Guilt-fueled support is a ?lame? gesture
Poor, poor Barbaro.
The Kentucky Derby winner?s dream of a Triple Crown were shattered Saturday afternoon, along with the horse?s right hind leg.
On the good news front, the horse is recovering remarkably well. He?ll never race again, obviously, but after surgery on Monday, Barbaro is resting comfortably as of Thursday afternoon, and enjoying all the pampering that a star athlete of his caliber should deserve.
Which brings me to my point. Why does a horse get such pampering, and such outpouring of emotion, when injured human athletes are pretty much forgotten about until they return to the playing field?
Sure, there are your occasional goodwill stories, such as the New York Jets? Dennis Byrd or the Detroit Lions? Mike ?Thumbs-up? Utley. Those people who battle valiantly, laughing in the face of injury as they struggle along the road to recovery are always inspiring.
But in athletics, on every level, career-ending injuries happen every day. And most of those young men and women, it?s sad to say, don?t receive half the attention of this horse.
?Probably he has as many carrots as the doctors allow and as many apples as the doctors allow because he?s received enough to feed the whole hospital,? Corinne R. Sweeney, executive hospital director at the medical facility where Barbaro was taken after his injury, said, adding that fans have delivered ?expressions of apples and baskets and stuffed animals and religious statues.?
?It?s just amazing the depth of the concern and the warmth that comes out.?
First of all: Religious statues? Are people sending in crucifixes and virgin Mary?s, hoping Barbaro gains a sense of spiritual peace during his time of recovery?
How do you know what kind of religious icon to send a horse, anyway? What if he?s Jewish? What if you send him a crucifix, and he really wants a Buddha, or a Vishnu? I?d hate to offend a horse?s religious sensibility, particularly a horse who?s laid up in the hospital.
But is it really ?concern? and ?warmth? that have prompted this outpouring of equine sympathy? I don?t think so. I think it?s guilt.
Nobody seemed to care that Barbaro, and the rest of the horses who are involved in this sport every day of the year, are forced to run at top speed, for no reason other than to make money for their owners, handlers, trainers, jockeys and those fans who were smart ? or lucky ? enough to bet on them.
Granted, if you win a few races you?ll enjoy retirement with a lot better class of female than you might have otherwise. But for the most part, racehorses are ? for lack of a better term ? cash cows. And when they are hurt while making money for their two-legged taskmasters, the sense of guilt that brings about causes these huge showings of support.
If Farmer Brown?s old plow horse comes up lame, nobody sheds any tears except Farmer Brown. But when big-money Barbaro has his career come to an end, it?s a tragedy?
It?s a shame when an athlete is injured and can no longer continue their career. But for human athletes, it?s because they made a conscious choice to compete. It?s an even bigger shame when that athlete never had any choice in the matter ? like Barbaro.
Poor, poor Barbaro.