So you thought this years Preakness -- with the Get Your Preak On promotion and unlimited beer for twenty bucks -- would mean a return to the debauchery of years past?
Think again.
The infield was so tame that Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III (at left, in a photo by The Sun's Gene Sweeney) moved cops out of there and sent them to other spots around the race track. So quiet that I spotted more than a few yawning tactical guys doing more watching than arresting. Cops sat on picnic tables and thumbed through race forms.
"A great day for Baltimore," Bealefeld said as he walked through the infield.
The stats from a day 38,000 people drinking?
Zero arrests. Twenty-three tossed for throwing beer or other frat-like issues.
That's nothing. Some Baltimore bars have more activity on a regular weekend.
That may have put frowns on some in the infield who wanted to repeat the "running of the urinals" but it put a happy face on Bealefeld who noted young people can get together, drink, have fun and still stay out of jail.
The complaints: people couldn't drink fast enough because it took so long first get, and then refill, the bottomless cups of beer. It seems Pimlico struck the balance they wanted -- give back the alcohol but with a catch. Without the bring-your-own kegs, people couldn't binge drink, and many tended to sober up between gulps.
Of course, you could get drunk if you really wanted too. But overall, the scene didn't turn into a total anything-goes drunk fest as it had in years past, but wasn't exactly a family affair either. The real test will be next year.
There some more debate in Sunday's Crime Beat column, and The Baltimore's Sun's Kevin Cowherd also weighs in on the sports pages.