I suppose I have to mention this

January 29th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

R and I don’t usually swing to the tune of an injured horse, but when the poor fella gets euthanized, it probably deserves something of a mention. For that very purpose, here you go: Barbaro’s off to that big fake horse vagina in the sky.

For posterity’s sake, I’ll tell the one story I have about Barbaro that made me realize that a lot of people - reasonable people, even - actually did care about the horse beyond his potential for stud jokes….

My girlfriend’s family is from Louisville, and her father had the opportunity to view Barbaro up close on race day. A couple days after Barbaro’s now-fatal injury, she and I met her father and stepmother for dinner and, knowing that I needed a topic of conversation we all could relate to, I brought up Barbaro.

“It’s too bad, because he could have won,” I said. “But I don’t feel too bad. After all, the rest of that guy’s life is going to be pretty much unbelievable. As much sugar as you can eat, and mares all day - that’s livin’ the dream. Plus, he’s got a sweet online message board full of messages he can’t read. It’s brilliant.”

“It’s not funny,” the stepmom said. “He was the most beautiful horse any of the riders had ever seen. Everyone who saw him up close before the race said he would win - he was truly something special. He could have been the best. It’s really sad.”

She looked a little like crying, and right there I realized: a lot of people take this Barbaro thing pretty seriously. Sure, I still think the outpouring of internet support is downright ridiculous … but I also get that today is probably pretty bittersweet, at least for the horse racing and breeding community and even for smart, reasonable people who just happen to take a special interest in horse racing. For them, I’ll stuff my cynicism away, at least for a little bit.

Just so you know, this is difficult for me; the Barbaro message board soldiers on, and I’m stuck fighting the urge to copy and paste a few kooks’ comments for the sake of a cheap laugh. Damn conscience, always causing problems.

(UPDATE: Predictably, ESPN is already making it difficult for me not to make jokes. To wit: ESPN’s Barbaro correspondent, some woman whose name I didn’t catch Bob Ley mutter, just said the following words: “To many, it seemed (Barbaro) represented goodness and strength and innocence … He wasn’t a foul-mouthed, spoiled athlete running around getting into trouble…”

Ugh. You’re right, reporter lady, he wasn’t. BECAUSE HE WAS A HORSE. The most “trouble” he could run around and get into is maybe, I don’t know, kick one of his caretakers or something, and with two bum legs, that seems a bit of a stretch. Thanks for the moralizing, though.

Can’t…stop…cynicism…overtaking me…)