Oh, I Think So

In 91º of central Indiana heat, Dario Franchitti prevailed to win the Indy 500, termed the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.  With his good looks, great Scottish accent, intelligence, his appreciation of his fans, and his thoughtful words, the now three-time winner is a favorite among those aficionados of fast cars on a track. Quite a few months back, I expressed how I feel about Nascar and Formula One racing, i.e. I don't get it.  Guess what?  I still don't get it.  I watched "CBS Sunday Morning" today including a story about a NASCAR driver.  One of the facts:  NASCAR is the most popular of all American sports and is now considered the most American of sports. It's people in cars going fast around a track.  Open wheel cars or stock cars, it's cars going fast.  Yes, they have to be in good shape to remain in control of their vehicles and be aware of everything around them while going a zillion miles an hour with no air conditioning, but what ab...

I'll Have Another came from that same place he came from last time (not my ass; that is for trivia answers, airport codes, and the names of airports in other lands)  and won the Preakness in Baltimore, Maryland, by a nose, literally.  The oddsmakers were so in love with Bodemeister this time.  "Looking good," they said, "Looking GREAT!"  They thought he looked so good that they gave Bodemeister 2-1 odds to win the Preakness at Pimlico.  Bodemeister had a couple of weeks to get to know the new track and get used to it and the climate and the smells, etc.   Whatever it was that horses have to get accustomed to before hitting the turf, Bodemeister was kind of spanking I'll Have Another. I'll Have Another and his stable pony, Lava Man (who won over $5 million in his own racing career), strolled quietly out to the starting line and then they were off.  (Once they get all the thoroughbreds into their starting gates, they start the race before any fu...

On Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 5, an episode called "The Outcast," features Commander Riker falling for a member of a member of a race of nonsexual aliens.  First, Riker falls for someone on many episodes.   Second, it is amazing that Deanna Troi didn't just chop off his Trekticles.  Third, on this particular world, if you are too male or too female you are sent for brainwashing where you come out clean as a whistle, with no sexual/gender tendencies being shown.  I never forgot it because it was such a statement about life as we know it and because dang, Riker really would screw anything that moved with even a soupçon of femininity.  Riker was appalled that his paramour was brainwashed to be less girly and Picard had to remind him of the Prime Directive and butt the hell out. Last Sunday, Vice President Biden dropped the bomb that he supported gay marriage.  A couple of days later, President Obama revealed that he was, of course, in favor...

Yesterday, the Kentucky Derby a/k/a the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs featured a whole mess of horses running, running, running to win dungpiles of dough for people putting down wagers, small to huge, and get honor for the owner, trainer, jockey, and the horse itself.  I'll Have Another came from somewhere -- when I answer a trivia question that I didn't know I knew I say the answer came out of my ass but I don't think I'll Have Another was in anyone's ass, well maybe he was, but that's another story -- and won by not very much over Bodemeister.  I'll Have Another won the Santa Anita Derby by a nose.  This is a horse who was bought for $11,000, a freaking bargain in the bank of horse racing. The Kentucky Derby is a very weird spectacle.  In the stands, the men and women with money sit in their hats and gowns and coats and ties, respectively, having a good time in the way that people with money have a good time.   In the center of the course are the...