Marcus Riley, NBC5 Street Team (video)

I was an avid sports fan while growing up, but there were two sports that I never thought I’d ever understand or enjoy — horse racing and auto racing. As luck would have it, I’ve lived in the hotbeds for both sports — Lexington and Louisville, Ky., and Indianapolis, and I have an appreciation for horse racing — and could still care less about auto racing.

I make that distinction because when you go to the horse track, you’re actively involved in the action through the betting process. Auto racing? Whatever.

Anyway, if you want to check out first-class horse racing, you don’t have to travel to the Bluegrass state. Hawthorne Race Course in nearby Stickney, is in the midst of its Spring Meet, and this Saturday will feature the 51st running of the Illinois Derby. Many of the horses in this race are still trying to qualify for next month’s Kentucky Derby. There’s also a bunch of other shenanigans going on, including camel and ostrich races. Gotta get the butts in the seats somehow!

Mitch Demick, an experienced handicapper with Hawthorne, dropped by the podcast studio this morning to talk horses. Check out our interview for some tips on how to bet at the track.

I did put Mitch on the spot with my favorite Derby question: If you had a race horse, what would you name it? Check out the reactions below when I posed that question to a variety of celebrities on the eve of the Kentucky Derby last year.

 Let’s face it, it has been one heck of an awful winter in Chicago sports-wise.  One year removed from the Super Bowl, the Bears missed the playoffs… the Bulls have been stunningly bad for a team many expected to compete for an Eastern Conference title… and while the Blackhawks have made strides both on and off the ice this season, they’re still a virtual lock to miss the playoffs yet again.

(An aside:  This Blackhawks season reminds me of that Eddie Murphy “Raw” line when he talks about how if you’re starving and someone gives you a cracker, you’re going to think it’s the best damn cracker you’ve ever had.   The Blackhawks have been so, so bad for so, so long that any kind of improvement is making fans feel like they’re watching the 80s Edmonton Oilers.  Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this team is still going to miss the postseason in a league where more teams go to the playoffs than don’t…)

 But oh what a difference March makes.   You may have mixed feelings about Javier Vazquez being named the White Sox opening day starter over Mark Buehrle… but the words “opening day” bring a smile to my face.  And while it doesn’t look like the state of Illinois is going to be very well represented, the NCAA tournament is right around the corner and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love that.

 So take a deep breath of fresh air today and breath in the joy that is March. 

You see, I was born and raised in Milwaukee.  I went to school at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  And my first job in this business was in Green Bay.  I was fortunate enough to cover the Packers during their Super Bowl runs in the mid-90s… the same time Brett Favre was becoming one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.  So not only am I a born and raised Packers fan, but I experienced quite a bit of Favre’s career up-close and personal.  I stood on the sidelines for two years watching him play.  So this sucks.

 I’ve told Chicago folks for as long as I’ve been here that Brett Favre is to Packers fans what Michael Jordan is to Bulls fans.   He’s synonymous with the franchise… and that’s saying something when you’re talking about the Green Bay Packers, an organization with as much as tradition as any in all of sports.  If you put two Packers fans in a room and tell them to discuss their favorite Brett Favre memories, they’ll stay in there for hours.

Watching his career has been awesome and I’ll definitely miss watching him each and every sunday (and in Favre’s case it was each and EVERY sunday).  Packers games will never be the same. 

 We spend entirely too much time nowadays reporting and talking about steroids, gun charges, big contracts, etc… and not enough time celebrating the good in sports. 

 Well tonight the people in DeKalb will participate in a celebration of the best that sports offers… a chance for people to come together and pull in the same direction… to cheer for the Huskies on the court… but more importantly, to begin the healing off it.

 Our thoughts and prayers are with the NIU community.

 Let me ask a question:  When did steroids invade baseball?  The NFL started their self-policing testing policy in 1990… so one has to believe it had become a problem in football a few years earlier than that… and there’s no reason to believe that if it was in football, then it was probably in baseball.  With that as a backdrop:

In 1997, Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs, after previous season totals of 21, 13, 12 and 16.  EVERYONE believes Brady Anderson did steroids for this reason.

In 2001, Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs, after previous season totals of 40, 37, 34, 49.  EVERYONE believes Barry Bonds did steroids for obvious reasons, including this.

So if I told you there was a player who hit 49 home runs in a season, after previous seasons of 32, 17, 23, 20, what would you say?  If I told you that player reached the 30 HR plateau only once more in his career (and that was 31), what would you say?

The man in question is Andre Dawson… who in 1987 hit 49 home runs for the Cubs and won the MVP despite the fact the Cubs sucked worse than a room full of vacuums.

Every Cubs fan remembers this season, glorifies it and uses it as a major talking point in the Dawson-for-the-Hall discussion.  Yet what no one talks about is the fact that Dawson never hit more than 32 home runs in any other season in his career… and in fact, only broke the 30 HR mark twice (32 in ’83 and 31 in ’91).  This isn’t 1960 we’re talking about… it’s 1987… a mere 10 years before Brady Anderson… 11 years before McGwire/Sosa… and just a few scant years before the NFL started their steroids policy.

Anyone suspicious?  I’m not saying Andre Dawson did steroids…  I’m just asking in this time when we overanalyze every accomplishment under the “Did-he-or-didn’t-he” microscope, why has this question never been asked?  In all my years as a baseball fan and covering sports for a living I don’t remember anyone ever expressing surprise, in retrospect, at Dawson’s 1987 season.

I spent an hour today logging Andy Pettitte’s press conference from Florida…  and I came out with a few thoughts…

 With all due respect to Andy Pettitte, who appears to be a very nice guy (I have, in fact, interviewed Mr. Pettitte once and he was very accommodating), he doesn’t come off as the brightest character in the world… perhaps he’s just a “simple guy” as one of the producers here described him… but I thought he sounded, well, not smart.

 But that said, I think his “simplicity” worked in his favor.  At every turn that Roger Clemens seems smug and manipulative, Pettitte seems honest and forthcoming.  He truly seemed to be answering everything as honestly as he could and, with the exception of one vague gray area in which he described Brian McNamee both as the man who got him the HGH in 2002 and the man who told him NOT to use it, everything he said seemed to come together nicely.

The one disappointing thing is he refused to discuss whether there was any chance he “misremembered” his HGH conversation with Roger Clemens.  I certainly got the feeling from the way he answered questions that there’s no doubt in his mind he got it right… but it certainly would’ve been much more buzz-worthy had he stepped up there and either said “There’s no way I’m mistaken” or “Yeah, I guess it’s possible, I don’t remember it real clearly…”

 I want to thank NIU Director of Athletics Jim Phillips for joining us yesterday on Sports Sunday.  It certainly would have been within his rights to say “Thanks, but no thanks” to our request given his current situation, but he was kind enough to make time for us.

Here you’ll be able to read thoughts on the world of sports from members of the NBC5 Sports Team! I urge you to check out some of the other features throughout the site including the NBC5 Sports Podcasts, Justin’s World and Fan Frenzy.

Tonight on the NBC-5 Sports Podcast we’ll be discussing (of course!) the Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee hearing… I actually think it’s going to be pretty interesting… of course, I think this because I’m going to attempt to present the pro-Roger Clemens take…

That’s right, you heard me. Come back Friday and use the link above to see if I get anywhere!

Tony Capriolo, Executive Producer, Sports