Big Brown

[Reel Deal]

So, WTF was that??

[Talking Poker]

He didn't take his roids:


Duh.

[GTDawg]

His trainer's ego was weighing him down.

[Kurn]

My call is he had an upset stomach. Seriously. He took a dump about 5 minutes befor *riders up*. No biggie, I've seen thousands of post parades and a horse shitting means nothing. However, as they were headed to the track, he twice raised his tail as if to take another dump and nothing came out. Same thing after the horses emerged from the tunnel. Finally, about 5 minutes before they went to the gate, the camera is on him again and he takes another dump. 4 attempts in 20 minutes looks to me like he might not have been feeling himself (I even commented on it before the race to my wife, then laughed at myself).

Couple that with the fact that he looked almost too relaxed in the post parade - alert, but definitely not on his toes, then he loses his footing on the break and is very rank running to the first turn trapped on the rail (where all his connections say he hates to be).

A lot of factors might have added up to this deafeat, but clearly he was gassed at the 1/2 pole. When I saw Desormeaux asking him to run even before they left the backstretch, I said "uh-oh."

And I told someone that the only way he could lose was if he fell down!

[MAYHEM45]

looks like someones about to be glue.

[PShabi]

Please remove this from the sports section. If it didn't involve gambling, no one would give a flying fuck.

NOT
A
SPORT

[Kurn]

If race riders aren't athletes, baseball players certainly aren't, thus by your standards baseball isn't a sport either. Clearly golf isn't either.

[PShabi]

Seriously?

A starting pitcher has a Cy Young season, makes 30 starts, wins 20 of them, sometimes throwing 120+ pitches, and goes on to need reconstructive surgery after the season to repair his arm from the grueling season.

A jockey rides a race and needs to change his fucking panties cause they're a little sweaty afterwards.

[Kurn]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you've never ridden a horse.

Race riding is far more aerobic than pitching and requires more pure physical strength than any skill in baseball. I seem to recall in one of the original "Superstars" shows, Angel Cordero, giving away 100 lbs, lifting way more weight than Joe Frazier.

Different sports require different athletic skills and talent, but to even suggest that Bartolo Colon is an athlete and Kent Desormeaux isn't is laughable. I appreciate what it takes to pitch in the majors and I wouldn't disparage Colon or Sabbathia as not being athletes just because they're fatter than me. Both baseball players and race riders are athletes, and baseball players don't risk their lives.

[Spidey44]

Gotta agree with Kurn on this one. A guy weighing a buck 20 controlling an animal that weighs a thousand lbs all the while racing along a track at what, 30 mph with 9 other beasts surrounding you??? Definitely a sport.

[GTDawg]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you've never played professional baseball.

------------------

I will add though:

The physical talent and ability to play golf and/or baseball is always in question because people play it growing up. People know all about baseball and people play golf on the weekends with friends and assume it's all the same.

One horse race vs one single baseball game...maybe the horse race is more physically demanding. But we're talking about 8 months and probably about 200 games for a baseball season.

Controlling the horse and giving signals to the horse all while in a crouch for 3 minutes is very very tough.

[Kurn]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you've never played professional baseball.

Of course, but you're making my point. Most of us recognize the level of skill needed to play at the highest level because we've played at some level or another. Like even trying to mimic turning a DP during fielding practice makes you realize the incredible skill it takes to do it, and the pros make it look easy!

Only a person who had never been on a horse would think that what a race rider does is easy. For a novice, even a mellow little one hour trail ride leaves you sore and stiff the next day. These guys ride 6-7 races per day, ride workouts for a few hours in the morning, all while basically starving themselves and occaisionally putting on a rubber suit and sitting in a sweatbox for a couple of hours to make weight.

It would be one thing if Shabi's comment was "I hate horse racing,. Its stupid and boring and I don't know what all the fuss is." That's an opinion, and it's fine, but saying a discussion of it doesn't belong in the *Sports* section is just wrong.

Not only that, but it's clearly the 2nd best gambling skill game in the world.

[omahilo]

also I want to add that the triple crown is by far the hardest thing to win in ALL OF SPORTS. This is one amazing feat and it is harder than hell... we havent had a triple crown winner in 30 years now.

I would also put the grand slam in tennis and golf up there as well for hardest things to achieve in sports.

[lightfungus]

Big Brown woke up that morning and realized he was being told to run a race that he didn't get anything for, thus he said fuck it and took his sweet time. Plus, if I had to run the 400m dash and I hadn't gotten all the dump-time I needed, I wouldn't make it past the first turn.

Can you really hypothesize why a horse didn't run as fast as usual? Honestly....

My cat usually licks my face and is sweet, but sometimes the lil' fucker bites me. It's an animal...Big Brown's motivation isn't exactly the same as the jockey's or anyone in the stands watching the horses. Yet people put money on this "sport" thinking they can predict an outcome...

But the best athletes in the world play basketball, fwiw. No other sport translates better to all other sports. And these athletes are superior specimens of the human species.

[Wes]

If you qualify jumping and being tall as qualifying to be the best athletes, then basketball would be #1. Otherwise, probably not.

[GTDawg]

The physical abilities needed to excel at basketball are pretty significant.

And, basketball is generally considered as the sport with the best all around athletes.

I would say it is quite a bit more than being tall and jumping. But I'm sure you probably knew that and are just making a silly statement.

[Daomonk]

While i agree with baseball players being great athletes. I have to go with tennis players probably being the most athletic players from all standpoints.

Edit: With basketball being second

[Wes]

track and field is far and away the most athletic sport there is.

[lightfungus]

What athletes were you thinking of? And I guess you could qualify basketball as jumping and being tall if poker is an Ace beats a King and calling heads or tails...

[Daomonk]

depends on how many events a person players of course. A mile runner might not be agile. A shot putter is usually just strong.

But tennis u need:

Strength, speed, agility, hand eye coordination, finesse(touch). Same as basketball really.

[GTDawg]

And many track and field stars are not able to compete in a wide range of events.

Athletes in the decathlon have a wide-ranging skill set.

But, for example, runners don't have the strength of shot-putters and vice versa.

Also, although their skill set can be wide-ranging...some of those attributes don't transfer well to other sports. They could very well not have the eye hand coordination to succeed in a golf or baseball. And, as can be seen by the lack of track stars in football, running is a broad idea that encompasses many different more specific qualities.

I think it is important to not judge a best because there are so many different skill sets that are so wide-ranging that it becomes tough to make certain distinctions.

Obviously there are people that break all the rules.

Jim Thorpe
Jim Brown
Dave Winfield
Carl Crawford

People that were so supremely talented that they were able to excel at any sport they wanted. It just depended on what they focused on.

[lightfungus]

How many track and field athletes do all the competitions?? I would take a pro basketball player in a competition that included ALL remotely sport-like activities over any other athlete to do better overall. Professional basketball players, the best ones of course, can do things that nobody else on this earth can do. They are larger, faster, stronger, and have more endurance in an overall sense than any other athlete. If you want to throw in intelligence to that mix then the best basketball players excel there too. I think games like basketball, hockey, soccer, and select positions (mostly QB) in football have the smartest athletes because of the team aspect and the need to process lots of information very quickly.

You can have Michael Johnson, I'll take Lebron all day everyday. There are so many basketball players that played SO many other sports and finally settled on basketball: allen iverson was a Mike Vick like QB, Lebron carried his HS team at wideout (I read his HS coach estimated BronBron scored a TD on something rediculous like 3 out of every 4 times he touched the ball in any way i.e. screens, passes, etc.), and I am willing to bet many, many more examples exist on the pro level.

Think about it, there are only 5 starting spots(13 total I believe) on 32(ish) teams in the best league in the world. Name other all around athletic sports that has that kind of competition for spots?

[Reel Deal]

I love that you're mentioning tennis because I work for the pro tour, however, all of the things you listed are also needed to play hockey and and they have to do that on two thin blades on a sheet of ice (oh, and you have to be mindful of the fact that other players are trying to take your head off). No other sport combines as many skills as is required to play hockey. Sorry, but imo, hockey players are the best athletes in the world. And, I don't think it's close.

[Reel Deal]

You forgot the one that I think was probably the most talented of all... Bo Jackson.

[GTDawg]

You know, as soon as I typed it out...I knew I was forgetting someone and I just couldn't remember who it was.

but yes...I would put Bo Jackson on the short list of most physically gifted and talented human beings to ever grace this world.