Opening up the gates on another week of sports media notes while bemoaning the fact that jockeys' silks don't come in my size:
The Preakness doesn't need Joe Piscopo to get added coverage. Even though there is no red carpet show as from the Kentucky Derby, NBC's Preakness programming begins at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow, with the added half-hour putting the broadcast at two hours, the longest ever.
During the first half-hour, the telecast will feature a round- table discussion on the death of Eight Belles in the Derby and the state of horse racing, led by Bob Costas. The discussees include Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones, NBC analyst Gary Stevens, Churchill Downs veterinarian Larry Bramlage, National Thoroughbred Racing Association head Alex Waldrop and New York Times columnist William Rhoden.
And if it seems horse racing - perhaps more than any other sport - constantly appears to be engaged in discussions about its direction, maybe part of that is because "there's no central figure who's a commissioner," NBC Preakness producer Sam Flood said yesterday. "One of the problems the sport faces is not having one guy who can say, `This is what we're going to do.' "
So what of the question we ask every year: Do we have a Triple Crown horse?
Stevens said, in a network news release: "Do I believe [Big Brown] can win the Triple Crown? Yes, definitely. It would have to take something unforeseen for him not to."
NBC's Mike Battaglia said Big Brown's competition isn't the other runners, but the task.
"It doesn't look like there is a horse that can beat him in the Triple Crown, but I think the Triple Crown itself is his biggest obstacle," he said. "It's tough to run these three bang-up races in five weeks."
The network's Bob Neumeier agreed: "It's an awful lot to ask of a horse, and as impressive as he was in the Derby, if I had to bet for or against it, I'd bet against it. There is a reason there hasn't been a Triple Crown winner in 30 years."
Flood is not second-guessing the network's handling of Eight Belles' breakdown after the Derby, especially when it comes to what images NBC showed. It presented only an overhead shot from the blimp of Eight Belles down on the track, though NBC had available ground-level pictures of the horse in distress. "We're not going to put something on during family viewing hours that we shouldn't," Flood said.
