Nostradamus

by Trey Nosrac

Nostradamus rocks. He wrote my favorite type of poetry – very short.

Five hundred years ago, he was a French writer, astrologer, physician, and a man of the town. Best known for his work Les Prophéties, a collection of 942 cryptic, poetic quatrains that have fascinated readers. His writings blended historical context with mysterious forecasts. Below is a Nostradamus verse for 2026.

“Shadows will fall,

But the man of light will rise,

and the stars will guide

those who look within.”

The vague meaning of his quatrains allows readers to insert their own interpretations of coming events, as seen in one devotee’s explanation of this year’s quatrain.

Increasingly, people are turning to introspective practices, including meditation, spirituality, and ancient wisdom. Perhaps this is not an escape from reality, but the only way to endure it. The technological world disarms us in the area of emotions, so we look for inner compasses. Spiritual awakening is no longer a new-age cliché, but the only defense against collective madness. The question is: will we know how to build something new as the old crumbles? And above all: will we know how to remain human in a world where this seems to be an increasingly courageous choice?

Trey would simplify this windy paragraph to:

Big things are happening quickly in this strange world. People like us will need to make some significant adjustments.

AI will be a game-changer. In an era of brainy machines, we will need adjustments in our work, play, interactions, economy, sports, politics, and business. Some people will seek out activities that tear us away from the relentless pull of devices. A healthy percentage of people will purposefully engage in outlets that involve face-to-face interactions.

Finding activities that enable us to remain human may be one of the most important things we do in this new society. Our quirky little sport may offer an oasis, not as a gambling option, but as part of a new world longing for social cohesion, mental health, and a sense of community.

Even Nostradamus could not predict the situation that our sport finds itself in. For the previous century, we were the only legal sports gambling. The rules changed in 2018 when the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in the case of Murphy v. NCAA. Immediately after this decision, legal sports wagering began to sweep the nation. Horse racing went from the only wager in town to a poor wagering proposition.

It does not take Nostradamus to forecast that, in our little corner of the sporting world, within a decade, the existing economics (gambling/casinos) will falter. As they falter and the sport contracts, some people who love this sport will ride into the sunset as obsolete pennies, a cool little currency from the past. Naysayers will unequivocally state that without gambling as the foundation, there is no harness horse racing, end of story, period. Creative people will attempt to adapt our sport to a new world.

Do you ever consider what you would need to create to ensure the future existence of this sport? What post-Armageddon refuge would you build that would enable people to continue to play this venerable sport where horses race in circles pulling sulkies?

Your creation must be a viable business, not a pipe dream. Your plan must demonstrate a clear return on investment. The creation must be more than a hobby. The creation of a new harness racing cosmos may seem impossible, but Trey disagrees. He knows firsthand that other sports and entertainment activities have survived with fewer assets and potential revenue streams.

Over the next few months, the happy little drones that fly in this column will offer comprehensive plans, utilizing essays, charts, examples, graphics, spreadsheets, and interviews on revolutionary new methods of staying alive.

Next week, we will examine a league in another sport that achieves the impossible every year.

In the meantime, allow an attempt at channeling Nostradamus:

“Time marches on.

Changes are inevitable,

But humans are clever,

And new worlds call.”