I'm back!

After viewing the 134th "Running for the Roses" at the famed Churchill Downs, I am a firm believer that everyone must attend at least one Kentucky Derby in their life. The history, tradition, spectacle of the event, pageantry, beautiful people, hats, AND BOOZE will appeal to men and women alike.

Until this year, I had never heard of the Kentucky Oaks, held the day before the Kentucky Derby. Historically, about 100,000-120,000 people go to the Oaks. This was not the case last Friday. The skies opened up and everyone got soaked. Women in sundresses were no match to the downpours. Everyone huddled under awnings or under the grandstands. We didn't care. We were there just to see the grounds and try to come up with a plan on how to actually see the race the next day. Yes, we had mint juleps. They were OK. After getting soaked with the rest of the people, we called it a day and checked into the hotel before deciding where to watch Game 6 of the Celtics/Hawks and called it a night.

The morning of "Derby Day" started off well with us finding a Dunkin' Donuts near the hotel. We scored affordable tickets close to the starting gate and the final turn for the Derby. It was a smart thing that we held off until the last minute. After starting off chilly and overcast, the sun came out in late morning and the temperature began to climb.

Since our group (and the overwhelming majority of the 157,770 people that comprised the second largest crowd in Derby history) only cared about one race, we walked around the paddock area where the horses are brought before their race and the infield. The infield was nuts! Some of the more tame things we saw there were a pair of cougars (yes, those kind of cougars) roaming for prey. They trapped a few kids from Reading, MA. I hope they survived. There was a guy who was forced to dress up in a bridal gown and walk around with his bachelor party. The most memorable thing was probably the group of 8-10 guys dressed in pink scrubs who had taped off an area with "Caution" tape. Across their scrubs was the slogan, "Save Second Base." These guys were offering free breast exams. Unfortunately, my camera was acting up at the time so I don't have any pictures of that. Don't worry, the woman we saw getting her breast examined could have been mistaken for a horse.

As the Derby approached, we headed back to our seats to place our bets and have a few more drinks. We were only a few rows from the track. Thankfully (for me), we were nowhere near the area where Eight Belles collapsed and was put down. Here is a pic of Big Brown and Eight Belles passing us down the stretch.

And then it was over...After grabbing a few drinks and dinner in the Barstown Rd. section of the city, we were all done.
As we were driving through Louisville on I-65 headed to Churchill Downs, we spotted a tobacco store with a unique name. Here it is...Remember, this is Kentucky!

Now, let's get back to some business...What is up with the NBA and its officials? There were shot clock issues throughout all three games at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. First, they couldn't get it to work. So, they came up with the bright idea of having a Yo count down the final 5 seconds before pulling the trigger on an air horn. If you watched the game clock and counted down 24 seconds, you'd think that you'd be able to be pretty close to the shot clock, right? Well, apparently, the Atlanta Public School system has adopted the new math. In that method, seconds tick off faster for the Yankees. When they finally did get the clock to work in games 4 & 6, the buzzer did not work. They had the same Yo with the air horn.

Not to be outdone, officials in the Detroit/Orlando series in the conference semi-finals allowed Chauncey Billups 5.1 seconds to take a shot after the game clock was frozen. No big deal, right? Well, think again! Billups should have only had 4.6 seconds to shoot. What's a half second amongst corrupt officials?

We'll see what David Stern and his corrupt minions have in store for the Celtics this round!