Belmont Stakes 2011: Why We Should Embrace Another Year Without the Triple Crown

I'll admit right off the bat: I don't know much about horse racing.

I know some of the history and have always been interested in watching the Kentucky Derby. 

But I also have to admit, that I really only cared about the Preakness, and maybe the Belmont, because I wanted to see a horse win the Triple Crown.

I remember being swept up in Barbaro fever, because he was supposed to be the heir apparent to the great Secretariat. I remember Big Brown, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones, War Emblem, Real Quite,  Charismatic and Silver Charm taking both the Derby and the Preakness to keep hopes for a Triple Crown alive. And I remember being disappointed each time.

So heading into the Preakness on Saturday I really wanted to see Animal Kingdom win.  But in something of a sports epiphany I switched allegiances seconds before the race.

As Shackleford struggled and bucked and seemingly spent all his energy in the few minutes before entering the gate—which prompted the NBC experts to indirectly predict him out of the race before it even began—I thought to myself "wouldn't it be great to see him win?"

And lo and behold Shackleford went out there and won, wire to wire, just barely besting the horse I was rooting for 10 minutes earlier, Animal Kingdom.

To me that was such a compelling, exciting, fairy tale story that I was truly amazed

As a "mainstream" sports fan the World Series, the Masters, the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl, etc., will always be the most important, life-pausing events on the yearly sports calendars (who am I kidding, Weeks 1 through 17 of the NFL season are as well).

But after watching the Preakness on Saturday, I couldn't help but look forward to the Belmont Stakes.

Sure there is no Triple Crown in play this year, so we won't get that type of history, the history most casual horse racing spectators want to see each May and June.

Still, that doesn't mean the Belmont is anticlimactic or irrelevant (and forgive me again, I'm sure all you horse racing aficionados out there already know this).

Obviously the entire body of work for an athlete (or horse), be it a Jack Nicklaus or Joe Montana or Secretariat is ultimately the greatest legacy sports can produce

But the in-the-moment thrill of a single event, whether it's a four-hour-long triple overtime Game Seven of the NBA Playoffs or a two-minute-long like the Belmont delivers an instant thrill that is, in a way, far more special.