How much did that suck?

[shereads]

Ahead by four lengths in the stretch. Lost it by a nose. Do I care? No. It's just a silly (sniff) horse race.

Smarty Jones. Famous loser.

I hate competitive sports. Can't even be happy for the winner. In fact, I'm mad at the winning jockey. He could have paused to scratch his nose, or something. He didn't HAVE to win.

 

[shereads]

Bumped. Because that finish really did suck.

What sucked about it wasn't so much that he lost a close race, but that running like a bat-outta-hell and being undefeated for most of his career and then losing by only inches after leading the field by 4 lengths - isn't good enough to make us feel good.

Why are we so competitive that there are only winners and losers? That's what bugs me about the Olympics. A skiier who is .0019 seconds slower than the winner gets no respect at all. We feel sorry for this person, as if he had failed. Is success really only an attribute of the first to cross the finish line?

 

[shereads]

An apology from the winner.

from espn.com:

Prado, aware the crowd desperately wanted Smarty Jones to win, was apologetic afterward.

"I'm very sorry, of course," he said, "but I had to do my job, that's what I'm paid for. I'm very sorry that I had to win."

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Why are we so competitive that there are only winners and losers? That's what bugs me about the Olympics. A skiier who is .0019 seconds slower than the winner gets no respect at all. We feel sorry for this person, as if he had failed. Is success really only an attribute of the first to cross the finish line?

In the Olympics that skiier would get a silver medal. That is a sign of respect. It's part of the Olympic spirit that just competing is its own reward, regardless of finishing first, second, or last.

That 'only the winner gets respect' attitude is an American thing. I believe that when the NSL was created, no games could end in a tie? You had to create new rules for the game, because it didn't fit your competitive views and was feared that people wouldn't 'get' a match that could end in a tie.

PS: I'm sorry he didn't win too.

 

[rgraham666]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to quote from my favourite book now.

Competition: An event in which there are more losers than winner. Otherwise it's not a competition. A society based on competition is therefore primarily a society of losers.
…
Hundreds of factors create hundreds of other levels of competition. That's why in serious competition, such as hockey or football, there are strict regulations controlling time, movement, numbers, dress, language. Unregulated competition is a naive metaphor for anarchy.

The Doubter's Companion - John Ralston Saul

I'm really sorry. I sound like a one trick pony, but I'm reading this book, yet again, and this entry just popped into my mind, as it's so relevant to the thread.

Our obsession with competition is one of the reasons I think we here in the West are failing. We're to busy trying to win to accomplish anything.

 

[shereads]

In the Olympics that skiier would get a silver medal. That is a sign of respect. It's part of the Olympic spirit that just competing is its own reward, regardless of finishing first, second, or last.

But what about the Reebock contract? Second place never gets a contract. Second place never gets his/her face on a Wheaties box.

Face it. Smarty Jones is glue.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Re: An apology from the winner.

from espn.com:

Prado, aware the crowd desperately wanted Smarty Jones to win, was apologetic afterward.

"I'm very sorry, of course," he said, "but I had to do my job, that's what I'm paid for. I'm very sorry that I had to win."

He is apolgised for winning? That is so pathetic. This guy should be dancing and celebrating because he beat the favorite. Instead he is on record saying "I'm very sorry..." He probablly said that hoping he won't get lynched on his way out of the park.

Or maybe so he won't get sued. Can you hear it now? Some lawyer filing a case for "Breach of Expectations". "Everyone expected him to loose your honor. By maliciously winning he violated an unwritten contract with every one who placed a wager on Smarmy Jones..."

 

[Lauren Hynde]

But what about the Reebock contract? Second place never gets a contract.

Nike needs a contract too. There are enough Wheaties boxes to go around.

 

[cloudy]

Hi Lauren.

 

[shereads]

Our obsession with competition is one of the reasons I think we here in the West are failing. We're to busy trying to win to accomplish anything.

I like the line about being a society of losers. Never thought of it that way, but it's so true. We worship winners, and since most people can never come in first, most of us feel like losers.

There are people who'd like to keep it that way, too...Could the horse who beat Smarty Jones this afternoon be part of a plot to keep the little people feeling lost and sad and helpless?



Stupid horse.

 

[rgraham666]

I like the line about being a society of losers. Never thought of it that way, but it's so true. We worship winners, and since most people can never come in first, most of us feel like losers.

That was one of my major problems for a long time. "Loser" was one of the most common messages I received in my life and I got to believe it.

Everybody said so, it must be right.

Until I realised that most people are crazier than I am.

 

[SlickTony]

I doubt Smarty Jones is glue. He did run a good race. Triple Crown winners are kind of rare; I can only think of two right off the bat. It wasn't time for another one this year, I guess.

I read where Smarty Jones' father is getting, or his owner is getting, $50K a...shot...for his, um, product.

 

[SlickTony]

Ok, so why didn't the last one of these things I copied work? I wonder if it's going to work this time.

 

[lucky-E-leven]

I want to see an interview with the horse.

~lucky

 

[cheeryorchid]

desire or glue

Ehhh hheeehh hummm.....
Okay.

I think that with Smarty Jones that the need to be a winner philisophy doesn't neccesarily stick wholey.
Smarty Jones was a long shot. One of the underdog, little guys with long shot trainer, jockey, owner the whole works. We weren't rooting for a winner. If we were, we wouldn't have been rooting for the horse with the less pedigree, the smallest, the gangliest. We'd have all been rooting for the biggest, shiniest, snortenest, richest glue pot out there.
What's got the world shook up by this is a simple irony. Our long shot, underdog, rootin' for the little man champ lost at the last league of a great story, but can we be sad? Can we really be dissappointed (aside for those who bet for him). Our long shot was beaten by a longshot.
So for me, my problem is that I don't know what to think. I covered the race today in bits, then the ending was like, well your partner cumming first in mind blowing sex then farting and going to sleep. Should I be happy for the new Underdog, or sad that the first underdog lost?

Of course, if I need a happy ending to my underdog tail....I'll just go pop in Seabiscuit. Did anyone else feel like they were watching a live version of that movie?

CheeryOrchid

 

[Boxlicker101]

Re: Re: An apology from the winner.

He is apolgised for winning? That is so pathetic. This guy should be dancing and celebrating because he beat the favorite. Instead he is on record saying "I'm very sorry..." He probablly said that hoping he won't get lynched on his way out of the park.

Or maybe so he won't get sued. Can you hear it now? Some lawyer filing a case for "Breach of Expectations". "Everyone expected him to loose your honor. By maliciously winning he violated an unwritten contract with every one who placed a wager on Smarmy Jones..."

Don't give people ideas, CD. If the race had been held in California, some unethical trial lawyer (which is a redundancy) probably would file a lawsuit and have a good chance of winning.

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

The whole thing is perfectly natural. An ironic painful end devoid of a hero story. This is news?

I may sound like one of those whiny pretentious goth fucks, but unlike Hollywood, more times than not a story will end badly, justice will go unserved, sorrow will haunt the characters. While we all believe in a fairy-tale ending, the truth is that few will ever reach it. The good often do die young or horribly or worse completely forgotten. The evil live long, fat and happy and are never brought to bear for their sins. These endings occur more than not. Sometimes life will birth a great story of good triumphing over evil, of true love blossoming, or of the underdog triumphing over all odds and temptations to make it to the top, but those stories are rare.

For every triple crown winner, there are the so-close failures, and then the ones who were constantly beat by the winners, the ones not even really in the race hoping to one day make it just to 4th, the ones who die early on in the season, die in the stables during the offseason, never compete, turned to glue. That's the true miracle of life. Dark, yes, but if you don't expect the hollywood ending can be happy.

Smarty had a good season, he got the eyes of a nation on him, he got an entire bleacherfull of fans to cheer for him and him alone. There is a lot of non-hollywood happiness to be gained from that for Smarty, his jockey, his trainer, and owner. So what if he lost the legend status? He still did damn good.

As for the other points above about Americans, I agree. In fact, I expand on that idea. The fact is that Americans have spent far more time in front of movies and TV than in front of books. Because of that, we expect an oversimplistic plot that ends with the good guys getting the girl and glory and the bad guys dying for their sins. It's why we seem so out of touch with reality. We keep expecting a world of good and bad where good always triumphs instead of a world where bad can and often does win and where the one you root for fails in his task to win the glamour. Frankly, if Americans stopped expecting the fairy-tale hollywood ending and plot, perhaps we wouldn't always be shocked, miserable, and so drugged up. Anyway, that's all MHO and pessimistic as it may be, it does have some hope. Just cause you can't get the hollywood ending doesn't mean you can't get a pretty darn good ending.

 

[Liar]

Re: Re: An apology from the winner.

He is apolgised for winning? That is so pathetic. This guy should be dancing and celebrating because he beat the favorite. Instead he is on record saying "I'm very sorry..." He probablly said that hoping he won't get lynched on his way out of the park.

Or maybe so he won't get sued. Can you hear it now? Some lawyer filing a case for "Breach of Expectations". "Everyone expected him to loose your honor. By maliciously winning he violated an unwritten contract with every one who placed a wager on Smarmy Jones..."

I agree, I find it very strange indeed. Here is a challenger, an underdog, who beat the expected favourite in a finish line duel that would work a charm as a matinee final. I ythought America loved the unexpected high odds winner?

And excuse me for saying this, but Smarty Jones is a horse. I seriously doubt that he gives a rat's ass. It's anthropomorphization at it's finest to believe otherwise. He happened to be good at running fast, and then he runs fast when urged to do so by the a guy on his back, because of a Pavlovian training that have resulting in Running Fast meaning Getting Carrots. Very simplified of course, but that's basically it.

I find horse racing to be one of the most bizarre sports that the human mind has ever come up with. We idolize a poor creature, who, to be honest, would rather just eat hay and have sex, and who probably is totally unaware of all the hullabaloo around it.