The fallout continues from Maximum Security’s DQ in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Co-owner Gary West filed an appeal that was quickly shot down and will not run the horse in two weeks in the Preakness Stakes. That’s a shame because it could’ve been a kind of redemption and Maximum Security could’ve joined Man o’ War and Native Dancer as one of the greatest horses to never win the Derby. (Man o’ War’s owner, August Belmont Jr. — the Belmont Stakes was named after his father — thought his colt too young for the Derby. And the Dancer lost the 1953 Derby to Dark Star in a race in which his jockey, Eric Guerin, was criticized for taking “that colt everywhere around the track except the ladies’ room”.) It was the only race that the Dancer ever lost.
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A muddy, muddled Derby
And that’s why they call it a horse race.
After the favorite, Omaha Beach, was scrapped earlier in the week, the new favorite and winner, Maximum Security, was disqualified for drifting into the lane of War of Will. As a result, Country House — a 65-to-1 shot — was declared the winner. Code of Honor finished second and Tacitus, third.
Read MoreThe endgame of Colin Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick’s collusion case against the NFL is now one for the record books, though no numbers have been reported. Such is the way with private settlements. My uncle said he probably got $40 million. I think he got at least twice that. The NFL isn’t merely buying his silence in a suit that he may well have won. They’re saying adios to an activist player.
Read MoreNo easy way out
“New England Patriots legend Tom Brady will be playing in his record ninth Super Bowl on Sunday, while the Los Angeles Rams’ 24-year-old signal-caller, Jared Goff, will be playing in his first. But no quarterback looms over the NFL like one who has not set foot on an NFL field since the 2016 season — former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick,” Michael A. Fletcher writes on The Undefeated.
Read MoreThe balanced unfairness of sport and life
Sunday, Feb. 3 marks the Super Duper Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams, but much of the talk this week has been about a controversial play in the NFC Championship game Jan. 20 in which the referees failed to call pass interference on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman as he collided with New Orleans Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis.
Read MoreIs some speech freer than others?
Everyone is entitled to his opinion, until, of course, someone thinks he isn’t. Recently, three incidents have challenged our concept of freedom of speech.
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