Teach
02-28-2008, 03:45 PM
"Grogan's back to pass...Sets up in the pocket...Looking...Looking. Pressure..Pressure. He throws...It’s picked off by Thom Darden. He returns it to the 40...45...Midfield. Another Patriots turnover." Those were the words (approximate words) of New England Patriots Football play-by-play announcer, Gil Santos. The Patriots, who were playing the then underdog Cleveland Browns, had dug themselves into a deep first-quarter hole. It was then that Santos’s sidekick, color analyst Gino Cappelletti chimed in: "No time to panic. The Patriots are a better team. Just get it back...one play at a time."
Well, I never forgot Cappelletti’s words: "Don’t panic!" One play at a time." I’ve always tried to apply that to my horse-racing play.
Yes, I’ve found over the years that we horseplayers can be our own worst enemies. We (myself included) can panic. We slip behind. We’re anxious. We wanted – as in that Patriots football game -- to come back, quickly. To come up with that "big play": A well-paying exacta, or a huge triple. Sometimes -more often than not – (at least in my case) that leads to bigger miscues and puts me further behind.
Well, it’s at times like these that I say to myself: "Patience. Patience. Don’t panic. Don't try to get it back in one fell swoop. Take what the track will give you. Wait. There will be opportunities."
Yes, every time I get behind I think of that football game I was listening to on my car radio several years ago. I remember Capelletti’s advice to the Patriots as if it were yesterday. It was as true then as it is today — in football, or in playing the horses. Patience.
Oh, by the way, the Patriots did come from behind to win that game (unlike the most recent SuperBowl – ouch!!).
Well, I never forgot Cappelletti’s words: "Don’t panic!" One play at a time." I’ve always tried to apply that to my horse-racing play.
Yes, I’ve found over the years that we horseplayers can be our own worst enemies. We (myself included) can panic. We slip behind. We’re anxious. We wanted – as in that Patriots football game -- to come back, quickly. To come up with that "big play": A well-paying exacta, or a huge triple. Sometimes -more often than not – (at least in my case) that leads to bigger miscues and puts me further behind.
Well, it’s at times like these that I say to myself: "Patience. Patience. Don’t panic. Don't try to get it back in one fell swoop. Take what the track will give you. Wait. There will be opportunities."
Yes, every time I get behind I think of that football game I was listening to on my car radio several years ago. I remember Capelletti’s advice to the Patriots as if it were yesterday. It was as true then as it is today — in football, or in playing the horses. Patience.
Oh, by the way, the Patriots did come from behind to win that game (unlike the most recent SuperBowl – ouch!!).