So Lift Your Glass To Barbaro, And Sing No Mournful Songs

Yes, it's sad that Barbaro is gone, but all of this talk of angels and candles and galloping around in the clouds is making our neck chafe, like when we were a kid and had to wear the clip-on tie in Sunday school. We prefer to think of Barbaro this way, consuming many beers down at that sports bar in the sky, where every round is on the house and a horse can eat all the pickled eggs he damn well pleases.

But some refuse to believe that Barbaro is watching wide-screen hi-def TV in the afterlife, with special hoof-friendly remote. They insist on making this a religious thing, while dragging out their Michael Bolton CDs for elaborate YouTube tribute soundtracks. And the action on the Barbaro message boards, of course, is going pretty much the way we expected as well.

• When I listened to Gretchens news conference tonight, near the end she asked us all to say a prayer for Barbaro. Which of course I have and will do. But it reminded me of something Jackie Kennedy asked the whole nation to do on the night that JFK was assassinated. She asked everyone to light a candle (electric) and put it in your window tonight to guide his spirit home. For some reason this gives me great comfort, as though I am able to do one last thing for Bobby. This is just a suggestion for anyone who would like to do it for Bobby. I want to know that he is over the Rainbow Bridge. — 4Barbo [ Tim Woolley Racing]

• I can't describe the awesome whirlwind of emotions I've felt over the last eight months—you've given all of us so much strength. I plan to name my first child Barbaro, in hopes that he has half the heart that you did. —Michael Sambuceti, 24; New York, NY, USA posted on 2007-01-29 14:25:18 [ UPenn Message Board]

• These were the first six songs that played on my ipod in shuffle mode after I heard about Barbaro: 1) The Fallen 2) Let the Four Winds Blow 3) Shine It All Around 4) You're the Reason I'm Leaving 5) All the King's Horses 6) Thank You. Completely random? Somehow, I think there is a connection...It's not the lyrics of the songs that struck me so much as the titles...Trying not to cry as I write this. — jsrice [ Tim Woolley Racing]

Meanwhile, the Palestinians called a cease-fire just a couple of hours after Barbaro was put down. We thought that was nice.

Barbaro Message Board [Penn Veterinary Medicine] Adjusting To Life Without Barbaro [Deadspin] Cease-Fire Starts To Take Hold In Gaza [MSNBC]