QUEER HORSE: One night on his show last summer, Conan O'Brien was going through that silly bit he's been doing for ten years where he has a still picture of a celebrity on a TV monitor, while Robert Smigel or someone else's moving, speaking lips are superimposed on the person's face. This time, Conan "interviewed" a variety of different sports figures who were in the news at the time, such as Mike Tyson, Shaquille O'Neal, Don King, etc. Conan's final "guest" was War Emblem, the horse who had just won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, and was going for the Triple Crown at Belmont the following Saturday. Conan asked the star racehorse about his "stud fees" in the event of a Triple Crown win, when War Emblem replied, in an over-the-top gay lisp, "I don't think so Conan!" The horse then made some off-color reference to himself as "the third-leg winner," the specific wording of which I can't recall.
It was a humorous bit, at least funny enough that I remember it almost a year later. But it took on new meaning with this week's news that the now-retired War Emblem isn't having much luck at stud. In fact, according to the ESPN story, War Emblem "apparently has little interest in the mares." Duh, I could've told you that; I guess the folks at Japan's Shadai Stallion Station, who paid $17 million for the horse last year, aren't big Conan fans.
So to review: In the past few days, we've discovered that 1) The Olympics are gay, 2) the Super Bowl is gay, and 3) the winner of last year's Kentucky Derby is gay as well. Perhaps it's time for Mike Piazza and Sandy Koufax to reverse their stances and apologize to the New York Post.