Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Stinks
GarMan, I'm an older version of you. I went to the Preakness for the first time in 1969 and the last time in 1994. Not saying I never missed a year in that time but the track had a loyal fan in yours truly and I was bringing other players from NJ to play the races on both Friday and Saturday at Pimlico.
Two years I was in the infield but almost every other year I was in outside reserved seats in the extended grandstand. Seats were in "Section EE" for example or the "Concourse Reserved" as they call it today. The first time I bought reserved seats out there they cost $4 a seat. The last time in 1994 they were $36 each. So I guess you could say I'm a cheap so-and-so because $36 made me stay home. But that wasn't it all by itself.
First, people living on Greenspring Avenue in the '70's and early '80's charged me no more than $5 to park on their lawn. In the 1990's I was paying $20 and it was further away from the track. Then there was a slow decline in customer service. Somebody at Pimlico decided that for $36 I could clean the seat myself. Since nobody else had sat in it since the Preakness the year before, that was disgusting job all by itself. Then there was the simple act of opening the windows at the top of the sections in "Concourse Reserved". Open the windows even on the warmest days and it was pleasant. But then somebody in management decided it wasn't worth the effort or expense to open those windows once a year. The place became a sweatbox.
I guess the final straw was simulcasting. It just became a pain in the arse trying to play simulcasts on Preakness Day while at Pimlico. So I ditched the trip from Jersey and started reserving a table at the Terrace Restaurant at Delaware Park. We did that until the state of Delaware made the restaurant non-smoking. Now I usually play Preakness Day from home and think back to all those great spring days spent in Baltimore. I sometimes wonder if I just got old and that's why I could no longer handle the BS. But I don't think it was that as much as I just felt like it wasn't worth the money.
Anyway, that's my unhumorous story.  |
If you attend an event like this, you really can't try to bet other tracks. That's very difficult to do at the Breeders' Cup too.
Indeed, it is sometimes hard to bet the live races.
You attend for the experience of attending. For the nice outfits and the roar of the crowd.
