Musings from The 'Ville

I thought I'd write today about some random shit that's been either getting me thinking or else just plain pissing me off, so here we go.

This weekend at the Kentucky Derby, Eight Belles, the Place horse who ran a pretty spectacular race to finish second, broke both its ankles and had to be euthanized on the track at the Derby. Now, I am in total agreement that this was a tragedy and that people should be moved by this story. However, I'm sick of reading article after article criticizing the jockey and calling for the entire sport of horse racing to be changed as a result of this, along with the death of Barbaro two years ago. You know why people are pissed off? It's because this happened on the top stage in horse racing. Had the same horse died in its qualifying race in Arkansas, what would have happened? Nothing!!! Probably, no one would have even heard about it. So just because a jockey is unfortunate enough to have been riding a horse with weak ankles that broke down after the biggest race of its life, he is in danger of suspension from the sport. A handful of runners die every year running marathons, but generally, nothing changes in those marathons because this is considered a risk of running. The same risk exists in horse racing. If PETA has its way, then there probably would be no more horse racing because they consider inhumane and dangerous. Here's some news for you: ALL SPORTS HAVE INHERENT RISKS!!! Should athletes in every sport wear football helmets to protect their heads from foul balls and flying pucks?? What about fans? Baseball and hockey fans take risks at every game...should they all wear helmets too?? People should just take this event for what it was...an unfortunate tragedy that in no way reflects the state of the sport in general.

I've noticed that people in Louisville and St. Louis have similar nicknames for their cities. People in St. Louis sometimes call it "The Lou" and people in Louisville call it "The Ville". Just a random observation.

I've received recent news regarding my apartment that is making me very angry. I've found proof that another family is being allowed out of their lease early at no cost. And while I promised that family that I would not bring it up to the apartment management to prevent any trouble from them, I have to say that this has re-ignited my fire for this fight. Especially considering that they have not replied to my emails in over a week...ASSHOLES!!!

Just another note on how this city cleans itself up for Derby. I drove past the University of Louisville the other day and saw a guy touching up a paint job on an overpass to make it brighter. I had to laugh at this because that shit happens every year. However, now the city will let everything grow out and look shitty until next Derby. Actually, this year the same process will probably occur in the fall for the Ryder Cup. Either way, I compare this to other random actions that I find amusing:
- Brushing your teeth before you go to the dentist (like that will fool him)
- Dusting and cleaning your furniture if you are trying to sell your house(you're selling an empty house, not your clean furniture)
- Straightening your house before you have a cleaner come over (yes, people do this)
- Washing your hair before a haircut.

A few days ago I flipped on the 1994 movie "The Scout." Overall a pretty weak film, but for some reason I can watch any movie about baseball and enjoy it. However, there are some details in the end of that movie that really annoy me. The final scene in that movie is supposed to be Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. For one, the pitcher, Steve Nebraska, bats in that movie, despite this being an American League park. I guess they assume that he was such a good hitter that he would be the DH as well as the pitcher. Next, the Yankees play the Cardinals in the Series. This is fine, it may be the first modern movie to feature the Cardinals prominently. But the premise of that game is that Nebraska wins the game on 81 pitches, all strikes, striking out all 27 batters. So that means the last batter would be the #9 hitter in the order. In the movie, that is Ozzie Smith. They make out Ozzie to be some kind of power hitter, even though he hit all of 28 home runs in his career. They pass this off by saying he has experienced an unprecedented burst of power in the playoffs. So my problem is, why is he batting in the 9 spot if he's they're best hitter. Anyway, that movie is absurd in itself, so I guess you have to take it all with a grain of salt.

Based on my experiences in St. Louis this weekend, I've decided that rich people in St. Louis are much nicer than the wealthy assholes who think they are rich in Louisville, whom I deal with every day.

That's all I have for now, but I'm sure I will have many more posts like this in the future.