Barbaro update

Barbaro finally did develop a pretty bad case of laminitis. Somewhere between 60-80% of his hoof wall has been cut away to relieve the pressure, and with luck, he'll survive, although this will be another six month recovery at least. The fractured leg seems to be healing well, although I gather the pastern is still causing concern. Still, it's the laminitis that's the real problem now. At least he's doing better today than he was yesterday.

In other sports - the World Cup is over and all that is left is the business of what to do about Zinedine Zidane. I don't care what Marco Materazzi may have said about his mother and sister, there was no call for that head-butt. Trash talk may be childish, but until it is banned, it's going to happen and players in all sports will just have to deal with it. In futbol's biggest game and the last game of his career, Zizou should have kept his cool. His absence may have been the nail in France's coffin.

Time magazine has an interesting article about racism amongst soccer fans, especially in Spain. FIFA is finally taking notice and fining the clubs whose fans taunt the opposing team's players, but I'm not sure that's going to make any difference. Soccer fans reflect society, and it may be a couple generations before the ethnic mix settles into some kind of tolerance. The religious problems are more dangerous, imo, because religions are largely intolerant of each other, despite what some believers claim. I wonder if there have been any studies on racism within specific religions vs. atheism - seems like a no-brainer, somebody must have gotten a bazillion dollar grant for that one by now.

Floyd Landis is in the lead of Le Tour de France. I not only didn't know he was a Mennonite (like the Amish but with cars and phones), but also that he needs a new hip, badly. It's pretty amazing he's even competing, never mind winning.