The New NBA Timeout Rule and Horse Racing

If the customer doesn't like something, businesses usually do something about it, if they can. The NBA is a perfect example of looking to satisfy customers, though sometimes they are slow to react, but nowhere nearly as slow as horse racing.

I remember the ABA. Besides being known for their psychedelic fake basketball and the great Dr. J, they were way ahead of the curve as they introduced the 3 point basket in 1967 when their league formed (It was actually introduced by the very short live ABL in 1961). The rule made a lot of sense, giving a team the ability to make a long dramatic shot to win or tie a close game, and even as a teenager, I thought that when the ABA merged with the NBA, the three point shot would be part of the merger. It took another 4 years for the NBA to bring that extra bit of excitement to their league, but the point is that they did it.

Lately we've seen quite a few tweaks from speeding up the game to taking away plays that exploited the rules (like the Hack-A-Shaq tweak that came into effect a year ago). They still have to figure out how to handle the three point foul lean in, but that is tough nut to crack, but they'll get to it, because customers don't like it.

The last two minutes of the game were starting to get infuriating. Way too many timeouts were being called. I believe it got progressively worse the past few years. In a close game, there was pretty much a timeout every time the ball changed hands. It almost became a gimme that a timeout would be called after a made basket. From a customer's perspective there was no flow, it took up to a half hour to watch 2 minutes, and that meant way too many commercials as well.

It was not surprising that the NBA made the change this summer. Reducing the amount of timeouts that can be called in a game and limiting the amount of timeouts that can be called in the last two minutes and overtime.

This brings us to horse racing. The obvious parallel here is the notorious post time drag. This is a fairly new phenomenon, first it was only really noticed at one track, and somehow bean counter track executives from all over North America saw this as a money maker, and it really isn't. Horse racing, with falling handle (especially when taking inflation and a larger population into account) should be doing whatever they can do to not piss off their customers (By customers, I mean horseplayers, not horsemen, but that is another story).

There can't possibly be one bettor on this planet who enjoys post drag. And it really is unnecessary. NYRA, who seems to do things right relative to the industry as a whole, does not participate in post drag, and lately they've been bucking the trend when it comes to handle. Remember track execs, higher handle generally means there are more eyes on your racetrack.

If horseplayers know there is no post drag, they will bet earlier. And more importantly, they won't have another reason to be upset. From high takeout to super trainers and synthetic drugs and a few things in between, horse racing doesn't need to give their customers another reason to stop playing.

The problem is that horse racing does not have a commissioner to lay down the law and enforce things. They really need one. See WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF HORSE RACING HAD A COMMISSIONER


One final thing, thank you Michael Jordan for getting the NBA to go with longer baggy shorts in 1984.

What Do You Think Of The Cangamble Blog

Note to Internet Explorer uses. There is a problem with IE and Blogger right now. If you get an abort message, click OK. You will be sent to a page asking if you want to do diagnostics. Simply click the back button, and the IE issue will most likely be resolved. This is why I use Mozilla Firefox.

Yesterday, at Fort Erie during Prince Of Wales day, I set out to find out:


Thanks to everyone who participated including Cindy Pierson Dulay who runs Horse-Races.net and About.com: Horse Racing, Jocko Lauzon, Peter Gross (Down The Stretch Newspaper), Kevin Attard (the best dressed guy at The Fort yesterday), Daryl Wells Jr., Jim Thibert (who waved at the end), and all the rest. Cub reporter Perry Lefko was also very helpful in the making of the video.


Gallant Wins The Prince Of Wales

The track was absolutely the most speed favoring one of the year and the rail was golden, yet the pace was very slow in the Prince Of Wales.
The fastest early pace horse, on form, in the race, Mr. Foricos Two U decide to rate. Why? Was that Mike Smith's decision or the outfit's decision? Or was the horse just off his game? As I stated in my post handicapping the race, my biggest concern with this horse was his breeding. Porto Foricos horses are not great routers. They are more inclined to be 6-7 furlong horses. This one has shown that he can go around two turns though, but I haven't seen very many do so, especially at Fort Erie. I had him pegged as the lone speed in the race, and the track came up perfect for him. He at least stayed near the rail most of the race, but he had no chance yesterday trying to stalk.

And what is with Eye Of The Leopard deciding not train at least once at Fort Erie? Horrible move. As Elissa Blowe rightfully points out almost daily when doing the handicapping at Fort Erie, horses dropping in from Woodbine many times don't do so well their first time racing at The Fort. By shipping and running The Leopard, it may very well cost him the Triple Crown This Year. That being said, the track totally played against him yesterday, and if the track was playing fair, he might have won regardless of his connection's blunder.

Stewart Elliot on Milwaukee Appeal did the right thing early by grabbing the lead on the inside going into the first turn, but then blew the race by allowing Gallant not only take over the lead but also let Corey Fraser grab the rail. The filly still did run a very game race. She could be the second best 3 year old filly in North America right now, which still means she could be 16 lengths inferior to Rachel Alexandra.

It was a masterful ride on Gallant by Corey Fraser who out rode the rest of the jockeys in the race.

There was tremendous drama during the extra long wait as the judges tried to figure out who won the race. I was 90% sure, Milwaukee Appeal won it after watching the stretch replay 3 or 4 times, though when I watched the race, I was a little past the wire, and it seemed Gallant was in front at that time.

When Peter Kyte finally announced that Gallant had won, there was probably not a happier person on the planet than Niagara Falls native, jockey Corey Fraser.

Great race no matter how you slice it.


Non Seeded Pick 6 Attracts $11,000 In New Money At Woodbine
Since the Pick 6 only usually only got around $1,000-$3,000 in new money prior to Woodbine's Turbo Charge experiment, I can only conclude that many bettors were duped into thinking that Woodbine was still seeding the pools.

The small field sizes offered, coupled with most people knowing the Turbo Charged Pick 6 was no more, resulted in a pathetic $2.1 million in handle at Woodbine yesterday.