Showing posts with label Belmont Stakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belmont Stakes. Show all posts

Sunday, June 8, 2008

"It was a douchefest much like last year's"

Every year I'm offered to tickets to go to the Belmont Stakes, every year I politely decline. And every year I'm so happy that I declined.

And yesterday? Gawker's Richard Blakely had this report last night:

"I had the great misfortune of going to The Belmont Stakes today. It was a douchefest much like last year's. I waited in a long line to use the restroom for about 30 or so minutes and when I finally got to the front I overheard someone say, 'Hey look at that guy, he can't wait and he's just pissing in the trash bin." Just then someone else corrected him and said, 'Oh no, the bathrooms in the entire complex are out, this is the line to piss in the trash can.' It was at that point that the place started to look more like the convention center after Katrina.

Ugh. The Times had this to report:

The scorching heat at Belmont Park on Saturday took its toll on everyone — the jockeys, the horses, the fans, and perhaps more than anyone else, the people waiting in line for the restrooms.
The temperature was 96 degrees at its peak and Belmont seemed to be unprepared for the demand for water. John Lee, the director of communications for
New York Racing Association, said that the water had to be shut off in places and the pressure was lowered everywhere else to help conserve it.
“The problem didn’t come to light until there was extremely high usage,” he said.
Women began using men’s restrooms and lines went more than 50 sweating, complaining people deep.

Gawker commenter MrInBetween had this to say:

I pissed in a barrel after a 20 minute wait ... On the way out of that shit-box, a drunken frat boy . . . stepped on my foot, then told me to "fuck off." I had to be restrained from ripping his head off. I wish I had; it would have redeemed the day.

Blakely also posted this comment:

And this photo pretty much summed up the entire day...

Plus, of course, Big Brown lost.

And we still may be losing the OTBs.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Happy Belmont Stakes Day (and so long OTB?)



Affirmed vs. Alydar -- best rivalry in sports history? And how about that 1978 Belmont Stakes race in the video above? Best ever?

Meanwhile, head to your local OTB parlor today to make your bet(s). The parlors are expected to close June 15. In fact, more than 1,000 OTB workers were just sent their pink slips. As the Times put it in a Feb. 22 feature: If OTB Goes, So Would a Relic of a Grittier City

Previously on EV Grieve:
So long, OTB (and happy Derby day)

Bonus:
A photo taken outside the OTB in Chinatown by Alison Grippo (via Flickr)