The Trouble With Horse Racing

No one is suggesting we ban horse racing, or curtail it, or boycott it. And chess, baseball and football -- unlike horse racing -- don't owe their existence to gambling. It was all about money. Money.

Except that the moment the race was over, we began hearing nothing but economic news. After all, wagering on horses is as American as apple strudel. But those aren't "sporting events."

And not to get all self-righteous or "socially conscious" here, but speaking of the Kentucky Derby, what do we see when we observe that lavish spectacle? What do we see when we behold this historic horse race held in a nest of the former Confederacy?

If we want to celebrate something significant being done after a long dry spell, let's at least hold out for an impressive "human" event, something that doesn't involve animals. His latest book is "Night Shift: 270 Factory Stories."

We see a vast ocean of white faces. Unlike horse racing, which would shrivel up and die without the gambling, these games would flourish even with no money being wagered.

Consider: When Miguel Cabrera won the "real" Triple Crown in 2012 (the one in baseball, the one that requires genuine athletic talent and isn't joined at the hip to pari-mutuel wagering), it hadn't been done for 45 years, not since 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski led the league in batting average, homers, and RBI.

Yes, people will point out that, until American Pharoah did it last weekend, no horse had won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, all in the same year, not since 1978 when Affirmed did it. And then, just when we think we've had enough, they go and sing, "My Old Kentucky Home.". Wonderful. And if a network wants to milk a two-and-a-half minute horse race for three hours, that's their prerogative.

But before people mindlessly gush over a horse race, they should ask themselves why they care.

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Moreover, after Cabrera won his Triple Crown, you didn't hear the media get all dollars-and-sense about it. I've watched the Kentucky Derby and I've watched the Westminster Dog Show and have been amused, if not overly worked-up, by both.

Now that's a real achievement, one done by a human being and not by a horse or trained dog. You didn't hear broadcasters speculate about how much more money Cabrera could expect to earn now that he had accomplished this milestone. A 37-year drought or not, he was the prohibitive favorite. Nothing against animals, mind you. That formidable feat hasn't been accomplished since 1975, when Bobby Fischer won the crown. Unless they have money riding on it, what does it matter? And การฝากเงิน fun88 given that Pharoah went off at 3-to-5 odds (meaning you had to risk $50 to win $30), his victory was something of an anti-climax. They're the ones paying for the commercial time.

Have we, as a nation, lost our bearings? Have we lost all sense of proportion? The jubilation and near-hysterical levels of enthusiasm in response to American Pharoah winning horse racing's Triple Crown were not only wretchedly excessive, they were nutty. We see money.

Or wait for the next American citizen to be named World Chess Champion. We see rich white people -- wealthy, mint julep-drinking, white men and women, tricked out in their finest antebellum duds, harkening us back to all that was weird and glorious about Plantation Life. We instantly began hearing how valuable this horse will be once he is put out to stud. Let's hold out for something memorable, like seeing the perennially disappointing Chicago Cubs win a World Series or the Detroit Lions appear in a Super Bowl