Mark_Concannon's Blog

*****WALK-OVER-Will any horse run against "Big Brown" in the Belmont Stakes? Why bother? After his dominant performance at the Preakness, "Brown" should be the only entrant at the Belmont, Jockey Kent Desormeaux should dismount and walk the big horse around the track in a Triple Crown victory lap.

*****MARKETING MARKETING MARKETING!-Desormeaux proudly sported a UPS hat in the winner's circle on Saturday. "What can Brown do for you?"

*****OFF TRACK BETTING-Of the $1.5 million wagered on Chicago's Hawthorne's races on a recent Saturday, only a tenth came from the track. Weekdays are worse: 4 percent or 5 percent. The whales, the big bettors who support the industry, don't show up at the track because they can get a better deal elsewhere-by calling in their wagers to phone-betting hubs in exotic, loosely regulated locales like St. Kitts or North Dakota. The hubs pay a little more for this privilege than the tracks-between 7 percent and 9 percent-but since they don't have to maintain a grandstand or feed horses, they can kick money back to their customers.

*****OFF WE GO INTO THE WILD BLUE WIN COLUMN-Air Force recently broke a 55 game conference baseball losing streak by beating BYU.

*****OLD HOME WEEK--The New York Mets transaction wire last Wednesday read like a "Who's Who?" of former Brewers. In one day, the Mets purchased the contract of RHP Claudio Vargas, activated RHP Matt Wise from the 15-day DL,. Designated RHP Nelson Figueroa for assignment,and assigned C Raul Casanova to New Orleans.

*****WHAT'S IN A NAME- The nickname of the independent baseball team, the Edmonton Cracker Cats intrigued me. A "Cracker Cat?" Their website dutifully explained."The name "Cracker-Cats" is derived from the oil industry term ("cat cracking" for short), which is part of the process of refining crude oil into gasoline by converting high boiling hydrocarbons into smaller molecules. Is this a mascot or a chemistry class?

*****WILL HE REPRESENT HIMSELF?-The independent Sussex Skyhawks baseball team signed pitcher Rich Lawyer.

*****START ME UP-Celtics forward Paul Pierce, revealing to the Boston Globe that the team's video montage during introductions gets him revved: It "makes you feel like you drank 10 Red Bulls."

*****NOT BAD FOR A DEMOTION- Isiah Thomas is living the life. While Mike D'Antoni was being introduced at a Garden press conference Tuesday, Thomas was far, far away - scouting in Europe. According to a source close to Thomas, president Donnie Walsh dispatched Thomas last week to France and Italy. Not a bad absentee job. Thomas is not just there for the cuisine and wine. Walsh wanted him to scout two lottery possibilities in Danilo Gallinari and Nicolas Batum.

*****LUNCH WITH THE BOSS-The Bucks currently have an on-line contest where if you correctly pick the team you think will win the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery, you could win lunch with Bucks GM John Hammond.

*****VIVA LA FOOTBALL!-Washington & Lee's Division III football team plans to travel France to play against a semi-pro team, "The Parish Flash,"in June 2009.

*****GOING ALL IN-The World Series of Golf plans to host a tournament for amateurs next year in Las Vegas that will cost $200,000 to enter and offer a $1.5 million payout for the winner. Rules are loosely based on poker, with players betting on their strokes with poker chips. Players can go all-in after their tee shot, or fold and move on to the next hole if they hit a lousy shot. The player with the fewest strokes each hole wins the pot for that hole.

Go "All IN" with us for for musings after we take a spring break. We're back on Monday, June 9th.