Barry Rascovar Sucks at Math

If you don't know Barry Rascovar, he's a Opinion writer for the Montgomery Gazette and a former writer for the nearly defunct Baltimore Sun. He offers the liberal point of view in the opinion section, opposite to Blair Lee.

Barry's a decent writer. I usually don't agree with him, but he is definitely one of those people you can enjoy without liking - sort of like Sheryl Crow. I have a poster of her above my bed, but I'm certainly not going to join her in a Global Warming march.

But enough about her. In Barry's May 22nd article titled The Last Preakness? No Way, he defends the plunge in attendance as being attributed to the horrible economy and not the alcohol ban in the infield. It's an argument that cannot be answered as you would need to interview nearly everyone that went to the Preakness previously and learn why they didn't go this year. Any answer is merely speculation.

Personally, I think the lower attendance can be attributed to both factors, though the ban on bringing your own alcohol being the bigger factor. However, it irritated me to no end watching the irresponsible infield drunk fest. It's bad enough that during the race the Goodyear Blimp shows the aerial view of the horses running around a track that is nearly encircled by Baltimore City Police cars. But watching on national television and seeing true Baltimore is embarrassing.

To defend his position, Rascovar points to the statistics from the Kentucky Derby. Track attendance at the Preakness, which sits in the middle of Baltimore's finest ghetto, was down 31% from last year. Rascovar says, "No one seems to have looked at similar figures at the Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier. Attendance there dropped nearly 3 percent." Seriously? 3% is similar to 31%? Is this a typo or do you really think 3 is similar to 31?

Let's use his similarity argument in another context to see how close they are. If murders increased by 3% in Baltimore this year, then 7 more people would be killed. But a 31% increase would result in 73 more people getting killed. And 7 is similar to 73, right? Tell that to the morgue.

If a teacher is making $50,000 per year and s/he gets a 3% raise, then (before O'Malley and Obama take their 55%), the teacher could expect $51,500. However, with a similar 31% raise, that teacher would make $65,500. Barry's argument is holding water was well as the Democrats defense of Nancy Pelosi's CIA remarks.

So, whether the drop in attendance is because of rain, economy, or beer, or a combination of the three, claiming that the drop in attendance when comparing the Preakness to the Kentucky Derby is asinine. Perhaps Barry graduated from Baltimore City Public Schools, in which case we'll give him a pass.