On a brighter note, this Rock The Kasbah has a good chance of finally giving champion jockey Richard Johnson an elusive first National win as he takes a record 21st ride in the race.
Dust off the clichés: romance, magic and all the other old FA Cup chestnuts are in the rudest of health after being given fresh life by a Sheffield Wednesday team who gave the champions of England a fair fright.
It's heartbreaking because a nation whose triumphs have always provided inspiration to proponents of democracy around the world is instead giving the champions of authoritarian rule a chance to use our dysfunction as an argument against democracy.
"However we are going to give the champions of the league a cash prize of over US$3,000 and the runners up will get half of what the winner will receive". Opponents of the SLFA are still arguing with the association, lead by Johansen, over which delegates are allowed to attend the association's congress.
What is different this time is that FIFA, the sport's worldwide governing body, has agreed to give the champion of the region, which is dominated by the two British Commonwealth members, an automatic berth.
That piece of shiny hardware, given to the champions of the National Football Conference, was soon shepherded away.
The promoter, Wilfried Sauerland, would be reluctant to loosen his grip on the new WBA champion given that level of response.
But the word is that the Bronx team is as formidable as some of the past champions, especially given the pitching of Almonte, who came to New York a couple of years ago from the Dominican Republic.
The five-times Olympic champion was given injections of triamcinolone shortly before the 2011 and 2012 editions of the Tour de France and the 2013 Giro d'Italia.
Although the NCAA rules attempted to prevent more-experienced boxers from competing, a number of institutions did give scholarships to former champions of such organizations as the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), Golden Gloves, and the armed forces.
