Well, this is a dark time in the animal kingdom. First, the disaster at Pimlico during the Preakness yesterday, and now Mike Thomas’ half-serious column about the joys of alligator huntin’.

Rough stuff. As a person who has been on our major golf courses, however, I can attest to the overabundance of our scaly friends. I was watching Tiger Woods from the gallery at the 18th at the National Car Rental Classic one year, and my dad suddenly pointed behind us and said softly, “Look.” There was a placid gator half-submerged in the water trap maybe ten feet away, not the least bit interested in the humans, although he was making a few out-of-state visitors hasten over the bridge at a darn good clip. You wouldn’t believe how fast all those old dudes can move until you put something with teeth in the water trap behind them.

(Never mind what I was doing at a golf tournament. I am a complicated woman with many and varied interests.)

In all seriousness, it broke everyone’s heart to watch the Preakness yesterday and watch such a beautiful horse come up lame. Because Floridians care about nothing unless it has a connection to this state, it may interest you to know that Barbaro is a Florida-trained horse. After winning the Kentucky Derby by the biggest margin in nearly 60 years, he was the best hope for a Triple Crown horse racing had seen for a long time. We all hope that he pulls through this injury, in the words of trainer’s wife, “like the champion that he is.”

There’s an excellent story on the subject here.

Related posts:

1. “Fore-lando”…
2. A Newfound Love of Golf
3. One for the Golfers
4. Daytona Beach
5. What’s the fuss about WIndermere?