hotSo I tried, I really tried to stay focused – I read my increasingly creased Stories of English book during the boring bits (why do they need to interview so many B-list celebrities?).
I was really fighting drowsiness, though. Ah, but then the jockeys were called to the post. OK, cool! But I still kept getting into these microsleeps. OK, OK, focus.
And the next thing I know, it’s 7:30 and the announcer is saying “… triumph and tragedy at the Derby…” and I’d missed the most exciting two minutes in sports – Big Brown won from the 20th gate, edging out Eight Belles, the filly I was rooting for, who broke both of her ankles during the post-race cool down and had to be euthanized on the track.
Maybe it’s just as well I missed seeing that.
On top of it all, I felt like I kind of wasted my time, because I could have slept through the morning and seen the same amount of the race (nothing).
I’m only really mentioning this because it was so sad – I had only a vague idea that horse racing could be so brutal. I’m not a fan by any means; the Derby just happens to be an important sports event in general, kind of like how if people only watch one golf tournament a year, it’ll be the Masters. It's the … just the humanity … the pathos? of waking up to hear what I heard, it all sat in my head for quite a while, even after I woke up later that morning.
