Nuts

- As you may have seen, the folks at Deadspin have been having some fun with the fanatics posting messages to Barbaro at the Univ of Pennsylvania website, and Yahoo picked up on the story on their home page with a headline asking "Don't they know that horses can't read?" and an accompanying video. It's gone now; perhaps they were threatened with a boycott by the FOB. Here's my favorite posting of the day:

So long as you continue your brave fight, this nation can rest assured that the terrorists didn't win. God Bless Barbaro, and God Bless the United States of America! Crusader; OK, USA.

Perhaps the president should forget about the 21,500 troops and just send the horse over there. At least that was my favorite until I saw this:

Barbaro, I will never see life the same after seeing you. You are truelly [sic] a SPIRITUAL CREATURE.A HUGE WALKING GOD SPARK PACKAGED IN FOUR LEGS AND A MANE. I love you.

Oh man. Speaking of fanatics, the anti-slots crowd has their fair share, and in Virginia, some are so opposed to the idea that:

The House of Delegates passed a resolution three years ago asking that Maryland keep slots away from the Potomac River, fearing that problems associated with gambling could encroach into the commonwealth. [Washington Post]

Sounds like they want a gambling de-militarized zone. There's a movement now to bring machines similar to Oaklawn's Instant Racing, in which patrons wager on old races, to the state. One opponent went so far as to offer this twisted analogy: "If you had a pharmacy that wasn't making it, you wouldn't let them sell crack cocaine to stay in business." No, I suppose not. Though they'd probably be permitted to sell lottery tickets.