The 1987 Kentucky Derby

I had the most wonderful moment of serendipity two nights ago. My daughter and I were settling in to watch the Phillies play the Marlins (at least a few innings) but the game was rain delayed. So we channel surfed and happened upon the HBO show entitled Jim McKay: My World.

We caught the show about halfway through but by the credits, I figured out that it was a piece McKay had written and directed after his retirement from ABC Wide World of Sports. Basically it was his personal look back at some of the most memorable sports stories he had reported.

High on the list, of course, was the 1972 Olympics in Munich when McKay covered the kidnapping and subsequent murder of the Israeli Olympic team at the hands of terrorists. McKay was on the air live during the entire ordeal and the show included an interview with the parents of David Berger, an American who had moved to Israel and was a member of their weight lifting team. He was killed in the raid and McKay was acutely aware of the fact that Berger's parents were watching his broadcast.

He also reminisced about covering the British Open at St. Andrews, the Indianapolis 500 and of course the Kentucky Derby, which he covered for 25 years. McKay's love affair with thoroughbreds was sincere; he narrates a wonderful section in which he admits to his fascination with the sport because horses are among the most "pure" athletes he knew. "Why do they try so hard?" he wondered. "It isn't for the paycheck or the glory or even the crowd."

And then he highlighted his favorite Kentucky Derby of all those he covered--the 1987 Derby in which Alysheba chased our horse, Bet Twice, down the stretch to win by a length. And there, for a brief, shining moment, was Bet Twice ahead at the top of the stretch, only to be beaten at the wire by Alysheba. It was a goose bump moment for me and for my daughter, who had been born three weeks prior to that stretch run, it was a revelation. For some reason, no one in my family can find their tape of this race--we have most of the others--so she had never seen Bet Twice run.

So there you have it. Serendipity perhaps. Or else Jim McKay signing off with a final gift.