Boring Derby??

[somerfrost]

Come on folks, it's the Derby...I hear the same old tired complaints every year. Look, TV networks are successful by playing to their audience, how much of their audience is made up of hard core horse players? I suspect that the majority of those who were at CD yesterday attend once a year and the TV audience...many don't know which end of the horse goes into the gate first. They tune in for entertainment...the same folks who enjoy shows like Fashion Police and Entertainment Tonight, do you think they are interested in handicapping insights? Sure inane puff pieces by figure skaters and focus on hats and drinks drives us crazy but it's what the TV audience at large wants...grin and bare it!

[jms62]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Come on folks, it's the Derby...I hear the same old tired complaints every year. Look, TV networks are successful by playing to their audience, how much of their audience is made up of hard core horse players? I suspect that the majority of those who were at CD yesterday attend once a year and the TV audience...many don't know which end of the horse goes into the gate first. They tune in for entertainment...the same folks who enjoy shows like Fashion Police and Entertainment Tonight, do you think they are interested in handicapping insights? Sure inane puff pieces by figure skaters and focus on hats and drinks drives us crazy but it's what the TV audience at large wants...grin and bare it!

EGG-ZACH-LEE

[ateamstupid]

I thought the coverage was great. We beg for racing to get national coverage and then do nothing but bitch when we get it. Yeah there was some vacuous crap, but there was also plenty of nuts and bolts coverage and plenty of well-produced drama.

As for the Derby itself, yes, it was boring as hell. Merry-go-round with nobody getting involved from the back. Whether you won or lost, that was not an exciting race other than the brief battle between Firing Line and AP.

[pointman]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

I thought the coverage was great. We beg for racing to get national coverage and then do nothing but bitch when we get it. Yeah there was some vacuous crap, but there was also plenty of nuts and bolts coverage and plenty of well-produced drama.

As for the Derby itself, yes, it was boring as hell. Merry-go-round with nobody getting involved from the back. Whether you won or lost, that was not an exciting race other than the brief battle between Firing Line and AP.

I mostly agree Joey, but Johnny Weir dressed as Foghorn Leghorn was a bit too much for me.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by pointman

I mostly agree Joey, but Johnny Weir dressed as Foghorn Leghorn was a bit too much for me.

LOL. Ideally they wouldn't have a recurring role on the broadcast, but I don't know how anyone can say they "hated" NBC's coverage.

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by pointman

I mostly agree Joey, but Johnny Weir dressed as Foghorn Leghorn was a bit too much for me.

Heck, I'm sorry I missed that. Seriously. Foghorn Leghorn has always been a big overlay among Looney Tune characters, in my book. But talk about a deep field...

--Dunbar

[LARHAGE]

This is why I record the show, I watch a couple of other recorded shows and than go back to watch the Derby and all the undercard races so I can fast forward through all the redundant commercials and the crap like those stupid ice skaters, I just don't answer any calls or texts so I don't know who won the race.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

...grin and bare it!

I was unaware there was any baring going on at the Derby. Are you sure you're not thinking of the Preakness?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Come on folks, it's the Derby...I hear the same old tired complaints every year. Look, TV networks are successful by playing to their audience, how much of their audience is made up of hard core horse players? I suspect that the majority of those who were at CD yesterday attend once a year and the TV audience...many don't know which end of the horse goes into the gate first. They tune in for entertainment...the same folks who enjoy shows like Fashion Police and Entertainment Tonight, do you think they are interested in handicapping insights? Sure inane puff pieces by figure skaters and focus on hats and drinks drives us crazy but it's what the TV audience at large wants...grin and bare it!

I refuse to accept that I cannot complain about them trying to cater to the survivor/honeybooboo/dancing with the stars/fashion police crowd.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Come on folks, it's the Derby...I hear the same old tired complaints every year. Look, TV networks are successful by playing to their audience, how much of their audience is made up of hard core horse players? I suspect that the majority of those who were at CD yesterday attend once a year and the TV audience...many don't know which end of the horse goes into the gate first. They tune in for entertainment...the same folks who enjoy shows like Fashion Police and Entertainment Tonight, do you think they are interested in handicapping insights? Sure inane puff pieces by figure skaters and focus on hats and drinks drives us crazy but it's what the TV audience at large wants...grin and bare it!

No, I cannot agree with you at all.

If you want change you have to be vocal and if something that could be vastly improved never is one can at least bitch about it.

There is no excuse.

I cringed when I read however far back it was that NBC had secured the rights to the broadcast for X number of years, how ever many it was.

My friends who are not in to horse racing at all thought it was the most inane waste of time...

A beautiful thrilling and historic sport deserves better. I'll bet you one day, when NBC is done with it, some other network invests the time and resources and does it right.

This is just silly, pointless fluff and it is maddening to try to defend such a unique and riveting sport.

Sorry, makes me sick. I will not keep my mouth shut.

Originally Posted by Danzig

I refuse to accept that I cannot complain about them trying to cater to the survivor/honeybooboo/dancing with the stars/fashion police crowd.

Right!

[Benny]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

No, I cannot agree with you at all.

If you want change you have to be vocal and if something that could be vastly improved never is one can at least bitch about it.

There is no excuse.

I cringed when I read however far back it was that NBC had secured the rights to the broadcast for X number of years, how ever many it was.

My friends who are not in to horse racing at all thought it was the most inane waste of time...

A beautiful thrilling and historic sport deserves better. I'll bet you one day, when NBC is done with it, some other network invests the time and resources and does it right.

This is just silly, pointless fluff and it is maddening to try to defend such a unique and riveting sport.

Sorry, makes me sick. I will not keep my mouth shut.



Right!

HERE, HERE - dog and pony shows do not shed light positively on the sport,but offer the lowest common denominator of catering .o the whims of the morons . This wouldnot have been a big deal as i normally mute it except for the races, BUT, TVG SUCKS. and had no video of te races,so i had to pay more attention to the tv.to seethe races i bet onand they fit in the other races amongst the fluff pieces without much builup , hEnce my negative expErience.

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

No, I cannot agree with you at all.

If you want change you have to be vocal and if something that could be vastly improved never is one can at least bitch about it.

There is no excuse.

I cringed when I read however far back it was that NBC had secured the rights to the broadcast for X number of years, how ever many it was.

My friends who are not in to horse racing at all thought it was the most inane waste of time...

A beautiful thrilling and historic sport deserves better. I'll bet you one day, when NBC is done with it, some other network invests the time and resources and does it right.

This is just silly, pointless fluff and it is maddening to try to defend such a unique and riveting sport.

Sorry, makes me sick. I will not keep my mouth shut.



Right!

Oh a great deal about it was ridiculous, but it just got the highest ratings since 1992. Apparently whatever they're doing works. I get complaining about just focusing on spectacle, but people love their sound and fury, don't they? Personally I wish they'd covered some of the stories we'd heard about in the other areas of the media. Dortmund's breeder's story that I posted earlier was making the rounds and yet the most you get from the tv coverage is 'wow what a big horse,' an interview with Kaleem Shah, and asking Baffert about having 2 top horses. Nice and all, but not taking advantage of a perfectly good excuse to bawl like a baby.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

Oh a great deal about it was ridiculous, but it just got the highest ratings since 1992. Apparently whatever they're doing works. I get complaining about just focusing on spectacle, but people love their sound and fury, don't they? Personally I wish they'd covered some of the stories we'd heard about in the other areas of the media. Dortmund's breeder's story that I posted earlier was making the rounds and yet the most you get from the tv coverage is 'wow what a big horse,' an interview with Kaleem Shah, and asking Baffert about having 2 top horses. Nice and all, but not taking advantage of a perfectly good excuse to bawl like a baby.

I would like to think more people watched because they heard that we had a really good field this year.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Danzig

I would like to think more people watched because they heard that we had a really good field this year.

IMO the tie-in to "the best sports day of the year" tag helped more than anything. It was essentially marketed nationally as part of the package deal w/playoffs and the fight all on one day.

[MaTH716]

I thought the race was great. Although maybe not the balloons everyone was looking for, it was the battle that I at least wanted to see at the top of the stretch.

[-BT-]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

I thought the race was great. Although maybe not the balloons everyone was looking for, it was the battle that I at least wanted to see at the top of the stretch.

it was essentially a conveyer belt around the track, nobody moved.
The top 3 into turn one were the top 3 into the stretch, nobody closed, except Frosted, too late.
Had a great view as they came into the lane as i was in section 127 2nd row, and Espinoza was working on AP, no cake walk by any means.

boring? i can't say i've seen too many boring derby's, War Emblem comes to mind, gate to wire. Let's just say it was very "formful", and the fact that "formful" horses didn't have to carve out a trip but rather just went on/near the lead, i can understand how some would think it might have been boring.

as far as the tv coverage leading up, if you don't like it, you're not required to watch it, change the channel, soooooo many people on this site saying how this is a dieing sport that get's no coverage. When it get's coverage, it's too much fluff for your taste, this aint Burger King, you can't always have it your way. ANY horse racing coverage is better then NO horse racing coverage is how i view it.

-bt-

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

Oh a great deal about it was ridiculous, but it just got the highest ratings since 1992. Apparently whatever they're doing works

I just want to point something out.(Glad to see you around, Merlinsky! ).

First off I think the ratings system is completely outdated and has been for oh... about two decades or so and second the actual figure really does not have much to do with it "working".

I mean it's not like there were choices... most Americans watched it on tv and your choice was NBC or not watching it.

Network execs who have no interest in the sport put the show together.

It will remain pretty much the way it is until another network has a shot with it.

Hopefully when that happens (2026? God I will probably be dead by then. ) things will (yes, that was for Cardus. Maybe it'll bring him out of the woodwork ) change.

[alysheba4]

Billy R the producer is a big horse racing fan.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by alysheba4

Billy R the producer is a big horse racing fan.

Well I'm not sure how many producers there were total or the hierarchy for the endless coverage but if he was, as you say, a fan and in a position of power it's a real shame he didn't or wasn't able to help guide the broadcast toward a new (and better) direction.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Come on folks, it's the Derby...I hear the same old tired complaints every year. Look, TV networks are successful by playing to their audience, how much of their audience is made up of hard core horse players? I suspect that the majority of those who were at CD yesterday attend once a year and the TV audience...many don't know which end of the horse goes into the gate first. They tune in for entertainment...the same folks who enjoy shows like Fashion Police and Entertainment Tonight, do you think they are interested in handicapping insights? Sure inane puff pieces by figure skaters and focus on hats and drinks drives us crazy but it's what the TV audience at large wants...grin and bare it!

Just about sums it up perfectly.