http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/dick_jerardi RSS Feed for Dick Jerardi en-us Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:11:27 GMT http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/dick_jerardi/20090626_Dick_Jerardi__D_J__s_spin_on_the_NBA_draftby_Dick_Jerardi.html The Sixers were the sixth seed in the East. The conference finalists (Orlando, Cleveland) got better on draft day before anybody made a choice. When you get perennial All-Stars like Vince Carter and Shaq, you definitely improve. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/dick_jerardi/20090605_Dick_Jerardi__Borel__and_Mine_That_Bird__will_win_Belmont.html TOMORROW'S Belmont Stakes is not a complicated handicapping proposition. You either believe in Calvin Borel and Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, you go with Charitable Man, the horse that should control the pace, or you throw out Dunkirk's Kentucky Derby and take the $3.7 million yearling that was so impressive when finishing second in the Florida Derby. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/dick_jerardi/20090604_Dick_Jerardi__Jockey_Calvin_Borel_is_biggest_star_in_Belmont_field.html IF HORSE RACING could find a way to bottle the feeling from the Triple Crown and stretch it out over a calendar year, it would be the NFL. But it really can't, so it isn't. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/dick_jerardi/20090515_Dick_Jerardi__How_will_Rachel_Alexandra_handle_the_Drama_at_Preakness_.html BALTIMORE - If this game were completely predictable, I would just pick Rachel Alexandra in tomorrow's Preakness and forget about it. If, however, it were completely predictable, Smarty Jones would have won the 2004 Belmont Stakes. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/dick_jerardi/20090501_Dick_Jerardi__Three_chances_to_pick_Kentucky_Derby_winner.html LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Remember when picking the Kentucky Derby winner was somewhere between difficult and impossible? For most of the 1990s, the Derby winner seemed random.