Toiling like brokers in gritty financial pits, they plot the day's investments, carefully assigning value to the nation's thoroughbred racing stock.
On Sundays, these professionals pause from their ordinary labors to enjoy a special treat: The Perfect Pick contest sponsored by Canterbury Park. It costs nothing to enter, so you can't lose. Just pick all the winners in the noon game schedule and the house will award you $500.
This enticement brings Stan and Katie to the establishment for breakfast each NFL Sunday. After hash browns and eggs in the ground floor card room, they ride to the third floor betting parlor to enter their picks, then greet this work-a-day gang, always at table, always at work, always smiling and commenting on world events with a mixture of skepticism, dry wit, and the guarded optimism of those living in constant pursuit of the next big score.
We greet these old hands every week, as part of our Sunday gaming ritual. So far, this has brought us no luck whatsoever.
Don Kieger, the handsome gent embracing Katie in the photo above, is an old family friend from St. Paul, who spent many a scuffling day playing and talking baseball with Katie's brothers, Dan and Jim.
Two weeks ago, as is his habit, Don paused from his labors handicapping the nation's ponies, to apply his considerable skill to the challenging Perfect Pick. He won the $500 pot that day, naming the winners in all eight games and getting the over/under in two.
This remarkable achievement gave rise to a nasty rumor circulating on the third floor that, given his special status as a house whale, management has allowed Don to submit his picks late in the third quarter. This advantage has been denied, of course, but somehow the story persists among the less fortunate.
Today's prediction from The Don? The Vikings will lose again. He faults the QB for the Viking's woes. Can't win with McNabb, he says.
We shall see.
