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Who Da Man? by DaMan Sports This story is a followup to Horseracing 101. As you get older you realize that there are opportunities in life that present themselves to you and then its up to you as far as what you do with them. I personally like both Roger and Todd. What I learned from them from the beginning was how to win or lose with class. You put in all your work then whatever happens, happens. You don't get too high or too low. Well about 4 months after I met Roger an opportunity presented itself. He needed a favor. Now one thing I have learned from life is that if you get a chance to help someone out. Do them a favor, then by gosh do it. It always comes back at you double. Somehow, someway, if you help someone out you get rewarded by that person or someone else down the road. Anyway neither Roger or Todd could make it out to my store to pick up the Thorographs on this particular day so Roger asked me if I could run them out to him at Sportsmans Park in Cicero, about 45 minutes away. I knew this would be a big favor to him so I said sure. It was not only important to them, but also to dozens of their friends who also needed these sheets. They told me where their private box was and as I walked up the stairs at Sportsman's I saw Roger and his buddies. Roger smiled, and Todd being the quiet one, let out a yell "Here comes DaMan!" and the rest of his buddies went wild. I walked up to Roger he introduced me to a few of his friends and from then on they all called me DaMan, which is where my screenname originated from. Not from handicapping skills, just from doing someone a favor. Anyway Roger thanked me and asked if I would like to join them. I said I would love to and Todd patted me on the back and said "Welcome to our office." I took a seat by Roger and started to finalize my bets. Back then I use to get the Thorograph a day ahead of time so I basically knew who I liked, I would just wait til that day and then the odds would determine what I would do. After a few minutes went by Roger turned to me and asked me who I liked and I told him I liked a horse named Sunset Slew and that I would be boxing him with 2 other horses. He nodded in approval as I did not include the favorite. I asked him what he liked and he said, "I like Sunset Slew a little bit." Well I went up to bet the race and I came back to my seat just as the race went off. The bell sounded and 2 seconds after that bell rang Roger jumped to his feet and screamed, "Sunset Slew by 6 lengths or I rip up these F@#king tickets!" I was taken aback as this was the first time I had ever seen Roger even raise his voice let alone curse, but like Todd had said I was in their office now. I couldn't help but notice the look on a few of the players faces just as Roger had screamed. Todd didn't even flinch. A few of the other players either smiled or had a look of disgust. As they headed into the first turn Sunset Slew had the lead by a head but even I figured that would be the scenario. He was inside and as they started the back stretch Roger jumped up again and yelled "Sunset Slew by 6 lengths or I rip up these f@#king tickets!" As they finished that back stretch and headed into the third turn Sunset Slew still had just a heads lead over 3 other horses but you could tell he was being ridden nicely by the jockey, Juvenal Diaz. They spun out of that last turn and just as they hit the stretch Roger jumped up a third time and yelled "Hit him Diaz!" I swear to God, Diaz a split second later hit that horse just one time and he took off. Blew the other horses away in about an 1/8 of a mile and as he crossed the finish line first I heard the track announcer say," The winner Sunset Slew by 6 1/2 lengths." Roger turned to me with this intense look and said, "Lock of the f#@king day." Right then I knew who DaMan really was. |
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