Can someone tell me why this horse getting hurt this weekend is such a big deal? Newscasters seem particularly breathless about it.

What about all those horses in Darfur?

I felt it was a big deal, but maybe not as big of a deal as they were making it.

I have to ask, did you watch the Kentucky Derby? I wouldn't even call my wife and I CASUAL race fans, but we had the TV on and the way that Barbaro ran away with that race......you really felt like you were watching something special, an animal like this only comes along once in a generation - and you couldn't help but feel that there was no way that this horse wouldn't run away with the Triple Crown.....which made what happened Saturday with him breaking his leg feel that much more tragic...and THAT is why you are hearing so much about it.

Because the media builds the shit up so much. Horse racing is desperate for a Triple Crown winner and the build up begins the second the Kentucky Derby ends.

They had coverage of this for this every day and a 2 hour live broadcast before hand. I watched it live and have to admit that I felt really bad for the horse when it happened.

Horse racing is part of the fabric of America. I think for the first half of he 20th century the two biggest sporting events were Horse racing and Boxing.

Hell, Secretariat is better known than 75% of all the Heavyweight boxing champs.

I mean come on man, didn't you watch Sea Biscuit?

HAVE YOU NO HEART!?!?

OK.

I've gone to a couple derby parties and they always just seemed like a reason to get drunk in the morning.

Normally I'm all for that, but for some reason horse racing is creepy to me. Something people get artifically pumped about for a couple minutes before filing it away for another year.

I dig your name, Chrome CW.

I'm of the belief that any event were the norm is to be drinking before noon and doing so is socially acceptable is an event that should be celebrated.

Nothing is more exciting then betting large amounts of money on horses and hear the announcer say, "Down the stretch they come."

I try to make it to the track a couple of times a year. Lots of fun.

I think that when people see something like that happen, they subconsciously feel guilty for embracing a sport that pushes unwitting animals to their limits. It just feels wrong to watch a horse's leg snap like that in the middle of a race. Not that horses didn't break their legs running around in the wild back in the day. But when you watch it, it feels sort of like watching someone beat their dog.

I like it when they say that horses have to be "destroyed."

Like they're thrown into a threshing machine or something.

Charli?? Is that you?? Posting under el_scorcho's screen-name?
(Sorry you two, love you both as posters...this just sounds like something she'd say)