THE OPENING LINE

Monday, July 24, 2006 | 7:18 a.m.

When I was a kid growing up in Chicago they used to show Bears exhibition games on tape delay after the 10 o'clock news. I used to love those games, because my dad would let me stay up (until I fell asleep) to watch them and because we always bet on the outcome.

This was probably because he already knew the final score and that I had no concept of tape delay.

"You're giving me the Bears and 34 points?" I'd ask with eyes like saucers.

Then the next day, I'd read in the Sun-Times how the Rams won 35-0. And I'd give my old man the three wadded up dollar bills in my piggy bank, thinking he was the world's best oddsmaker.

It never occurred that he was trying to teach me a lesson. He'd give my money back with a speech about how when I grew up, somebody would always be trying to take my money. Like he just had.

Or like California's horse racing industry is trying to do today.

If a bill in the California legislature passes, you may soon be able to go to Bay Meadows or Del Mar and bet on horse races that have already been run, like that Bears-Rams game.

Proponents say the races used in "instant racing" monitors will be so obscure that no one will remember them. You won't be able to wager on past Kentucky Derbies or Breeders Cups. But what if you were at Ark-Sar-Ben in 1986 - and then noticed on the video screen a nag that looked an awful lot like the one on whose nose you put a sawbuck during a layover in Omaha?

Well, supposedly that long shot has been eliminated, too. You won't be able to handicap races via a visual post parade or racing form, only through pie charts showing the winning percentages of horses, jockeys and trainers by numbers, not names.

A Sacramento Bee story said video racing has the potential to inject $300 million into the flagging California horse racing industry.

But the bill is facing strong opposition from the state's Indian casinos, which claim video horse racing is nothing more than a slot machine disguised in jockey silks.

Maybe so, but I'll just bet my old man would have loved it, anyway.

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

SCORE Las Vegas Terrible's Cup II, Friday-Saturday Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The monsters are returning to the Southern Nevada desert - and I'm not talking about those do-good environmentalists. I'm talking about the big 800-horsepower racing trucks driven by NASCAR's Robby Gordon and his off-road pals.

TICKETS: $20-$30 ON THE WEB: www.scorelasvegas.com

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

Iowa Cubs at Las Vegas 51s, 7:05 p.m. Saturday Cashman Field

Diego Corrales, the Las Vegas-based boxer, will throw out the first pitch on another fireworks night. Wouldn't it be cool if an overweight Jose Luis Castillo was standing in the batter's box?

TICKETS: $7-$15; 386-7200; www.ticketmaster.com

MORE INFO: www.lv51.com