If Big Brown follows up his big win in the Derby with a similar triumph in the Preakness, you’re going to start seeing stories about how a Triple Crown can “save” horse racing. Horse racing can only be saved by one thing – and it’s not a Triple Crown winner, more TV coverage, lower takeouts, concerts at the track or splashy ad campaigns. Nope, the stewards of the sport need to remember that it’s all about the horse, stupid.

After Big Brown’s win, casual fans may have wondered how he’d fare against recent Triple Crown race winners. Imagine the hype and ratings a race with Barbaro, Bernardini, Jazil, Street Sense, Curlin, Rags To Riches and Big Brown would get. It’d be awesome! Unfortunately, we’ll never see it because of those last six Triple Crown race winners, 4 are already retired, 1 is dead and 1 is Curlin, who Big Brown will almost certainly never run against because Big Brown’s bad feet won’t hold up past the Belmont.

How can people get attached to a sport when its biggest stars shine so briefly on the stage? They can’t. So instead racing tries to make stars of jockeys and trainers. It’d be like if NASCAR highlighted crew chiefs or golf focused on caddies. Owners and breeders need to look past short term profits and instead think about the long term effects of their actions on the sport. Sure, big stud fees are nice now, but they’ll collapse along with the rest of the sport eventually.

Of course, retirement is the best option for the horse. Better that than a breakdown. Imagine the 10-year old potential fan watching yesterday’s Derby and seeing poor Eight Belles lying dead on the track. Welcome to horse racing, honey!

The sport needs to do whatever is necessary to prevent injuries. Artificial surfaces are a start, but they are not the only option. Racing needs to eliminate drugs too. Drugs invite cheating (Big Brown’s trainer, for example, gets suspended just about every year for a drug violation) and they also perpetuate problems within the breed. Horses that would otherwise be nothing might be stars on (legal or illegal) drugs. These “stars” are sent to stud and pass their problems on to their offspring. Instead of breeding fast, sound and strong horses, we’re breeding too many fast and fragile animals. These poor animals break down or run in far too few races to ever make an impression with the public.

I love racing, but I’m almost through with it. Yesterday’s Kentucky Derby was a tragedy for the sport. The problem is that I don’t think they see it that way. If racing is blind to its own problems, they’re never going to get fixed.

It's the most wonderful time of the year - Kentucky Derby week! I've noticed that my Derby analysis has become much sharper since I got rid of emotion and embraced my eight step guide to picking a winner. So who's got a chance this year? Let's take a look at the questions and figure it out together.

Question 1: Is there a super horse in the race. A lot of people love Big Brown. If you're one of them, your work is done. If not, then move to number two. Personally, I don't think Big Brown has enough seasoning nor has he run fast enough.

Question 2: Are there fewer than 14 horses in the field? Nope, so it's hard to just rely on the results of recent preps.

Question 3: What's the pace going to be like? Ah, the pace. There are 3-4 horses who like the lead. That's usually enough to guarantee a quick pace and set things up for closers. With that in mind, we can narrow the potential winners to: Tale Of Ekati, Anak Nakal, Court Vision, Eight Belles, Z Fortune, Visionaire, Pyro, Colonel John, Adriano and Denis of Cork. Damn, that's a long list.

Question 4: It probably won't rain, but form on dirt, rather than synthetic surfaces is needed, which eliminates Adriano from further consideration.

Question 5: Can he (or she) go the distance. Looking at our closers, I think that Anak Nakal, Court Vision, Eight Belles, Z Fortune, Pyro and Colonel John should be able to get the Derby distance.

Question 6 is all about location, location, location. This year, it seems like the angle to take is horses coming off of synthetic California surfaces and showing good form on dirt. So, that gets us Colonel John. That also means that Z Fortune gets points for his close second to another California horse, Gayego.

Question 7 asks you to remember to take out Lukas and Baffert insurance. Given his success in the Derby, I'd lump Nick Zito into that group too. Zito trains Anak Nakal.

Question 8, finally, is all about the Derby Gods. Who has the best story? Who do the Derby Gods want to win? I suspect the Derby Gods are behind Barbaro's trainer Michael Matz this year. That means that Visionaire might have a bit of a tail wind. Likewise, I think the Derby Gods root for trainer Eoin Harty, who spent years getting his best horses taken away from him by Dubai's Maktoum family, and his horse Colonel John.

Finally, if the Derby Gods are equine, then they may just back Adriano since he's a son of A.P. Indy, who was injured on Derby morning back in 1992 and therefore didn't get to make his own run at history. A.P. Indy became a great sire, but he hasn't had a Derby winner yet. Maybe this is the year.

To me, it looks like the stars are pointing to Colonel John. But, looking at his Santa Anita Derby he looks a little one paced to me. I want a more explosive closer. So, that leads me to Z Fortune. I really like the horse that beat him in the Arkansas Derby, Gayego, but with his pedigree, outside post, and stalking style, I can't back him in the Derby. I can, however, see Z Fortune winning. Except for that name. Horses with dumb names almost never win the Derby.

So, what to do? I'm torn between Z Fortune, Gayego and Adriano. My analysis points me towards Z Fortune. My gut says Gayego and my heart says Adriano. This year, I'm going to go with my heart. Adriano for the Derby.

OMG it’s Neil Diamond night! Wild horses couldn’t keep me away from this night. And Kristy Lee’s gone. And the Irish-American Idol Carly is gone. Things are really looking up in Idol land. If I get my way, Archuletta or Brooke will be gone tomorrow. The only downfall of the night is twice the Brooke and Archuletta. I can only hope Cook does my two favorite Neil Diamond songs – “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” and “Cracklin’ Rosie.” On a side note, if you love train wrecks as much as I do, you must watch “Cradle of Rock” on MTV Thursday nights.

Jason Castro –

“Forever in Blue Jeans.” While his charms have worn on me, I must say this is a pretty good version. Nice tone, almost country and western, and mostly in key! Plus his eyes are extra sparkly, I think he’s safe this week.

“September Morn.” Boring and average.

Cook –

“I’m Alive.” Skunked on both of my song choices. Oh well. I’m not too fond of this arrangement. It’s boring and sounds like a sound that would be in a B-movie montage. Let’s hope he does better with the second song.

“All I Really Need is You.” Hmmm. Maybe it’s the scrubby beard, but I’m just not feeling DC tonight. The song kind of drags until halfway through when he hits some bitchin’ power ballad notes. He managed to bring the Diamond into the 80s, but not quite into the aughts.

Brooke –

“I’m a Believer.” Wow bad choice of key. She looks a little terrified, probably because she knows this song is not working. She’s also wearing crazy Elvis pants and trying to do an Elvis growl and lip thing. I think this could be her last night of sucking on a national stage.

“I Am I Said.” Aw, how endearing (and unprofessional), she wrote some lyrics on her hand. Pretty good for Brooke. In key and not as shrill as usual. Kudos to Neil Diamond for writing a song that could even make her sound OK.

Archuletta –

“Sweet Caroline.” Wow, this is terrible. Wack. Wussified. I’d rather hear any drunk Badgers fan sing this than David. At least they’d have soul. This sounds like the soundtrack to an 80s sitcom. Can we kick him off soon so that he can star in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” already?

“America.” I think we all knew going in this was gonna be baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. And what’s with the “Jailhouse Rock” outfit? I never thought anyone would make Richard Marx sound like a badass.

Syesha – “Hello Again.” Nice makeup and weavework this evening. Nice tone, but the song makes her sound like she’s 40. I’ll give her credits for the high notes.

“Thank the Lord for the Nighttime.” I think the backup dancers doing the Watusi were a bit unnecessary, but heck, what do I know. Good energy, but it’s a little too Broadway/churchy for me.

Best: Cook
Boot: Archuletta

Does anyone else find this extremely offensive?

At the union hall in Gary, she grew so animated in describing the plight of old-line industrial workers that she described them in language from the oft-repeated poem, attributed to the German pastor Martin Niemöller, about the victims of Nazism. “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist,” goes the version inscribed on a wall at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. After coming for the trade unionists, it continues, “they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew.”

In Mrs. Clinton’s version, she intoned: “They came for the steel companies and nobody said anything. They came for the auto companies and nobody said anything. They came for the office companies, people who did white-collar service jobs, and no one said anything. And they came for the professional jobs that could be outsourced, and nobody said anything.”

“So this is not just about steel,” she finished.

It sucks to lose your job. My former employer recently announced that there were moving headquarters out of town and sending 270 jobs with them. I feel horrible for my friends who now have to choose whether to follow the company to another city or to find another job. But you know what's worse, and, in fact, not even comparable to that - having yourself, your family, your friends, and your entire community murdered.

This kind of rhetoric is just an extension of the whole Bushitler crap we've heard for the last eight years. Bush is Hitler and his economic policies are like the Holocaust. While the people who say things like this may think they're making a clever comparison, what they're doing is actually minimizing what real evil is. If Bush is Hitler and the Holocaust is like losing your job, then Hitler and the Holocaust weren't that bad, right? To make a far more appropriate allusion, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

First, a caveat. I "watched" this Andrew Lloyd Webber episode while doing dishes, so the only people I actually paid any attention to were those who were especially good or especially bad.

That said, obviously I don't remember much about Syesha except that she wore a sexy red dress and vamped around the stage. That's probably enough to keep her in another week given the boring personalities and bland singing of most of her competitors.

Jason Castro sang "Memories" exactly how Simon described it - like a poor kid forced to sing something by his parents. He was completely out of his element. While the show wants us to judge Jason because of that, I'm judging the show itself instead. Why does a show that claims to want to entertain the audience force contestants to perform songs that they know will suck? How is that entertaining?

Brooke White performed "You Must Love Me". I suspect America will respond with a hearty "Nah, not so much." Brooke screwed up the start and had to begin the song over. That, combined with desperate lyrics and crazy eyes should doom her.

I have no idea what David Archuletta sang. I'm sure it was some song about the children or rainbows or kittens or something. I'm also sure he sang it well, but wussily. Ho hum.

Carly Smithson finally found a song that suited her voice - "Jesus Christ Superstar". Carly was a little brassy and a little fabulous. Plus, I have to confess to a soft spot for the song since I fondly remember my father obnoxiously singing the chorus around the house for several years. Good times...

Finally, David Cook closed the show with my favorite showtune this side of "The Bitch of Living", Phantom's "Music of the Night". David got the emotion of the song and didn't do much to change it into a post-grunge tune. I appreciated that.

Best of the night: Carly
Should go: Brooke
Will go: Carly

I was thinking about Presidential experiences and the common ties that Presidents share. Are there certain experiences that we should look for or traits that great Presidents have in common? I was particularly thinking about Presidential participation in sports – do great Presidents play team sports, individual sports or no sports at all? It’s hard to find that kind of information about our early Presidents, but here’s what 20th century Presidents played:

George W. Bush – baseball & cheerleading
Bill Clinton – music & rugby
George H.W. Bush – baseball, soccer
Ronald Reagan – football
Jimmy Carter – basketball
Gerald Ford – football
Richard Nixon – football
Lyndon Johnson - ?
John F. Kennedy – sailing
Dwight Eisenhower – baseball, football
Harry Truman – music
FDR – rowing, tennis
Herbert Hoover – baseball, football
Calvin Coolidge - ?
Warren Harding - ?
Woodrow Wilson – cycling, golf
William Taft - ?
Teddy Roosevelt – rowing, boxing

It’d be nice if you could look at that list and make a conclusion like great Presidents learned leadership by playing team sports, but you can’t. Likewise, it’s easy to make fun of Bill Clinton as a band geek, but then you have to paint Harry Truman with that same brush. You could mock the elitism of JFK’s pursuit of sailing or FDR’s rowing, but then you’d have to include Teddy Roosevelt in your disdain.

So, I guess it’s not just about McCain, the boxer, vs. Obama, the basketball player, or Clinton, the tennis player.

On a different note, I actually had to look in one of my Reagan books to find out what sports the Gipper played. Skimming through Reagan: A Life In Letters, it struck me that perhaps that’s the kind of experience a President needs to have. The book’s editors estimate that Reagan wrote over 10,000 letters. He corresponded with all kinds of people all throughout his life. You can only live your own life and only have time to do so much, but talking to people and learning about their lives, like Reagan did, lets you learn about experiences beyond your own. I think about Barack Obama’s recent comments and it strikes me that he probably doesn’t actually know any white, rural, lower to middle class Americans. He only knows “of” them.

So maybe the key to judging future Presidential candidates isn’t in the games they played, their education or their military service. Maybe we should judge future candidates by the quality and quantity of their email correspondence and by how many Facebook friends they have!