And down the stretch they come

It's still two weeks away, but I'm starting to get excited about the thought of Big Brown winning the Triple Crown if he can capture the Belmont Stakes.

The last time it happened was exactly 30 years ago when Affirmed won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Back then, winning the Triple Crown didn't seem all that difficult as it happened three times in the decade: 1978, 1977 with Seattle Slew and, of course, 1973 when Secretariat won the Belmont by an astonishing 31 lengths -- footage we're sure to see a few dozen times as the race on June 7 approaches.

I'm a horse racing guy. I went to the track as a little kid with my grandparents in Queens, N.Y., and amused myself by looking for winning tickets thrown on the ground. Never happened, but it was still a grand day.

Much later in life, I got a job as an editor at the Racing Times, where my colleagues and I would write and edit copy based on the horses running at the local Southern California track at the time of year (Santa Anita, Hollywood Park or Del Mar) or the big races around the country.

We would handicap races and debate the merits of some of the best horses as they would race against each other. The paper eventually got sold and we all had to find new work, but it was one of the best jobs I ever had.

Anyway, thoroughbred races has taken some hard knocks the past few years -- lower attendance, less interest among the casual sports fan, losing gambling dollars to the casinos, the deaths of Barbaro and, most recently, Eight Belles — but it's still a great game.

For nothing more than to give the sport a lift, I'm hoping Big Brown gets to the winner's circle at Belmont safe, sound and then runs for years to come.

Coming soon to a TV near you

With the networks announcing its new shows this week in New York -- an annual ritual called the TV Upfronts -- now's the time to take a look at the series I might want to check out.

Many looked interesting, but some more than others. There's the new J.J. Abrams series "Fringe" on Fox (above) and CBS has a series called "The Mentalist," with Simon Baker, that many people are high on.

Truth be told, though, it's some of new cable entries that are whetting my appetite more than on broadcast.

TNT is introducing a new show called "Truth in Advertising" with Tom Cavanagh ("Ed") and Eric McCormack ("Will & Grace") that looks very intriguing, about those who toil on Madison Avenue. If the concept sounds familiar, yeah, "Mad Men" on AMC is one of the best series on TV right now, so this might be a pale imitation. But we'll see.

On HBO, you have the new miniseries "Generation Kill" from David Simon, creator of "The Wire," and a vampire drama from "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball. And September marks the beginning of the last season of FX's masterful cop drama "The Shield."

So lots to look forward to. Now I've just got to find the time to watch everything.

Cannes 2008: Au revior mon amis

A bunch of my colleagues leave for Cannes tomorrow for the festival that takes over every inch of the small southern French city that rests on the shores of the Mediterranean. The crowds, as seen in the photo above, can become overwhelming.

I went last year but won't be attending this time around, which is absolutely OK. Lots of stuff to do at work here in the office and as glamorous as it sounds, spending 12 days at the fest is an exhaustive experience.

Since we put out a paper every day, you're stuck in the office for 12 hours --usually 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. -- with a skeleton staff: four editors, two designers and a small handful of reporters. And that's all you have to put out a 100-page paper during the first few days of the festival. As the fest winds down, the papers get smaller as well.

After work, many of us go to dinner together, and dinner in Cannes for parties of four or more never runs less than 2 hours. So by the time you settle back in at your apartment -- it's more cost effective to rent apartments than stay in hotels -- you don't get to bed before 1 or 2 a.m., depending on how many bars and latenight spots you want to hit up.

Then get up at 8-ish and start the cycle all over again. For 10 straight days. It's a great experience, but wearing nonetheless.

So to my friends heading over there during the next few days: safe journeys, get as much rest as possible, and be sure to see at least one movie… if you can squeeze it in.