by Bob Carson

Editor’s Note: The USTA website is pleased to present freelance writer Bob Carson and his popular “Outside the Box” features. This monthly series is a menu of outlandish proposals presented with a wink — but the purpose behind them is serious. The views contained in this column are that of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the United States Trotting Association.

I always tell my kids if you lay down, people will step over you. But if you keep scrambling, if you keep going, someone will always, always give you a hand. Always. But you gotta keep dancing, you gotta keep your feet moving. — Morgan Freeman

Bob Carson

You do not want to go through life without dancing.

Yes, dancing takes a little courage. Posting on social media takes courage. Even forwarding material takes courage. The same can be said about singing, writing, starting a business, telling a joke or public speaking. The reason is simple. You expose yourself and some people will find you a fool.

Harness racing needs more fools. We need ambassadors who are fearless enough, foolish enough, to carry our message into alien territory. Today, the new world we live in, the world of social media — you can easily be one of these fortunate fools without leaving the comfort of your digital devices.

Not me, you say.

You might surprise yourself. You might find the step to social engagement is not as terrifying as it may seem. For some of us, making fools of ourselves is an art form. Once you learn that the world does not end when you make a faux pas, it gets easier.

Autumn Ryan graphic

Start with the premise that whatever you write or post or forward — someone in the general public will find you wrong or perhaps strange. So what? Life is richer when you sing, talk, engage, opine or dance. Do your best with good cheer and dance.

Here is a dance you might try. Select a group of folks who do not know about our sport. Ask them to spend some time with us. Be their guide and take them on a trip via social media.

I did this. The visitors to harness horse racing learned a bit about our sport. I learned plenty about why we have such a difficult time converting the unconverted. The dance began with a dozen e-mail or text conversations. Here is the first.

On Sunday, June 29, 2014 at 1:15 p.m., <minortrips@aol.com> wrote

BC: Hey Scott, how goes it in Alabama?

SW: Going good, what’s up?

BC: Going to give you a great shot at winning a hundred bucks for nothing.

SW: Money for nothing, I’m in. I take it this has something to do with horse racing, you still doing that? Remember when you took me out to the racetrack once? Remember you lost every race? LOL

BC: Yes, yes and yes.

SW: What’s the plan?

BC: Very simple. I am sending you and 11 other people a list of Ohio trotting horses that will be racing for the very first time in their lives on the July 3. From the list of horses, you choose two, any two. Your horses will race through the summer. The player whose two horses wind up with the most money gets $100.

SW: Who are the other players? Am I gonna get dusted by pros?

BC: Eleven other people like you, who know little, if anything, about harness racing. Many are young and play fantasy leagues in other sports. In effect, this is a mini-fantasy league but in this crude edition, the selections are just guesses so you have as good a chance as anyone.

SW: Can I watch the races?

BC: Yes — on your computer. I will send instructions.

SW: Are you going to keep a scoreboard to show the standings?

BC: Yes, every couple of weeks I will notify the players via text message and e-mail of the standings and I will answer questions.

SW: Sounds like a lot of fun. Ready to see the list of horses I have to choose from. I look forward to pulling hard for my carefully selected horse. This is very exciting!! I am all in! I am ready. Thanks!

BC: Just look over the list of 2-year-old filly trotters you will soon receive and pick two of them — reply to me via e-mail with your choices. On Wednesday, I will send you a chart with all the players and the horses they selected. Thursday night you watch the first race and root for your horses.

And so it went through the summer, a running dialog where the visitors to our little world of trotters and pacers asked questions, watched races, picked horses, and offered opinions, suggestions and complaints.

We also engaged in some some good-natured ribbing. One of the new visitors won a hundred dollars (ironically, a pharmacist who was the least conversant). Some were interested; some really did not give a hoot (especially when their chance of winning fell by the wayside); some were funny — like this series of replies after the first race (which was the first harness race a few of the players had ever seen).

Rookie League (Part 5)
Feedback Fun

As some of you know, some of your feedback may end up as content for my writing efforts to promote the sport. A lively bunch of replies arrived after the first race of the season for our little competition.

Text to Bob
“Found the site and the races easily on my I-pad but it would have helped if you told us the numbers of our horses and also it would have been instructive to know ahead of time they made TWO !!!! laps and where the finish line was (LOL). I thought I won and then they went around again!”

Text to Bob
“Dude, I want a redraft, one of my horses was doing okay….then it wasn’t.” LOL

SW wrote: What are the odds of being able to pick the two horses that finished second to last and dead last (distanced), in the same race!!!!!!!

Do they have a Lastfecta? If they were trotting clockwise, I would have finished first and second. I was just kidding picking Talissa and Defiant Victory. I really meant I would take Sunrise Nibbles and Honey B! Perhaps I will get to, at least, get a glimpse of one of my horses before the season’s over. LOL

When Dennis told me the results after the race, I was not surprised. He said, “I was 12th, and he was first.” All I asked was, “How many of us are competing again?” He replied, “Twelve!” and I laughed humorlessly.”

It was fun watching the races. Trotting reminds me of the Olympic event known as Race Walking. In both disciplines, my thoughts are flooded with the same reaction: GET GOING/TAKE OFF. I enjoy anything that involves competition. I never thought I would be mathematically unable to win the Grand Prize, after one race.

Thanks Bob! I will be eagerly anticipating the next major stakes race.

Scott

Bob – All I can say after the first race would be from one of McDonald’s favorite slogans — I’m lovin it!!! Never been in first place, will enjoy for a week. Thanks, I got quite a jump on the others.

On further review, “Too soon to give up hope — Defiant Victory and Talissa are going from worst to first. I can feel it. I think my drivers’ carts had bad wheels on it. They are going to swap their last buggy for a chariot type model, with Michelin tires. If possible, Charlton Heston would officially be my new driver of Defiant Victory, and Ayrton Senna would get the nod navigating Talissa. Ha! Well like they say, dreams are what make life tolerable.”

Reserve Stables, LOL. Love it! Should be fun! Right off the bat, both of mine were racing one another. Would have been a one-two punch for the Reserve Stables until one got sick!

I will understand this a bit more next time.

***

To be honest, although the summer was fun and interesting, the experiment was not a success. None of the dozen subjects appears to have caught the harness racing bug.

So what? I danced. My social media skills were updated. My visitors remain friends. The world did not end because of this failure to convert some young folks. I love the Winston Churchill philosophy, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

There is no reason why you could not try a similar experiment. You could improve on my crude prototype. For example, I should have asked the players put a little “skin in the game.” A dedicated single platform like a Facebook account would have worked better. Shortening our time frame and giving the players a chance to be more active and less passive would have been an improvement. Hey, you try, hopefully you learn, you try again.

Your motivation could be a challenge, simply fun, or even a commercial enterprise. All you need are a group of people who do not know anything about harness racing (not difficult to find), a computer, cell phone and enthusiasm.

You can dance.

Happy Holidays!