Eight Belles, Thoughts and Prayers

I'll get to that in a minute, because something really bothers me about that. But first, I woke up this morning in Florida, and turned on the tube and John Q is on with Denzel. This movie is awesome....Denzel at his finest. The only beef I have with D is that while he is a great Lakers supporter and is at nearly every game, he needs leave the NY Yankees hat at home!! You're in LA, dude. Pick up a Doyers hat, or even the Angels....anything but a Yanks lid.

Speaking of the Lake Show, we look real good. When I was a kid, I used to watch the Lakers when it was the Showtime days...Erv, Big Game James, even Rambis. Then, I got a little older and fell in love with them all over again. You had Nick the Quick, Cedric, Eldon Campbell (deepest voice ever, by the way), Eddie Jones, an old Byron Scott. I know I'm forgeting some dudes. Those were the run and gun days. Then we got KB8, The Diesel, Big Shot Rob, B-Shaw (best alley-oop tosser ever), D-Fish, and the titles starting rolling in. Those 3 years were a few of the best of my life.

After a few years of minor dropoff, it's looking good that we will get back on top again. Game 2 is tonight at 10:30EST and even though I'm on an island in FL that isn't really an island, I'll be watching.

This thing with the Derby horse that broke both legs and had to be put down right after she finished second is bothersome. What bothers me is that PETA is now coming forward saying that the horse, a filly, should not have been running with the boys. That she was overmatched and outside of her comfort level and this may have been the cause of her ultimate death. PETA is blaming the jockey for pushing her too hard and is calling for drastic measures to be taken to prevent this from happening again. While I agree that this is very tragic and the thought of any animal breaking both front legs to the point where the bone is sticking out of the skin is horrible, how do you put that on the jockey, or the trainers and owners for that matter??? The horse clearly had the stuff to run with the big boys, as she finished a close second to the hands-down race favorite. There were only 20 horses in the field and with the competitive nature of this race, the most famous of all horse races, there is no way that she could have just stumbled into the field of 20 without earning a spot. I look at this as just another way for a fanatical group of people with nothing better to do, to make posters with silly catch phrases, redirect blame and stand outside Churchhill Downs and other horse stables and make a scene. GIVE IT UP! I'm all for the ethical treatment of animals but not when it means asking for the jockey's job calling out the trainers and owners as people who didn't truely care for the well-being of Eight Belles.

My Aunt and Uncle raise horses in Minnesota and if you've seen one horse person, you've seen them all. What I mean is, they eat, sleep, and live for these horses as if they were their own children. They would gladly sacrifice any personal comfort in return of knowing that their horses had enough to eat last night, or a warm barn to sleep in, or an open pasture to run. This is the same mentality that Eight Belles' handlers surely have. For PETA to call these people out is hysterical. I mean, this horse probably lived a better life then I do!! She ate, she slept in very comfortable stables (heated and air conditioned), she ran around all day and big deal, the dude on her back weighed 90 lbs.!!! I'm pretty sure I could make it to the finish line with 90 lbs. El Salvadorean dude on my back.

PETA needs to stick to house pets, and dolphins....both arenas they know very little about, but still more then horses.

Today's my last day in the FL sun. I leave manana for DC, then throwing in a little Phil-lay for good measure. I got cooked down in Miami but I'm confident my skin will either bubble up and fall off, or turn a nice shade of tan.