In the famous Seinfeld episode known as ‘Festivus’, part of the Costanza family’s holiday tradition is known as the airing of grievances - when family members can tell others, in-person, what they’ve done to piss each other off over the past year. And as much as George Costanza hated the ritual, it’s something the whole world could really use today.
IN-PERSON being the key.
You see, in today’s world we seem to have a constant airing of grievances, thanks to this thing called social media, but all it really seems to create is negativity and hate.
I’m not even going to get into world politics here (thankfully) but it seems that in most other walks of life as well, many people seem to be very negative - and their first step is usually to go to social media and rant.
Recent examples of this include:
• The Super Bowl halftime show was AWFUL, and the NFL should be embarrassed that they let Kendrick Lamar perform.
• Beyonce should NEVER have won a Grammy Award in the genre of Country Music - she’s not a Country singer!
• The NFL refs were all cheating because the league WANTED the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl - and a decent human being like Taylor Swift should be booed and disrespected because it’s her fault.
• Mitch Marner SUCKS and it’s his fault that the Leafs never win in the playoffs.
• The Blue Jays should GET RID OF Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. because the team only won 74 games last year.
• The O’Brien Awards are a JOKE because - insert name here - wasn’t Horse Of The Year, and because some other horse that I haven’t heard of got a few votes.
I could go on and on but it’s pretty depressing that people actually get this angry over these sorts of things.
Here’s another take:
Even though Kendrick Lamar isn’t your cup of tea, he’s factually one of the planet’s most popular musical acts, and the NFL are obviously trying to attract a younger demographic. They’ve already got you, so it’s actually a wise marketing move on their part.
There are 13,000 Grammy voters, so even though you don’t like Beyonce’s Country Album, a result with that many voters can’t really be rigged - even though it makes you feel better to insist it was. Sure, the Grammy’s annually create controversy, but why do you even care so much? Was your own album the runner-up or something?
The NFL referees who people are criticizing are mostly respected veterans with 20+ years of experience. Horsepeople are insulted when the betting public says that some races are fixed, so it’s a little hypocritical for us to then say NFL refs fix games. As for Eagles fans booing Taylor Swift, Saquon Barkley was one of the first ones to admit that as an Eagle this embarrassed him greatly.
Mitch Marner leads the NHL in primary assists right now, and he just set up Connor McDavid’s epic winner in the 4 Nations Final, with a brilliant tape-to-tape pass. You’ll miss him when he’s gone, you so-called Leaf fans.
Bo Bichette led the American League in hits twice in his first four seasons (he was injured for most of 2024) and Vladdy is one of the best overall hitters in the Majors. You’ll miss them when they’re gone too.
Although there’s nothing that you can really do, in the grand scheme of things, in regard to the above five examples, there is something you can try and do, in regard to the aforementioned O’Brien Awards - if you truly think there’s an issue. It’s called constructive criticism.
I realize that no system is perfect, and when it comes to a voting process there’s always going to be some controversy, but you’re part of this industry, so if you have something to say about the O’Briens why don’t you just reach out to someone at Standardbred Canada and have a civil conversation?
You have an elected director from your region and their email address is posted on the SC website. Before you just bash something on social media, did you consider just sending your representative an email first? Probably not.
Some people reach out to me with their thoughts and/or frustrations, and even though I’m not necessarily part of the O’Brien process, I do have the ear of those who are, and I always voice those concerns of our participants.
Do I think the current O’Brien setup is absolutely perfect? No. And trust me when I say that I’ve debated, argued and even sometimes yelled for change. Some of that change has been made and some has not, but people like me will always keep trying.
And I promise you that the people who are the O’Brien decision-makers want the same thing as you - they want the perfect system. It’s just easier said than done, but you’d know both sides if you actually asked questions rather than just tossed uneducated insults from your keyboard.
I’ve even seen recent O’Brien winners question the voting process on social media. But they didn’t seem to question it when they won? Funny how that works. I really just wish they’d reach out and ask someone, and if their points are valid, become part of the solution.
The other thing I saw online recently was a horseperson emphatically stating that “The people in the NFL who hired Kendrick Lamar to do the Super Bowl halftime show should all be fired.”
Remind me to NEVER help that person get involved with the marketing of harness racing!
I do like some Hip-Hop/Rap Music, and although I’m not really a Kendrick fan, I do realize if we could somehow get an artist as popular as him to perform at the N.A. Cup (and I realize that we couldn’t), it would be a huge thing for our sport.
Harness racing already has you and I… it’s about time we all realize that it’s everybody but us that we need to attract.
Grievances aired!
Dan Fisher [email protected]