The future of horse handicapping tournaments is not as rosy as it was. What was once a slam dunk win-win scenario between the host casino or racetrack and the horseplayers has come undone. And it’s the players’ fault.
Sports Columns
Some guys have all the luck. They always catch fish. They always draw a big game tag. They always bag the biggest bucks. They always get the girl.
A few summer thoughts …
The ball sailed high enough to bring more rain and right enough to worry anyone standing near the visiting on-deck circle, which means the latest first pitch thrown by Oscar Goodman before a 51s game was splendidly perfect.
A few years ago, Monmouth Park management was criticized for paying appearance fee money for star 3-year-old horses to run in the Haskell. As far as I was concerned, they didn’t need to apologize, or even defend themselves, for an aggressive business tactic.
Out there. Out on the wall. Out alongside Aaron and Mathews and Murphy and Niekro and Spahn, for heaven’s sake.
So this is what Casey Affleck and Frank Stallone and Billy Ripken and Mike Maddux felt like. So this is why that whiner Jan Brady ranked among the most annoying characters in television history.
This really does make perfect sense, that the new, big (really big) thing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship is our very own version of Ivan Drago.
Do you remember the part about a land which should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, about a place with opportunity for all according to ability and accomplishment?
The $700,000 Hollywood Gold Cup lacks star power, but it quietly might be one of the best betting races of the year. The Saturday feature is headed by a tepid 4-1 favorite in Parading among 13 starters. Still, there is intrigue galore around the race on and off the track.
There is the profound way of looking at it: The Ultimate Fighting Championship holds its 100th show Saturday night and perhaps the most symbolic matchup of such a historic moment will not be either of two title bouts, but rather when veteran Dan Henderson stares across at a younger and promising Michael Bisping.
Just as the argument is heating up over whether Nevada should legalize rifle scopes for use during muzzleloader-only hunting seasons, the company that turned the muzzleloading world upside-down with its Knight Rifle has closed its doors.
In the beginning, it wasn’t about a formless wasteland or darkness covering the abyss or mighty winds sweeping over the waters.