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After 11 near misses since 1978, the longest period between Triple Crown winning horses ever, it appears the planets have aligned for Big Brown to make his historical run at Belmont.

It is interesting to note the similarities in sports and pop culture today to those of 30 years ago, the last time we celebrated a triple crown winner. Check out the Rotohog Tale of the Tape below...

1978

 

2008

Affirmed

Triple Crown Contender

Big Brown

Alydar…  who shot out of the gate only to finish second each race

Horse Racing Also Ran

Eight Belles… who was shot outside the gate after finishing second after first race

Gas  is at $.65 gallon

Summer Gas Crisis/

Price of Avg. Tank of Gas

Soars over $4 gallon… who knows where it will top off… $5, $6?... nearly 10x 1978’s price

Superman I

Box Office Man of Steel

IronMan

Atari

Hot Video Game Craze

Grand Theft Auto

Janet Guthrie, the first woman Indy 500 driver,  finishes ninth getting edged out by AJ Foyt (who finished 2 spots ahead of her) and just ahead of Mario Andretti.

Indy 500

Danica Patrick, the first female winner of an Indy car race, was ninth most of the race before being edged out by AJ Foyt IV (who finished 1 spot ahead of her) and being beaten by Marco Andretti .

 

Bucky Dent’s HR dents Sox psyche when he hits one out of Fenway

Yankees/ Red Sox head games

 

Big Papi’s  XXL dents Yankee psyche when it is hinted his jersey is buried inside Yankee Stadium

Cowboys/Steelers Superbowl… with 11 future Hall of Famers on the field in the first Superbowl rematch ever

Sports Dream Matchup

Celtics/Lakers NBA finals…

11th finals matchup between the two storied franchises

Begins first full season coaching the NY Mets (his first full time coaching gig)

Joe Torre

Begins first season coaching the LA Dodgers (his last full time coaching gig?)

Leon Spinks , upstart who came from nowhere to win Heavyweight title . Spinks later would work for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling a precursor to MMA, winning its title in 1992

Taking the fighting world by storm

Kimbo Slice, upstart who come from the streets, wins the hearts of MMA fans and vys for the Heavyweight title

Cheech & Chong Up in Smoke

Stoner Movie

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Grease

Movie Musical Craze

High School Musical Movies

Battlestar Galatica premieres on ABC

TV Sci-Fi Fix

Battlestar Galatica end its run on Sci-Fi channel

“Name that Tune”

TV Singing Show hit

“American Idol”

Tatum O’Neil, daughter of Ryan and star of the Bad News Bears films, recently arrested for crack in New York

Hollywood Teen Starlet

Miley Crus, daughter of Billy Ray and star of Hannah Montana TV show, recently showed her crack for Vanity Fair

Incredible Hulk

Get Smart (syndicated TV hit)

Batman (syndicated TV hit)

Dallas

1978 TV Shows Turned 2008 Summer Movie Remakes

Incredible Hulk

Get Smart

Batman : Dark Knight

Dallas (begins filming)

Are there any other associations we missed between 1978 and 2008? Comment below

Also make sure to check out our Big Brown vs. Josh Hamilton Triple Crown Comparison piece.

 

 

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Sports and Pop Culture Tale of the Tape - 1978/2008 : http://community.rotohog.com/columnists/sports-and-pop-culture-tale-tape-19782008
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