What can BROWN do for you?

What can Brown do for you?

No not UPS, but Big Brown, the horse that is poised to win the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing!

A week from this Saturday, Big Brown will be riding at Belmont Park in New York to try and be the first horse in 30 years to win the Triple Crown.

The Triple Crown consists of the following three races:

• Kentucky Derby, run over 1.25 miles (2.01 km) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky;
• Preakness Stakes, run over 1.1875 miles (1.91 km) at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland;
• Belmont Stakes, run over 1.50 miles (2.41 km) at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

The Triple Crown starts with The Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday of May. The Preakness follows two weeks later. The Belmont Stakes is three weeks after The Preakness in early June.

The following video shows Big Brown's triumphant run at the Kentucky Derby. Its amazing to watch how Big Brown explodes down the back straight to victory.

Two weeks later at the Preakness, Big Brown showed the world again why he is the horse to beat.

Again, he just sat back and waited and once he turned for home, he once again exploded down the straight away leaving all the other horses in the dust.

Here is the overhead blimp view of Big Brown just dominating the field at the Preakness.

Big Brown is ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, who in 1998 rode Real Quite to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, only to be beaten by a nose by Victory Gallop. Now he is back in a bid to win the Triple Crown and ride into Thoroughbred Horse Racing history.

Here is the list of past Triple Crown Winners:

U.S. Triple Crown Winners

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Owner
1919	Sir Barton	Johnny Loftus	H. Guy Bedwell	J. K. L. Ross
1930	Gallant Fox	Earl Sande	Jim Fitzsimmons	Belair Stud
1935	Omaha	Willie Saunders	Jim Fitzsimmons	Belair Stud
1937	War Admiral	Charley Kurtsinger	George Conway	Samuel D. Riddle
1941	Whirlaway	Eddie Arcaro	Ben A. Jones	Calumet Farm
1943	Count Fleet	Johnny Longden	G. Donald Cameron	Fannie Hertz
1946	Assault	Warren Mehrtens	Max Hirsch	King Ranch
1948	Citation	Eddie Arcaro	Horace A. Jones	Calumet Farm
1973	Secretariat	Ron Turcotte	Lucien Laurin	Meadow Stable
1977	Seattle Slew	Jean Cruguet	William H. Turner, Jr.	Karen L. Taylor
1978	Affirmed	Steve Cauthen	Laz Barrera	Harbor View Farm

Since 1978 11 horses have won both the Kentucky Derby & the Preakness only to fall short at Belmont.

Will this year be different? One can only hope so.

The Way I see it: Barring major injury, Big Brown will be the next Triple Crown winner.

Nuggets Vol. 1 Issue 4

Stupid Stat of the Day -

Last night the Boston Celtics went up 3-2 vs the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. On the Mike & Mike Morning Show on ESPN Radio, Mike Greenberg stated that the Celtics are 29-0 when leading a series 3-2.

I like "Greeny". I respect him as a journalist, broadcaster, and a guy that knows his stuff when it comes to sports but I cant pardon him, or anyone else that would give out a stat like this, because it is not an applicable stat.

If this was the same exact team involved in all games sixes, then it would be a valid stat, but its not.

NBA Apologies for no foul call against Lakers -

Unless you have been living under a rock, Game 4 of the Western Conference NBA Final ended with the Laker's Derrek Fisher visibly jumping into Brent Barry, who then heaved up a desperation 3-Pointer which he missed.

No foul was called and the Lakers jumped out to a commanding 3-1 lead vs the Spurs.

The NBA released the following comment: "With the benefit of instant replay, it appears a foul call should have been made," said a statement by NBA spokesman Tim Frank.

Prior to this statement, the league released the following statement regarding referees Joey Crawford, Joe Forte and Mark Wunderlich and how they may have been following a league guideline in failing to make a call.:

"There is an explanation in the rule book," said league spokesman Brian McIntyre, "that there are times during games when the degree of certainty necessary to determine a foul involving physical contact is higher. That comes during impact time when the intensity has risen, especially at the end of a game. In other words, if you're going to call something then, be certain."

So you mean to tell me that the three refs on the court, were not "certain", while the millions of people watching the game, including some blind people, could tell it was a foul?

What if it was a marquee player? Would they have gotten the call? I think so.

All i can say is Wow! I bet all the Spur fans feel so much better now that the NBA pointed out the error.

Wouldn't it have been better if the NBA didn't comment?

The funny thing is this isn't the first time Joey Crawford and company had a run in with the Spurs.

Last year he gave Tim Duncan two technicals, one for laughing, and ejected him from a game against the Mavericks.

Crawford ended up getting fined and suspended.

The way I see it: Payback!

(Photo credits: Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News)

Memorial Day

Many people feel that National Holidays have simply become "days off" or just another reason for retailers to have a sale. I personally feel that most "holidays" these days really do not mean anything due to the over commercialization of them.

Whether or not you agree with the current or past wars, it is important to remember and respect our fallen soldiers by taking a moment today, Memorial Day, to remember the sacrifices these men and women have made to protect the freedoms that we enjoy today.

There are many ways to celebrate or honor our fallen heroes today. It can be as simple as taking a minute at 3:00pm today and partake in the national moment of remembrance, placing a flag outside your house, visiting Arlington National Cemetery, or any of the many local activities many towns have scheduled for today.

From CNN - There have been 4,392 coalition deaths -- 4,080 Americans, two Australians, 176 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, four Georgians, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one Kazakh, one Korean, three Latvian, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of May 26, 2008, according to a CNN count. The list below (Click here for the list) is the names of the soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors and Coast Guardsmen whose deaths have been reported by their country's governments. The list also includes seven employees of the U.S. Defense Department. At least 30,112 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon. View casualties in the war in Afghanistan and examine U.S. war casualties dating back to the Revolutionary War.

The closest relative that I have that actively served was my grandfather served in the United States Army during World War II as a Captain in the U.S. (Army) Dental Corps.

He passed away July 24, 2000 at the age of 82.

As you look around and enjoy the beautiful day just remember that at some point in time a soldier died for you and me so we can enjoy our freedoms.