Fast Break

Horse racing

Jockey deflects criticism

Jockey Kent Desormeaux still can’t figure out what went wrong in Big Brown’s last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.

Earlier this week, trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. questioned Desormeaux’s ride and his actions following the Belmont loss, but Desormeaux said they are on even terms now.

With Big Brown trying to become the first Triple Crown champion in 30 years, Desormeaux said he wasn’t easing off the unbeaten colt in the first jump.

“Everyone who thinks I grabbed him to slow him down in the first jump is in err,” he said Saturday. “I had every intent of going to the front, but unfortunately he bolted leaving the gate.”

Desormeaux said after he straightened the horse out, he started to focus on gaining on the leader.

“When I thought (the) leader was getting away too easy and I went to chase him, I had no horse under me,” he said. “The race was over at the five-eighths pole for me.”

Track and Field

EWU coach lends hand

Eastern Washington University distance and cross country coach Chris Zeller spent his day off Friday at the NCAA Track & Field Championships doing a good deed – helping the citizens of Des Moines, Iowa, fill sandbags in efforts to control flooding from swollen rivers that have devastated many areas of the state.

“It was neat because we were able to meet some of the local citizens and help them come together as a community,” said Zeller in an EWU media release.

Zeller wasn’t alone.

Some athletes who had already competed in the track championships also pitched in to help efforts to contain flooding along the swollen Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

The Associated Press reported that track athletes from Washington and South Carolina answered the city’s plea for volunteers by filling sandbags on Friday and Saturday.

Media

And the winners aren’t …

It is one man’s opinion and no announcer is perfect, but Will Leitch, in an article for Maxim.com, wrote his list of the 10 worst broadcasters in sports.

In 10th place was John Madden (“became a parody of himself long ago”) and sixth was Bill Walton (“the undisputed king of hyperbole”).

Moving up the chart – or down, depending on your point of view – Joe Morgan was third (“the most condescending broadcaster in sports”) and runner-up was Chip Caray (“a fountain of inaccuracies”).

Leitch’s worst: Chris Berman, singled out for being “the godfather of taking a spectacular athletic moment and butchering it.”