Sunday, May 3, 2015

A Sporting Saturday Sans Surprise

Act I
Class & Form

The 2014 Derby and subsequent Triple Crown races bore the burden of very limited talent. This limited talent, interestingly enough, acts like a bright bulb to the moth that is the "casual fan."

In a race with limited talent, anything is possible from a handicapping standpoint. This is because it takes a great amount of talent for a horse to repeat a performance - to retain the class and form talked about in the above link. Actually, the hallmark of a good horse is predictability.

California Chrome, last year's casual darling, was a prince of mediocrity. Mediocrity, what better tugs at the heart strings of the masses? A lot of people still love this unpredictable every-man on all fours. It's akin to the attraction of voting for a president who is a political outsider...someone you could see yourself having a beer with.

American Pharoah. Dortmund. Carpe Diem. Each of these horses are superior specimens to California Chrome. That made the 2015 Kentucky Derby harder to call, huh? Nope. It made it easier. Again: class and form.

You could see the outcome from a mile away (although the pace was perhaps slower, with the fireball Materiality standing still a moment when the gate opened). Nevertheless, talent yields predictability. Plain and simple.

The most exciting thing here is that AP seemingly has the distance for Belmont, and the Preakness already won. All that can stop him now, is the entry into the Belmont of a fresh and purposeful horse. That's a thought for a different time.

Act II
#MayPac

There is no shortage of similarities between topics here.

Let's begin with the casual fan. Boxing is now a stronghold of the casual fan. Horse racing, mostly, is the land of purists. Of informed spectators and players. The casual fan's dalliance lasts no further than The Kentucky Derby. On an odd year, some linger through the Preakness and pop back in at Belmont to root for a Triple Crown champ.

They wear funny hats, drink Mint Juleps, and say funny things like predicting the race's winner because the name or story is catchy. Sometimes they say funny things like calling Johnny Weir a national treasure.

Sometimes they allow Jamie Foxx to sing the National Anthem. We're back to Act II. With an epilogue to Act I: Horse racing's casual fans go away. 

Boxing's casual fans control the sport and never go away and play perfectly into the skilled hands of Floyd "Money" Mayweather. Before the fight, I updated my G+ thusly:

To be clear: won, lose, or draw, it was Mayweather who navigated tonight's fight into the event that it is. That is pretty darn impressive. 
Also, he should win via UD.
#MayPac
But it was boring, claim the casual fans. To which George Foreman would counter "Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it." Mayweather, at three paces, can dodge a handful of tossed rice with a brilliant shoulder roll. Last night's fight was not a Rocky Balboa montage. It was a display of skill. He did not run, he out-boxed and out-classed an obviously inferior opponent that the boxing public demanded he fight.

Demanded? The casual fan begged for this night and Floyd brilliantly taunted them for five years. Now the rug has been pulled out from beneath their feet and they are sprawled on the floor and they are rightfully irate. Floyd Mayweather took a sure victory over a tailor-made opponent, and created from it what some billed as The Fight of the Century.

Act III
A Nice Cigar

I just figured we needed a conclusion here. What better way than a quality Nat Sherman stick?