racingmeridian.com

What a crazy, exhausting weekend. I’m still shook, and grappling with Pioneerofthe Nile’s loss. During this period, as a gambler, I’ll throttle back on my plays. Frames of references are distorted; you’re bitter, a tad antagonistic. None of these elements frame the preferred approach for cool evaluation of betting prospects. How long will it last? Pour moi, well, about another three or four hours….my pals were carousing in Kentucky over the weekend and we sent e-mails back and forth throughout the day. They have raved about the Derby experience and seemed only mildly put out that they could not, uh-huh, actually watch a horse race. Bourbon and betting were on the agenda and the only fillies these lads ogled were just a couple of years past the Hannah Montana gear…I was also deluged by my Filipino mates, the Pinoys, updating me on every single aspect of developments in Vegas. Now the Pinoys suffered a remarkable deterioration in civility and linguistic precision as the afternoon melted into night. The lads were into their cups at 4pm and by 10 pm I had morphed from Irish into a ”dumb English bastard”. By midnight I was, well, I’m not sure what I was, but somehow my relatives and a diseased herd of swine were involved. This, from my friends. Mad little dark haired runts, I can’t begrudge them their excitement and cockiness…the winner of the Kentucky Derby earned a Beyer of 105. Pioneerofthe Nile will be credited with a 95, roughly the same as the number he earned in the Santa Anita Derby. Quality Road earned a 113 while winning the Florida Derby and his front running, rail hugging style would have been outlandishly successful on the biased Churchill surface…legendary handicapper Andrew Beyer calls the upset in the weekends Derby one of the two most improbable results ever witnessed in his decades of following thoroughbred racing. The other staggering result was the 1971 Kentucky Derby when Venezuelan import Canonero II upset the field…Denver Bronco CEO Pat Bowlen admits he has been suffering from short term memory loss recently. I’d hate to be the person by his side when he asks how Jay Cutler is doing… a nasty piece on an NFL insider site claims Brett Favre is livid at his old team, the Green Bay Packers, and determined to play in Minnesota this year as an act of revenge. The St Paul Pioneer Press expects a deal between Favre and the Vikings to be announced within three weeks. Look, on the one hand this is going to add tremendous drama to the season. The Vikings are an extremely talented team on the cusp of a huge step forward. Their most critical need is behind the centre (the reason they picked up a so-so Sage Rosenfels from Houston). But, and it’s a big but, is an ancient Brett Favre the answer to their woes? Favre is a dolt, the type of player who became older without obtaining wisdom. By the end of the 2009 season Favre was more comedy material than leader. The kicker? Favre has generally struggled in domes. If he plays the Pack twice next year, can Favre be sure he will be the one obtaining sweet revenge?…rumblings from Detroit speak of agitation with the play of Marian Hossa thus far against the Anaheim Ducks. Hossa, a Red Wing because of his purported desire to win the Cup, has been invisible as the Ducks brandish an aggressive, physical style…after giving up only five goals in four games against the St Louis Blues, Vancouver Canuck goalie Roberto Luongo has surrendered eight in two games against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks are jamming the crease and feature an array of talented snipers…a Manny Pacquiao - Floyd Mayweather Jr fight should feature a rarity in boxing; the top two “pound for pound” fighters in the world in the ring together. You simply cannot hype this fight enough. Juan Manuel Marquez, who emphatically believes he deserved the decision in his two fights with Pacquiao (a draw and a decision loss), has the opportunity to derail the impending festivities when he faces Mayweather Jr this July. Marquez, often the forgotten man, always the underappreciated one, could pull off an extraordinary double; upsetting Pretty Boy and Manny in consecutive matches…I think the weight, for once, really will be an issue for Marquez in his fight with Floyd. Against Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz, Marquez was a time buffeted around the ring by the bigger man. Mayweather has grown into a legitimate welterweight and Marquez will be jumping two classes to face him (though they will meet at a catchweight of 143). Marquez is distilled grit, heart, and cunning intelligence, and you can rest assured he will enter the ring with a keen strategy…boxing dead? Man, the sport seems on the verge of the some of the greatest matches in history. And, yeah, none of that sweaty humping that characterizes other combat sports…if David Haye could pull off an upset over Vitali Klitschko this summer the sport would be blessed with an outspoken and charismatic heavyweight champ. Do I need to tell you who I’ll be cheering for?