The Derby

As I'm sitting here staring the Goodyear (or maybe Metlife? I can't read it, my eyes have gone to shit) Blimp and 3 planes with banners flying around about a mile or so away, I realize I just cannot get it up for the Derby anymore. I don't know what it is, but I just don't really care anymore. This is the first year that I can ever remember that I not only don't have a horse, I don't even know the horses/jockey's/trainers at all, not one. This shit has become sort of like X-mas to me, anything I enjoy about it is for my kid's sake, not because I enjoy the two week long clusterfuck of activities that shut down parts of the city periodically. When I was a kid I lived out in the sticks, so the closest any of the events came to us were the balloons from the the balloon race that were slightly off course, or the bike race that cuts down our street/highway in front of our house on the outskirts of Oldham County. We, too, were the shitheads screaming and begging to go to Thunder Over Louisville (once they instituted it as a tradition) because it was exciting to us sheltered children living out in the boonies. Now, after having lived only a couple of blocks from the backside of Churchill Downs for a few years before moving just slightly to the south, and I mean slightly, I fucking hate this shit. On Friday, The Oaks, and Saturday, The Derby, if you forget to buy something that is further than a few blocks in the same direction as Central, good luck getting back to your house. I made the mistake of trying to come home from work (only a few miles down 4th) what was supposed to be early one Oaks Friday, and was told I couldn't go home! That was fucking frazzling, it was bad enough with the cops everywhere, but this was after 9-11, so there were MP's on every single corner in addition to the cops. I eventually found my way home, but what normally takes about 10 minutes to get through took me an hour and a half. Ever since then, I am just over it. The people who live in the city appreciate it for what it is, but we aren't the ones that attend these activities, for the most part it's outtatowners, like I used to be. These events just make me miss living in a real city even more. When I lived in the Bay Area I was in one of the cities all the time. When I lived in Chicago our apartment was basically still in the West side of city, and even though I didn't go out that much because we didn't know anyone, it was nice to know a cultured city surrounded and was waiting for us. Don't get me wrong, Louisville has it's charm, but it's just not a real city. Just because the bars stay open until 4:00am doesn't give it the feel of an exciting "anything is possible" metropolis, it's just makes it a little more depressing. So I don't have any picks this year, we didn't talk to any stable guys or trainers, and I haven't done my homework. I'll probably pick my horse like I did when I was a kid, based on a feeling, the name, the jockey, and/or how purty the horse is. Or I'll just let my daughter pick.

Pick: Like fools, we're obviously, going with the gorgeous filly, Eight Belles (the number 5 horse). Of course, not a smart pick, but why the fuck can't she beat those boys?

I take it back, I don't want to hear Clinton calling her self SixtyBelles, har-har-har, or some such horrible joke/analogy tomorrow. You damn well know she will.

Bahh, I'm pulling for Eight Belles, anyway.

Sheeeeit, you can bet Clinton won't be making a joke now, with Eight Belles coming in second and being down, losing to "Big Brown". I hope that poor girl is OK, I didn't see what happened. I think I am just too sensitive to watch this shit anymore.

OK, now I feel like a dick, I can't believe they just put her down. I can't watch this sport anymore. Jesus, what a depressing day.

----------------
Now playing: Radiohead - Nude
via FoxyTunes