You might find this final tribute to a champion a poignant eulogy, very eloquently stating why many of us DID place significant importance on the trials and triumphs this beautiful champion.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7146854
Then again, judging by some of the complaints I've heard of the coverage, a significant number of sports fans feel that too much is being made of and "too much being done for a mere horse".
If the media coverage of this sports tragedy is somewhat overdone, I think in part at least, it may be due to the fact that many sports reporters, at least the ones that are around my age, remember vividly the match race between Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure in 1976. That race resulted in Ruffian having to be put down after a night or two of hoping for a vetinary miracle that would save her. This was the famous "battle of the sexes" race between the best colt and the best filly of the day.
This was an era where women were just making there way into the workplace in significant numbers (imagine that). Billie Jean-King had just vanquished Bobbie Riggs in the tennis version of the "battle of the sexes" that seemed designed to send women back to their rightful place (the kitchen, I presume).
Ruffian not only was unbeaten, but at the time, had never been anywhere but in the lead at any significant, measured point in any of her races. A true champion and a true tragedy when she broke down. I'm not sure the popularity of horseracing as a spectator sport has ever recovered. As Scott Simon says about Barbaro "something precious burst in front of us". I agree, and we all hoped and prayed that the vets could work some sort of equine magic and put her back together, just as we hoped for the same for Babrbaro. Maybe the greatest victory Babrbaro can give us is that the advances and knowledge of what works and what doesn't work when these powerful yet fragile athletes do break down will ultimately save horses in the future.
As Simon says, "it's useless to complain about what makes us..fall in love" and beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose, but the essence of what makes us grieve in these cases is what makes all of us love sports in the first place and that is that "champions carry the hopes of others". We dream that someday, in some way we can all achieve the greatness of champions.
The paradox is that we know too well that "greatness walks hand in hand with grief...greatness by it's nature is ephemeral. Part of the experience of witnessing it is ultimately watching it come to an end. It's this fleeting nature that makes it so wonderful to find and so difficult to lose".
Part of the initial attraction of Barbaro is that he may have been the fastest racehorse since the great Secretariat. Secretariat's 31 length victory in the Belmont Stakes to secure the Triple Crown is truly one of the most jaw-droppingly awesome feats I have ever witnessed in sports in my lifetime, so when comparisons are made to him, it is bound to get those who witnessed Secretariat to hope that maybe, just maybe, we might witness a second coming of sorts and be lifted as high as Secretariat lifted us all with his performance.
A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE AND A WORTHWHILE LISTEN!!! I agree with Mr. Simon that it seems impossible for any feeling person to watch this champion face his physical struggles with the same grace and grit and determination he displayed on the racetrack.
I feel for those who don't have that type of compassion in their heart. I wonder if they will ever experience the heights reached by true champions.
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