T-shirts and allowed an enormous fan base to feel sorry for itself-but in realit

The Haskell Invitational is a great race. At a million dollars, the pot is right. The distance of a mile and one-eighth offers the kind of test that brings the proper horses together. It is run on a Sunday -- this Sunday -- which validates a day of the week that has been all but abandoned by major racing events, and it is presented at Monmouth Park, which remains one of racings most important properties.And yet, the question remains as to why any trainer whose name does not start with B and end with fert would want to buck obvious Haskell history. Bob Baffert has won all eight of his Haskells since the turn of the century, beginning in 2001 with Horse of the Year Point Given and most recently in 2015 with Horse of the Year American Pharoah.In between there were War Emblem, Roman Ruler, Lookin At Lucky, Coil, Paynter, and Bayern. This year Baffert has sent American Freedom, winner of the Iowa Derby, a credential that normally should not strike terror into the hearts of such Haskell heavyweights as Nyquist, Exaggerator, and Gun Runner. Still, theres Baffert.I know, I know, said Doug ONeill, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. I wasnt sure how they do it here. Are we all listed as assistant trainers? But winning five out of the last six, that is truly phenomenal. Hes really got it ironed out.ONeill tried the Haskell in 2012 with Handsome Mike, like Nyquist owned by Paul Reddam, but he finished fourth to Paynter. There have been other California-based trainers swoop in to take Haskells past, including Jerry Hollendorfer, Richard Mandella, and David Hofmans, so at least ONeill can hope. Also, Nyquist is 6-5.I think the track here is fairly California-ish, ONeill said. By all accounts speed is pretty tough here, and a lot of our top dirt horses for sure have a lot of speed.Including Nyquist, who went too fast for his own good in the Preakness, finished third, and came out of the race with an illness that required a weeks worth of antibiotics. That was his first loss in nine starts.Once his blood work was perfect and his temperature was normal for several consecutive days, then we gave him another week before we thought about training him again, ONeill said.It was nice for a change not to have a date circled as to where you wanted to go next, the trainer went on. For a while there, heading into the Triple Crown races, youre kind of in a zone and you hope your horse is there with you. And he was, right up to the Preakness.They are calling this the 49th running of the Haskell, although from 1968 through 1980 it was known as the Monmouth Invitational Handicap and was won by such stars as Wajima, Majestic Light, and Coastal.For the sticklers in the crowd, the modern Haskell began in 1997, which makes Sundays version its 20th as a million-dollar summer splash meant to lure the cream of the 3-year-old crop to the Jersey Shore -- and away from the Jim Dandy at Saratoga.Ive been to three of those, which hardly qualifies as bragging rights, but each of them turned out to be a race worth remembering.Belmont winner Touch Gold and Triple Crown iron horse Free House were the stars of that 1997 Haskell, with the exciting Tale of the Cat in the mix. With his damaged foot still patched from his Preakness stumble, Touch Gold won impressively, while his stablemate Awesome Again took the Jim Dandy the same afternoon. Dave Hofmans, front and center at Monmouth, trained them both.In 1998, the stars of the division were Real Quiet and Victory Gallop, who provided more than enough Triple Crown thrills. Coronados Quest was always waiting in the wings, though, nursing minor injuries and grudges. He was a bona-fide head case, tamed by Shug McGaughey to do some remarkable things. They let him leave the walking ring early for the Haskell and have his private post parade, after which he defeated Victory Gallop in a close finish that withstood a claim of foul.Following the Curlin trail in 2007 was the way to go, but his Haskell was a rare misfire in his nine starts that year. I tried not to blame myself when he finished third to Any Given Saturday and Hard Spun. Strangley enough, Baffert did not have a runner.As for Nyquist, Kentucky Derby winners have not had much to say about the Haskell. There have been Bafferts pair -- War Emblem and American Pharoah -- plus Big Brown in 2008. And thats it among the 49 winners. If ONeill is worried about that historical tidbit, he hid it well.We proud and privileged to be back in a big race and have him with a big chance, ONeill said.Of more concern was the Baffert tradition of consuming the house specialty at Maxs Hot Dogs in nearby Long Branch on Haskell Day. And if Baffert does not make the trip, assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes takes one at Maxs for the team.Were going to look for something different, make up our own lucky spot, ONeill said. Well see how the race goes, and if it goes our way Ill tell you where we ate that morning. Wholesale Air Max 270 Black . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Paul George Shoes Wholesale . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. http://www.wholesalenikeshoesclearance.com/cheap-kyrie-irving-shoes.html . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. Fake Air Max 720 . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. Wholesale Air Max Plus Tn Ultra . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. This story appears in ESPN The Magazines Nov. 28 Tall Ball Issue. Subscribe today!It has been a few weeks now, and the Chicago Cubs are still World Series champions. And if history is any guide, everything familiar about the identity of the fan base and organization will be erased as the price of that title. The Cubs can no longer mask a century of incompetence with curses, afternoon drinking and low expectations. Theyve always had the resources of a superpower -- and now they have to start acting like one.Having witnessed the same shift in Boston, Theo Epstein knows this better than most. After almost 100 years of failure, the Red Sox still do business now the same as they did before winning the World Series in 2004-last winter, they signed David Price to a seven-year, $217 million free agent contract, just as they signed Manny Ramirez to an eight-year, $160 million contract in December 2000. But the national sympathy for their eternal heartbreak is gone. Even before Game 7, there was nothing cute or disadvantaged about the Cubs either, as evidenced by their enviable ability to sign Jason Heyward to an eight-year, $184 million contract-and bench him during the World Series.The Red Sox marketed and sold themselves as a ragtag band of rebels fighting both the supernatural and the omnipotent Yankees. Fans of the Rays, who happened to be the real underdogs, even coined a term for Bostons sly deception, referring to them as the Just as Evil Empire. Chicago, like Boston 12 years ago, can no longer claim the image of underdog on the field-especially since the Cubs are far from underdogs on the balance sheet, where they rake in profits. An identity change is coming, and they should embrace it.In this money game, with no salary cap and limited revenue-sharing, the Cubs, in the third-biggest market in the country, should have been dominant for decades. Instead, they were baseballs family screwup, partying with the trust fund money, winding up on academic probation. The generations of fans desperate for a winner have certainly suffered since 1946, but ownership certainly did not. The Cubs have been one of the richest teams in baseball. The team sold in 2009 for $845 million and in March was estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.2 billion, fifth best iin MLB.ddddddddddddThe lovable loser narrative was lucrative-it sold lots of tickets, beer and T-shirts and allowed an enormous fan base to feel sorry for itself-but in reality, the Cubs were cursed only in one way: by their own ownership mediocrity.Today, they have the opportunity to be the dominant team in the National League-and probably in baseball-for years to come. In Epstein, they have a president of baseball operations who knows how to build a farm system so well he can take big gambles on free agents, and the Ricketts familys enormous resources can help the team survive even a deal like Heywards. With old money but a new-school attitude, baseball wants its teams built the Epstein way, lest they face oppressive luxury tax penalties.You have to embrace the suck, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told me earlier this year. Look at Theo and the Cubs. They had money, but they built the farm system, lost and lost, and told their fan base the payoff was coming. George Steinbrenners way is gone. You cant do it that way anymore. Thats why we made the Aroldis Chapman deal with them. Embrace the suck. Build the contender.The Cubs can now go back to being the power they once were, for from 1906 to 1945 Chicago went to the World Series 10 times and won it twice. But the opportunity to shed the underdog image will come at an enormous cost: the identity the franchise has cultivated for the past half-century as a great place to start the bachelorette party before the North Side pub crawl kicks into high gear.Perhaps Chicagos transition to superpower wont be as harsh as in Boston, where agony was replaced by pink hats, expensive seats and gentrification (though Wrigleyville already has a leg up on the latter). Maybe the team will maintain its old identity even if it dominates, because so many of its celebrity fans are comedians, and because the beer has always flowed during weekday baseball when everyone else is being killed by office meetings. As expectations undoubtedly rise for the Cubs to stay on top, maybe Chicago will do something truly remarkable: win big while still being best known for having a good time. ' ' '