ESPN Again Proves That They Suck

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com

Today at the bottom of ESPN.com where they have all sorts of random links, I noticed they had one about horse racing.

I was momentarily heartened to see horse racing getting coverage on their website until I saw what it was about. Yesterday at Belmont Park a jockey was thrown off of his horse at the start of the race and the horse went on to "win" the race. Hilarious.

The video was borrowed from MSG Plus which is a NYC-based channel that televises the Mets games. Last I knew they didn't cover horse racing, but maybe they threw this clip in as a "bizarre sports news" entry. The only problem is that it isn't bizarre at all. When a jockey is thrown from a horse that horse goes on to "win" about half the time. Is it any surprise that jettisoning 112 pounds off its back may give a horse an advantage over others? Sure jockeys help some, but not enough counteract their 110-pounds of dead weight on the animal's back.

Worsening this moronic story is that MSG mispronounced the jockey's name. Twice. His name is French- Jean-Luc Samyn, pronounced "sa-meen", but the MSG commentator, unfamiliar with this 30-year veteran of racing, pronounced it "salmon". Twice.

However, MSG Plus did have the decency to add that "salmon" was not hurt in the fall- a courtesy that ESPN.com did not extend. All ESPN.com offered other than the video was this synopsis,

"After throwing off jockey Jean-Luc Samyn at the start, Phone Jazz went on to unofficially win the race at Belmont Park by seven lengths"

Classy. ESPN is the same network that went berserk after the death of Eight Belles at the 2008 KY Derby- criticizing her owner, trainer, breeder and anyone else they could find. It's the same network that reported incessantly about the well being of the late Derby winner Barbaro during his final weeks of his struggle with laminitis. Yet when a human falls from a horse and "bizarre" result ensues, ESPN.com can't find the time or page space to mention whether the jockey was injured or not.