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2008: It Still Bugs Me It's No Longer Green

For those of you who were not reading
The 'San Francisco Chronicle' back when
The sports section was printed
On green newsprint

- - - you may not see the loss as I do

They throw us old readers a bone
They still call it 'The Sporting Green'
Sometimes printing the heading in green
onn white newsprint - BFD

- - - if you know what I mean

They said the cost of green newsprint
Had gotten too high
So had the ballplayers' salaries
But they weren't all replaced with white rookies

- - - if ya know what I mean

Every morning Mon. to Sat. - - - there it was
Green and ready to be
Pulled out from the other sections
I might look at later

Regardless of how big the paper was
How they folded it
I could always put my hands on
Last night's final scores and today's schedules

It tucked neatly into my back pocket
So on my first break
I could read about
Some of the other games

You could tell who in the shop
Played the ponies
Their attention was on
Yesterday's results and payouts

Constantly checking and rechecking
Before it was time
To turn in their betting slips to Mary-the-Book
On the loading dock

No live racing on your iPhone
Not even Watch-and-Wager
At the fairgrounds back then
To get your bets down

You had write them down
Hand the slips to Mary-the-Book and wait
You knew the guys who had other bookies
You'd find them in the phone booth calling their's in

That's another thing I'm not happy about
Seeing gone - - - phone booths made calls private
Close the door you could cuss cry call your girlfriend
No one - - - not even your wife had to know

Now I have to search all through the 'Chron'
To find Sports - It's is 'wrapped around'
Want-ads Business Style or some other crap
They say that saves money too

Talk about not saving something
Bay Meadows is gone
Had it's last horse race
Gonna be condos business parks and

Apartments with the latest designs above retail
High density communal living
You can bet somebody's go'na make a buck
Environmentally green unlike how they now view horse shit

- - - if you know what I mean

Nature's noblest beast
Along with bovines and their gas
Are no longer considered
Environmentally friendly

We now live with computer wagering
Attendance at tracks is down
Mary is out of a job
Circulation at the paper is down too

- - - you may not sense the loss

It's like your seventy percent
Partially clogged artery
It's still functioning right now but wait
'Til the day it hits ya

- - - if ya know what I mean

poem by Tom J. Mariani
Added by Poetry Lover
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