Think HFStival With Cheaper Beers and Lamer Bands

Preakness has brought me some great memories (Afleet Alex's nose in the dirt W at 4 to 1) and some awful memories (nice ankles, Barbaro, it's too painful to remember the line). But the one tie that binds all those memories together is the booze, which we without question purchased prior to our trip to Pimlico.

Sadly, as of today, BYOB on the Preakness infield is no more.

It really is the end of an era. The end of a beer-soaked, urine-puddled, porta-potty racing filled era.

As they say, all good things must come to an end, and in the era of moral standing where smoking is no longer permitted in bars (except in Arlington), trans fats aren't permitted in foods, and politicians are required to pay their taxes I think this was just the next shoe to drop.

Am I mad about it? Not really. I wasn't planning on going this year, and let's be honest, since many people that I know who were planning on going, but likely won't with this change, somebody is bound to have a good party, and it won't cost me $100 to go to it. From a tradition standpoint, it is a bummer though. For me, kids getting all boozed up at Pimlico once a year is a great Maryland tradition. But I think statewide, the opinions would be much more mixed, and may even tip toward the anti position. Judging by the standard Baltimore Sun coverage post-Preakness, it's seen as more of a mockery of state values, rather than the huge party/great time we've all come to know and love. That may be that to truly enjoy it, it must be viewed through beer goggles, but who's to say.

Who should be mad about it? People like Metzger who had a awe-inspiring Preakness attendance streak on the line, bus drivers, and hotel owners.

Metz couldn't be much saltier about this, but since he rarely enunciates I decided to avoid the interview. It's safe to assume that the elimination of his favorite annual party really grinds his gears.

Now onto some actual gripes. Bus Drivers and Hotel Owners in BMo must be pretty bummed that a major pay day for them is gone. I doubt many 18-24 year-olds are going to be willing to rent buses or get hotel rooms in downtown Charm City for this one. But if they do, I feel like finding a DD will be the relied on alternative because nobody is going to want to pay large sums of money to go somewhere that they'll have to pay more $ on beers.

The best comparison I can think of is the HFStival. To my knowledge, HFStival never permitted outside beverages either, but where there was a will there was a way (who didn't tape ziplock bags filled with cheap vodka to their body?). It always seemed like there was a pretty solid turnout, but clearly the bands were the headline. ZZ Top and Buckcherry, although big bands in their own right, really don't have that much of a draw right now.

Either way, even with a seemingly successful event, WHFS and the HFStival did not stand the test of time, and I think that's where the lesson is here.

The fact of that matter is that, as much as it pains a horse racing fan to say it, aside from the Triple Crown, horse racing just isn't that popular. Even when you tell people "we'll give you a huge field to do whatever you want, including gambling" and over 100,000 routinely show up, you still can't turn enough of a profit.

I'm not sure if it will work. Initially I felt like it had a chance. Maybe there are folks that don't want to walk through pee puddles all day that may enough a cheap day at a Triple Crown race. Unfortunately, and I know this from personal experience at the Kentucky Derby, there aren't.

So here's to you Maryland Jockey Club. I'm pullin for this to workout so we can keep Preakness in Maryland, but I think it smells like a desperate situation.

Either way, we know it probably won't. Just like there's an entire generation of people that never knew of getting boozed up on the Metro for a day of music fun and fornication at RFK for the HFStival, soon there will be a generation who won't have to figure out how to drink 10 beers on a bus from Gaithersburg to Baltimore without an obvious place to release some fluids on their way to Preakness.