he does that every year.

I understand.

It's their thing is correct. Kornheiser brings it up whenever there is a big race where the nation (outside of the 100 of us regs) might be watching and Wilbon gives his "who cares" answer.

Or, he's a racist.

I'm not sure you have to be a racist to hate horse racing. Just like every major sport, I'm sure there was a massive amount of racism involved in it through the history of America. the dominant jockeys of the late 19th and very early 20th century were African American and that completely disappeared pretty, pretty quickly. The Jimmy Winkfield biography was an interesting read. Perhaps he does have disdain based on racism, but I think it's fairly legit most likely. Is it racism or merely backlash?? Of course today, there would be zero holding back a successful black trainer, owner, jockey etc and the lack of involvement today is more likely circumstantial more than anything.

I see no evidence however Wilbon is a racist, I don't know the man so I guess anything is possible.

Wilbon may not be racist in an overall context, but when he discusses racing -- going back to Kornheiser having including Secretariat in his Top 10 of the Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century Poll -- his rhetoric is tinged with an obvious view of horse racing as a bastion of white, elitist privilege. He has no cultural tie to the game and obviously no interest in its' gambling aspect, so he simply relies on his instinct to dislike the sport because of who and what it historically represents in his mind. I doubt he knows much about how the game was dominated by afro-american trainers and riders during from the post-Civil War until the Gambling Blackout (1908-1910).

That's fine. At this point it's become a schtick on PTI, and every time he says anything about the sport, he just displays a small-mindedness. I stopped watching the show in 2006 when I started doing ATR full time 4-7pm, and even though I'm available to watch now, the two of them have become such caricatures of themselves that I find it difficult to sit through.

Those roles of trainer/jockey disappeared quickly because every state in the country except Maryland and Kentucky banned gambling (1908-10) and the industry shrank to nearly nothing. White trainers and riders got the edge under that scenario, which in that era, you can comprehend easily. Wilbon resents the erroneous image he holds of the sport, and that image has racial undertones.

See above for the racial context regarding Wilbon.

You keep repeating (taunting really) the assertion that racing is of interest to some tiny fringe population.. I know you're anxious to produce reaction, but what's your point saying that in a place where nearly 1,000 people regularly engage over their shared pleasure in the sport? If racing's such a joke as you said earlier, move on to so more important avocation and let the rest of us enjoy it.

Wilbon is definitly a RACIST but I think his distain for racing is more centered around it not being a "cool" sport. He is more into sports where the athletes beat their wives and make the english language sound more like pig latin than english. Maybe racing needs more hip hop:)

:tro:

Blackball him

Great post. This could be the post of the year.

He's obviously never seen this board before! :D

Frankly, I grow weary of making sports 'writers' TV personalities in any context. PTI has grown quite stale and the two buffoons have to resort to cheap shots and gags to make it even worth watching. Wilbon reinforces his ignorance every time he rails on horse-racing and it has just become old. Kornheiser is a total cartoon character. The Sports Reporters each week has become nothing more that a pseudo-intellectual discussion on any and all topics. Around the Horn is a sad attempt to make sports comments a 'game' show. These sports writers should be read and not seen.

Just say it. ESPN is a self promoting bag of crap and in gets more unwatchable every day.

I love the sport. That's why I stay involved in it. But that doesn't mean that I can't see that it is very low in popularity in this country. We see every year when a racing telecast is delayed because another event goes long and the racing fans scream out in horror "I can't believe that they won't switch to racing....screw college football." Racing fans are totally unrealistic when it comes to understanding how little of a national impact the sport has. That's not to say that we are different from other sports fans though. We all are passionate about what we like and don't want to see it "mistreated". As I said earlier, we can come on here and talk about how racing is a joke with it's four-horse fields, it's medication rules and applications, all of the little things that add up to big things that are wrong with the industry...........but let someone outside do it and that's a problem.

The main thing is that the truth is that racing is very, very low in popularity in this country. Even among racing fans, I have always felt that racing is not popular but gambling is. I bet if you go to just about any track or OTB and ask the fans there who won the Derby, the majority wouldn't know...even though they played the race. Ask them the conditions of the Derby (date, distance, track, age of the horses) and I'd bet that most of them don't know. Ask them what three races make up the TC and what are the conditions and I think the majority would have no clue. Maybe I'm wrong though. I know it used to piss me off when I'd be at the track and I'd hear people talking, the usual "who do you like in the 8th?" kind of stuff and it seemed like 80% of the time or more, people just answered in numbers. I hated that they'd just refer to Snow Chief or Sunday Silence or Alysheba as "the four horse."

I guess I just feel that we are very defensive and very unrealistic when it comes to understanding horse racing's popularity among sports fans and the public in general.

Also, if my remarks are offensive to anyone that enjoys horse racing, I apologize to you. That wasn't my intent as I myself enjoy the sport.

Perhaps Robby albarado is really a black basketball player masquerading as a jockey.

:tro:

He didn't say black, he said Pig Latin speaking. :rolleyes:

Personally, I stopped watching PTI a long time ago. If I want to see clowns, I just go to the circus.

The bottom line is that we all love horse racing. That being said there is a reason why the pre-race coverage of the Preakness is on Versus instead of a major network. Horse racing is definitely a clique sport, just like bowling, billiards, etc. I would actually compare is to WWE wrestling. There are a number of die hard fans out there like us, but the rest of the country just does not get it and that is fine.....

Racing is in now way like bowling or billiards. . . It might not be nearly as popular as it was years ago, but the horse industry still dwarfs those "sports." It's a terrible comparison.

I used to enjoy Wibon's writing in the Washington Post but his work on PTI is that of a grumpy grouchy man who likes to kick a dog when it's down. Tony carries the show with his quirkiness. Wibon has probably never been to the racetrack in his life no need to bash it in my opinion.