Ok, maybe it’s not a full year yet, but does 2020 go in the books as the year that nothing happened, or the year that changed everything?

As we flip the calendar to 2021, I find myself increasingly nostalgic.  Perhaps a combination of my age, the milestone of time, and the year we have just sustained.

I’m thankful that I was on the road in Florida in March when the world hit the pause button, and that I was able to see live racing at Tampa Bay Downs one of the last days it was available – anywhere – in the spring.   Here in the northeast, we are still at a pretty strong pause.  It’s not quite as constricted as it was in April or May, but it certainly isn’t “life as normal.”   

Still no fans at the majority of racetracks, but if I had told you a year ago that the New England Patriots played a complete season without a single fan at Gillette Stadium, who’d have believed it.

As the Pats play the moribund Jets in the merciful season finale for both teams, it’s an interesting milestone in that the Patriot dynasty has pretty clearly reached an end, or at least a sustained ‘pause’ – the new buzzword.

I’ve dipped in and out of New England my entire adult life, with stints in New York in between.  Outside of the Super Bowl Shuffle Patriots fluke in 1986, my whole childhood, they were pretty much terrible.   As I hit my late 20’s the worm began to turn.   The Parcells Pats made it to a Super Bowl, and gave birth to the 2001-2020 dynasty years.

Virtually every significant Patriots win carries a memory with it – whether it was venison sausages in the snow at Frankie’s in Maine in 2002, a gambling coup in Vermont in 2004 over Carolina, clam chowder and cheesesteaks in Brooklyn in ’05 beers in Pittsfield against the Broncos, 16-0 and a poker game in Connecticut, the Superbowl cigar stroll in Portland, to 28-3.

Amazing how sports helps to define us.  Not the games themselves, but the times, the relationships, the places.

Bill Simmons did a fantastic podcast a year or so ago – the 25 Greatest New England Patriots wins – and its so definitive and interesting that the 52-3 blowout over Joe Gibbs Redskins is simply honorable mention.

So time winds on.   I’ve spent the holiday break with one eye on the past and the passing of time.  With visits to family for as ‘tradtional’ of a Christmas as we can muster at my parents house these days, a look at old photo albums to perk discussion in the past and family history, and the inexorable amount of nothing in the final couple days of vacation with great skies and sloppy snow and rain,  Old stops in Oneonta, Rochester, New York City and Vermont come to mind.   What was life like then.  No cell phones, the dawn of e mail and web usage.  Were the human connections better?   I’m not a big drinker, but a night at the bar with some pals would be a welcome break right now – a slice of cold cheese pizza, or the best burger in town, without a mask or a second thought.

The other eye is on a look ahead.  No hard and fast resolutions this year, but hopes to write a bit more frequently here, better track the playbacks – the 100 playback challenge has already started to try to get a stronger grip on ROI.   As a semi-pro player, there is only so much note taking and spreadsheeting I can do before it truly becomes too much of a duplication between work and professional life !  

My pet project for January and February will be to try to analyze the profile of a Gulfstream stakes winner.  It can be seemingly unpredictable at times, how do we capitalize?

Still working on the angles software.  Some good work has been done, but now – a goal!   Have the bulk of work done by the time Belmont Park opens – and then run daily testing using Belmont – both to correct bugs and prioritize angles and better rank the picks.

I’ve cooked more in 2020 due to being home for the pandemic.   In 2021, going to try to carry the best of that forward – with a handful of family favorite recipes , and cooking something either epic or enduring once a week to make my weeks easier as I bounce through the oddities of my schedule and horses-playing while eating healthy-ish.

And hopefully more long walks and at some point a return to the gym, or building a home gym – if conditions are better for either.

 That’s all for now – time waits for no man, and there are three possible plays on my card for late today – Magic Dance at Fairgrounds, Sabine’s Pride and Frosteria at Santa Anita.   Let’s make this time count, and let’s cash.