Shane Igoe · June 4th, 2008
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...
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1978
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2008
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Affirmed
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Triple Crown Contender
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Big Brown
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Alydar… who shot out of the gate only to finish second each race
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Horse Racing Also Ran
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Eight Belles… who was shot outside the gate after finishing second after first race
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Gas is at $.65 gallon
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Summer Gas Crisis/
Price of Avg. Tank of Gas
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Soars over $4 gallon… who knows where it will top off… $5, $6?... nearly 10x 1978’s price
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Superman I
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Box Office Man of Steel
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IronMan
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Atari
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Hot Video Game Craze
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Grand Theft Auto
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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.
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Indy 500
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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 .
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Bucky Dent’s HR dents Sox psyche when he hits one out of Fenway
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Yankees/ Red Sox head games
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Big Papi’s XXL dents Yankee psyche when it is hinted his jersey is buried inside Yankee Stadium
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Cowboys/Steelers Superbowl… with 11 future Hall of Famers on the field in the first Superbowl rematch ever
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Sports Dream Matchup
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Celtics/Lakers NBA finals…
11th finals matchup between the two storied franchises
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Begins first full season coaching the NY Mets (his first full time coaching gig)
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Joe Torre
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Begins first season coaching the LA Dodgers (his last full time coaching gig?)
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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
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Taking the fighting world by storm
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Kimbo Slice, upstart who come from the streets, wins the hearts of MMA fans and vys for the Heavyweight title
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Cheech & Chong Up in Smoke
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Stoner Movie
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Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
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Grease
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Movie Musical Craze
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High School Musical Movies
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Battlestar Galatica premieres on ABC
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TV Sci-Fi Fix
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Battlestar Galatica end its run on Sci-Fi channel
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“Name that Tune”
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TV Singing Show hit
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“American Idol”
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Tatum O’Neil, daughter of Ryan and star of the Bad News Bears films, recently arrested for crack in New York
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Hollywood Teen Starlet
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Miley Crus, daughter of Billy Ray and star of Hannah Montana TV show, recently showed her crack for Vanity Fair
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Incredible Hulk
Get Smart (syndicated TV hit)
Batman (syndicated TV hit)
Dallas
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1978 TV Shows Turned 2008 Summer Movie Remakes
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Incredible Hulk
Get Smart
Batman : Dark Knight
Dallas (begins filming)
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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.
