JC / Railbird

Media/TV/Film Archive

Globe Cuts Entries & Results

As of today, the Boston Globe will no longer publish entries and results for area dog and harness tracks or entries and results for New York thoroughbred tracks. “The Globe sports section has to evolve along with the changes that have taken place in sports,” writes sports editor Joe Sullivan in explanation of the decision. The paper does intend to print entries and results for Suffolk Downs when it reopens in the spring, and apparently will run “a Sunday box on feature races” throughout the year. Well, I guess that’s better than nothing.
Elsewhere in the paper: The Globe reprints, in its entirety and unchanged, a downer of an article about slots and the future of Suffolk Downs that was originally published on November 10. You’d think an editor would have at least updated the text about the “upcoming” end of the legislative session, which closed on November 18 without passing the slots-simulcasting bill discussed in the piece.
Moving in the opposite direction: The Boston Herald, which announced that it’s expanding its racing entries and results to include Calder.

Posted in Media/TV/Film on November 27, 2005

“Who Do You Like Today?”

The NTRA is launching a new advertising campaign with the slogan, “Who do you like today?” replacing “Go, baby, go” (Blood-Horse). Patrick of Pulling Hair & Betting Horses thinks the new tagline puts too much emphasis on wagering, but I think it says more about the social aspect of the sport than the gambling. I’ve had a lot of racetrack conversations that start with some variation on the slogan — “Who do you like here?” or “Any tips today?” — followed by a couple of minutes talk about various horses or that day’s races. It’s companionable, and it’s one of the things that makes going to the track more fun than staying home and watching racing on TVG. I hope the ads convey that. Of course, whether or not tracks successfully capitalize on any response to the ads is another matter …

Posted in Media/TV/Film on October 13, 2005

All the News That’s Fit to Print

Word count of the one article in the Sunday New York Times sports section on yesterday’s five grade one stakes races at Belmont: 532
Word count of an article in the same section summing up Saturday Ivy League football action: 536

Posted in Media/TV/Film on October 2, 2005