“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”

In sports it is time for each and everyone of us to find the gate in the fence and walk over to the otherside. It is now time for sports to concentrate on getting outside and participating in many of the events that need Mother Nature’s help to be held. Currently Mother Nature is keeping all of us guessing about as well as a Johan Santana pitch. Will we get a fastball or a curveball? Will it be warm and comfortable or cold and rainy?

Speaking of Johan Santana, he is the current strikeouts leader with 27 after his first couple outings as a starter in the very young 2009 Major League baseball season. Major League baseball is a sport that is just leaving the gate during its 162 game schedule, and that doesn’t even include the playoffs. This early in the MLB schedule, the Cubs and Royals are still in the running for post season play, don't worry it will change.  Angel Bobby Abreu is the current leading base stealer with seven thefts.  Abreu is coming off of a season of only 22 stolen bases, and was caught stealing 11 times, it seems maybe, Abreu concentrated on finding the gate, and running through it to the greener grass this season. 

Running is currently a popular choice on going through the gate to the greener grass, rubberized track and/or wet-packed clay. This 2009 season has met some adversity early on in golfing, soccer, track and field and dirt track racing seasons. It seems as if the planned competitions get to the gate and look to see what Mother Nature has planned, and typically, what they see hasn’t been favorable.

Golf and soccer are played outdoors on grass, and some of the grass that Golf has attempted to play on is not green yet, and many of the TRIBUNE-area golfers are just like the grass, they will get better as the season progresses. Soccer players have battled the wits of Mother Nature and played in rain, wind and/or even snow.  Soccer can be played in all weathers, but lightning, which holds true for many sports.

The phrase, “Hit the door running” is just what the tracksters of the TRIBUNE-area have done, competitions have been limited, but the results have been very promising and show that there are many area athletes that should find their seasons conclude at Burke Stadium in Omaha, hopefully on the medal stand.

With as much moisture that Mother Nature has blessed upon us, it would seem that she didn’t correspond with the dirt gods. Dirt track racing was scheduled to start on March 6^th in the state of Nebraska, which it did. It was a great show filled with a Nascar superstar, Ken Schrader (pictured, at right) competing with your weekend racers that frequent TRIBUNE-area race tracks, for example Ronnie Wallace and Jason Friesen.  This has been one of the few completed racing competitions thus far in the early season.

This could be a very exciting spring and summer for people that are sports fanatics in the State of Nebraska. It all starts with a person looking over the fence to seek greener grass, but I also want you to recognize that the “Best is yet to come.” 

This coming weekend there will be plenty of chances to see greener grass with many high school events being conducted and mud being flung by the cars that race at Dawson County Raceway and many other Nebraska dirt track racers and tracks starting their seasons, it is the purest level of sports, young and old will come out in force to support the racing industry. Improvements have been made and the racing action is scheduled to start at 6:30 at the Dawson County Raceway in Lexington, I can’t wait. 

For hardcore race fans, is there anything better than the roar of the engines and the smell of burning racing fuel? 

Question of the Blog: The ESPN television show named Stump the Schwab was hosted by Stuart Scott and starred ESPN's first Statistician Howie Schwab, what was Schwab's overall record in the Schwab Showdown, that closed out each episode? 

“A racehorse is an animal that can take several thousand people for a ride at the same time.”

Anybody that has ever attended horse races anywhere, can honestly say that they have seen and heard the roar of the crowd when the thoroughbreds come down to the wire to determine the victor. Some may have pocket change on the races, whereas other individuals could be risking much more cash on a horse to win, place and/or show.

Horse racing  is just one of the many types of gambling that occur in Nebraska for the time being. Lottery tickets, Keno, Poker games and/or Bingo are played and available throughout the state. All of this is legalized gambling for people of legal age.

Recently, there have been reported violations of private businesses having slot machines, this is against the law in the state of Nebraska. But, if you travel less than a mile into two of the four surrounding states of Nebraska you can legally play slot machines, explain that one for me?

When a person arrives at the casino’s in South Dakota or in Iowa, how many of the vehicles have Nebraska license plates? Every instance that I have traveled to a casino, there is always a majority of Nebraskan’s present.  Why not try to keep some of the money within the Cornhusker state?

If we as Nebraskan’s are able to legally gamble playing keno, betting on horse races, and/or playing poker, why no slot machines?

Several individuals and groups have attempted to keep the gamblers happy in Nebraska by passing legislation to legalize gambling machines, to no avail. One of the latest attempts that really made a ton of sense, is putting the gambling machines in the horse tracks to house two gambling economies together, and also they can support each other and cut the costs of having two different staffs and buildings to maintain. On paper, it seems like a no-brainer.

The typical horse racing facility in Nebraska has plenty of room for expansion, and what else would profit more than between races, (the time period is usually in the range of 20 minutes) pump a few coins into a slot machine? I am guessing that it would not kill the alcohol sales and/or concessions stand sales. 

With the popularity of Poker and Blackjack, there would sure be room to house the tournaments that accompany the card games. As a whole it all makes sense, or is that the problem, it makes sense?

In a struggling economy, it only makes sense to unite forces. I would be willing to bet that if given the chance, the two industries together, horse racing and casino action would prosper, other states do it, so why can’t we as Nebraskans? Why can't Nebraska do anything and everything to help out the sport of horse racing, before we lose it?

If you have an opinion on what you have read, you should sign up for a free account and post your comments. I would love to know if I am the only one with the thoughts that would place casino's and horse racing parks together to be successful. Make your voice be heard........

Question of the week: What is the name of the racing horse that has won the most amount of money in career earnings and how much money has the horse earned?