A Blog About Nothing

Tweet Remember those classic Seinfeld shows when Jerry and George were trying to sell the network on a show about nothing. Well that's all I have these days, nothing. I had a roller coaster week, where I was sailing on Lake Erie, bed-ridden with the stomach flu for two days and then playing golf in the Appalachian mountains on Saturday morning with a dude who tells me on the first tee that he's a former college golfer, hey no pressure...


First off, sailing is much tougher than it looks. The owner of the sailing vessel I was fortunate to be on let me tack for a good half hour (Dennis Connor I'm not) and with the lake being fairly rough and traveling at around 7 knots (I have no idea what that means) it was hard to keep a straight course. It was a beautiful night on the lake and the views of the Buffalo skyline were pretty magnificent. It did make me wonder what ever happened to the America's Cup I remember watching as a young boy. Talk about a sport that fell off the map....


The former college golfer ended up being a great guy and easy to play with, currently in politics with an Atlanta branch of a major public affairs firm. The topic of my hobby didn't come up until the back nine, and the token "Did you have Mine that Bird?" question surfaced...but he had been to Dover Downs being a Delawarian (is that right?) and an attendee at an annual Derby party in Indiana, so he was cool with horse racing. Anyways, we had a great time and actually played pretty well on a course best suited for a mountain goat.


About the only racing time I got in was a couple races between golf and the reception (Space Gal was in the wedding and the Space Kid was with the in-laws, so I had some nothing time on my hands). I watched the Long Branch from Monmouth (nice win by Atomic Rain) and the Man 0' War from Belmont (Gio Baby Gio- that would make a nice blog title), but my focus was primarily on my latest obsession, the Survival at the Shore. Amazingly, I have cracked the top 40, sitting in 4oth after a solid weekend, one life preserver in tact. 412 players remain out of the 4,300 or so original entrants. Just trying to hang in there one day at a time (how cliche-ish, I know).


Unfortunately, I didn't get home in time today from Central PA to sneak over to the border oval for the Prince of Wales, so the game plan was to watch the race replay on twinspires TV to see who won the second leg of the Canadian triple crown. I was hoping for the filly, Milwaukee Appeal, and based on the race call at the wire, I was already titling this post "Foto Filly." To everyone's surprise, including Niagara Falls native jockey Corey Fraser, Gallant ($33.40), a longshot won the photo. A tremendous stretch drive and finish. I'm looking forward to reading some of our TBA blog posts tomorrow for those who were fortunate enough to attend.


A bad gate break for closer Keino West, doomed him early. Named after Kip Keino, the great former distance runner from Kenya, Keino West finished fourth, seven lengths behind the winner. I hadn't heard that name in a long time, my childhood friend (now an established writer/editor for Syracuse University Magazine) used to pretend we were in the Olympics (I was Jim Ryun and he was KK) and we would circle the neighborhood backyards racing against each other, using picnic benches as hurdles. Ok, I'm finished about nothing, go back to your regularly scheduled reading activities.....and....


Thanks for stopping by.