Is this really a good thing?

[Riot]

I think we can't underestimate what NBC has done this year regarding visibility. NBC loves and supports racing, and does it better than ESPN ever has. And made a special point this year of proving it, I think.

NBC did tons of commercials on this, starting a good month before the Derby. On Friday, NBC had a constantly-replaying commercial for the Preakness using an obviously little girl's voice (because it's a family thing, kids can watch the horses race and should ask their parents to turn it on).

Borel on Leno was an NBC ad, too (the discussion too carefully crafted to avoid controversy and emphasize the "feel good" aspect).

Look - I've never played golf. But I'm a huge casual golf fan. Read the golf mags, watch on TV every chance I can. Because the commercial bites tell me, "Phil vs Tiger this weekend" - and I want to see that. They give me the superficial knowledge I need to enjoy watching.

As long as we can give the casual non-fan a "Twitter-equivalent" soundbite they can latch on to so they feel halfway knowledgable discussing horse racing ("Filly vs Colt", etc) - they will watch - especially when it's on a major channel and they know it's coming up.