Monday, May 5, 2008

Triple Crown? In other news, Jimmy crack corn...

With the Kentucky Derby having taken place this past weekend, we were inundated with what I feel is another dumb sports cliche that people don't really think about. To me, it's just like the "Home runs and steroids saved baseball" argument - people hear others say it, so they say it too, and it becomes a generally accepted part of our collective sports consciousness. But it's never really examined.

This notion that "Everyone wants to see a triple crown winner," and that "People would care about horse racing if a horse won the triple crown." Really? Are you sure? The thought that I, as the sports layperson, would instantly become a horse racing fan because the same horse wins 3 races in a row, is woefully flawed. I don't care if one horse wins 3 consecutive races, just like I don't care if the same dude wins 3 consecutive Superbike races.

If you like horse racing, hey, that's awesome, and good for you. I'm sure seeing dominance in your sport is pretty cool for you, just like dynasties are pretty cool in other sports. (Real dyansties, of course - not when they're just cheaters.) But if you like horse racing, you'd probably still like it either way. Otherwise, you're probably not a "true" horse racing fan to begin with.

And on a much broader note, I am tired of being told what to care about in sports. I didn't care about Tiger Woods when he burst into the golf scene sometime in the late 1990s, I don't care now, and I never will.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

My softball team has won 3 consecutive league championship tournaments. On a sad note, in the last championship the second place team was euthanized following the game.