Larry King and Horse Racing

This is a great excerpt from King's autobiography.  Only real horseplayers will understand what this must have felt like for King.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/05/14/larry.king.track/index.html

Son House - - Where are the guitar tabs?

I can find only one guitar tab for Son House on the internet.  That would be for his song, "Death Letter".

 

I keep wondering why that is?

 

 

Winston Churchill Had it Right When Learning to Bet Horses

I was reading an article regarding Crispin Porter and their Burger King ads on Adweek. http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i9ffdbbfa915bd89c4ff1ce4d0e77d892?pn=2

 

 

In the article is a quote from Winston Churchill - - 'Play for more than you can afford to lose and you'll learn the game"

 

Sounds like Churchill was a horse betting man!  He's right, of course.  When it comes to gambling, especially on horses, you have to learn how to play the game by taking risks.  That means not betting 1 to 5 shots at River Downs in a $5,000 claimer.

 

But it has to be a smart risk.  Which is where handicapping ability comes into play, right?

 

Movies: Star Trek Brilliant...Angels & Demons Left Me Thinking..huh?

I saw Star Trek over the weekend and it was brilliant.  Flat-out brilliant.  Just a terrifically fun, smart, movie.  It's what we've come to expect from J.J. Abrams.

 

Now, Angels and Demons sort of made no sense.  I had a problem with the villian, actually.  I won't get into it, but my issue is that he went through extraordinary lengths to make himself appear to be a hero.  Also, there were a key moments early on in the film where, if the villian had any sort of intelligence at all, he simply wouldn't have made the decisions that he made.

 

If anybody has comments about either film, let me know. 

Preakness Stakes No Surprise But Neither Rachel Alexandra nor Mine That Bird Would Be a Lock in the Belmont

The Preakness wasn't reallya  surprise although I feel that Friesan Fire and Pioneerof the Nile really did a disservice to themselves by not battling for the lead early on in the race.

 

Once Rachel got an easy tracking position on the outside of Big Drama it was just a matter of whether or not Musket Man or Mine That Bird could get to her.  Mine That Bird couldn't, unfortunately.  But the gelded son of Birdstone ran a brilliant race and would easily win the Eclipse Award for three year olds should he win the Belmont.

 

But winning the Belmont won't be easy should horses like Charitable Man and Dunkirk show up.  Those two might be just as good as Rachel and Mine That Bird and they will be fresh.

 

 

NCAA Championship: NC Looks Rock Solid as Big Favorite

I've suggested that NC wasn't as good as some college basketball fans had thought. I made excuses for why they beat Gonzaga so easily (Gonzaga was overrated) or why they beat Oklahoma so easily (OU was Blake Griffin and a bunch of wannabees).

Then, I saw NC pretty much hand it to what I thought was one of the best teams in the nation this past Saturday, the Villanova Wildcats. North Carolina shut down both Scottie Reynolds and Dante Cunningham in that game. The Tar Heels' defense was exceptional, Ty Lawson was terrific, and Danny Green was unstoppable.

As well as Michigan State has looked, the dream ends tonight. I just don't see how Michigan State has any chance against North Carolina. That Tar Heels are that good. As I've bene telling people shortly after the 'Nova destrcution, Michigan State is a very good team. North Carolina is a great team. Carolina dumped the Spartans by over 30 points the last time the two teams met.

It won't be that bad, but it could get ugly. I see NC winning by between 10 to 16 to maybe even 20 points in this game. They're the bet.

North Carolina should cover at -7 1/2 in the NCAA Championship game tonight.

Final Four: Long Shots Could Rule This Saturday

The Michigan State Spartans and Villanova Wildcats, both decided long shots in their respective semi-final games against Connecticut and North Carolina, could very well end up playing each other in Monday's NCAA Tournament Championship game.

Why? Because even though NC and UConn have looked unbeatable neither team had to navigate the difficult road that both the Spartans and Wildcats have had to.

NC got to run over Gonzaga and Oklahoma. The 'Zags have been overrated all season. Oklahoma was Blake Griffin and a bunch of high-schoolers.

Connecticut got to play Purdue, who just didn't match-up that well with them, and Missouri. Missouri was a good team but they weren't nearly as good as the team that Michigan State had to beat last weekend.

State beat USC, the Pac-10 tourney champs, Kansas, the Big-12 Regular Season and defending national champs, and Louisville, the Big East regular season and tournament champs, to get to the Final Four. Talk about putting together a streak!

Villanova had to squash Duke, the ACC tourney champions, and Pittsburgh, one of the toughest teams in the nation that, by the way, beat UConn twice during the regular season.

I like both Michigan State, at +4 in their game versus the Huskies, and 'Nova, at +7 in their game versus North Carolina, to upset the favorites and see each other on Monday night in the NCAA Championship game.