Decrying the state of the \"industry\" is truly shooting fish in a barrel. It\'s like suggesting the European economy might need a bit of retooling. They\'re both essentially dysfunctional systems, with the seeds of self-destruction inherent in their configurations. Horse racing needs a unified structure with leadership akin to Pete Rozelle or David Stern, only with different personalities. But, that ain\'t gonna happen. For one thing, politics is too seriously embedded in the operation, and they\'re not going to relinquish that role. So, it\'s death by slow drip.
I don\'t share the opinion that loss of vintage tracks is necessarily a bad thing for the overall sport, save for the pangs of nostalgia. Yes, many of us would love to see the flamingos again, in the way that watching an old grainy NFL film with the likes of Y.A. Tittle and Chuck Bednarik, accompanied by the voiceover of John Faccenda, makes us yearn for a game without end zone choreography. But, that\'s rear view mirror material, and the face of the sport needs to adapt to the next wave. My teenager never picks up a telephone, and rarely even speaks on a cell. Her generation is well past that, yet it\'s as if we\'re still wishing that we had rotary dials in this game, and that it\'s imperative to improve the system of landlines. Yes, HBO movies, and the like, are, at best, band-aids on a gaping wound, but they add a touch of cachet to a sport teetering on the brink of irrelevance. If only Steve Jobs had been a horseplayer.
