Crowned

Normally I feel about horse racing similarly to the way the rest of the Sports Night cast reacted when Jeremy Goodwin attempted to pitch Secretariat for Athlete of the Century - I don't have the DVDs with me, but when Jeremy delivers his final pitch (based on the fact that Secretariat's heart was found to be much larger than normal at his autopsy), "He had the heart of a champion," either Dan or Casey responds, "And I'm saying he had the heart of a horse." But in light of yet another failure to win the Triple Crown (there have now been as many failed attempts by Derby/Preakness winners just since 1978 as there have been actual winners of the Triple Crown in history, 11 each), I wanted to go back and look at Secretariat's dominant 31-length win in the 1973 Belmont. He was only facing four other horses, but the field included Sham, who had finished second in both the Derby and Preakness. Sham held Secretariat for about 3/4 of a mile - half the race's 1 1/2-mile distance - then tired and ultimately finished last. Secretariat, astonishingly, just kept going and ended up blowing away the track record.

I mention all this simply as a way of introducing this piece from the SportsCentury episode on Secretariat, which is immaculately put together. I'm as cynical about horse racing as anyone, but this piece gives me chills every time (and I've watched it five or six times now). If you wonder what ever made me want to be a video editor, it was the thought of putting together stuff like this.