhere else in racing for that matter. Why?

You.

As Bill wrote, this Internet thing was a new experience for we former ink-stained wretches. We’ve tried to combine whatever skills we might have as columnists/reporters and apply it to this new paradigm.

I always joke that “I love writing a blog: I can play loose with the facts and get to write my own headlines.” That is a joke, of course, because you keep us on our toes.

As Bill wrote, we have to be careful to dot Is and cross Ts as there’s no copy desk to prevent us from making complete fools of ourselves.

And Vic had it absolutely right when he wrote:

“Over and again, you have given generously with your time, read through our pages, challenged our thoughts, and gotten back to us with yours. You, not us, set the high standards to which we strive.”

Whenever I get too flowery, I know Wendell will be there to jolt me back to reality. Quickly! Then there’s Indulto, who never fails to give me something to which I should respond.

And former trainer Doug Amos, who wants me to be “Racing’s Czar,” aw well as all the other feedback we get from HRI’s loyal constituents.

Note to Doug: Given the amount of tweaking we give the industry, no one would give me a job as a piss-catcher. (For the uninitiated, that’s a real job)!

But none of us here are going to stop. The stakes are higher than they‘ve ever been.

Vic doesn’t need to do this, but he’s been gung ho from day one. Bill can enjoy his retirement via his many sojourns to Vegas, but just can‘t cut the chord that tethers him to the backside of Southern California racetracks.

Me? Well, what the hell would I do with myself, otherwise? Players need a voice and a springboard.

The common denominator is our love of the game. And if there’s anything we can do to give back, to make the game better, however misguided we might be on occasion, we’re going to do it.

Given the amount of CYA that goes on in our business, someone has to speak truth to power. Now don’t expect that we would throw the blanket of incompetence over an entire industry. That’s unfair and simply not true.

But the arrogance of the “good old boy” network frustrates me.

The greed and lack of transparency--whether it lives on the backstretch or in the board rooms of America‘s tracks, the halls of the state house, the trading floor of the NYSE or inside the corridors of corporate America--makes me angry.

And depressed.

So, HRI readers, with your continued inspiration, guidance, valid criticisms and ideas, HRI staffers and contributors will continue to rage against the machine.

We must. You know what they say about not being part of the solution.

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