Derby TV Ratings
 

...highest in 17 years??

Surprising with the lack of a "Super" horse...

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/hor...ory?id=4137216

oh god, good news for horse racing...:zz: not sure how to handle it..

it's john whites fault......:D

Crappy weather in most of the country always helps the ratings #.

Maybe because someone could find it.. and it wasnt bumped for Womans College Volleyball ? :D

Very odd that it was the highest in 17 years, yet I saw somewhere betting was down 5%...

Crappy weather in combination with a crappy economy. I'm guessing more people stayed home, and I don't think there was much else on tv.

"super" is when the favorites lose.

It's good news . Now horse racing has a horse that can capture the imagination of children and new fans . As a child I was fascinated by horse racing and loved Carryback, "the people's horse" .

Now kids have "the little horse that could " Mine That Bird . A horse they can root for .

But what are the kids going to do 11 days from now?

They will be able to rent him to do their birthday parties.

Yep Seattle Slew, Winning Colors, Barbaro and last but not least , "what is that gelding who won last Saturday's Derby's name again", Yeah him..lol

He should still be popular enough with the kids to get that sort of business. Everyone loves a letdown.

they will be crying like that kid timmy.

I doubt that . You can't win them all . This sport is not all about multi million dollar horses titillating sleezy rich folks . The future of the sport is youth and safety and care for the horse . As a matter of fact , the commercial breeders play a large role in degrading the sport .

This year's Hero is Mine That Bird because of what he did in the KD. Like it or not . And I think kids love the little champ .

yeah all the kids knew that Mine That Bird would win, thats why the ratings were so high

Of course not . I'm saying from this point forward Mine That Bird is something kids can love . The little underdog that won the KD . Running against the big rich guys . This is good for the future of the sport . Go Baby Go !!

And here I thought the ratings were up because the national audience was finally subjected to decent coverage, albeit too short, rather than the stuttering ramblings of a drunken Stammerin' Hank - perhaps ESPN could ditch the boozer and play off your "little horsey that could" angle

So they'll still love him even if he never wins another race in his career, which is a distinct possibility?

Even kids will get sick of a loser....if we are operating from the POV that they even give a crap to begin with, which is really stretching my imaginitive abilities in the first place.

They rode Greyhound to the race while Mine that Bird ran tethered behind a '57 Chevy, hadn't you heard?

That's illegal in most states. They couldn't tell that story on the news, so I guess they made up the Greyhound one.

While it's a small sample, everyone at the barn I ride at was talking about it and no one is an actual racing fan.

The kids wont notice this horse unless he goes on to win the Preakness. Then TC fever will hit and this horse will get some real publicity. Then they will probably start with the toys (such as beanie babies) that will get the kids involved and rooting for the horse.
But until then, everyone thinks it's a waste of time and money to promote this horse and things associated with him.

No responsible parent would expose their child to such a fraud of a Derby winner

Maybe a Kool Aide stand is appropiate, since believing that this horse has anyshot at winning the Preakness is Jim Jones like..

I think that's due to the fact that many occasional fans do not have the ability to bet from home. It takes a lot more effort to head out to the local OTB or track to place a bet than it does to watch the coverage.

Maybe the increased ratings are "leading" the action. If people enjoy watching triple crown coverage and the ratings go up, at least some will go through the effort to get a bet in.

The viewership can feed the betting and vice versa, as in the "World Series of Poker"

Most kids don't even know who Seattle Slew is....but they will remember a horse that's in their own lifetime, if they watched Mine That Bird

There is only one logical reason why the ratings were up so much...

nothing else was on?

They wanted to see what Scav was wearing?

Obama!!!

I assume timmgirvan already blamed him for I Want Revenge's injury and the sloppy track.

Hate to say it, but I think increased ratings were because of what happened to Eight Belles and Barbaro. Something emotional and terrible happens that's talked about around the water cooler, people want to see it first hand.

Luckily, instead this year they saw a feel-good "anyman" story, Borel crying for missing his momma and daddy, a pair of cowboys doing good, etc.

Why Not? Wasn't it George Bush's fault that a hurricane hit New Orleans?

So using this theory the Derby rating next year will be terrible due to no mishaps?

If it is, that would be very scary (as a valid explaination of why people tuned in).

But, all my non-racing friends know about Barbaro, and what happened to Eight Belles ...

My oh my, hell has frozen over, horse racing makes the cover of Sports Illustrated, and it's for a good thing ...

www.ntra.com