LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A schedule change can seem like a small thing — until it moves your dinner reservation, your outfit and half your city's Friday night on its busiest weekend of the year.
That's what I learned from sports last week. I like when two stories that seem to have nothing to do with each other actually have quite a lot in common.
Next year, the Kentucky Oaks will run in prime time. Broadcast to begin at 8 p.m. Post time to come some time before 9 p.m. For Churchill Downs, it's about TV ratings. About expanding the brand. About a big opportunity for the sport.
On paper, it's just a few hours' difference. But here in Louisville, it's more than that. It's a lifestyle shift. It's about reprogramming tradition.
Derby Week isn't just about racing — it's ritual. Brunch, track, dinner or galas, bed by midnight optional. One-thousand Derby parties in 1,000 homes.
Now? Restaurants are rethinking hours. Galas are rearranging. Old habits are checking the clock and saying: Wait, we're doing what now?
It's not a crisis. It's a disruption. And disruption — handled well — can be clarifying.
Which brings me to another column I wrote last week. Perris Jones.
A little less than two years ago, the Virginia running back lay motionless on the turf at L&N Stadium.
One play, one moment. And his life changed.
He was carried off the field that night with a spinal injury. Surgery. Rehab. Uncertainty. A future forever altered. But he didn't leave his story there.
Next month, he's coming back to Louisville. Not to play football. To pursue a Ph.D.
He leaned into the disruption. He found a new purpose. He didn't just recover. He reframed.
In the media business, you get used to disruption. Back in my newspaper days, it was the internet.
Then social media.
Now? Streaming, shrinking attention spans and the idea that written words — the very thing I've built a career on — may not be the habit they once were.
You have to shift. Short video, they say. So you lean in. Try to figure out how to do what you do in a different way.
Life was a lot simpler when I sweated over one column, four times a week.
I wish things wouldn't change. But as Barbara Kingsolver wrote: "If wishes were horses, like they say, we'd all have different (expletive) to shovel."
There's a book by Ryan Holiday called The Obstacle Is the Way. It leans into an old Stoic truth: What blocks your path might become your path. The detour is the road. That adversity isn't just something to endure. It can be the thing that sets you on a better course.
That holds true whether you're running the ball, running a business — or running a horse race under the lights for the first time.
Change forces choices. Disruption opens doors. Sometimes, the obstacle really is the way.
That applies whether you're facing a spinal injury or figuring out how to reconfigure your restaurant strategy when a dramatic time change drops onto your plate.
Change forces choices. Disruption doesn't ask permission. But handled with vision, it becomes direction.
The Oaks will look different next year. So will Perris Jones' future. Both required letting go of an old idea. Both became something new.
Quick sips
- Congrats to the Floyd Central girls' softball team, heading to the Little League World Series in South Carolina. Read about their season here.
- That colorful Kingsolver quote came from her Pulitzer-winning novel Demon Copperhead. Best work of fiction I've read in a long time. Check it out.
- The quote below? That's from the HBO Max documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. Best music documentary I've seen in a long time. Watch it here.
The Last Drop
“The most original thing I've ever done in my life is screw up. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I once asked a truly great chef how he got to be so good. He said, 'It's all in the recovery. How you correct your mistakes.' I think there's a lot of hard-won wisdom that comes with that.”
Billy Joel
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
