bruce potterHow do jockeys get dates? (3)
July 7th 2009 15:03
The only times I’ve ever felt remotely tall in my life were when I used to work at the horse races and had reason to walk through the jockeys room. Maybe that was what life was like for Shaquille O’Neal.
Imagine if you were picturing the ideal man; I’m not sure, but I tend to think that being four-feet-ten, having to diet like a crazy person, and having to be in bed by 8pm probably aren’t going to be qualities a woman would cherish.
But curiously, jockeys have no trouble at all getting dates.
I’m by no means knocking jockeys and their plight. Most of them leave school at 14, then shovel shit through their apprenticeship, then spend their adult life fighting their anatomy and its inevitable expansion. Some jockeys have one solid meal a month, the rest of the time its rice and pasta. They work six days a week, and have to get up at three in the morning.
That lifestyle alone would seem to make them less than attractive partners. But they seem to get by, better than most of us in some cases.
That makes the issue even more complex. If height were so important how can these guys measure up?
A darker thought is that while they have many drawbacks, they do have a very decent salary to compensate. An average jockey will make between $100,000 – 200,000; a good jockey will earn $500,000 and a top line hoop with a few key cup wins will make upwards of $3million a year.
But surely it can’t be that simple? Surely money can’t be the cure all for any of life’s average inadequacies? Surely a man is to be judged by the depth of his heart, not the width of his wallet? Surely it should be about the size of his character, not a character of his size?
Whatever the truth, it is a vexing one. Please illuminate me in how to unravel this vexation.
And maybe I will ask Lauren Jackson out again, as she is most definitely vexatious.
I can see the beauty all around, but where is the truth?
Imagine if you were picturing the ideal man; I’m not sure, but I tend to think that being four-feet-ten, having to diet like a crazy person, and having to be in bed by 8pm probably aren’t going to be qualities a woman would cherish.
But curiously, jockeys have no trouble at all getting dates.
I’m by no means knocking jockeys and their plight. Most of them leave school at 14, then shovel shit through their apprenticeship, then spend their adult life fighting their anatomy and its inevitable expansion. Some jockeys have one solid meal a month, the rest of the time its rice and pasta. They work six days a week, and have to get up at three in the morning.
That lifestyle alone would seem to make them less than attractive partners. But they seem to get by, better than most of us in some cases.
That makes the issue even more complex. If height were so important how can these guys measure up?
A darker thought is that while they have many drawbacks, they do have a very decent salary to compensate. An average jockey will make between $100,000 – 200,000; a good jockey will earn $500,000 and a top line hoop with a few key cup wins will make upwards of $3million a year.
But surely it can’t be that simple? Surely money can’t be the cure all for any of life’s average inadequacies? Surely a man is to be judged by the depth of his heart, not the width of his wallet? Surely it should be about the size of his character, not a character of his size?
Whatever the truth, it is a vexing one. Please illuminate me in how to unravel this vexation.
I can see the beauty all around, but where is the truth?
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