Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

Big Brown, Big Brown, Big Brown: It’s all you hear in the pre-Derby coverage, the barn buzz, the betting windows. Racing fans are so hot with fervor about this colt, they’re injecting his color into their Derby fashions. How many big brown hats will we see come this Saturday in the mass of color?

There’s no surprise he’s going off as the 3–1 favorite in the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby this Saturday. And he is as remarkable-looking as they say, with his towering conformation, his easy-breezy gallops, his commanding presence, and his perfect record of 3-for-3 with Curlin-esque winning margins. But Big Brown isn’t the only horse in the race, and after drawing the absolute worst post position on Wednesday evening, some handicappers are beginning to sway their bets toward the better-placed horses.

Let’s get three things straight about Tony La Russa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. First, a pet peeve: There is a space between “La” and “Russa.” Second, his lifetime Major League batting average as a middle infielder is one point below the Mendoza Line. Third, and most important, his 2,393 career wins as a Major League manager place him among some select, Hall-of-Fame company: Only Connie Mack and John McGraw have more victories.

Mack, who has won — by far — more games than any other manager in MLB history, 3,731, also has 3,948 losses. I bring this up because wins, as a metric for the success of managers and starting pitchers alike, don’t tell the whole story. And in the case of La Russa, the whole story is worth telling.

Forget about finding a quiet room with a comfortable bed.

If you show up at Urbana’s Holiday Inn tonight, chances are good that comfort’s the last thing on your mind.

At 8:30 p.m., Courage Fighting Championships 11 kicks off. There will be fighting in cages, fighting among men, fighting among women and fighting for the CFC national championship.

Courage Fighting Championships, the full-contact brainchild of Decatur’s Jason Reinhardt, is a breeding ground for talented mixed martial arts fighters looking to climb the ladder into the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the major leagues of ultimate fighting. This is an ascent that’s familiar to the 38-year-old Reinhardt, who’s been practicing martial arts since he was nine years old and who held championship belts in numerous mixed martial arts organizations before making his UFC debut in November 2007.