Newsday Writer Neil Best gives nod to "100 Sporting Events You Must See Live"

Calvin Borel is a one-of-a-kind racing character

Newsday turf scribe Ed McNamara had this to say about Mine That Bird in last Thursday's paper:

"No figures and no hope; please stay in the barn on Saturday."

Oops. Well, he wasn't the only one who was wrong about the horse. And he usually knows of what he writes.

Calvin Borel's latest stunning, along-the-rail victory led me to re-read the chapter on him in McNamara's book, "Cajun Racing," a look at that culture's rich, colorful history in the sport.

Last year it appeared McNamara's timing was good in writing about that topic in the wake of Borel's first Kentucky Derby victory in '07. Now it seems even better. Check it out if you have an interest in the subject.

One of the worst things about blogging over the past two years has been that my brief, shining year or two as the most prolific reviewer of sports books in America has turned into a depressing pile of unread works. Sigh.

I'm trying. Click below for my takes on four other books I recently have read. Well, to be honest, they are books I recently have scanned. Like I said . . . blogging calls.

"The Complete Game," by Ron Darling. The SNY analyst is in print what he is on TV - insightful, intelligent good company. Fair warning: This book is not about steroids or sex. It's about baseball.

"The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live," by Robert Tuchman. The fun of books such as this one is checking off the events you have seen and fantasizing about seeing the ones you haven't. I have 21 of the 100 so far, including the Iditarod. Not bad.

"Faith and Fear in Flushing," by Greg W. Prince. Normally I loathe books about a fan's passion for a particular team, because they tend to be tedious and repetitive. But this one is better written and thus more bearable than most.

"Straw: Finding My Way," by Darryl Strawberry. OMG, the more you read about the escapades and sexcapades of the 1986 Mets, the more you wonder how the heck they won 108 regular-season games, the NLCS and the World Series. But this book is as much about Strawberry's mid-life reinvention as about his youthful indiscretions. Of which there were many.