For Wisconsin summer baseball devotees' it is as the saying goes: "Past is now prologue".

For after an intensely competitive 2009 WIAA state tournament series capped off by Arrowhead's wild win over 2008 champ Marquette in the finals, a quick look into the immediate future foresees an equally wild ride in 2010.

Because with so many good teams returning so many fine players next season, the WIAA should forestall any plans to change the system. The summer program finished with 67 teams this year (relatively stable this season after years of decline) and discussions have been ongoing with the coaches association and the WIAA about combining it with the dominant spring season for years.

The intensity of this year's play in the summer tournament and the talent returning next year and even the year after that should give pause to any bureaucratic tinkering just yet, because the potential for these next few seasons is just too exciting to let whither under a cold and rainy spring sky.

Let me show you just the tip of the iceberg of hard hitters and harder throwers who are coming back to heat things up next summer.

The defending champion Warhawks, fresh off their 34-5 championship season, will get hit hard by graduation, but will still return Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association first-team all-staters infielder Brian Crook (.489 BA) and pitcher Jordan Paszak (11-1, 1.86 ERA). Their fifth-best hitter, outfielder Connor Harmann (.386) will be back to give Arrowhead some strength up the middle. Key losses will include catcher Karl Sprung, who had game-winning hits in both the state finals and in an epic 10-inning sectional semifinal win over Menomonee Falls.

And don't forget the impact of 30-plus year coach Tim O'Driscoll, he of the 700-plus career wins and two state titles. His savvy no doubt had a hand in the Warhawks coming out on top in this year's state event, especially considering that four of Arrowhead's six wins in the tournament were of the extremely harrowing variety.

Of the teams that qualified for the state tournament in 2009, there will be talent galore waiting for a chance to usurp the Warhawks. And a quick glance in the rearview mirror by O'Driscoll will reveal that Marquette, the team of the mediocre 19-20 record going into the finals in Stevens Point, will be a major headache again next summer.

The Hilltoppers stumbled in Greater Metro Conference play this season, finishing with a regular season mark of just 16-20 in a huge rebuilding campaign for veteran coach Jim Wilkinson. But they found their footing in the tournament series and a potential superstar in sophomore utility player Nolan Peterson, who was seven-for-seven in the semifinals and finals combined at state including two home runs and six RBI.

Marquette had only five seniors this season and will also return key state players third baseman Ryan McShane, second baseman Joe Cannon and pitcher Collin Weyer (7-3, 1.63 ERA).

State semifinalist Franklin (25-14), led by another 700-plus win coach in Jim Hughes, started up to six sophomores this season. Two of those are hard-hitting outfielders including NOW All-Suburban outfielder Jay Direnzo (.400 BA, 35 RBI) and Lance Baretz (.407 BA, 23 RBI). The Sabers will also return their top two pitchers in junior Brandon Wiedenfeld (6-2, 2.47 ERA) and sophomore Ian Malmstadt (4-1. 2.87 ERA).

Muskego (24-10) was another state semifinalist, was also co-champ in the Greater Metro Conference South Division and had only four seniors on its roster. Sophomore NOW All-Suburban pitcher Cole Borek (11-1. 1.97 ERA) will lead the Warriors into battle next season as will junior catcher Nick McCormack (.368, 23 RBI) and sophomore outfielder/pitcher Adam Schulz (.364)

Also looming not so far in the distance is 2007 champ West Bend West, who survived a "rebuilding" season with a fine 26-6 record, that included a tough loss to Arrowhead in the quarterfinals. The Spartans, who were runners-up to the junior-dominated Nicolet squad (28-6) in the North Shore, had just two seniors, but one of them was WBCA State Player of the Year Ryan Schilter (.514, 46 RBI, 4-0, 1.64 ERA).

Junior outfielder/pitcher Eric DuCharme (.430, 37 RBI) and sophomore pitcher/infielder Shane Hayes (.427, 28 RBI) will lead the way for the Spartans, who if they want to succeed next season, will first have to get by that aforementioned Nicolet bunch in the North Shore. The Knights tatooed West in a pair of games this season by a combined score of 30-3.

Those Knights, paced by NOW All-Suburban Coach of the Year Dick Sykes, who will pass the 500-career win mark next season, will be led by returning NOW All-Suburban selections outfielder Brian Huntsinger (also first-team all-state WBCA), pitcher/catcher Sam Kohnke (second-team all-state) and infielder Rob Mayer.

Sykes, who like Hughes and O'Driscoll, is a WBCA Hall of Famer, gets a lot of respect from his players and that'll count for a lot when the Knights try to go even further next summer.

"He knows a lot of baseball, so you really have to listen to him and be aware of what he expects in certain situations," Mayer said. "You mess up, he lets you know about it but then he moves past it quickly and praises you when you do something right."

West Salem (28-2) put up gaudy numbers out west, but was overmatched by Marquette in the state quarterfinals. That still didn't prevent sophomore second-team all-state catcher Tony Schultz from putting up some truly eye-popping numbers including a .632 batting average (43 of 68) and 34 RBI.

Other area teams that didn't make state but which will be factors next season, include Woodland Conference champ New Berlin West, which had 10 sophomores on its roster and Menomonee Falls, which won 29 games despite heavy graduation losses in the last two seasons. The Indians scared the heck out of Arrowhead in the sectionals and will return 10 juniors. Veteran coach Pat Hansen will also have the luxury of surveying the products of a stunningly talented freshmen bunch that went 24-0 this season.

So here's to the summer of 2010, with its American Legion ball up north and its tough as nails WIAA-sponsored brand based largely in the Milwaukee area. They can co-exist just fine, because there's just that much talent to go around.

Retired Hall of Fame coach Dick Huxtable certainly thinks so.

"Summer ball is better than spring," said Huxtable, who coached in both seasons. "Summer ball doesn't affect school as much and the weather is no comparison. You don't have competition for facilities and the better kids are playing in spring (non-school) leagues before you get them, so they come in ready to go."

There were more serious and much more tragic reasons for the Homestead boys golf team to be depressed (see North Shore NOW for details) as it drove home from the soggy Brown Deer golf course on April 25, with the Lake Country/MACC Fund Invitational canceled for a second straight year due to foul weather.

Yes, money had been raised and inspiring speeches were heard, but the kids really wanted to go out and golf. And with that firmly in mind and the air thick with both emotion and humidity, junior Dylan Drozdowicz sliced off a big chunk of tension by just blurting out "It's a good day to be a duck!"

"He just shouted it out," laughed Highlander coach Steve O'Brien. "Everybody just cracked up."

That summed a lot of the surface feelings for the players in attendance. They had been able to tee off and get a few holes in before torrential rains terminated any golf activity for the day. They were ones who listened to MACC Fund Executive Director John Cary talk about the deeper meaning of the event and how much good the $29,000-plus that was raised this year will do for childhood cancer research and treatment.

Five-year old Emilie Janzen, who was diagnosed with cancer last year, was on hand to put a face on the golfer's fundraising efforts. She tipped her hat and waved to the gathered players and coaches.

"I've got a five-year old," Menomonee Falls coach Tony Pritchard said quietly. "and her Dad was barely able to tell her story (he was so choked up). I think that really hit home with my guys. It was a very positive experience and I was glad that I had a senior-oriented group with me today. I think they really got it."

And as far as the golf was concerned, Pritchard just laughed and said: "I had two guys who were sad that the siren blew (signaling players to come off the course) and two others who were happy to hear it." Falls was able to raise over $1,000 and so was put into a drawing to play a round of golf with Falls native and PGA tour participant Mark Wilson.

The winners of the drawing were Mukwonago and Whitnall.

Each of the 35 schools involved handled their own fundraising for MACC a little differently. The Germantown team sold discount cards as a general fundraiser and then set aside a portion of the proceeds for MACC while Whitefish Bay coach Dave Johnson and the team put together some cash for the cause.

"The kids who go, really see it for what it is," Germantown coach Gary Anderson said. "A good cause. You get so caught up in the day-to-day of your season, it's really touching to have it broken up like this."

"And for John (Cary) to stand up there and give a speech like he did without a teleprompter is just great, He is a gem. He can really put everything in perspective. The kids got really quiet while he spoke."

Meanwhile, O'Brien and the Highlanders added a personal and more lighthearted touch to their efforts.

It's a poorly-kept secret that O'Brien has a side business to go along with his teaching. He's a skilled roofer and he knows every shingle that he lays down is going to go a long ways towards helping put his kids through college. Being the gregarious, loud and popular Irishman that he is, he is known to watch every penny.

But that still didn't prevent him from reaching into his own pocket and forking over $100 to put up an advertising sign for his business at the tournament. So anybody who dodged the raindrops and walked by the hole that had the "SOB Roofing" sign by it, well now you know who bought it.

One coaching compatriot wagged his tongue and laughed: "The name (of the business) fits him perfectly".

And also captures the "can do" spirit of the event.

"Knock on wood, we'll get it done next year," said O'Brien with all seriousnous.

Others echoed his thoughts.

"I hope they (Arrowhead coach Tom Tallmadge and the other organizers) keep it going. I don't know how they do it, but I'm glad they do," said Anderson.

Little Emilie would no doubt agree wholeheartedly.

Shorewood swim coach Rob  Mccabe doesn't like the idea of kids and their parents shelling out upwards of $400 for the new super-fast "Blue Seventy" suits that increase buoyancy and reduce drag and have helped make even the most hallowed of records look like endangered species.

He's seen families and athletes go into hock and get into arguments over the suits. One set of divorced parents he knows even struck an arrangement with their child that each party would pay one-third of the cost. Things like that just don't strike him as right both ethically and educationally. 

But he doesn't see anyone jumping on the bandwagon and promoting a return to the much cheaper and now old-fashioned Speedos. No, he doesn't see that happening at all and in fact, several of his swimmers were wearing the new suits at the Feb. 20 WIAA State Division 2 meet where the Greyhounds set four school records.

"I know why people get them," he said. "You feel more buoyant, you have much less fatigue and far less drag. ..but it does put families and athletes into financial hardship. Its the way of sports now. Look at the WIAA golf tourney with all the top kids playing using Titanium Ping drivers and when was the last time you saw anybody at state tennis playing with a wood racquet?"

"These things (the suits) have revolutionized the sport and they're here to stay," he said. "I was at one meet where a record that had stood for years was broken by seven people in one heat alone."

The suits started making their way into he conversation of the swimming world at last summer's Olympic Trials and Games, where American and world records would fall in heats and then be taken down by another person in the finals, sometimes multiple times in one event. There were even cases of people setting records in the American trials in the heats and then not even making the Olympic team out of the finals because someone else had gone faster.

Yes, coaches will say, we are in a golden age of swimming led by the incomparable (and also still very human) Michael Phelps, but all will agree that technology is helping more and more.

Menomonee Falls coach Jim Weitzer, who loves to have his team compete in the super-fast, technologically advanced Waukesha South pool, which almost everyone around the state agrees is a superior facility than the UW-Madison Natatorium where the state meet is held, argued that its a matter of evening out the playing field.

"The technology is good for everybody in the case of the pool where everyone can take advantage of it," he said, "but its not good for everybody in the case of the suit. They (the athletes) can picture themselves in it, but it's become a matter of whether they can afford it or not. ..You start to see these huge drops by people and you start to believe its not the athlete anymore but the technology."

His top swimmer, state-ranked butterfly Sean Kimmitt of Germantown, agrees.

"It just seems a little unfair," he said. "It seems like whoever has the most money has the edge now."

The noise about the suits in Wisconsin became loud last fall at the state girls swim meet. It provoked much fuss and discussion on both the sportspages and in the internet chatrooms. A Wisconsin State Journal piece by Bryan Watson of the time noted that the suits had old coaching friends accusing each other of cheating.The piece also had Madison Memorial coach and President of the State Swim Coaches Association Jason Verheist stating emphatically that the suits have been declared legal by the National Federation of High Schools.

Also in the article, WIAA Assistant Director Tom Shafranski said that though technology has come to play a large role in many sports, the association can't and won't get itself involved in the matter of cost of a particular item, even of something as expensive and altering as these new suits.

Which brings the matter of fairness down to what individual programs, coaches and athletes think that particular philosophy is for them. On one hand, a coach can take the high road and not use them and then accept the consequences if their swimmers lose to other athletes who do have them. Or they can bite the bullet and try to help their athletes get the suits, which are far outside of the budgets of even the most well-off athletic departments.

"A joke going around the sectional from the coaches is that the suit costs more than your monthly car payment," said Nicolet coach Dwight Davis.

But despite all that, one thing is for certain, the speed and the advantage the suits provide is seductive, even as coaches mention that they are sometimes changing the way an athlete performs his or her stroke. Some have even taken to wearing two forms of a suit to help improve performance though many question the legality of that maneuver.

"They are amazing," said Whitefish Bay coach Jim Davis, who has been working with swimmers for 28 years. "They really give you a boost, but the thing is, in my mind, is sometimes the advantage is just psychological. You still have to go out there and perform."

Menomonee Falls state 100 butterfly recordholder Ken Riesch agrees. His mark, made in 1969 when most swimmers didn't even wear goggles, stood for 13 years.

"It'll give the good swimmers hundreths of a second," he said, "but it'll give the better swimmers much more than that, because it still comes down to desire and how much you're willing to put into your workout."

Tell that to Nicolet's Dwight Davis. The suits impact was felt by him last winter, when his top sprinter Steve Cebertowicz engaged in a hammer and tongs dual with Badger/Big Foot's Wes Lagerhausen in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races at state. Cebertowicz was wearing an old borrowed suit that was almost busting at the seams. He lost both races to Lagerhausen by small amounts, though to his credit in interviews afterwards, he did not blame the suit or take into account what Lagerhausen was wearing.

But irony was to rear its laughing head soon.

That's because Cebertowicz called Davis a few days later to report that a new and improved suit he had ordered had come in the mail on Monday, two days after state.

"We've opened Pandora's Box," Mccabe said. "There is no going back."

Together Brown Deer sprinters Justin Austin and Kaya Senaya have 12 WIAA state Division 2 track titles and four division records.

Senaya has also posted the fastest 100-meter time ever by a Wisconsin girl when she turned in an 11.78 second-clocking at a Junior Olympics meet last summer.

Both have secured high-profile NCAA Division I scholarship offers, Austin to Kentucky and Senaya to Wisconsin.

So what are the motivations of these two once-in-a-lifetime athletes as they approach their final WIAA State Meet in La Crosse on Friday and Saturday, May 30 and 31?

To be known as the best in the division anyone has ever known.

"I still want the records," Austin said. "That's what I'm praying for. That's what I've been working for. Man, I can't believe I'm already a senior. It's all gone by so fast I can hardly remember that trip four years ago (when he was part of a record-setting 400 relay team)."

Both Austin and Senaya will defend their titles in the 100 and 200 dashes and anchor their respective 400 relay teams (the girls are defending champions). They will also compete in the long jump. Austin will enter healthy after an injury-plagued junior campaign, while Senaya is running her best times of the year after battling illness and back problems.

"I'm the defending champ and I would like to finish my career as a champion," Senaya said. "Other people's opinions don't really concern me all that much at this point, so I'm going to do what I need to make myself and the team successful."

And success is on the minds of a lot of North Shore, Menomonee Falls and Germantown area athletes as they enter the annual test.

Among the most compelling, is three-time state runner-up Kate Lydy in Germantown. the senior earned silver medals in the state 1,600 last spring and then book-ended that with a similar finish in state cross country last fall. She, like last year is doing a heady triple with the 1,600 and 3,200 open races and the 3,200 relay on her docket. The school-record relay will be the seventh-fastest going into state and she has the fourth-fastest 3,200 time, but like last year, she'll have to sneak a top slot in the 1,600 coming out of the slow heat. Warhawk assistant coach Andy Bavlnka is known for training his athletes very hard in the regular season and bringing them down for a fast taper like Lydy's exceptional 1,600 time last season. Competitors would be unwise to look past her.

A similar story is coming out of Whitefish Bay. A year ago, Megan Palmer took the state by storm with a great cross country season and a solid track campaign. Last fall, she helped lead the Blue Dukes cross country team to a heart-breakingly close runner-up finish at state but the end of her campaign was marked by fatigue and slightly sub-par (only by her extremely high standards) performances in the sectional and state runs

She has come back in track with a vengeance  this spring, looking fresh as a daisy, using a devastating kick to dominant opponents in the 800 and 1,600 races. She will look to lead the school-record (and that's saying something) Blue Duke 3,200 relay to a medal as well as earning a medallion herself in the 800, where she has the second-fastest time going in.

"We're going to taper a little and then get ready to finish strong," said the mature-beyond-her-years sophomore. "We're ready to go."

Also ready to go and breathing a sign of relief is the boys 800 relay team at Menomonee Falls. The Indians have had an amazing record of success in the event since 2003. They've posted superior sub-1:30 times in five of the six seasons (four of which have landed in the state's all-time top 50) and have earned three state meet medals for their efforts, but going into last week's sectional meet at Germantown, the Indian relay has also had disconcertingly bad luck at sectionals in even numbered years, not being able to finish races due to bad hand-offs.

But the Falls team anchored by three-event state qualifier and two-time medalist Washington Farrington broke the jinx last week at sectional by using safe but aggressive passes to finish with the state's second-best time (only behind peerless Milwaukee Vincent). Both Farrington and Indian relay ace Mark Van Alstyne noted that coaches never told them of the bad karma surrounding the even-numbered years but still grinned at their good fortune.

Falls coach Mike Burling said he's debating whether to try and stretch the passes further in an effort to pass Vincent. He's unsure whether it would be worth the effort, losing out on a chance at any kind of medal with a mistake.

Meanwhile, Indian girls hurdler Cally Burrows is hoping to improve on last year's state runner-up finish in the 300 lows. But to do that she'll have to beat her old friend and barrier-busting equal Lindsay Schwartz of Watertown, who beat her in both the highs and the lows at the sectional meet last week. Burrows has a 2-1 advantage in 300 hurdle races against Schwartz this season, but the tall and motivated Schwartz is making a heavy play for state female athlete of the year after posting the best times in the state in both hurdle races and anchoring the Goslings' 1,600 relay to the top seed going into Friday's heats. Just for fun, she's also advanced in the high jump.

One fun story to watch include watching siblings Lauren and Justin Barber of Homestead compete in the weights this weekend. Big sister Lauren is a multi-time state qualifier and has the third-best effort in the shot put going into Friday's festivities. But little brother (in age only) Justin surprised everyone by coming up with a runner-up sectional toss in the discus to earn his own state berth.

There was no open discussion of sibling rivalry, but later Justin was heard to say something to the effect of "Hey, I'm just trying to keep up with her!" 

On a more serious note, injuries are part of life at state-qualifying time, crushing many dreams, making many re-assess their goals. To that end, the swift Nicolet girls sprint squad is being forced to put all its eggs in one very quick and pretty basket. The third-seeded 800 relay team anchored by Roni Thompson was to have been joined by the equally quick 400 crew, but at sectional, a faulty hand-off at the end led to its demise. That's a real disappointment for Thompson, who was having a sensational season before a recent groin pull slowed her down. Coach Mike McKenna said that Thompson has been fighting gamely through the injury, but noted that accomodations have had to be made.

The Knights under McKenna, have earned at least one medal in the last eight state meets. A ninth straight year, especially with a relay team crowding the awards stand, would be a welcome sight to him.

A feel-good story was how exuberent Germantown boys track coach Todd Brawner was after his senior-laden squad saw not one, not two, but three relay teams reel in state berths under the qualifying gun thanks in part to determined anchor runs by Kyle Sich. The Warhawks had been the 800-pound gorilla of the North Shore for the better part of this decade before being supplanted by Homestead and Port Washington this year. But they flew under the radar at the sectional and earned six state berths, including a stunning third by Dexter Schleis in the 300 intermediate hurdles. Dexter is the younger brother of former state high hurdle champ Adam Schleis and when he surged across the line in third, Brawner bounced across the infield as fast as he could hugging everyone in sight.

It was a rare display of raw emotional release that few people had ever seen out of the veteran coach, whose grin was as wide as the setting sun that evening.

It's a feeling that no doubt many in La Crosse this weekend will try to bottle and unleash at just the right moment.

When I was about nine or 10, I watched my first Kentucky Derby on a grainy color television in my parents family room in Menomonee Falls.

The mud, the dirt, the announcer's increasing intensity as the horses wheeled their way around the track ("and down the stretch they come!"), it was pretty heady stuff for a kid who was just on the edge of figuring out his professional sports allegiances (and they're not what you think they might be) and who was still open to everything that was new and interesting.

Besides, my awareness reached full bright light during that last truly great period (1968-78) of horse-racing's Triple Crown (including the Preakness and the Belmont). Mighty handsome beasts like Forward Pass, Majestic Prince, Seattle Slew, the inseparable Affirmed and Alydar, and the king of them, all the incomparable Secretariat, were all filtered through my increasingly distracted and complex sports library. Having top-notch writers like William Nack and Frank Deford chronicle these pieces in the at-the-time still dominant print media never got old either 

In short, I was spoiled rotten. But as that golden age passed and my interests became more varied and life more complex (college, work, women) horse-racing passed from being one of the items front and center to a piece of trivia (Q: Who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973? A: Ron Turcotte).

But every spring, I would casually listen for results of the major prep races (the Arkansas and Santa Anita Derbys) and I would cast about for a name and a horse I would like. I had no rhyme or reason behind this but one thing was certain, I almost never picked a long-shot. I would also never get as involved as I was as a kid, but I would still watch the races with more than passing interest.

Literature and movies like the great "Sea Biscuit" book of a few years ago helped keep me within shouting distance too.

And then came Barbaro, the 2006 golden boy, the slayer of the finest Kentucky Derby field in 40 years by the widest margin in 60 years. The tragic hero who galvanized a nation with his brave fight for survival after breaking down in the first few strides in the Preakness.

That event made me as sick and sad about any sporting event in my 26-year career. Such promise, such energy, such personality all gone. All a big "What-if?"

But what made him truly great were the nine months that followed, where he bucked impossible odds to try and survive his devastating injury. Thousands of letters, notes, boxes full of goodies landed on his stable's doorstep. Whole schools would gather together to send out mammoth get-well cards. Kids by the hundreds created hopeful, happy pictures in his honor.

That the injuries and subsequent surgeries proved to be too much for him and resulted in his being put down created a lake-full of tears (including a few of my own). The story was well-told in a cable documentary a year ago and is touched upon again in Brad and John Hennegan's brilliant and touching documentary about the 2006 Derby called "The First Saturday in May".

Here the Hennegans, in a taut, seamless 95-minutes, detail the passion, the gritty, noisesome detail, the ups, the downs, the hopes and dreams of six trainers and their horses as they try to qualify for that race-to-end-all-races. For you see, getting to the Derby is like finding a needle in a haystack no matter how talented the horse, no matter how resourceful the trainer.

Simply put, there are 40,000 thoroughbred colts born each year and about 23,000 of them make it to a track, but only 20 of them can qualify for the Derby.

So you watch with fascination and awe as underdog Frank Amonte, with basically his one-man band in New York and his striking grey "Achilles of Troy", try and succeed at getting noticed. On the other end of the spectrum, you have American trainer Kiaran McLaughlin work with the oil-rich rulers of Dubai on getting the friendly and gentle Jazil ready for a run for the roses. Life isn't all flowers and easy resources for McLaughlin as he battles a diagnosis of MS.

You also see long-time Arkansas trainer Bob Holthus, now in his 70s, get his "Dream Horse" in Lawyer Ron and observe as the courageous Dan Hendricks, limited physically to life in a motorized wheelchair as a result of a dirt-bike accident several years ago, but not limited in his outlook or presepctive, take Brother Derek on a clear path to Kentucky. You also have golf-playing, tocacco-chewing dry wit Dale Romans drive Sharp Rumor on a rough-edged ride to Louisville.

But it's Mike Matz and the storied Barbaro you're drawn to everytime they grace the screen. From Barbaro's stunning early victories, to his occasionally high-strung antics, to the remarkable small, quiet scene where Matz bucks up the courage of his small son to gently stroke the just-awakening Barbaro before a chilly morning of training. It's sequences like that latter episode that made people fall in love with this horse. The child slowly gains confidence as Barbaro warms up and gently looks over his shoulder appreciatively at the child's sincere ministrations.

The Hennegans shot almost 500 hours of footage and followed these horses all over the world. We see the trainer's families and support networks and get a hint of their own doubts and fears. They voice the uniform salute of "You don't know how hard he's worked to get here"  for each trainer. And strangely enough, you suspend your disbelief and take it in as the God's-Honest-Truth.

For to be perfectly honest, would any of us like to muck out hundreds of pounds of dung-strewn straw before dawn every morning or risk getting kicked in the face re-shoeing an occasionally petulant 1,000-pound animal?

I don't think so.

Especially for such an ephemeral and hard to reach reward, because as we see, months and years of work can dissolve to tears of despair in the space of two minutes. That's what the Derby will do to people,

For every smiling face we see on the Matz family, there are 10 dejected and stunned looks from the supporters of the others. People in all their Derby finery and attitude (the hat here is truly an artform) simply can't believe that its come to all this: a double-digit finish, a dismayed and mud-streaked jockey trying to explain to a grim trainer what happened and then that terrifying vacant thought: What next?

We know what happened next with Barbaro. We follow him to the Preakness as his story reaches the level of Greek tragedy. The Hennegans tread lightly here, not getting too sentimental but striking the right level of respect.Yes, tears streaked my middle-aged face again. I couldn't help it.

And that's a true sign of how well the Hennegans crafted this elegant piece of sports history. They gave it their heart as they watched the trainers, the jockeys and the horses give their souls towards their one great true dream: To hear "My Old Kentucky Home" on the first Saturday in May, on a crisp and glorious day where the bluegrass is in full bloom and the mint julep is as intoxicating and sweet as that unmistakable clatter of hooves down the stretch.

The Hennegans get bonus points for pointing out that much was learned about horse injury in Barbaro's treatment. They get them 10-fold for donating their proceeds to equine disease research and they get them a 100-fold for pointing out that the spirit of Barbaro lives on in his little brother Nicanor.

It's like McLaughlin said: "You try not to get too attached, like a pet, but some have a way of drawing you in."

And bringing you back to a time when sports simpler and easier to love.

"The First Saturday in May" is not rated.  It's now showing at the Downer Theater, 2589 Downer Ave., Milwaukee.

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