Randomness and some interest piquing

-On what seems like an endlessly long, excruciatingly slow week in both the real world and the horse racing world, a few items piqued my interest.

I first read about this over at our friend Jason’s blog.

For those of who may not know it, Jason Beem is the race caller at River Downs. Originally from Seattle, Jason honed his skills at Portland Meadows this past winter and scored his first full-time professional gig as a race caller for the summer season in lovely Cincinnati, Ohio. If you don’t check out his blog on a regular basis, I suggest you start. “J” does not post daily, but when he does, it is always a pretty interesting read.

The story was picked up on equidaily.com and stands as a fairly interesting news story. The internets come through once again. By offering unique insight from a completely different perspective, one blogger was able to enhance a seemingly benign story, making bloggers proud across both of G.W.’s internets’. Maybe when the season is over and Jason moves back to the Pacific NW he will decide to join the TBA.

-The World Series of Poker is under way, and if you are looking for in-depth coverage with a little bit of an edge, check out Pauly’s Blog. You get great insight into the month long event that you can't find anywhere else. Special sections such as "the last five players I took a 'leak' next too" being a fan favorite. You won't find THAT on ESPN.com. Beyond that, Pauly is not shy about pimping other great WSOP news sites. It's always a great read when things get slow at work.

-The good and the bad of capitalism and commercialism makes its way deeper into horseracing.
Anheuser-Busch has stepped in to drop some major loot on the next couple of Preakness' and Kentucky Debry’s broadcast on NBC. So the good is pretty clear: a nice infusion of cash by a major name brand with a boat load of dough and some invaluable cache with the 21-35 demo. The figures are not clear, but I do know that A-B (aka Bud, Bud Light, et. al.) dropped a cool $40 million (US) to be THE beer sponsor of the current World Cup over yonder in Deutshland. On the flip-side, I can’t help but be a touch bitter at the corporatism that A-B represents. The hippie in me will never get over mass consumption and commercialism. Good thing I live in the “Peoples Republic.” And yes, The Kentucky Derby presented by !YUM! Brands annoys me too - but for some reason a bit less than this deal.

-Peter Gammons has taken some heat lately, but he is still one of the better providers of professional sports insight. Get well to Peter!!