'You land a million planes safely, and then you have one little mid-air collision and you never hear the end of it."
-NY Tracon Controller
There is no try.
Something either gets done or it does not. When it does not, someone is responsible. It's what separates us from the socialists.
When the hell did it become acceptable to fail miserably at your job and just expect to continue in that position?
Here is Alex Waldrop's last post. Full of passive verbs and flaccid arguments.
'Governance documents are being authored.'
'A draft of certification standards has been identified and is set to be shared...'
'And a plan for the next 100 days will be presented to the Alliance Board in late January.'
These are words from somebody stalling for time because he doesn't have the faintest frigging idea of how to make anything happen.
This game has been dysfunctional how long? Eight Belles went horribly wrong in May and f*&%ing 'documents are being authored'.
If he had a shred of decency left, Mr. Waldrop would scramble to find what is left of his manhood, author his own resignation, and submit an application to be the director of FEMA.
Posts
11 comments:
I disagree with you, which is as rare as a mid-air collision. I think given that there is no central leadership to "make" everyone play along, make agreements, etc. that the process is going to take time with a capital T.
All that passive/flaccid stuff is what it's going to take to create any semblance of uniformity in our very fractured system... not that I like it.
I just don't think one can rightfully pin all that ails the game on Waldrop. In fact, I think he's one of the few trying to get everyone to work together.
I think Waldrop is clearly pissing into the wind. (Oops, can I say that on your blog??)
Dana-I agree that one cannot pin all this on Waldrop. I don't blame him for the state of the industry, just for his handling of the situation at hand.
The game has been going downhill for a long time and the list of blame is longer than Bush's pardon list.
Waldrop's message is one designed to appease the parties and in my mind is a sign of weakness. He has assumed the position of leadership and wants the NTRA to be a player in the game. Well this is the NFL and 'Pop-Warner' stuff just won't cut it.
Waldrop is at the head of a marketing agency and has a very large bully pulpit from which to spread his message. He could use it to more effect. Pussyfooting around and 'knee-jerking' his approach is doing nothing for the state of the game.
The parties are myriad and the incompetence endemic, none of them are going to acquiesce to anything if it in any way diminishes their slice of pie.
Would any one of those dysfunctional players stand a chance if the NTRA were to just get the f***ing ball rolling? Use the court of public opinion.
Here we go: No drugs...Dutrow used drugs. Make that the headline in the USA Today. Here are the fucking owners that use Dutrow to train their horses. Here are the fucking track execs that are too galactically stupid to agree to not steal races from each other. Here are the...whatever you want.
Change has to happen and it has to be harsh. Playing nice and counting on the horse to make everyone forget how asinine this whole dynamic is, is not going to work anymore.
I just think that if you are going to go down, you go down swinging.
Gina-I hold all copyright to any wind references....
Thanks both for reading.
Sorry , but I have to agree with Dana. You threw up a quick snazzy headline with no substance to back it up. Have you ever interviewed Mr. Waldrop or Mr. Dutrow. By the way, Dutrow used legal drugs on his horses, not illegal drugs, big difference.
Many people, including your fellow bloggers (I think Dana did?) have heaped praise on the efforts of the NTRA. I believe they did this because they took the time to actually meet him and listen to him, something you did not.
Just can't let that go by - the legal drugs vs. illegal drugs comment. Actually, there isn't a big difference. A horse that needs drugs - whether permitted or not by inane rules of racing - is not fit to race. Yeah, yeah, Dutrow is just doing what everybody does, and I know that. That's why I have chosen a more civilized country in which to keep my animals. Just like the death penalty, America is joined by the sterling ranks of Saudi Arabia and a smattering of South American countries in its permissiveness on drugs. Don't believe what the vets, paid off by the drug industry, tell you. The horses really don't need our pharmaceutical "help."
Anon- Your point is well taken but I don't see what meeting Waldrop has anything to do with an assessment of his effectiveness as a leader, which he professes to want to be. Nothing I wrote is inaccurate in any way and besides, what the hell do I know? I'm not a player in this game so my opinions should matter nothing at all.
By many personal accounts, Bernie Madoff and Tony Romo are great guys but I ask you how much faith you would have in them to handle your money and win you a playoff game. Steve Jobs is reportedly a SOB and he is a pretty good leader I would say. Knowing someone has absolutely nothing to do with being able to judge their effectiveness as a leader.
About Dutrow, yeah I was way off. They should rename the Eclipse award for trainers after this paragon of the game.
I believe you measure success and failure by results and effectiveness. Words, platitudes and plans have absolutely nothing to do with how the job gets done.
There is no try.
I appreciate your comments though. Keep them coming.
Gina-when do you sleep?
I'm with Gina. Hay. Oats. Water. repeat.
No drugs.
"Change has to happen and it has to be harsh. "
I don't disagree with that, but at the same time if he, as someone with no real authority, comes out swinging and tries to force groups into doing something, he stands even less of a chance to accomplish anything than with the current approach. All it takes is one "f-you, why should I do it your way" and you're out of luck.
I (sadly) work in a corporate environment, and when you want to bring every body to table, you've got eat a little shit and work really hard to build consensus... and with the group of folks he's got to bring together, all I have to say is that's one job I wouldn't want.
I agree that the post sounds a bit bullshitty, but consensus building takes time. I'm willing to suspend judgment, give it some time and see what they can come up. It's no small undertaking.
Out of curiosity, what would you do differently?
Oh, and to anon's point... I would probably be agreeing with you a lot more if I hadn't had an opportunity to meet and talk with him on more than one occasion. He passed my BS detector.
I'd ignore Alex Waldrop. That's what I've been doing.
I'm really over the whole marketing thing (it's really just a blog talking point for the industry to laugh at) and into the chaos phase that the industry is slowing crawling into.
The mission of the NTRA is pretty funny when I consider the probability of increasing the popularity of the sport at damn near ZERO.
When the big name sponsors start washing ashore, the big name owners start thinking about all the cash they're losing (and if you think Shapiro/Madoff is an isolated incident, I got a Green Monkey to sell ya), the tracks that have larger purses than handle and the seedy super trainers running bug-eyed horses are all looked from afar as this country makes serious choices about its future...well what do you think is going to happen?
It's increasingly clear that the people who are involved in running this game have no freaking clue (or care actually) that we can smell their stinky pooh-pooh.
The gambling wave in this country that has seen slot parlors popping up in the strangest of places and poker rooms go big teevee just crested recently and that wave is receding. What's left to rot on the shore we can't quite predict yet, but we know that horse racing is nowhere near in a position to maintain as is. It's low hanging fruit in the gambling industry.
So just grab yourself a nice buttery, salty bag of popcorn and have a seat. The change is going to come without having to listen or watch what the likes of Waldrop do. It's just going to happen by the force of our economic situation.
When do I sleep? About eight hours before you do...but not nearly enough, unfortunately!
From where I sit, I can't figure out what the NTRA is supposed to be or do/be, anyway.
Post a Comment