By Ron Kantowski

Mon, May 19, 2008 (2 a.m.)

It might come as a surprise to you — I know it did to me — that Pimlico is a famous residential area in central London known for its 19th century architecture and quaint hotels.

For years, I knew it only as the track where they ran the second jewel of horse racing’s triple crown.

The beauty of horse racing’s triple crown is that if you are a casual sports fan, those are the only three races you need to watch. They last only about two minutes, so that leaves plenty of time to mow the lawn and check out “Iron Man” at the movies.

Sports would be better if it had more triple crowns. Baseball has one, but it’s only statistics (highest batting average and most home runs and RBIs). Plus, it’s hard to win. Carl Yastrzemski was the last guy to do it, in 1967. The last National League player to win it was Ducky Medwick in 1937. Baseball could use more guys named “Ducky,” but that’s another story.

Some baseball people acknowledge a triple crown of pitching — best earned-run average, most wins, most strikeouts. But Joe Buck and Tim McCarver don’t talk about that one very much because it’s easier to win (Jake Peavey won it last year, and Johan Santana the year before).

Auto racing has a triple crown — winning the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and either the Grand Prix of Monaco or the Formula One World Championship. It’s darn near impossible to win, too. Graham Hill is the only man to have done it.

Soccer has its version of the triple crown. It’s called The Treble — winning your league championship, primary domestic cup (or tournament) and primary continental cup. Manchester United was the last to do it, in 1999. Manchester United is the last to have done a lot of things in soccer.

There also are triple crowns in alpine skiing, cycling, snooker and surfing. But like soccer, those are mostly European sports, or sports where the competitors call each other “dude.”

Golf and tennis have grand slams, which are triple crowns plus one. These are also good for any average sports fan who has sat down in front of the Quad Cities Open or Legg Mason Classic not sure whether he’s supposed to watch.

Hint: If Tiger’s not playing, go mow the lawn. It’s not important.

Other mainstream sports could benefit from having a triple crown. For instance, pro basketball and hockey. Even major proponents of those sports say the regular season is little more than a prelude to the playoffs. Then I say, do away with the regular season and have three rounds of playoffs. If the same team wins all three rounds, it wears the triple crown.

Under no circumstance should somebody be expected to devote 2 1/2 hours on a Wednesday night to the Clippers vs. the Grizzlies or the Blues vs. the ... well, whatever the hockey team in Tampa is called. But if they were playoff games, your wife might fall for it.

Same with college basketball. March Madness is great. November Madness and January Madness would make it three times as great. Five months of bracket busting and Davidson knocking off higher seeds. Five months of Jim Boeheim complaining about the officials or the selection committee. Five months of Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis making bad predictions.

Upon further review, maybe we’ll just let horse racing keep the triple crown to itself.