Rachel's out!

The relatively new owners of Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra have decided not to run the horse in the Belmont Stakes next week. Recall that Louisville jockey Calvin Borel rode Rachel to an easy win in the all-female Kentucky Oaks in early May and the next day rode long-shot Mine that Bird, a male, to a strong win in the Kentucky Derby, bringing Mine that Bird back from dead last. When Rachel was sold and the new owners thought she was OK not race against males, Borel picked her over Bird – the first jockey to win the Derby on one horse and then switch to another horse even though the Derby-winning horse was still in the Preakness. Borel rode Rachel to the lead and then the victory in the Preakness. But Bird – ridden by another jockey – again came back from dead last and almost caught her at the end. Borel who in half a dozen previous wins had not had to push Rachel, did so to get the Preakness win. I wondered in a previous blog entry whether Borel might have won on either horse, since the new jockey had a harder time getting Bird through traffic than Borel had had in the Derby.

Bird’s owners thanked Rachel’s owners for letting them know quickly about their decision – they said that the Preakness had taken too much out of Rachel and they wanted to let her rest more. Bird’s owners said the decision was probably good for them, but bad for racing, nipping another Rachel-Bird showdown in the bud. Borel thanked Bird’s owners for being patient with him. The jockey who rode Bird in the Preakness was already committed so they were without a jockey, but waited to find out if Rachel would run, partly figuring that Borel would be available if she did not. And so Borel will be back riding Bird for the first time in a race since the Derby.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Belmont – at 1.5 miles – is the longest of the Triple Crown races, and, if Bird can close like he did in the Preakness, and have more time and distance to catch the leaders – though not now Rachel – he might win. They’ve already called this possibly the Calvin Crown, instead of the Triple Crown, because Borel could become the first jockey to ride two different horses that – collectively won the Triple Crown.

One interesting sidenote: Perhaps the fourth most famous U.S. horse race is the Travers, in August, usually on national TV, and this is run in Saratoga Springs, in the first of my two research sites, where one of my Albany area informants used to hang out to follow the races. Rachel may already be lined up to run another race in lat e June. But, if both Rachel and Bird race in the Travers, this could elevate this race’s profile – and that of Saratoga Springs.

-- Perry

You go, girl!

Congratulations to Preakness Stakes winner Rachel Alexandra and rider Calvin Borel and runner-up Mine That Bird and rider Mike Smith. Rachel is the first filly to win the race since 1924, and Borel is the first jockey ever to abandon a Derby winner who was running in the Preakness to ride another horse. Click here to see the exciting race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTJUTJJCmR0

Can't believe that was the smallest in-person audience in 25 years to watch the Preakness - in the struggling Pimlico (Maryland) track. We'll see about the size of the TV audience. Did the Rachel-Mine drama - that continued for the past two weeks and into the last few inches of this race - overcome any of the bad taste in people's mouths about recent horse injuries (Barbaro, Eight Belles)?

Would Mine have won if Borel had chosen him instead of Rachel? Would Borel have been able to maneuver Mine into contention without going wide around the final turn? Will Rachel be able to hold off Mine in the longer (1 1/2 miles) Belmont Stakes? We'll likely find out in three weeks.

-- Perry

Weekend surprises

Among the surprises this weekend:

We’ve generally felt we’ve been pretty safe from worrying with Vincent about those triple vices: sex, drugs, and drinking. Apparently no more are we going to be immune from worrying about these with him (especially if you include tobacco).

I’ve talked with two different survey researchers who are also immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe about the Georgia and Kosovo wars. I even sent one of them – with whom I argue a little – my blog entry last summer “Georgia on my mind.” Who would have thought?

It’s been one year this week since the May 20 KY presidential primary. On the anniversary of the weekend in which I made calls both for then Senator Clinton and then Senator Obama’s campaigns, at one of many electoral politics polling presentations I’ve been to, I learned that 25 percent of Clinton voters across the country did indeed vote for Senator McCain. And nearly half of those who voted for other Democratic presidential candidates (mainly Senator Edwards – not a very big group), voted for McCain. Apparently racial politics played at least a small role here. Few of these voters “stayed home” (didn’t vote) to protest. And few supporters of other Republican candidates defected (as the Democrats). Readers may recall not only our coverage of the Democratic primary, but also my blog entry from Boston about the pseudo-focus group with wavering former Hilary supporters. Of course, in the end, Obama didn’t need all of the Clinton voters to win relatively easily. Without the financial crisis in the fall and the eventual tide against Governor Palin, these folks could have posed a much bigger threat to Obama.

We’ll see what other surprises – pleasant and unpleasant – await me this weekend. Go Rachel Alexandra (in two hours)! Go, Rockets (tomorrow night). I’m going to go for a swim instead of taking a nap now.

-- Perry

Transitions

Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra has been sold and turned over to another trainer. You might recall that the previous owner was dead set against allowing a filly (female horse) to race against colts (male horses). The new horses may reconsider this, and so it’s possible that the horse – which you’ll recall won the all-fillies Oaks, on the day before Derby – may race in the Preakness next weekend in Maryland. Calvin Borel, a Lousiville native who last weekend rode both Rachel and dark horse Derby winner Mine That Bird said that – if Rachel runs the Preakness and the new team gives him an option – he’d have to race Rachel instead of Mine. Rachel has won five straight races with Borel jockeying.

Published reports say that University of Louisville men’s basketball Coach Rick Pitino is considering jumping ship to the NBA’s Sacrament Kings. The Kings – formerly the Kansas City Kings – haven’t been good since Houston Rockets Coach Rick Adelman was their coach. Pitino has gone back and forth between the college and pro ranks during his career. He was the New York Knicks coach when I got to New York City in 1987, and he spent five years with the Boston Celtics in between coaching down the road from here at the University of Kentucky, before returning to Kentucky to the Wildcats’ arch rivals, the Louisville Cardinals. The local paper put this story on an inside page in the sports section, which makes me think they’re skeptical about the reports.

In an even more local sequence of events, it’s been a whole month – in the post-Oscar movies to the discount movie theater lull – that I’ve been to the closest of the two local discount movie theaters, Apex’s Village 8 Cinemas, on the other side of St. Matthews from our house (near the gym). We went there last night to see “Adventureland,” and – in the interim – a new manager apparently came in and got rid of the hot dog machine, which we used a lot, and cleaned house with the staff, as most of the staff people we talked with regularly (and during parts of the year we or I am there about twice a week) are gone – some of them involuntarily. (A week ago we picked up an Apex theaters job application from the sibling Baxter theater, but it looks like Vincent has let this opportunity – like others – slip away, since he hasn’t touched it). We’ll miss the hot dogs and the people we’ve liked.

-- Perry

Congrats, Rachel!

The 2009 Kentucky Oaks, the all-fillies version of the Kentucky Derby - that takes place at Louisville's Churchill Downs, on Oaks day - Derby eve - took place late Friday afternoon. Rachel Alexandra - ridden by jockey Calvin Borel, rider of Derby winner Street Sense a couple of years ago - took the lead coming out of the final turn.

She ended up winning by 20 lengths - a record margin of victory - and - had Borel pushed her - might have set a track record for the distance: 1 1/4 miles. Horse people might be leery about racing fillies in the Derby, after the death last year of Derby runner-up Eight Belles (also a filly), but Rachel Alesandra's owner said he thinks the Derby should be all-stallions.

We ended up being invited to no parties and - partly to avoid a friend of ours - are heading up to Northern Kentucky/Southeastern Indiana for part of the day. We haven't decided whether Frisco is coming with us. Vincent - we last heard - was slated to come back late from Marietta College late and was to stay with the Davis family last night. I don't know about Vincent, but hopefully Stephanie and I will get to watch today's (probably rain-soaked) race on TV up there. Click here to watch Friday's amazing Oaks race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZmGzFD-k8c

-- Perry

Parade video

Click on play below to watch a fun video from Thursday's Pegasus Parade - of of a disabled (and moving target) basketball game .

A little Magic

The alma maters of two of basketball’s greatest players, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, formerly of Michigan State, and Michael Jordan, formerly of the University of North Carolina, clashed tonight for the NCAA championship. Johnson, one of my favorite players and personalities, was in the stands for the semifinals games and in the booth for the championship, which his Spartans trailed quickly. Magic, who played commentator for the TNT network, commented on the game but also on the historic March Madness Final Four championship game 30 years ago, which pitted his Spartan against Larry Bird’s Indiana State. That game, which the Spartans won, really put men’s college basketball on the map. I did not watch that game, but I did see plenty of what followed: the continued Magic vs. Larry rival in the NBA, including the 1987 Magic-led LA Lakers vs. Bird-led Boston Celtics seven-game NBA Finals, which I watched every minute of. I remember the day that news came out that Magic had become infected with the HIV virus and his first retirement (on the eve of a couple of appointments, and providing the topic for my 1993 holiday card), his two comebacks, including his final NBA and NBA playoffs game, which I watched with Stephanie in a Westerville sports restaurant on our third date together. And I remember Magic – with his good stories, his pithy comments, and his infectious smile – enlightening, informing, and entertaining Andrew and me and some 10,000 other people at a Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center event in the 1990s. Keep on smiling, Magic! Happy 30th anniversary, Magic, Larry, and March Madness!

-- Perry

Excitement and disappointment

After the Louisville Cardinal men's basketball team put Morehead State (KY) away in the second half of their early evening first round NCAA March Madness game in Dayton, two of my teams (Florida State Seminoles and Ohio State Buckeyes) played in thrilling and simultaneous overtime games which unfortunately ended with last-second defeats for both of them. The Seminoles lost their game in Boise (ID) with 2 seconds to go in overtime, with the Wisconsin Badgers hitting a 2-point shot to turn the Seminoles' 1-point lead into a 1-point Badger lead, then made a free throw. The Seminoles got the ball to the other end of the court, but couldn't get a shot off in time (and the shot they got off missed anyway). (From the Albany (NY) area) the Siena Saints took the Bucks - playing an hour from Columbus in Dayton - to two overtime periods and hit a 3-point shot with 4 seconds to go to pull away. I watched most of these last two games at a local sports restaurant with a dozen folks from the KY Seminole Club - a group that usually watches football games together and does service projects - but in this case had a good 'Nole basketball team to cheer on too (seeing each other in March - not just in the summer and fall). Siena should be tired when they face the Cardinals Sunday, after this late-night double-overtime game - one of two games for the ages that my teams ultimately lost tonight. (Oddly enough, I'm familiar with a bunch of these small-time schools in the tournament: not only Siena but also Portland State, Morehead State, and even Cleveland State (which routed Wake Forest tonight),)

-- Perry

Good work

Tuesday night on TV Kentucky’s two collegiate men’s basketball teams – the University of Kentucky’s Wildcats in the National Invitational Tournament – playing in their old on-campus gym in Lexington – and the Morehead State Eagles – playing in the NCAA “March Madness” play-in game vs. Alabama State – up the road in Dayton – both won. (KY fans, however, aren’t much impressed with their team being in the NIT, and the Eagles face the misfortune of facing cross-state rival and #1 seed Louisville Friday night – a team that beat them by 20 plus points earlier in the season.

And – improving greatly on last week’s uneven Michael Jackson night – "American Idol"’s remaining Top 11 contestants generally acquitted themselves well on country night, a theme that has produced some atrocious performances in past years. I thought every single performance I watched – most of them – was solid, and some people – like last week’s mediocre Anoop Desai (pictured above with Tuesday’s song, Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind”) – were much improved. Most memorable again was Adam Lambert, with a wild version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” that was too out ther for some of the judges. Not an easy choice, trying to decide who to boot (and boot off the summer "Idol" tour, which only includes 10 performers.)

-- Perry

Congrats, 'Noles (and Bucks)!

Florida State's men's basketball team upset No. 1 North Carolina this afternoon in an Atlantic Coast Championship semi-final game. Thanks to clutch shooting and defense by Toney Douglas (pictured above), Derwin Kitchen, and Coach Leonard Hamilton's other team members, FSU won 73-70 in Atlanta and headed to its first ever ACC men's championship game. Rolling simultaneously were Coach Thad Matta's Ohio State men's basketball team, which leveled No. 7 Michigan State en route to another conference championship game, the Big 10 title game in Indianapolis. Both teams are now probably assured decent seeds in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament - aka "March Madness" - whose selections will be announced Sunday and which will start Thursday. Up next: tonight Coach Rick Pitino's No. 5 Louisville Cardinals play in the Big East conference championship game in New York City's Madison Square Garden. Go Cards!

-- Perry

End of the road

Almost two weeks after hearing about it and after several attemps at trying, Stephanie found media confirmation - a story on th e Web site of a paper in a NC small town about a serious traffic accident - of the apparent death of one of the big nemeses of our lives, Vincent's ex-stepmother, "Rosie," who helped mastermind and motivate much of Vincent's father's campaign against us for almost a decade. Rosie always believed that Vincent's father secretly still loved Stephanie - and perhaps he did - and so he had to be especially mean to Stephanie to prove this wrong. Rosie may have legitimately loved - whatever this meant for her - Vincent as a stepson and may have convinced herself that she was the superior mother. But Vincent was also a convenient toy with which to terrorize Stephanie (and therefore Vincent and me). Together, the were quite a pair - both violent, both charming, both excellent liars. Stephanie's father always said that when Stephanie and Vincent left Ohio - despite their efforts to stop this - their marriage couldnt last. Although the trial still loomed, without Stephanie there in person to battle against, why stay together? And sure enough after a few years it became apparent that Rosie had connected with another man. And then we became occasionally involved in complex triangles and squares with Vincent's father, Rosie, and Vincent's father's new sometimes girlfriend. At various times both of these women called Stephanie for aid in legal fights against Vincent's father. And - as I mentioned earlier this week - at one point Rosie got us some money by scaring Vincent's father into catching up with back child support to everyone lest he go to jail (the other woman eventually got him sent to jail). This woman still scares us. The last time I remember seeing her (although Vincent's seen her more recently) was when Vincent and his then half-brother joined one of my side of the family's family reunions in Westerville, OH, and then Vincent stayed over at Rosie's house, then less than a mile from my grandparents' house. But Rosie then moved with her new husband (involved somehow in NASCAR, Vincent's father's and her favorite sport also) to North Carolina (nearby NASCAR racetrack pictured above), and then Vincent became estranged from his brother. More legal fights eventually pushed Vincent's father to ask to prove that he wasn't actually Vincent's would-be half-brother's biological parent, and I don't think Vincent had talked with Tyler (then Tom) for a year or two until he called to talk about his mother's death. Yes - in an accident eerily similar to the one Stephanie's mother was in (except this time the driver at fault was the one injured - and worse) Rosie was apparently driving early one morning and veered off the road, then swung back across and crashed into an oncoming car - but this one was an SUV. When Vincent's father called, he intimated that she had lingered for several days - apparently with little brain function - until folks called it quits. Rosie and Stephanie has always been the same age - but she will now always be 35, two years older than I was when I met Vincent and Stephanie - and his father and Rosie and Tyler. Stephanie and I have long disliked this woman and Stephanie - despite herself - expected she might feel some euphoria if Rosie ever died (she apparently had a very serious and even life-threatening heart condition ever since we met her). But Stephanie says the whole thing has felt curiously anticlimatic - even when - as of tonight - we don't have to take Vincent's father's or Tyler's word for it, since the crash was in the media: http://www.observernewsonline.com/content/view/87613/1/ Rosie of course leaves a teenage son - probably 15 - and husband. A survivor of a difficult childhood, Rosie returned - to be buried - to a childhood home area in Vinton County, OH (where my Grandma spent one of her young years). Stephanie said Vincent's father- who toyed with going back with her at one point - and even Vincent showed little emotion about this news, but I'm afraid that's par for the course with Vincent and his father either way. I myself am not sure what I think although I know one nemesis that we won't be facing in court or in the parking lot again. Three stories to ask us about some day: Stephanie and Rosie's fight in the front yard, Stephanie cowering in the laundry room while Rosie crosses the parking lot, and Rosie on TV shifting pennies back and forth on a table in a fraudulent fund-raising scheme that eventually netted some $40,000 and cosmetic surgery for Rosie (a scheme that we helped finally stop).

-- Perry

Congrats, players!

Some of the individuals I was watching in Sunday's Super Bowl were Pittsburgh receiver (and fellow Korean-American) Hines Ward, who shook off injury rumors with an early reception; and Arizona receiver (and former Florida State receiver/quarterback) Anquan Boldin, who celebrated here with fellow Cardinal receiver Larry Fitzgerald.



Pittsburgh receiver (and Floridian and former Buckeye) Santonio Holmes was the go-to guy in Pittsburgh's final drive.

Kurt Warner (at 39, the oldest player on the field Sunday), who's revived his career several times and led the St. Louis Rams in two earlier Super Bowls, now has more passing yards in each of his Super Bowls (including Sunday) than any other Super Bowl quarterback, but suffered two critical turnovers (one at the end of each half) which contribute to the Cardinals' loss Sunday.

-- Perry

Sing it, Bruce!

Besides a great game, the Super Bowl in Tampa featured a great halftime show, with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing a new song, "Glory Days," "Born to Run," and one of my favorites, 1976's "10th Avenue Freezeout," also from the "Born to Run" album. To see "Freezeout," click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llIUP-LyOws Congrats, Steelers! Great game, Cardinals! Great show, Bruce!

-- Perry

Congratulations, Seminoles!

For just the third time this year, we joined our Kentucky Seminole Club compatriots at Pizza by the Guy in Lyndon to watch a Florida State University football game - this against Big 10 stalwart Wisconsin, in the Champs Sports Bowl - this past Saturday - from Orlando - apparently in the old Tangerine Bowl, where I saw the Stones in 1982. We got to Lyndon towards the end of the first half, with FSU just up 10-3. Another game - it appeared to be - with tough FSU defense and not a lot of Seminole offensive firepower. What we had missed was stunning FSU special teams play, with FSU punter/kicker Graham Gano (pictured below after one of the punts) kicking three punts that pinned the Badger offense within their 3-yard line. So Wisconsin had some yards but few points.

FSU's offense rolled after we arrived - starting with a great late-first half touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Christian Ponder to veteran receiver Greg Carr now #2 on the FSU receiver list for touchdowns. It was a great day also for the defense. Rumor had it that longtime FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews (below on the right), a bad cop to Head Coach Bobby Bowden's good cop - might be retiring after this game. But a second call to friends in Tallahassee yielded the word that Andrews ought to be back for another season, one in which FSU might again contend at least for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

We also got the news that the penalty money due to FSU Offensive Coordinator Jimbo Phillips (and coach in waiting) is up to $5 million if Bowden doesn't step down within two years.

With a 42-13 FSU victory, Bowden notched another win in his amazing bowl game victory column (21!) and - with Penn State's subsequent loss to Southern Cal in Thursday's Rose Bowl - got back within a victory or two behind rival/friend and Penn State coach Joe Paterno. I figure that my Mother (just a few years younger than Bowden) might retire after Bowden does. FSU will have to have two great seasons for Bowden to re-take the total career victory runner-up status (behind major college leader and long-time Alabama coach, the late "Bear" Bryant) from Paterno, should they both retire in a couple of years. Good work, Bobby!

-- Perry