News-Letter

This overlooks one of the most important aspects of Preakness: defending your turf. Upwards of 60,000 people are apt to migrate at the whims of Miller Lite, often resulting in encroachment on other people's areas. In fact, if at the end of the day, you can find the lawn chairs you brought in, your day was a success. It takes several large people to anchor an area while friends migrate to the restroom/betting booth/first-aid station as the case may have called for. A typical setup involves a cooler or kiddie pool in the center of a circle of individuals, forming a protective phalanx around the beer and the land. Excursions away from the home turf once required careful planning. Navigating through 60,000 people, of course, is not an easy task, and I state with great certainty that beer will not survive the trip from the tap to home base, because it will be either spilled or drunk. Add in probable 90 degree temperatures, and your Coors Light will be the warmest beer in America, if it is lucky enough to survive.

The decision to go to cups of beer sold inside will also eliminate two separate traditions famous to the Preakness. First, one that has been under fire for a year now: The Running of the Gauntlet. One drunk individual, in so running, climbs aboard a row of portapotties and attempts to run to the other side while being pelted with beer cans and the occasional yard chair (search "Running of the Urinals" on http://www.youtube.com for further information.) Obvious danger aside, this is probably one of the most entertaining things in the world, and now it's gone forever. The other tradition has a less formal name, but could accurately be described as "Throwing Open Cans of Light Beer as High and Far as You Can, Knowing That You Will Never Get In Trouble for It." Reasons for this range from failing to expose oneself to strangers and mob mentality, but alas, it will be no more as well.

The Preakness Infield Crowd is famous for a blue-collar beer-drinking mentality, unlike the elitists funneling old-fashioneds at Churchill Downs. This feeling of goodwill towards one's light beer-drinking neighbor, even if he's drinking Natty Light, has been eviscerated by this decision. With Pimlico up for sale and powerful interests trying to move the Preakness out of Baltimore, it's a sad day for all Preakness fans when they will have to buy their own beer inside the Infield.

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