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The sport of kings actually is faring well so far in this very unscientific survey. Horse racing is hanging on at No. 9 of 20 sports, narrowly in the top 50th percentile. But it has received more first place votes (at this writing, 2,447) than any sport other than the National Football League (3,686).
The only surprise in the poll thus far, to me anyway, is that NASCAR is struggling along in 15th place, with only 50 votes as a fan's most-favored. This from an organization that, only a few years ago, touted itself as "America's fastest-growing sport."
I used to be a big NASCAR fan myself, but handed-in my pit pass, so to speak, when the organization turned its back on traditional tracks -- namely Rockingham and Darlington, or if you really jump in the way-back machine, North Wilkesboro, which could be counted on for some of the best races every season -- in favor of "cookie-cutter" ovals on which the racing usually couldn't be more boring.
The poll demands that you rank at least your top five choices, which should be easy enough for anybody. Honestly, after my top five -- horse racing, college football, NFL, NHL and, yes, mixed martial arts (blame my son, the black belt in judo) -- I couldn't really care less. Except to rank the NBA and WNBA in 19th and 20th.
So again, I urge you to scurry over to ESPN.com and at least cast your vote for your top five sports -- hopefully horse racing included. I'd have to think the poll will have at least a little bearing on how ESPN moves forward with future coverage of these sports, and the more support horse racing receives, the higher its profile on the world's greatest sports network.
