ridiculous quote of the day
Living in Kentucky means that the newspapers are currently full of stories about this past weekend's Belmont Stakes...how it turned out, why it turned out the way it did, what Big Brown's loss means to the sport, etc. And while it is a bit disappointing that Big Brown was unable to win the elusive Triple Crown (which has now gone unclaimed for thirty years!), what I've found most interesting in these articles is the varying opinions about the horse's trainer. He definitely seems to be one of those individuals that people either love or hate...yet he doesn't seem to care what people think of him. In the right circumstances, such indifference to public opinion can be admirable.
However, I read a quote of his in this morning's paper that made me wonder just how nonchalant one person can afford to be about their public image when he is so very much in the spotlight right now. A commentary by William C. Rhoden was discussing the role steroids (or the lack thereof) may or may not have played in Big Brown's exciting wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, followed by his unprecedented loss in the Belmont Stakes. Rhoden explained that the trainer "admitted to The Daily News that he gave Big Brown and all his other horses shots of [the anabolic steroid] Winstrol on the 15th of each month. He said he did not know what it did, but 'I just like using it.' "
Let's repeat that:
"He said he did not know what it did, but 'I just like using it.' "
As a proponent for giving people the benefit of the doubt, I would really like to think that the trainer's full quote didn't sound so ridiculous in its original context...that, in whittling the quote down to that inane sound bite, the author is somehow altering the intention of the trainer's comments. I would really like to think that a trainer for horses that are worth millions of dollars would be intimately familiar with the benefits and drawbacks of the drugs he's giving his clients' horses...that he merely fumbled in explaining the details of his horses' history with steroids.
Because seriously? Who admits (to national media!) that they administer drugs to horses, without knowing what the effects will be, just because they like using them?
Where I am: Lebanon, KY
What I'm reading: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
However, I read a quote of his in this morning's paper that made me wonder just how nonchalant one person can afford to be about their public image when he is so very much in the spotlight right now. A commentary by William C. Rhoden was discussing the role steroids (or the lack thereof) may or may not have played in Big Brown's exciting wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, followed by his unprecedented loss in the Belmont Stakes. Rhoden explained that the trainer "admitted to The Daily News that he gave Big Brown and all his other horses shots of [the anabolic steroid] Winstrol on the 15th of each month. He said he did not know what it did, but 'I just like using it.' "
Let's repeat that:
"He said he did not know what it did, but 'I just like using it.' "
As a proponent for giving people the benefit of the doubt, I would really like to think that the trainer's full quote didn't sound so ridiculous in its original context...that, in whittling the quote down to that inane sound bite, the author is somehow altering the intention of the trainer's comments. I would really like to think that a trainer for horses that are worth millions of dollars would be intimately familiar with the benefits and drawbacks of the drugs he's giving his clients' horses...that he merely fumbled in explaining the details of his horses' history with steroids.
Because seriously? Who admits (to national media!) that they administer drugs to horses, without knowing what the effects will be, just because they like using them?
Where I am: Lebanon, KY
What I'm reading: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
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