Money, Money, Money

Let's see. A $2 win bet paid $11.80. So, a $50 ticket pays $295. Street Sense is my new favorite horse. My least favorite horses are the ones I lost money on earlier in the day because after a hot start to the day, I was down going into the Derby. If I had been ahead or even, I would thrown $100 on the race. But, I'm certainly not going to complain about getting back six times what I put in, especially in 10 minutes. Plus, I was really happy to see jockey Calvin Borel get the win as he is not just an underrated jockey, but has a reputation as one of the nicest jockeys out there. I also saw his fiancé at Churchill Downs one time. He got himself a little hottie.

This was a great race. Sometimes jockeys get too much credit for wins because a lot of it is having a good horse. Yet, Borel rode a great race. He put Street Sense in good position and made his move at the right time. I loved the blimp view as they went around the second turn, because I could see Street Sense coming up the inside and also see there was room to maneuver. The announcer had made a point early that he was second to last early in the race, but that was stupid since Street Sense is a closer and wants to be there. When he made his move right before they hit the stretch, I started counting my money because he was exploding through the pack. I love to see a jockey blow to the lead with a lot of horse still underneath him. Especially when I have money on it. I was actually impressed with Hard Spun too. I thought when he blasted to the front that he would fold quick, but he hung on to finish second. He just wasn't going to hold off Street Sense.

Now, the question is whether or not Street Sense can win the Triple Crown. I hope so. I'm a snob about the Triple Crown. I rooted against Funny Cide winning it because I didn't think he was good enough. Street Sense was the two year old champion who just crushed the field at the Derby. I think he would be a good choice to be the first Triple Crown winner in almost 30 years. I'm just not sure he can do it. He's a great horse, but as a closer, he could have problems with the shorter distance and tight turns of the Preakness. While he's better suited for the Belmont, he'll be running his third race in five weeks and most likely facing well rested horses that skipped the Preakness.

Well, now that my horse won the Derby, maybe my luck will stretch to other sports and Greg Biffle will win the NASCAR race tonight and the Utah Jazz will win game seven in the NBA playoffs. Probably not too good for Biffle since Fords are competitive this year. Utah would be great because the NBA would crap themselves as they have either Utah or Golden State going to the Western Conference finals. Which is sad because I think Golden State/Utah would be a good series to watch. Better than Golden State and Houston. Ironically, I think Golden State could knock off Houston pretty easily because I'm not sure Houston's backcourt could handle the Golden State guards effectively. Is anyone having a better playoff than Baron Davis? I have to give the Warriors a lot of credit. I stayed up to watch their home games against Dallas even though they were ending damn near one in the morning. But it was so funny to see one the biggest asses in the game, Mark Cuban, look so miserable. While I realize Golden State was a bad matchup for Dallas, I was still surprised how quickly the Mavericks gave up in game 6. They flat stopped playing in the third quarter. How do you win 67 games in the regular season and then lose a first round elimination game by 25 points against a team that had to win their last nine to get into the tournament and whose best player was gimpy? Ironically, one of those wins was over Dallas who was resting their starters. Only 12 teams have won 65 games in the NBA. Ten won championships while the '73 Celtics lost in the conference finals. Without a doubt, this is the biggest choke job I've ever seen in the NBA.