Saturday, December 6, 2008

How I fell in and out of love with a sport

Change has been the theme of this election year. We all know about the change that happened in the White House and the change that didn’t happen in California.

There was also a referendum that gained little publicity outside the state where it was held, but it could eventually have repercussions in sports, or at least in the gaming industry, nationwide.

Last month, the voters of Massachusetts decided to ban dog racing. The state’s two greyhound tracks, Wonderland and Raynham-Taunton Park, will have to cease operations by Jan. 1, 2010, barring any last-minute legal challenges.

This may seem minor to anyone unfamiliar with dog racing, but it’s a major blow to the sport. Of the 16 states where dog racing is legal, only in Florida has it been entrenched more firmly. When Sports Illustrated ran an article on dog racing in the early ‘90s, Wonderland, one of the most popular dog tracks in the U.S., was featured because it regularly outdrew the Boston area’s Thoroughbred race track, Suffolk Downs. SI used this example to infer that dog racing was a major threat to horse racing. (Which is sort of like comparing Ohio State football to the Cincinnati Bengals and inferring that college football is superior to the NFL.)

That threat never materialized, mainly due to increased competition from casinos and other forms of gaming, but also because many people became aware of dog racing’s dirty secrets.

They were enough to turn me off the sport in a hurry.

It wasn’t always that way. I became a dog racing fan in the mid-1990s when I covered Delta Downs, a Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse track in Vinton, La., for Daily Racing Form. When I found out there was a dog track, Gulf Greyhound Park, just two and a half hours to the west near Houston, I had to check it out.

I immediately became fascinated by the constant action (a race goes off every nine or 10 minutes, compared to 18 to 20 minutes for horses), the program statistics, the ease of handicapping (two words: early speed), the letter-grade system of ranking dogs that assured a competitive race—and, of course, the dogs themselves.

The greyhound is the opposite of most people’s idea of a pretty dog—so thin, with a coat that appears matted (but is thicker than it looks) and bulging, cartoonish eyes, it appears from the front as if half of it is missing, but it possesses a unique, regal beauty. I must have looked like the biggest idiot at the track when I would watch the post parade from the rail and gush over the field. “Aww…look at them little guys…aww, big babies, they’re looking so sad…aww, that one’s got racing stripes!” As Bob Seger once said, I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.

I even gave the breed a nickname. I once covered high school sports for a team called the Greyhounds, who had a mascot named Scuffy. Scuffy inspired me to dub greyhounds in general “scuppy dogs.”

Soon, I was going to Gulf whenever I got the chance. I would stay in a motel overnight on long weekends to catch racing action for two straight days. I even developed a good-luck ritual when I approached the place on I-45—I would always sing the theme from “Scooby-Doo.” (Yeah, I know, Scooby’s a Great Dane. Sue me.) If time permitted, I would either come or leave via a back way in order to take the Galveston Ferry, get out of my car and enjoy the Gulf breeze. It was pure degenerate gambling bliss.

At the time, I wondered why dog racing existed in gaming’s ghetto. It seemed like a secret world, an acquired taste. Even non-racing fans can name several champion Thoroughbreds, but the only racing dog most people can name is Santa’s Little Helper.

I would not learn the reason until a few years later.

I started reading online about the cruelty of the sport. I read about overbreeding and how the puppies that don’t make the cut are killed. I read about the practice of training dogs with “live lure”—teaching them to hunt using live rabbits, cats and other animals. I read about how, despite the industry’s burgeoning adoption program, many dogs are killed when their racing days are through—and the canine “killing fields” that have been discovered to prove it. The dog racing industry has done little to refute this evidence, aside from making increasingly desperate pleas to adopt a retired racer.

I haven’t set foot in a dog track since I learned the truth about the sport, but I always kept a tiny glimmer of hope that the industry might somehow find a way to clean up its act.

I know in my heart that the voters of Massachusetts have done the right thing—but why does the vote leave me feeling a little bit sad?

******

For information on Going Home Greyhounds, an organization that places retired racing greyhounds in homes in the Pittsburgh area, go to www.goinghomegreyhounds.org.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Ohio state IS better than the Bengals, though. :)

roughrider said...

Greyhound racing is an exceedingly cruel and abusive industry, in which the dogs are often injured while racing, and are killed when they are no longer profitable and can't be adopted. Every year thousands of dogs are killed because they can no longer run fast enough. They daily face cruel treatment and neglect, often with sparse veterinary care. They are forced to perform all year, even on the hottest summer days. They are caged for up to 22 hours per day and fed the cheapest meat possible. Thousands are seriously injured while competing; these injuries include bone fractures, spinal cord injuries, seizures and death from cardiac arrest. Thousands of puppies are specially bred just to race. Dogs, which do not show ability while training, are killed. The lucky few, are adopted out. But there’s a down side to that too - every time a racing greyhound is rescued and adopted, some other companion animal in a pound or shelter is not. Using animals for entertainment is wrong. It is just plain cruel, inhumane and should be against the law. There are other outlets for gambling that don't exploit animals. How many more have to suffer and die before the laws will be changed and the animals set free?
Please take a moment to watch the following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOQHUsuaBPU and then pass it on to as many caring people as you can (the song track is sung by Sarah McLachlan). Look at the horrific conditions these poor animals must endure for a lifetime - however short it may be and remember these images the next time someone says to you "what a wonderful sport greyhound racing is". And, if there is a greyhound track in your state, stand up, be heard and rally behind those who may be working to shut them down. For more information on dog racing go to http://www.grey2kusa.org/.

beckyzoole said...

What's especially sad, I think, is that it could have been such a great sport, if only the dog owners and breeders would have treated their dogs as well as race horses are treated. Dogs love to run, and love to please people. They could have enjoyed their lives racing, if only they were treated well.

I love watching a fast dog run. "Poetry in motion" is such a cliche, but it's true when it comes to greyhounds.

Unknown said...

Say, Roughrider, did you even bother to read the blog post? You're spamming... er... preaching to the choir here.

Anonymous said...

whatever happened to Sweet Theme ?