Here's a sad comment on racing and our culture:
Time magazine hasn't had a TB themed cover since May, of 1978, with Steve Cauthen, jockey.
Prior to that date, Time often ran TB covers.
That tells us something about how interested many people in America are about racing, going back 30 years.
Better do something, fast.
Time mag covers tell sad story with no story
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Shammy Davis
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Tbrace: You make an excellent point. I just posted an article from TIME on the Racing Board. It was about jockeys and their methods of increasing speed and was dated 2007.
I read an interesting article in IN & AROUND HORSE COUNTRY, published by American Steeplechase Association. Colonial Downs has opened up a new suburban OTB parlor near Richmond, VA which is in a pub/resturant that is across the street from a business center housing 22K employees. It suggests a new marketing approach to get young business people to take an interest in horseracing.
It would be very nice is national sports media would begin allocating time and space for horseracing, but I don't think it is going to happen.
I read an interesting article in IN & AROUND HORSE COUNTRY, published by American Steeplechase Association. Colonial Downs has opened up a new suburban OTB parlor near Richmond, VA which is in a pub/resturant that is across the street from a business center housing 22K employees. It suggests a new marketing approach to get young business people to take an interest in horseracing.
It would be very nice is national sports media would begin allocating time and space for horseracing, but I don't think it is going to happen.
I remember very well when Winning Colors won the Derby -- only the third filly in history to do so. Did Sports Illustrated put that on the front cover -- a historic win in one of the nation's most storied sporting events? As I recall, routine action in the NBA playoffs was considered more important. And the year Unbridled won the Derby, generating one of the most touching moments in sports ever as trainer Carl Nafzger called the stretch run for frail owner Mrs. Genter, I believe SI chose to grace their front cover that week with a photo for an article on kids killing kids for the sake of sports memorabilia -- not even direct coverage of any sport, just a sensational and ugly crime story about juvenile thugs that happened to have a sports veneer. That was 20-odd years ago, and things haven't improved in racing coverage, I'm afraid.
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher...You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." C. S. Lewis
Time
My only point is that cultural indicators continue to suggest a growing disinterest in the sport.
Although it is true that all print media is in decline, as Sysonby points out, it isn't really related to the decline in interest in racing. No one, for instance, has stepped up to create great waves for racing in any other media platform. Simply, I am afraid, because there is little public interest.
SI could never be accused of being on the cutting edge of sports (e.g. the swimsuit issue, bad articles and covers as M. suggests), they do try to print what sells, as do most publications.
I wonder if continuing drug scandals and ineffective enforcement, over use of the whip, shady sales, poor marketing, betting scams, and other negatives that racing has been unwilling or unable to address over the years have continued to add up, resulting in people leaving the sport as fans.
The real issue is, and all of our hope, is that the trend can and will be corrected before it is too late.
Although it is true that all print media is in decline, as Sysonby points out, it isn't really related to the decline in interest in racing. No one, for instance, has stepped up to create great waves for racing in any other media platform. Simply, I am afraid, because there is little public interest.
SI could never be accused of being on the cutting edge of sports (e.g. the swimsuit issue, bad articles and covers as M. suggests), they do try to print what sells, as do most publications.
I wonder if continuing drug scandals and ineffective enforcement, over use of the whip, shady sales, poor marketing, betting scams, and other negatives that racing has been unwilling or unable to address over the years have continued to add up, resulting in people leaving the sport as fans.
The real issue is, and all of our hope, is that the trend can and will be corrected before it is too late.