The day the music died... where were you?

[Bigsmc]

I wasn't born when the plane crashed near Clear Lake, IA.

I did visit the monument in the late '80's though.

[Slewbopper]

I was a sardine packed in the clubhouse apron at Belmont with two friends that flew in from Tacoma for the weekend. All we kept muttering on the long ride home was "F'ing Birdstone"

BTW....the music died on February 3, 1959.

[3kings]

1st floor grandstand standing on a bench at about the eighth pole so I could see over all the people. The loudest roar I ever heard at a sporting event when he took the lead. Pretty quiet less than a minute later. Still was a great race to witness. The train back to the city not so great.

[docicu3]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I got the news of Jerry Garcia's death as I was getting ready to head over to Saratoga for the day's races.

It was indeed a sad day.

In the summer of 1994 I was sent to San Fran for a meeting. The first day I was there they had an amazing free concert in tribute to Bill Graham who died two days earlier in a similar accident to Buddy and the Bopper.

The Dead closed the show playing a 40 minute set that culminated in a musical eulogy that had a dozen superstars from the Bay Area performing like Bill Graham clockwork with the day ending at 4PM as the permit declared with not a single piece of litter on the grass by 6PM.

About a year later Jerry was dead and the music did truly die but I'll never forget that afternoon listening to "It must have been the roses..." as thousands of rose petals fell from the sky courtesy of Mr Jagger. A million people came and went without a single arrest or reported fight or crime. How does it go so right some times....

[Princess Doreen]

We were home. We had invited a few people over for a "Smarty Party". Problem was they weren't that much interested in it other than watching the 2+ minutes it took to run the race.

Prior to the race, the announcement that President Reagan had died seemed like a bad omen.

I was very sad but couldn't seem to articulate how I felt because our company didn't seem to care that Smarty lost. Bill and I went outside and commiserated with one another and then returned to feed the party goers.

[Hickory Hill Hoff]

It was August 2nd 1979.......just another summer day for a 15 yr.old youth in Fort Plain, until I saw the 6 o'clock news on WTEN-10 and then sportscaster; Rip Rowan announced that Thurman Munson was killed just a short time ago in a plane crash. I could not believe what I heard and was devasted. At that time in my life, I didn't have any close members of my family or friends die suddenly or could I believe that someone this young could be gone. It was a feeling that I never had until this point.

[ddthetide]

we were in the turf club dining room at charlestown. there was ALOT of blue and white at CT that day. Smarty was the first horse mrs d. followed so she was very excited. i didn't "dislike" Smarty just played to beat him. belmont day it paid off........ finally.

i'm a Secretariat and Afleet Alex fan.

[golfer]

Originally Posted by Cardus

Was that you?

In my section, a few of us within a row or two had Birdstone.

Low-keyed celebration, actually.

Redboarder!

[2Hot4TV]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Oh my God I so would have smacked you.
Well I'm glad, since he had to lose, that you were one of the people who benefited anyway.

It's always good when you can look back at something and smile or laugh a little... it sucks being and staying sad.

Still breaks my heart but yeah.... for some reason your "cha-ching" doesn't surprise me nor does it upset me in the least.

beat you and your friend to the ground and taken you winnings, sorry, just a reflex action.

[jms62]

I was out to dinner at Mori Moto's in Philly. I left dinner and my party to go to a bar across the street and watched. Pandemonium when Smarty took the lead that turned into stunned silence. I however was estatic as I had boxed 4-9-6-5 in the Superfecta and was looking at a huge payday. I waited forever for the result but alas it wasn't coming from NBC and I had to get back to dinner. I threw a hundred of my soon to be new wealth on the bar and told the bartender to use it till it was gone on my disappointed Philly friends. I returned triumphently back to Mori Moto's only to meet Mori Moto himself as he was making the rounds and had stopped at our table. I had him bring me a bottle of Dom Perignon and I raised a toast Nick Zito who hit with a 36/1 and 27/1 shot.. Enjoyed a wonderful dinner and made the long journey back home. Ran upstairs to log in and see how much my account had grown, was it 20 K, 30 K or more.... Alas there was no additional coin in my account? WTF was there a mistake? Was the system down??? I logged into Equibase and brought up the results... **** YOU Jerry ****ING Bailey and the horse your rode in on ****ing Eddington... A Nose a ****ing Nose and **** you NBC, if you'd given me the result in a timely fashion I wouldn't have bought those losers a round and would've saved a couple hundred on the Dom... Other than that, dinner was great.

I was at home celebrating. I hit every exotic bet and that was my 14th winner in a row that day.

No seriously I hit the exacta and had a few dollars on Birdstone because of his mudder ped.

Plus I hated Smarty Jones. His name alone was not deserving of a Triple Crown.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Cardus

The title of this thread is a bit over the top, no?

Well it got your attention, didn't it?

You've had some awesome titles too...

Seattle Killed my Computer and Darley's Plan for World Conquest Continue, Mate. Those were good ones.

* * *

This has been bugging me, Andy, so I looked it up (he died on Aug. 9th, 95). Who were you thinking of?

I think there's too much info in your brain... that's why you got mixed up.

* * *

2Hot...

I understand.

[Oaklawnfan]

I will always believe that Smarty Jones was our last Triple Crown winner. From the Rebel to the Arkansas Derby, the Five Million Dollar bonus win at Churchill and the crushing win at Pimlico he was a true champion. Of course it's easy from me to have Oaklawn bias. We were hosting a "Smarty Party" in our home with Smarty Favours, a Smarty Cake and free carnations for the ladies. Serving Belmont Breezers and laptop wagering. Devastating defeat.

[stonegossard]

Originally Posted by 2Hot4TV

beat you and your friend to the ground and taken you winnings, sorry, just a reflex action.

Sorry you didn't have Birdstone as well. You attempting to "beat me up" is hilarious though. Gotta love the internet.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by stonegossard

Sorry you didn't have Birdstone as well. You attempting to "beat me up" is hilarious though. Gotta love the internet.

I'm an idiot, I thought 2Hot was talking to me.

Friendly payback for the Mine that Bird thing... in good humor, of course. (It's not important).

Can we all play nice in the sandbox, kids?

(That wasn't directed at you, Stone Gossard. You know I'm a fan).

[Danzig]

Liked smarty ok but was no more disappointed with his loss than any other horse faiing to win all three. Was more upsaet after the barbaro preakness, the bigbbrown derby and pine islands distaff. Hell, smarty lost-but it was far from tragic.

[clyde]

"Plus I hated Smarty Jones. His name alone was not deserving of a Triple Crown."


^^^^ Best of show.





The music never dies.

Don't be a fool.

[Kingturf]

Okay, I understand that many of the people following horseracing has not witness a horse complete the triple crown. I was very fortunate to start following horseracing as a teenager in the 70's.

IMO, I saw all three triple crown winners raced. I have to excluded Spectacular Bid and Point Given from this point because they lost due to a bad ride in one leg of the triple crown. I really think the closet and very frankly the only other horses in the past 30 + who was in the same category as the 70's triple crown winner who could have won a triple crown if not for an injury was; A.P. Indy and Barbaro.

I am an east coast guy, but A.P. Indy was just on a different level. Some think Bernardini would've beat Barbaro in the Preakness. But to get past that 3rd hurdle of the triple crown....without a doubt A.P. and Barbaro had that determination you was not getting by them in the stretch.

Yes I think it would have been an injustice for several horses to win the triple crown....Charistmatic and War Emblem are the horses that comes to mind.

[Linny]

I watched the Belmont that year in the box section at Belmont. My friend was here from Paris (she grew up here and we went to the track together as kids) and she went with me. We walked through the tunnel and up the stairs and got jammed up in traffic. We were between the tunnel and the winner's circle in the walkway behind the 1st row of of boxes as they started to load the gate. My friend looked over and realized that Mary Lou Whitney and John Henrickson were about 10 feet from us. When Birdstone passed Smarty Jones, MaryLou looked at her husband if my lip reading is correct, said "What have we done?"
Other than once at a Springsteen show at the Meadowlands, I never heard 100,000 people shut up at the same time.

[docicu3]

Originally Posted by Linny

I watched the Belmont that year in the box section at Belmont. My friend was here from Paris (she grew up here and we went to the track together as kids) and she went with me. We walked through the tunnel and up the stairs and got jammed up in traffic. We were between the tunnel and the winner's circle in the walkway behind the 1st row of of boxes as they started to load the gate. My friend looked over and realized that Mary Lou Whitney and John Henrickson were about 10 feet from us. When Birdstone passed Smarty Jones, MaryLou looked at her husband if my lip reading is correct, said "What have we done?"
Other than once at a Springsteen show at the Meadowlands, I never heard 100,000 people shut up at the same time.

Why go silent at a boss show??