Drape

[TGJB]

Anybody who thinks Joe Drape doesn\'t love this game should read this. Almost at the level of something someone on this board had published 14 (!) years ago.

You can love the game and not love what has happened to it.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/sports/ill-have-another-wins-137th-preakness-stakes.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120520

[JR]

Thanks for making note of this piece. My feelings exactly.

[sighthound]

Yes, that is well-written and shows Joe\'s love of the game.

[plasticman]

Not loving what happened to it and constantly writing negative articles about it are two different things.

If guys like this love the game, do we need any enemies?

Maybe i don\'t \'get it\' and the constant negative stuff that Drape writes about the sport doesnt scream \"this guy loves the game\" to me.

What am i missing?

[BB]

Lord knows I\'ve been defending this guy here for weeks, so I think I\'m entitled to this one. I know he\'s referring to Mario, but, given Mike Smith\'s recent history, this line would have been much deeper and more resonant had he substituted the gender-neutral pronoun \"one\" for \"him\".

\"He wanted them to know what every good rider knows no matter if he is a bush track jockey like him from the backwoods of Canada’s Hastings Racecourse or a Hall of Famer like Mike Smith, who was aboard Bodemeister: you know a transcendent horse when you get on him.\"

[JR]

He\'s trying to save the game by disclosing what\'s wrong with it. You might disagree with what he thinks is wrong with it but I believe his goal is the same as our own. Restore it to good health.

[plasticman]

So, if his articles lead to reform and the game eventually gets restored to good health, how do we get back the people who got \'turned off\'  by his articles to begin with? So far, hes running a negative debt of fans he\'s convinced that \'racing is not for them\'. Im not sure how many people read the NY Times, but i would imagine there are quite a few people who read his articles and became convinced they would never be a customer of horse racing.

So, how do we get those people back?

It seems that publications such as the Times arent really in the business of writing \'feel good\' stories....so, when and if Drape and his articles have profound change on the industry, will he then write something positive about the game or will he still find some \'dirt\' so he and his company can \'sell copy\'?

I think we will be waiting a fairly long time before Drape and the Times write an article titled \"all is well with horse racing, its time for you to become a customer\".

I don\'t think its too much to ask that Drape give us a 1 for 1, if he\'s going to pull the dirt out from under the rug and expose the industry and its dirty little secrets, he ought to write something positive about the game and sing its virtues to potential new fans.

Has he done that? Is there a link to ONE Drape article that\'s \'feel good\' in nature and would make a person want to become a customer of the industry?

[JR]

His last one was \"feel good\" and \"positive\" and I believe he\'ll write more of them if things turn around. Good press follows good performance.

[plasticman]

Lets hope.

[Topcat]

plasticman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So, if his articles lead to reform and the game
> eventually gets restored to good health, how do we
> get back the people who got \'turned off\'  by his
> articles to begin with? So far, hes running a
> negative debt of fans he\'s convinced that \'racing
> is not for them\'. Im not sure how many people read
> the NY Times, but i would imagine there are quite
> a few people who read his articles and became
> convinced they would never be a customer of horse
> racing.
>
> So, how do we get those people back?
>
> It seems that publications such as the Times arent
> really in the business of writing \'feel good\'
> stories....so, when and if Drape and his articles
> have profound change on the industry, will he then
> write something positive about the game or will he
> still find some \'dirt\' so he and his company can
> \'sell copy\'?
>
> I think we will be waiting a fairly long time
> before Drape and the Times write an article titled
> \"all is well with horse racing, its time for you
> to become a customer\".
>
> I don\'t think its too much to ask that Drape give
> us a 1 for 1, if he\'s going to pull the dirt out
> from under the rug and expose the industry and its
> dirty little secrets, he ought to write something
> positive about the game and sing its virtues to
> potential new fans.
>
> Has he done that? Is there a link to ONE Drape
> article that\'s \'feel good\' in nature and would
> make a person want to become a customer of the
> industry?


I\'m not going to throw too deep on this topic, for multiple reasons, but JD\'s more than capable of tossing out love letters to Saratoga, and one or two of those would be most welcome, later this summer (though we don\'t need any Odes to the Glory Of Cheap Grass Sprints . . . )

[MO]

Sounds just like me. Misunderstood most of the time.