Rod Blagojevich Suffers his Biggest Indignity yet!

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

I just saw that he has been featured on the website: MenWhoLookLikeOldLesbians.blogspot.com. Now that's just adding insult to injury.

Rock meet bottom. Wait, that is a mixed metaphor. What I mean is, this is rock bottom for Hot Rod (Hot Ronda?).







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Little League World Series and Feline Tinkle; A Lesson in Marketing

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

While watching an advert for Sunday's Little League World Series Championship of Chinese Taipei vs. the United States team from California, I noticed something.

The logo they used (and I couldn't find them anywhere on the web to show here) for Chinese Taipei was a logo that just said, "TPE", ostensibly for Taipei. The logo used for the US team was, "CA", for California, where they're from. The two logos were paired side-by-side, with TPE on the left and CA on the right, more or less like this:


TPE CA

I assumed it was arranged as such since we are hosting Taipei, their logo would appear "first" since most people would read that left-to-right. Then I also thought, "well someone had to be on the left, so there was a 50% chance it would be them even if their positions were selected randomly". That made sense, I thought. But then wondered if the "TPE" were first was because if it were arranged otherwise, it would look more or less like this:

CA TPE

it would sorta spell "cat pee".



What? Someone has gotta ask these questions.










I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

New Punk Band

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

My new punk named: Showed 'em Scrotum.









I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Who Came Out of the Travers Looking the Best? Rachel Alexandra.

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


Were you expecting me to say "Summer Bird"? After Summer Bird's gutsy win in the Belmont and on Sunday's Travers we're finally starting to appreciate what a great horse he is. Any horse that wins those two races is bonafide monster.

A look at Summer Bird's past performances in the Daily Racing Form reveals that in his last race, The Haskell Invitational, Summer Bird earned a 106 Beyer, yet finished second, beaten 6 lengths. Who was it that beat Summer Bird by 6? Rachel Alexandra.

You could now do a 2-Degrees-of-Separation test with Rachel and nearly every three year old male that matters to indicate she has beaten either the horses themselves, or the horses that have beaten those horses. She's unreal.


Hey Zenyatta, come get a taste!







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Up Yours, England

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

I was channel surfing the other day and saw Gordon Ramsey telling the camera man that he needed botox and liposuction. I though he was a chef? Now this? Then I realized that, as much as I enjoy English people, what is it with them sending over all of this sadists?

Simon Cowell, that Weakest Link "Goodbye" Lady, The Supernanny, that dude named Piers, etc. Is that really a fair trade for pawning Madonna off on you guys?

I thought about how annoying and frankly kinky they all are. Then I started being mad at England. Then I heard Noel Gallagher left Oasis, and I got more mad at England for letting this happen. Also, Gordon Brown letting the Lockerbie bomber out of prison in exchange for oil. Classy.

Then I saw this on the Daily Beast: The Hand of God in Lego format, brought to you by Mark Stimson. It was then that I decided to exact my revenge on England by showing the depiction of the most scandalous play in the history of the World Cup, where Diego Maradona punched the ball over the English goalkeeper and into the net for a goal. And by "scandalous" I mean "hilarious".




and in case you forgot the real deal....










I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

My Travers Assessment

(above photograph courtesy of T.R. Slyder)
By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter
(The horse in the picture is Quality Road as a young 'un)


The 140th Running of the Travers should be a doozey. The race that is often referred to as the Midsummer Derby features Quality Road- who was expected to be the favorite in the KY Derby before being sidelined with a hoof injury, Summer Bird- who won the Belmont, Charitable Man who went off at 9/2 in the Belmont before finishing 4th, and the near-overnight sensation Kensei.

I attacked this race from two angles, 1- the pace scenario, and 2- seeing if Quality Road was beatable. Of Quality Road's 5 starts, 4 have earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100+ and three of those, his three most recent, have earned Beyers of 110+. No other horse has ran higher than a 106 in a graded stakes race (Warriors Reward freaked in an Allowance race and ran a 113 in May). The elephant in the room with handicapping this race is to determine whether or not Quality Road simply lays over the field with talent and is too good to be beaten. If every other horse runs it's 100% best race- can Quality Road still beat them with a 90% effort?

Much of the pace scenario should be easy to predict- but the few parts of it that are difficult to predict are the most important. #5, Our Edge should go right to the lead with Warriors Reward and Quality Road either contesting the lead or sitting closely off it (by anywhere from .5 to 1.5 lengths off), followed by Kensei sitting another length or so behind them. Charitable Man ought to be near Kensei, my guess is that he'll be a half-length behind him, and Summer Bird and Hold Me Back both in the back, timing their final run. I anticipate Summer Bird starting off in last then slowly progressing gradually until he's about 3 lengths off the lead by the far turn.

Barring a stumbled start for one of the speedsters, its hard to see the race unfolding radically different than this. What will be difficult, yet important, to try to determine will be how close Quality Road is to the lead and how much energy, if any, he spends trying to be on the lead early. If he's able to sit patiently toward the inside, just a length or so off the lead, that ought to bode very well for Quality Road who wants to have both some gas in the tank and a slight lead on the closers when they turn for home. If he exerts a lot of energy vying for the lead, that will diminish the amount of stank in the tank, so to speak. This is also where QR's talent advantage comes into play- is he so talented that he can overcome a speed duel with Our Edge and run faster than he'd like to early on, and still have enough to hold off the late charging foes?

Kensei's position relative to Quality Road will also be important. Ideally for Kensei, he will sit patiently right off Quality Road and be in a position to run him down at the end. If, however Kensei and Quality Road "hook up" and engage in a speed duel early on, it will tire both of them out and improve the chances for Charitable Man and Summer Bird to run down their tired foes down the stretch. It's also possible that Charitable Man could be forwardly placed and duel with Quality Road, but I find that scenario less likely.

As the field turns for home I anticipate Quality Road to emerge as the leader and starting his late run before all others. Upon seeing Quality Road giving it the gas, then Charitable Man and Kensei will also be summoned to make their bid, where they'll run down a tiring Our Edge, and probably Warrior's Reward. Once all of our eyes focus on QR, CM and Kensei, we will notice that Summer Bird is not far behind.

Then what? This is when I think Quality Road is going to wow us. After pulling away from Our Edge I don't think he'll be caught. Even if one of the talented horses happened to stay with him or even catches him I don't think anticipate them having more grit and determination than Quality Road. Why do I say that?



In holding off the favored Dunkirk, Quality Road showed more tenacity in that race than any of these horses have. He also held off a higher-caliber horse than any of his Travers foes ever have.

I think the Travers' 1 1/4 will be a touch too far for Charitable Man and he'll be run down by Kensei and eventually Summer Bird, who will compete for 2nd place. I give the edge to Summer Bird here because I think he has more flexible with his timing and had will have a few options on Saturday. It also doesn't hurt that I saw his father win the 2004 Travers over a sloppy track.

To provide more context for this race- here is the 2009 Jim Dandy which was run over the same Saratoga surface earlier this month. It featured Kensei, Charitable Man and Warrior's Reward.



That race was an eighth of a mile shorter than the Travers will be, and you can see that Charitable Man wants no part in any added distance. Kensei showed us some talent, but seemed to just outlast tired foes, moreso than ripping the race away from a determined bunch.

Being that I think the top three will be Quality Road, Summer Bird and Kensei- I haven't really taken much of a stand as those are the three favorites (with QR being the favorite). So I feel obligated to throw in my longshot pick- Our Edge.

I think the winner of the race will have to run at least a 106 Beyer. Hold Me Back and Charitable Man have had chances to show us that they're capable of running a 106 and have been unable to. Warrior's Reward freaked in one race and ran a 113, which is the highest lifetime Beyer in this race, but I think that was a bit flukey with Calvin Borel giving him a dream trip along the rail while at the back of the pack at Churchill Downs, a la Mine That Bird. Since he'll be more forwardly placed this time around I just don't think that will happen again. So that leaves us with Our Edge at 15-1. He's been in only 5 races and his Beyer's keep going up in his 5 starts his Beyers are (48, 79, 91, 91, 100). In his last race while recording the 100 BSF, he won by 7 lengths so, you have to figure he wasn't giving it his all towards the end and could have run a 103 or 105 if need be, so he could be sitting on a big race here. His last two works are bulleted works over the Saratoga track, and he is also the only horse in the race who has won over a Sloppy track- which could become a factor as rain is in the forecast. You know he's going right to the lead and if Quality Road stumbles at the start or just throws in a poor effort, he could get loose on the lead and hold off the closers. At 15-1, there is a lot to like.







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Synthetic Horse Racing Surfaces Not Working out so Well- Part II

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


Synthetic tracks have created a spike in injuries to horses' hind legs. Oh good. Thanks, synthetic tracks!



Pt. 1 of Synthetic Horse Racing Surfaces Not Working Out so Well









I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

A Different Kind of Awesome: a Booze Story

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter



A few years ago, while living in Saratoga Springs, NY I had a few friends in town for the weekend. Tim R., Tim S., Cliff and Joe. We'd been drinking all day at the track since we brought in a fifth of bourbon mixed in with a two-liter of coke. Since they aren't the hugest racing fans, I kept trying to keep them interested in the featured race that day, The Sword Dancer. The more boozey and tired they got, the more I reminded them that they just needed to hold it together for another race or two and we'd be at the feature where we'd see the best race in America that day, then we could go home and put some steaks on the grill.

That plan was working pretty well until Cliff and Joe got up to use the restroom an hour before the feature. They never came back. My house was about 5 blocks from the track and they knew where the secret key was so, they knew well how to get back. So we noticed they'd be gone forever and had talked about going back, so we called their phones. No answer. We just assumed they went home. Upon returning home, we discovered we were right.

We walked in the door, through the kitchen to find Cliff passed out sloppily on the couch in the family room. At least we knew where they were. No sign of Joe downstairs. Since Tim S.'s room was on the first floor, he went to his room for a bit while Tim R. and I proceeded upstairs to our rooms. I go to my room which I wasn't sharing with anyone, and watched Tim R. go to his room which he wasn't sharing with anyone. I watch Tim open the door, lower his head, proceed in, then spin a 180 on his heels and walk directly back. It looked like he walked in on something he was not meant to see.

He looks up, sees me and starts laughing hysterically. I look quizically and he says, "Go have a look in there. I found Joe."

Since Joe had obviously passed out in the wrong room, it was pretty funny, so I walked in to have a look at 100% nude-as-a-newborn Joe on Tim's bed. Wait, what? Yes, Joe was completely naked and laying on top of Tim's bed. No covers, no clothing, no problem. Thank Baby Jesus he was lying face down. Feeling bad for a guy who had obviously been over-served, Tim and I took pictures of Joe's naked buns.

Eventually we realized Joe's rationale for choosing Tim's bed over his (Tim's room had air conditioning), the pictures made the rounds and we stopped tease Joe about it every at least once a week. Yesterday I was talking to him and we were talking about something that was stupid I casually inserted, "Yeah, kinda like the time you passed out balls-nude on Tim's bed.". To which Joe responded with a sigh, "That really was my Chappaquiddick."









I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Little League World Series International Semi-Finals Pun

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

Today at 3 C.T. pits Chinese Taipei against Curacao.

The question is: If the Chinese can impose their "Taipei" personalities will that result in a Blue Curacao team?

Thank you.







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Some Amusing Links

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

R. Blagoj. and wife Pa. Bla. are gonna be on The View on 9/9

Apple sells $2.4 billion worth or iPhone apps annually.

If Famous Graphic Artists Were Web Designers If you have ever found art amusing at all, you'll enjoy the images in this article (you can just browse it and look at the pictures) for instance. At left is Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1927 by Piet Mondrian. At right is the author's rendering of how he may have designed a "window vase" if alive and working today.






















They give other artists similar treatment. Warhol, Basquiat, Frank Stella, Yves Klein, Monet, Matisse, Georges Braque and others.

The Travers is on Saturday. You can expect a column on here tomorrow about it, complete with predictions.







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Does Anyone Really Oppose Congressional Term-Limits?

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


I don't have a lot of time to write a bunch about this topic (or to research a few specifics, to be honest), but I thought I'd make a point that I haven't been hearing anywhere.

Most people think that our Congress is awful and has been awful for a little while now. While the blame for this often comes from partisan arguments like "Because the Blue Dogs are spineless", "Nancy Pelosi is incompetent", etc. I was trying to find a more institutional reason.

What I came up with were term limits. I don't think our founding fathers could have foreseen the inception of "career politicians" or the proliferation of lobbyists. The first politicians were more or less elder statesmen of business or industry, who after years of acquiring wisdom about how things work, would parlay that wisdom into a political campaign. That isn't the case anymore. Sure that's what the age minimum is for and it doesn't happen with every politician, but it's more of a problem than people realize. Not so much because politicians are too young or unintelligent, but because they have chosen it as a "career". They are not looking to serve our country, they're looking to carve out a career- which is incumbent, among other things, upon self-preservation. If you're a lawyer and a firm offers you a job that will last only 8 years- you better really love that firm in order to take that job since in 8 years you'll be back at square one. But what you'd really prefer is a position that could last as long as you wanted it to last.

The notion of career self-preservation is what causes so many politicians to act against their own beliefs. They are fare less likely to do what they know/feel is right if it means they're less likely to have a job in 3 years- they've got kids to support! Instead of telling their constituency, "I don't care if you don't like it. You voted for me to legislate for you and that's what I'm doing. I'll be outta here in 5 years anyway." Instead, they're spinlessly saying, "Hey, I'm hoping to be here a while, so let's find a way to get along. And by 'get along' I mean, 'I'll listen to whoever gives me the most money, thereby increasing my chances of winning re-election.'. That's a big problem

That dovetails conveniently with lobbyists. If you were a politician and knew you were gonna be there only 6 years, you'd probably bust your buns to make your mark and do some good while you had the time. With only 6 (or whatever number) short years to build your legacy, every vote of yours counts. Nowadays with Congressmen being in Congress for 15+ years, they know all the lobbyists and all the lobbyists known them. They've gone skiing in Vail for the past 10 years with their lobbyist pals and wouldn't have it otherwise. Then those lobbyists tell their friends who lobby for other special interests that their politician is for sale, so others join in the feeding frenzy. When this happens their campaign war chest grows in inverse proportion to their legislative integrity- the more of a whore they become, the bigger their campaign funds. The more campaign money they have, the more likely they are to scare off new political rivals, or to outlast those with smaller bankrolls, but more integrity.

The only thing that Republicans and Democrats can agree on is that our Congress sucks. Once you start there and work backwards, you see that term limits are a huge part of the reason why. What's odd is why no Congressman have proposed legislation to set term limits. Oh wait, that isn't odd at all- they have families to feed.

Since our politicians are such whores that they don't want to propose term limits, thereby serving the people and doing their jobs, it just proves how badly we need term limits.









I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Caption

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


For the caption I'm definitely going with, "Hush, Puppy!"








I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

A Chimpanzee in his Natural Habitat: a Japanese Game Show

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

This isn't as good as you might think, but its still a chimp on a Japanese game show where it acts as an audience for a magic show. It's better than not watching a chimp on a Japanese game show, anyway.









I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Eager to Achieve Obesity?

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

There is probably a health care debate joke in here somewhere. KFC is unveiling what is ostensibly a neo-Atkins sandwich. The sandwich lacks bread, and in its place are two pieces of fried chicken breast. While it isn't on KFC's website, I'm sure you can find it shortly on ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com.


update: I may have spoken too soon. Just use this dietary supplement after eating that KFC burger and you should be fine. Let me rephrase that: you probably will not gain weight.






I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

More Classy Behavior From Goldman Sachs

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

It was awesome how their PR person said that the backlash against them was due to anti-semitism.

I guess I'm that kind of old-timey racist that dislikes when financial behemoths give their wealthiest clients information that they don't give to other clients. Does that make me intolerant of other cultures, like the culture of greed? Sadly, yes.









I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

I Like to Think I Put the "Playa" In "Playa-giarism"

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


T.R. Slyders scholars know that I'm a lover. I love primates, the Cubs, horse racing, and plagiarism. So why not combine all four? Since my pictures take care of the two former, I'll just plagiarize an article about horse to cover the latter two.

Of course I was trying to be funny but the article I'm plagiarizing is actually a very serious one. Daily Racing Form Publisher Steve Crist was asked months ago to make a speech the Jockeys Club about the state of drug usage in horse racing. On Steve's blog, which I have previously linked to, he did racing fans like me a great service and gave us a voice by asking us what we thought his speech should be about. Of course a man in Steve's position did not have to do that, but he modestly and wisely knows who butters the bread of horse racing and was kind enough to invite the everyday folk to opine. The link to Steve Crist's speech to the Jockey Club can be found here, as well as below in plagiarized format.


Jockey Club Roundtable
August 23, 2009

Thank you for inviting me to speak today, and for recognizing the often unheard voices of racing’s customers. My assignment for today was to report to you on how Thoroughbred racing’s medication issues are perceived by our fans. When I received this assignment back in June, I decided to make this an exercise in participatory journalism. It seemed that the best way to find out how our customers perceive medication issues might simply be to ask them. So I posed the same question put to me by the Jockey Club to the readers of my blog on drf.com. I did not ask them any specific questions or attempt to frame the debate. I simply told them I needed their help to write this speech and asked them how they perceived medication issues in Thoroughbred racing.

The response was astounding -- in its volume, in its tone and in its content. I’ll share a few thoughts on each. The sheer size of the response was unexpected and overwhelming. On a busy week, we might receive a dozen letters to the editor at the racing form. A typical blog entry might attract 25 responses. But on this topic, I knew we were seeing something profoundly different when I received 200 responses in the first three days. Our blogging software only accepts 100 comments per topic, so I actually had to repost my initial inquiry six times to accommodate what turned into 550 responses in less than a month.

As for tone, I can’t emphasize strongly enough that these were not the complaints of horseplayers who had just lost a photo. They were, for the most part, lengthy and thoughtful responses. There was more sadness than anger, more frustration than complaint. Dozens if not hundreds of responses began along the lines of, “I love racing, but...." And where they went from there surprised even me.

Comment after comment repeated the same themes:

*Drugs in racing are out of control; the inmates are running the asylum;

*There must be swifter, harsher justice, and more punitive penalties -- zero tolerance, three strikes and you’re out of the game.

*Punish the owners.

*Suspend the horses.

These are our fans’ perception of what racing needs to do about the abuse of medication in racing. And please keep in mind that while these may sound like the demands of an angry vigilante lynch mob, these are in fact the sentiments of some of your most loyal and most thoughtful customers.

I felt their pain at what they think has happened to their game, but I also felt that it was time for a reality check. And after the first 400 comments, one presented itself. On July 16, the Texas Racing Commission ordered a six-month suspension of the nation’s leading trainer because of a positive finding for a topical anesthetic in the winner of a maiden race a year earlier. Without belaboring the details of the case, this penalty was ordered despite the absence of any plausible veterinary scenario in which this drug had been administered, and of a finding so infinitesimally small that no one credibly could argue it had had any pharmacological effect on the horse’s performance.

I asked the respondents who had already posted comments, without agreeing or disagreeing with them, if what they really wanted was what they had been suggesting. Assuming the suspension – which is under appeal – were sustained: Did they really want the trainer to be thrown out of the game? Did they really want all of his horses removed from their stalls and turned over to outside trainers rather his assistants? Should all of the owners he trains for also to be sanctioned? Should the hundreds of horses who have run under his name this year barred from competition? Should Rachel Alexandra not be permitted to race again this year? As it turned out, no one really wanted to answer those ques tions. Only a few even tried. And after another week, the discussion simply petered out. Since then, I have been trying to digest and interpret the strange turn that this exercise took as it neared its end. And here is what I think.

Our fans are convinced, with good reason, that there is something rotten in the state of racing, but more than anything else they are completely confused about what is really going on – and so are almost all of us who work in the industry or represent it.

We make virtually no distinction between therapeutic medications that have a proper and even humane role in the treatment of these animals, and the abusive use of serious drugs. We make no distinction between marginal overages of medicine and the deliberate use of nefarious chemicals. And thus we have a seemingly constant barrage of news about failed drug tests and repeat offenders -- yet absolutely no one seems able to distinguish between minor administrative matters and serious crimes, between overzealous regulation and evidence of truly criminal activity.

Of course we have a problem with drugs in racing. We probably always have, and perhaps we always will. But we’re not going about rooting it out the right way. And in failing to do so, we’re both worsening the perception, and failing to address the reality, of the problem. It has been tempting in the past for racing to throw up its hands over this issue and act like a helpless victim. We’re good at saying that we don’t have the money, or the authority of a league office, to effect real change. Sometimes we get so disheartened that we start going down the cowardly and dangerous road of throwing up our hands and saying, “Let’s invite the Federal Government to take this whole thing over,” which strikes me as a prescription for disaster.

I personally don’t believe we need to go down that road. I think we can do a lot better on our own. And occasionally we do. The industrywide ban on anabolic steroids may have happened for all the wrong reasons – a coincidence of language involving a serious problem in baseball that may not have been that serious a problem in horse racing. But it was something that had to be done because there was simply no way, in a frenzied atmosphere about steroids and sports, that we could defend injecting horses with steroids if we ever wanted to create another new fan. But whatever the reasons, it worked. The industry decided it had to happen, and it did.It was done quickly and accepted quickly. Not one of my respondents even mentioned steroids as a problem. The steroid ban may have been cosmetic, but it can and should be a model for our getting equally serious about other abuses and other drugs.

I will leave you with a final thought: Despite doping scandals in baseball and cycling that may well be even more pervasive than our own, baseball stadiums are doing brisk business and Europeans still line the streets for the Tour de France. After spending years in denial, officials of both of those sports eventually came clean and said something simple and straightforward that racing’s leaders need to say:

We have a problem with medication, and we’re going to do something about it.

While it may be a tough road from there to reality, it’s past time for racing to make that simple statement – and I guarantee you that it would be a giant first step in changing the perceptions of our fans and bettors, without whom we will have no sport at all. Thank you for your time and your attention.

While Steve didn't drop the hammer, point fingers and spew venom, this speech was very important for horse racing. Much like how baseball was around 2003, no one in power really talked about it openly as a serious problem. So it was great that the Jockey Club wanted the issue to be addressed, and that they wanted it to be address by someone as powerful, intelligent and thoughtful as Steve Crist. It's a good start and has the right people behind it. A plagiarizing vigilante who rides alone in the night mysteriously but who the humble and helpless townsfolk have grown to know, trust and love, and hail as a modern day El Cid meets Zorro, but a man who is too mysterious and humble to accept their overwhelming adulation, a man these townsfolk know simply as "TR Slyder".

I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

After Watching the Alabama Stakes, maybe Zenyatta is now the #2 Contender to Rachel Alexandra.

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

With Zenyatta's diminishing margins of victory, maybe she should have to go through Careless Jewel to earn her shot at Rachel Alexandra. Watch her victory in the Alabama Stakes at Saratoga today. Just sayin.

Looks like Zenyatta's "The ball is in my court- come and get me" stance might be over. Those on the East Coast sure hope you aren't just the female version of Lava Man (Lava Girl?). You aren't, are you? See ya in the Beldame.

I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Let's see if Zenyatta "Forfeits" This Race- my Prosaic Tryptich About Rachel Alexandra V. Zenyatta

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

Earlier in the month I sounded off about a tweet sent out by the author of the West Coast horse racing website Pick4AndWin. The Tweet alleged that if Rachel Alexandra did not run in the Breeder's Cup against Zenyatta that it should be considered a "forfeit" by Rachel. As my link attests, I disagreed with that viewpoint.

Now the tables have turned. Kind of. TVG and BetFair.com have agreed to add 400k to the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct.3 if both Rachel and Zenyatta participate. With the added 400k, the purse now stands at a cool $1,000,000. This is of course, the inverse of what the Breeder's Cup is offering to Rachel. Rachel, a dirt horse, will not be running in the Breeder's Cup Ladies Classic (formerly known as the Distaff). because that race will be run over a synthetic surface on the other side of the country from where she's based. The cross-country trip isn't much of a deterrent for Rachel's connections, but the surface change certainly is.

The offer is on the table Zenyatta.

***************************************

Another Reason for Rachel to not Face Zenyatta in the Ladies Classic

While I wrote an allegorical article mentioning why Rachel has no obligation to race Zenyatta on a synthetic surface, I recently thought of another. What makes Zenyatta's connections think that Rachel Alexandra would even race in the Ladies Classic? Why not THE Classic? Afterall, Rachel Alexandra has the highest Beyer Speed Figure of the year, she beat the KY Derby winner (in the Preakness), she won the Preakness, and she beat the Belmont winner (in the Haskell). She also won two Grade 1 filly races by a combined 40 lengths. This year also has a relatively weak crop of older male foes to oppose Rachel in the Classic compared to recent years that featured Curlin, Saint Liam, Flower Alley, Bernardini, Invasor, and Ghostzapper. With the purse for the Classic a $5 mil., and the Ladies Classic at $2 mil, why would Rachel take a 60% pay cut to beat a horse that she is clearly superior to? I don't hear any AA baseball teams telling Albert Pujols that if he were a REAL baseball player he'd leave his contract with the Cardinals and try his hand for their farm team for 40 cents on the dollar- while playing on a new surface.

******************************

The East Coast Aint Got No Love for Zenyatta and Jon Shirreffs?

This analogy will probably alienate some of my zero readers, but I'm gonna write it anyway because I think the analogy stands up- there just aren't many people with gangster rap knowledge and horse racing knowledge that will be able to verify its accuracy.

In 1995 the East Coast versus West Coast rap feud started to heat up. It heated up at the Source Awards when Suge Knight took a very thinly veiled dig at Puff Daddy, and was later accelerated when Snoop Dogg (at the :42 mark) sounded off about the he East Coast aint got no love for Snoop Dogg





I saw an interview with Snoop a few years ago where he explained his diatribe. He said that as a West Coast rapper, he always held the East Coast rappers in reverential esteem- rap was invented on the East coast, and they dominated the rap scene for years until NWA came onto the scene on the West Coast. Snoop said that as a burgeoning rapper in a relatively newer rap market, he strove to impress the rap pioneers and their successors- any time an East Coast rapper came out west, they were always shown plenty of respect and appreciation for coming out, but the inverse was not true. When Snoop and others went out East, they were not afforded the same respect and were treated with relative derision. This lack of respect hurt Snoop's feelings and fueled his animosity, manifesting itself in the rant seen above. In short, Snoop felt that those on the East Coast were provincial snobs who looked down their noses at what they considered perversions of a form of entertainment they're credited with inventing.

Sound familiar? I think a lot of that is reflected in the Rachel Alexandra v. Zenyatta debate. West Coasters may feel slighted that Zenyatta isn't as gushed-over as Rachel despite an undefeated record. Fans of east coast (not capitalized since it's not part a rap feud) horse racing take great pleasure in deriding not only the "plastic" running surfaces in California, but also the small fields in so many of their races.

While the coastal feud is nothing new to horse racing, the "racing surface feud" is. I think many Zenyatta supporters (i.e. west coast horse racing fans) feel that Rachel is turning up her nose at an inferior horse, over an inferiors surface, in an inferior race (Ladies Classic v. The Classic) on an inferior coast. It isn't that Rachel's connections don't want her to run on a surface alien unto her, it's that she's being a snob. This provincial upstart has taken away the nation's collective thunder for Zenyatta, who west coasters feel is the superior race horse. Westerners may feel that the snobby old cigar-chomping, pocket-watch-toting east coast guard can't be bothered by Zenyatta- an ok horse but one that runs on a phony surface that wasn't the one THEY invented horses to race upon.

Am I a secretly hoping for the 2009 Eclipse Awards to turn into the 1995 Source Awards? No. I'm publicly hoping they do:


Rachel's connections: If you don't want your horses to be races all on a plastic surface, all in 4-horse fields, and all in front of a martini-drinking crowd that can't read a Racing Form- come to Saratoga and Belmont!

Zenyatta's connections rebuttle (while wearing the colors of Zenyatta's owner on a scarf around their necks): Y'all aint got no love for Zenyatta and Jon Shirreffs??!!! *expletive* *expletive* *expletive*






I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Great Wrigley Pics

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

If it's Wrigley Field pics ye' be seekin, yer timbers shall be shivered cuz the Tribune posted some doozeys here, Arrrggghhh.

If you only have time for a few, I'd recommend #s: 7,8,9,11,24

The above pic is #11. You may notice that's old Scarface himself- Al Capone. The guy to his right smoking a cigar? Illinois State Representative Roland Libonati.

Alphonse may have been bald, but that kid with him (I'm pretty sure it's his son, but not positive) had the combover in the fam. That thing rivals Gene Keady's.





I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

This Post Isn't for the Mature set

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


The 6th grade T.R. Slyder would've had a field day with this headline.

I'm not even gonna dignify that with a response.

Update: Change of plan. I am gonna comment- You might wanna get checked out, Harvey.






I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Lovechild Investigation 13.0: Geezer Babe Edition. Phyllis Diller and Cloris Leachman Begat Elaine Stritch

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

Trust me, I was embarrassed to have accidentally thought of this and I wasn't about to suffer alone. Thanks for taking one for the team, guys.



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Begat:




Let us never talk about this again.





I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.