Word: wonderlands
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Problem is, the logical extension of Bucci'ssolution is to bring the product directly to thepeople. Beam high-profile races into their ownliving rooms. Let them phone in their bets fromhome. Technologically, it can be done. And thatcould be the end of the Wonderland. If peoplecould stay home and bet, why would they want tocome to the track...
...experience the awe-inspiring spectacleof live dog-racing. Come on, most of Wonderland'sclientele already watches the races on closed-circuit TV. There just isn't that much toexperience. As Vader wrote, "there are no manesand tail blowing, no bright silks, no sweat nobloodlines going back centuries, no Old Kentuckyhome," Wonderland runs ads featuring abasset houndnamed Buck-O with a rocket strapped to his backbeneath the legend, "The Basic Idea BehindGreyhound Racing." They're supposed to betongue-in-cheek. But that is the basic idea behindgreyhound racing. It's too damn fast. by the timeyou've figured out which...
...their friends, either. Wonderlandbrochures are full happy young people inbright-colored collared shirts hanging out withtheir best Wonderland buddies. Truth is, nobodyhas any Wonderland buddies. "I mean you recognizepeople, but you don't make friends," Wayne says.There's nothing communal about wonderland. Peoplego, bet, watch the races on a TV screen, cash in,go home. if they could do it without goinganywhere, they would...
...though Wonderland continues tosurvive. Every night--and four afternoon matineesa week--a few thousand men and women come towonderland to bet the dogs. More on specialpromotional nights. Fewer on nights when RogerClemens is pitching for the Sox. they're notbeautiful people, wealthy people, famous people,or powerful people, but they're people. "Averagefolks, the kind of people you'd meet at thedrugstore," says Larry Rooney, a 19-year veteranof the Massachusetts racing Commission. they'vegot nothing better to do than risk some cash, noone better to see than each other, So they comeback to the end of the blue Line...
...come back to Wonderland a few times. Afterthe first time, I stopped noticing the dogs'names. I stopped noticing the names of theirowners, kennels, trainers sires, dams. I stoppedthinking about the cruelty of the sport. I learnedto play the numbers, the percentages. I realizedthat I wasn't betting against the track--Whichtakes it cut no matter who wins-- but againstWayne and the rest of the Wonderland masses, and Ibet accordingly...