[00:00:03] Speaker A: The following program is brought to you.
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The Daily Gazette Company presents the parting Shots podcast. Now here's your host, Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott. Thank you, Scott Gizzi, and welcome to the Parting Shots podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me from the parting podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. And happy May. Yes, we are in May now, and we're getting closer to spring and closer to summer and grand time. And yes, a lot of fun going on, especially a big week coming up in Louisville, Kentucky. It's the first Saturday of the of May. That means the Kentucky Derby, the 150th running of the Derby will take place Saturday and our Gazette reporter and horse racing writer Mike McCann will be there. He will join me for his at the track with Mac segment. We'll talk about the race coming up on Saturday and who he likes to win the Kentucky Derby. So we'll talk a little bit about that.
Also, some college hockey talk. I got on the Zoom press conference on last Friday with new Princeton head coach Ben Sire, 25 year veteran of college hockey coaching as an assistant. First twelve years at Quinnipiac and the last 13 at Cornell. He's taking over for Ron Fogarty, who was let go shortly after the end of the season back in March. So we'll have some, I had some questions for Ben to ask, and he actually knew what the parting shots podcast was, so I was happy about that. So we'll talk to Ben a little bit about that and taking your as a head coach, first time in college hockey as a head coach. So we'll talk to Ben about that. So coming up, Mike McGaddam with his at the track with Max segment. We'll talk Kentucky Derby. You're listening to the Parting Shots podcast.
[00:02:10] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Daily Gazette news columnist Andrew Waite and host of the weighing in podcast, which takes you inside my award winning featured news column by offering the backstory, thought process and interviews that inform my work. Plus, readers have their chance to respond. The weighing in podcast is
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Hi, this is Union college athletic director Jim McLaughlin. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shot.
Welcome back to the podcast. The first Saturday of May is coming up this week, and know what that means. It's time for the Kentucky Derby, the 150th running of the Roses, and our daily gazette sportswriter Mike McGadam, who does a great job covering horse racing, will be in Louisville for the event.
You're making your way down there. How are things going right now?
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Well, as I told you before, we got on, why I made it to opening day at finger Lakes yesterday because I stayed overnight at my sister's house in Rochester.
So I made it for the late double at Finger Lakes. And now I'm right around the corner from Batavia Downs harness track. I'm not going to go in there because I don't think they're racing. I probably wouldn't anyway. So I'm sitting in Batavia, New York, in the rain, and I'm on my way to, to Buffalo shortly. And then our, our friend Gene Kirchner from the Buffalo News and I are going to drive down first thing in the morning on Wednesday. And of course, by the time this airs, we'll probably be there already.
So I just wasted a lot of breath. But I'm good. I'm good at that.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: And of course, this is another, another season of at the track with Mac. Course, we'll be doing a lot of that during the Saratoga. Of course, the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, too. We got a lot of ground. The COVID here. This is. Is this the most exciting triple crown for you to cover? Just because we know we're going to see the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga?
[00:04:16] Speaker A: I don't know. It's different, that's for sure, because we've. Nobody's ever experienced this before. I mean, these tracks have been around since the 1860s and 1870s, so they've been doing this a long time. But the Belmont has never been held at Saratoga. It has been held at other tracks. In fact, it was. It was. They took place at two different tracks down in the Bronx before Belmont park was even built in 1905. So it's bounced around a little bit already, but necessitated by the reconstruction of Belmont park down state. For the next two years, they're going to run it up here because Saratoga can handle a crowd of 50,000, gives Naira a chance to showcase, you know, their big race at one of the, um, most important venues, sporting venues, not just horse racing in the country. And so there's a lot of boxes that it checks off and. And it's gonna. I'll tell you one thing I'm excited about is not having to find an Airbnb down in Nassau county for a paint for the Belmont.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: So, pretty expensive, huh?
[00:05:22] Speaker A: No, just a pain in the butt. I mean, I don't have to pay for it.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: That's the good part.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: But it's kind of like a fishing trip a little bit.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: So let's, let's look at the head to the Kentucky Derby, she says on Saturday. And for the third year row, we are forced to talk about who is not in the Derby along with who is by virtue of the six time derby winning training trainer Bob Baffer. So, ongoing suspension from running horses at Churchill Downs. And of course, he has some big time three year old colts in the barn is barn again. So it's hello, Preakness.
What do you think about that?
[00:05:56] Speaker A: When I was typing out the notes this morning in the line, hello, Preakness reminded me of Tom Cruise in risky business when it looks like he's not going to get into Princeton. So at the end he kind of goes, hello, University of Illinois.
That's kind of Bafford's spot right now.
Of course, Tom Cruise did get into Princeton after all. But Bafford will not be in the derby this year.
A lot of people are saying that that puts an asterisk on this year's Derby. And I saw a joke on Twitter today where some people are saying it's Derby 149 and a half instead of 150. I don't buy into that stuff. I mean, it's 20 horses. The absence of one guy, even if, you know, he has one or two horses that could potentially win it, aren't in there.
It doesn't diminish the event. It puts a certain characteristic on it that we've experienced the last couple of years where the most prominent figure in all of horse racing easily is not part of the biggest show in horse racing every year.
So that's going to kind of put that twist and you're going to have to, you know, anything we write about is going to have to supply the context of him not being there. But I'm not going to dwell on it.
I did write a column a couple months ago saying, all you people out there expecting to see a triple crown on the line up in Saratoga, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but Bafford's going to come loaded for bear. So whoever wins the derby, he's going to have move and maybe imagination and in the Preakness, and I'm sure he would delight in the fact of, you know, blowing up everybody's triple crown aspirations by winning the Preakness. So he's always going to be looming out there. He just won't be at Churchill DOWNS this weekend, you know, a race that he, you know, highly covets. But in the meantime, Churchill Downs has really been sticklers about what appears to be an open ended suspension at this point because initially they banged him for two years, and then back in July they decided he didn't bend the knee enough or something, and so they extended it to this year. Not only that, imposed the January 29 deadline on his owners to switch over their horses to other trainers who would be eligible to run in the derby and run and get qualifying points in the Derby prep races.
And one of them, Amir Zidane, who's at the center of this whole thing since 2021 because he owned Medina Spirit, who won the Derby that year and subsequently was disqualified leading to the Baffert ban, you know, tried to drag it through the courts and tried to sue and came up with all these arguments all the way up to April and, you know, consistently got shut down on all that stuff. So he owns move. That's why I bring him up also.
So, yeah, he's not going to be there, but his presence will be felt, as always, and especially, you know, a couple weeks after that for the freakness, where I expect them to bring one and maybe imagination also to be. To have big shots at the Preakness.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: Do some people feel sorry for Bafford?
[00:09:08] Speaker A: I don't know. Feel sorry for it? I think there's developing empathy from people who generally don't like him only because, like, Churchill Downs has kind of turned the tables to suddenly be the bad guys. And you have to understand, and I've written this before, too, you don't mess with the Kentucky Derby. So if you have a horse that tests positive for a drug, no matter what the circumstances are, to the point where they get disqualified from having won the race, that puts such a blotch on by far the most important event that Churchill Downs incorporated. They own several other big tracks. You know, it sort of drives their whole revenue every year. And so if you mess with that, they're going to take extra umbrage if, you know, if you put a kind of a black eye on that event. So I think they, you know, their consistent message about the whole issue is that he refuses to accept responsibility for multiple drug violations and failed drug tests. And so I'm not sure what they want him to do or how he's supposed to express that. He did say, I'm I've dropped this from the legal aspect of it. I will no longer pursue this in the court because he, besides his owner, you know, Bafford tried to get stuff overturned through the court system as well, got shot down every time, and finally issued a statement last year saying, all right, I'm through. Earlier this year, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm moving on. I'm just going to run my horses where they'll let me run them and we'll win big races and take it from there. So from that angle, the tables, you know, he's easy to look at like the darth Vader of, of horse racing. I think that, you know, I don't use the word sympathy because nobody's sympathizing with him, but I think there's a little empathy just because Churchill Downs is just, like, dug in so rigidly that people are wondering, like, what? Well, what's Baffert supposed to do exactly? Apologize or. I don't know. So, so it has shifted a little bit, but nobody's feeling for sorry for, for Bob Bafford, who's still, you know, winning big races all over the place.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, besides the buzz over this being the 150th Derby, Churchill Downs has also unveiled its new saddling Pat paddock enclosure, which is built for the low, low price of $200 million. Wow. Can I have $200 million?
[00:11:40] Speaker A: If you can. If you capable of building this freaking palace that they have for a paddock. Now, I was looking at it earlier today, and I recommend it. Looking at this, you know, there's a variety of video tours of it, and, you know, they invited the media in to show it off to them a couple weeks ago, I think it was. And it's like a mini, like Roman Coliseum the way it's set up with all these premium seatings and suites and luxury this and that.
It is funny to note that while this is going on or while this has happened, meanwhile, naira blew up or is blowing up Belmont park entirely and rebuilding it with a $455 million dollar loan from New York state. Churchill Downs basically said, hold our beer, naira. We're going to go ahead and spend 200 million just on the panic.
But, you know, it seems like a little over the top to me. It's beautiful, blah, blah, blah. But there's, you know, there's $15,000 suites in there. And by $15,000, I mean, that's what you have to pay to get one of those tables to get a seat in there just for the oaks and Derby day.
So it's as high end as it gets. You know, it's beautiful, you know, but it just seems a little overly extravagant to me, considering really there's only like one week out of the entire calendar year where that place is going to be rocking.
So, but there's a, you know, it's the 150th Derby, so they're doing a lot of things like that. They jacked up the purse for the derby itself to $5 million. So you're going to see a lot of extravagant gestures out of Churchill Downs this year, that's for sure.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: Yeah, the men jewelers must be very expensive.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: I've, I had one once the first year I was there. I guarantee that that was like probably 15 years ago. I'm sure the, the price is at least doubled and I don't even like them.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm a beer guy myself. But anyway, Mike McGadden joining us here on the parting shots podcast with his at the track with Max segment as we preview the Kentucky Derby. And before we get to Saturday and the Derby, Mike, Friday is Kentucky Oaks Day, which offers an interesting matchup in the headliner, the traditional derby equivalent for the three year old phillies. Who do you like in that race? Who's the featured?
[00:14:03] Speaker A: I'm leaning toward just FYI, before I get to that, I just want to mention one other thing on the Friday card, which is also outstanding.
Excuse me. We get to see idiomatic make her first start since she won the Breeder cup this Taft in November, and she's in the La Trojan as a six to five favorite. She's won five straight, including the personal ensign at Saratoga. So she's probably maybe over the entire week. She's the one horse that I'm really looking forward to seeing because of her resume. And she ran at Saratoga. She's a champion. She hasn't run yet this year, but as far as the Oaks, just FYI, trained by Bill Mott. She's also a champion from last year, champion two year old Philly, and her last start was the first loss of her career. It was to Leslie's rose in the Ashland at Keeneland about a month ago, and that was also just FYI's first start since the Breeders cup. So I'm looking forward to thinking that maybe she needed one under her belt.
She'll get the rematch with Leslie's Rose in the Kentucky Oaks, which appears to be a pretty wide open race, which is also a consistent theme for the Derby undercar. We'll talk about that for a couple minutes later.
The funny thing about just FYI and Leslie's rose in the, in the Kentucky Oaks is they, they drew the 13 and 14 post. So they're going to be right next to each other on the far outside.
They both like to be forward, excuse me, forwardly placed in their races. So it'd be interesting to see right out of what happens right out of the starting gate with two of too far outside posts.
Excuse me.
I think it's this Batavia weather. Yeah, but as Bill Mott pointed out, FYI, just FYI, she won the Breeders cup from the number twelve hole. So, you know, hopefully the outside post, she's really, really good. She's champion. She got beat. She's, you get the rematch. And then there's another really good Philly tarifa fairground Oaks winner who's was actually the favorite at seven to two, which shows you right there in a 14 horse race. How wide open it is.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Well, the, the eight stakes races on Saturday is undercard and they're all wide open and really difficult puzzles. So since you're not going to bet any races, save a couple bucks for.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: The Derby, I would recommend not going crazy during the undercard because you might not get a lot of return on your investment. I'm just going to make one point. I'm not going to rattle off the whole thing. So there's eight stakes races on Saturday outside of the Derby.
Boy, excuse me.
And there's no favorite in any of those races that is at a lower price than five to two on the morning line. So that tells you right there that these, all eight of these races are wide open. Can be very difficult for players who like to play, like multiple race wagers, like pick threes and pick fours and things like that because there's no singles out there. You know, if there was like a four to five, you know, real heavy favorite in there, you could maybe say, all right, I'll single this one and spread in the other legs. But there's nothing. And, I mean, I'll rattle off this. Price is not the horses. Five to two, seven to two, five to two, four to one favorite. Three to one. I'm sorry, five to two, seven to two, three to one, seven two. So it's all pretty high priced favorites, which means the races are wide open and going to be very, very difficult to bet.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Well, let's break down the Derby field and what to expect from the race, which has a draw of a full field of 20.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Yeah, really interesting field, you know, from a post position situation. Fierceness. I was already talking about some other champions from last year. Fierceness was the two year old champion male last year, and he drew the number 17 post, which unreal. Which seems to bode poorly for him because the 17 post is over 44 in the history of the Derby.
But we'll see. I mean, it shouldn't hurt him too much. Outside of the myth of the number 17 post, he's the five to two favorite, three to 1. Second choice is Sierra Leone, which is Chad Brown's probably his best derby shot that he's ever had coming off a good win in the bluegrass.
Kind of a mix of front runners and stalkers and late closers.
Pretty wide open field again, there's no clear fierceness in Sierra Leone had clearly established themselves of the two best. But there's a lot of other horses in here who could make things happen.
So it's going to be interesting to see Chad Brown also has another one domestic product in there. So, you know, he. But that horse is 30 to one, so kind of, kind of a cool mix. The post positions will probably come into play. I will say that having looked at the forecast, it's supposed to rain on Friday and Saturday a little bit, but not like all day soakers or anything like that. And with that in mind, I kind of took that into consideration a little bit after the fact of having picked my super effective, and it looks like none of my picks should be too adversely affected by any kind of wet track or rain or anything.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: And who are your picks?
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Well, here we go then.
One last cough. I got something in my throat, I hate to tell you.
I just ate lunch, which is a bad idea.
So, my top pick? Well, let's start at the bottom.
My fourth placement in my superfect is stronghold.
Hasn't raced outside of California very much, but he has run against a lot of those good California horses. He broke his maiden at Churchill Downs and in October, so we know he can win over the track.
My three pick, I went with fierceness.
Going back to the number 17 thing. You know, I don't just from an outside standpoint, it shouldn't kill him, but just that kind of the mythology of the number 17. Never having won, I'm willing to give that a little bit of value when I'm making my selection here.
Number two, I got Sierra Leone for Chad Brown.
This horse's running style is to come from the back of the pack to some degree, and whereas there will be speed in here that could set it up for his running style, which he put to impressive effect in the bluegrass powerful finish.
That was a ten horse field. This is going to be a 20 horse field. So I think traffic might play into his, his trip more significantly than it did in the bluegrass. So that's probably the only thing that kept me from putting him on top, which is where I put just a touch.
Improving, dangerous. Although lightly raced son of 2018 Triple Crown winner justify, I think this horse has a lot of upside. We haven't seen the best of him yet. He was second. He did get caught by Sierra Leone in the bluegrass, but, but again, I think he's improving. We haven't seen the best of him yet. And if Sierra Leone gets into a little bit of traffic situation, that could leave just touch, you know, in perfect position to finish it off and win it for trainer Brad Cox, who, by the way, does have a derby victory under his belt. But going back to Medina spirit, it was by virtue of that DQ. So he would, he's from Louisville, Kentucky. He would love to win one of these the right way, which he's been talking about a lot.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: So it'll be a lot of fun down there in Louisville this week and enjoy it down there. And we'll look forward to your coverage on DailyGazette.com on X and that Mike, underscore McAdam. And of course, in, in the predecession.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And I'm really looking forward to getting there at 930 in the morning and the race not going off until 657. That's always a lot of fun.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: There's a lot to pay attention to in the meantime.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Tv, baby.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: Get to get those ratings. So, Mike, appreciate it. Well, obviously, we'll talk in a couple of weeks for the Preakness.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: All right, thanks a million, Ken.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Good luck, everybody. That's Mike began. Coming up, Princeton men's hockey has new coach has an interview with Ben Sire from last Friday's press conference. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Rick Marshall from the Daily Gazette's martial arts podcast. In each episode, I interview artists from around the region, from musicians and comedians to dancers, sculptors, even video game designers. After you finish the latest episode of the parting Shots podcast, I hope you'll give martial arts a try.
[00:23:08] Speaker D: Hi, this is Union men's hockey alum Scott Boyd. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports sports editor Ken Schott.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Welcome back to the podcast. Princeton University last Friday introduced its new men's head hockey coach. He is Ben Sire, longtime veteran assistant coach in ECAC hockey. And before that, the Mac. When Quinnipiac was playing in that conference before moving over to EC hockey sire spent twelve years at Quinnipiac in the last 13 under Mike Schaefer at Cornell. Of course, Cornell coming off winning the AC hockey tournament title. As I said, Ben's been around 25 years and you had to wonder at that. He had to wonder at some point if he was ever going to get a chance to be at a head coach or he's going to be coaching in an Ivy League school just like he did at Cornell. So that should make the transition a lot easier for him to take over programs he knows how to recruit in the Ivy leagues. No athletic scholarships, although, you know, they can tweet, tweak things a little bit. But. So, as I said in the opening, he knew about the parting shots podcast, was happy about that. And he also had. It wasn't crazy. He wasn't crazy about my eagles, so obviously knows my loyalties where, where they are at in Philadelphia, so. But had a chance to ask some questions of Ben during the Zoom portion of the press conference. Here's what he had to say, along with athletic director John Mack.
All right, Ben, first of all, congratulations and thank you for recognizing the parting shots podcast. Much appreciated.
[00:24:43] Speaker E: I can't share your passion, though, with being an Eagles fan, though, so.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: Well, next when you come up to a union, let's see, I want to report on Wawa and your visits to Wawa.
[00:24:54] Speaker E: Okay, well, what's funny, though, is, as I said last, when I got down, I don't think I've really walked around anywhere other than Hobie. And I know there's a wawa across the way from Hobie, but I've never been there. I have drank a coffee from there. Somebody has brought one over, but I've never actually been there, so I'm excited to get there myself.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a. I'm a Philly guy, so it's born and raised there, so it's, it's a, it's, it's an institution down there, so. Well, let me ask you, Ben, 25 years as an assistant, did you ever think this day would happen?
[00:25:27] Speaker E: It depends what day you ask.
Yeah, I certainly did.
And that's where I thank the support of my wife, those that are tight in terms of my mentors and some of my closest friends, for their great support. But I think when you ask that question, I don't know if you always know how that answer or how that will play out.
However, I do think that you always have to prepare and, you know, work towards what your individual goals are. And it's something that I've tried to do in my entire career. And, you know, I know there's many quotes about, you know, you are where your feet are. And I've always tried whatever position that I was at, whether it was at Cornell or whether you. It was at Quinnipiac and whatever. The particular role that I was being asked to do was to do it the very best. So that whenever I left that role or whatever I was tasked on a particular day or a certain week, that that area would be better than when I left it. And so that was kind of the approach that I always took and felt as though if I continued along that course, that may get this opportunity, but I would also feel very proud of, you know, helping different programs and different student athletes along the way.
[00:26:59] Speaker B: How would you describe your coaching style?
[00:27:02] Speaker E: Yeah, as I mentioned there, it's hard working and gritty. I mean, I came from a family that were both teachers, and so I've always considered myself a teacher. I've never been considered to have a lot of grace in anything that I do, but never been criticized of a lack of and hard work. And so when you ask about that, is will demand from our staff, including myself and our players, to be extremely hard, diligent workers with the idea of having a growth mindset to get a little bit better every single day.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: How difficult is it to recruit for an Ivy League school? You obviously recruited for Quinnipiac non Ivy. How difficult is it and how much of advantage of it do you bring to this job?
[00:27:57] Speaker E: Well, I hope that the experience that I've had over the last 13 years recruiting to Cornell certainly lends itself to great productivity in terms of recruiting here, because I do think it is different. I think it starts with the individual and the personality that thrives at an institution such as Princeton or, as you reference, an Ivy League school. And I think there's some certain characteristics that certainly set themselves apart with those individuals. But I think the one thing that is common between the two schools that you just mentioned is that you want to have guys that want to be hockey players and you want to excel at, you know, their sport, at their, their passion. And I think that in the process, really, you know, shows itself, and that's something that will continue here as well.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: Would you like to see the ivies add regular season games may to, you know, maybe be up to 34, just like the non Ivys? Especially. Especially in light of the fact that you only have that one game, first round in the tournament now?
[00:29:11] Speaker E: Yeah, I would love to. Love to see that.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Question for John, how much this. Ever since Guy Gadowski left for Penn State, you've gone through a number of coaches there. How important is it for Ben to give you some stability?
[00:29:29] Speaker D: Well, I think we've had stability running. Our last coach was here for ten years. And so I think, you know, while stability is relative, ten years is a really long, stable period.
I think what we're looking for is all the things that Ben brings, and it's not a matter of a timeline. If he's here for five years and someone else plucks him, means he's done a really good job in changing our program. Obviously, I hope he's here a lot longer than that, but we're also a place where I think we have a really tremendous track record across our department of coaches coming, them and their families having a phenomenal experience and staying a long time. Last year, Fred Samira retired as our head track coach after 46 years. Two years ago, Chris Saylor retired as our women's lacrosse coach after 37 years. Our women's open rowing coach has been here over 30 years. Our men's soccer coaches on year 27 are baseball coaches on year 27 or eight. If you look across our department, longevity is. And success is a hallmark of our coaches here. But again, not every coach is going to be that. And we understand that. That's the nature of the business. The goal is to bring in great people who do great work. And I tell all our coaches and staff I want for them and their families whatever they want for themselves and their families, whether that's to be here for 30 years and have a long, successful career, or to be here for a period, do good, great work, and go somewhere else. So there is no time limit or restriction on having success here.
[00:30:59] Speaker B: And I'll ask you the same question I asked Ben. Would you like to see the ivys add more regular season games to the hockey schedule?
Sorry, Chad, I gotta give you more work.
[00:31:14] Speaker D: I mean, listen, we are who we are, right? Both for hockey and every other sport. And when we have our set of rules and sometimes playing field games work to our advantage. Because your athletes come to the postseason being a little bit fresher, a little bit more rested, I think we can have all the success playing the same number of games that we play now that we could have playing another game or two, right? That's not going to be what determines how successful our teams are when our men's lacrosse team wins national championships, not because we played the same number of games as everyone else we went to the sweet 16 and men's basketball, playing fewer games in the regular season had no bearing. And so we are trying to be the best version of Princeton hockey that we can, regardless of how many games we play.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: All right, thank you guys. Appreciate it. Ben, congratulations again.
Coming up, I'll wrap up the podcast and have the latest winner in the Daily Gazettes auto racing contest. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:32:23] Speaker F: If you really want to know what's going on in your community, you have to read the Daily Gazette. We don't take a side. We're right down the middle and we're going to get to the truth. Our reporters and photographers are out in the field bringing you updates every with trust, accuracy and integrity from the first page to the last page. Independent, probing journalism. We're finding out what's going on in the community where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
[00:32:54] Speaker C: Hi, this is Daily Gazette columnist Andrew Waite. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
[00:33:03] Speaker B: Back to wrap up the podcast. The week eleven winner in the Daily Gazettes auto racing contest was Ron Streeter with 75 points. Ron wins a $50 gift card. Congratulations, Ron. The vip winner was Dwayne Leach of all season equipment with 55 points. I'll announce the auto racing contest winner's name and that winner's name will appear in Saturday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailyGazette.com and click on the auto racing contest banner.
Just because COVID-19 mandates are easing, that does not mean you should relax. Be vigilant. If you have not gotten vaccinated or received a booster shot, please do so. Do it for yourself, do it for your family, and do it for your friends. That wraps up another edition of departing Shots podcast. I want to thank Mike McAdam and Ben Sayer for being a part of the show.
If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at shots. That's schot tazette.com. Follow me on x and threads at slapshots.
The views expressed on the parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Daily Gazette Company. The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Daily Gazette Company. I'm Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schatz. Thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day. Good sports.
