Kentucky Derby Written May 5, 2007   I watched the Kentucky Derby again today. I've been watching it on TV almost every year for half a century now.  A high point has always been the entrance of the horses onto the track, when everyone sings the Stephen Foster song "My Old Kentucky Home" — especially because my father was born and raised in Kentucky and counted that song among his favorites. There were many things to like about NBC-TV's coverage, especially the decision to show the final turn from the vantage point of the blimp instead of the far-off grandstand.  Viewers could easily see eventual winner Street Sense surge forward from his spot on the rail to cut in front of heavy traffic and charge to the lead. But I don't much care for the way the networks present "My Old Kentucky Home." The music is played, as always, by the University of Louisville Marching Band.  However, you can hardly hear the band anymore because TV, in an effort to give us the experience of being in the grandstand, turns its microphones toward various spectators as they try to sing the words.  The sound turns out to be a muddled mess. I got an audio tape recorder for Christmas in 1961.  Months later, I was still looking for ways to use it, so I decided to tape the sound from the TV during the CBS telecast of the Derby on May 5, 1962, just 45 years ago today. AUDIO 2:20   Here's the way the song sounded then.  Notice in particular the trombones climbing into the refrain with three dramatic notes.  You don't hear that nowadays. And then came the event itself. AUDIO 3:43   The race was run in a record-setting time. The post-race ceremonies were much like today, with the governor handing out trophies and everybody congratulating each other on the wonderful weather.  We always do seem to have great weather on the first Saturday in May. AUDIO 2:29   Chris Schenkel and former jockey Eddie Arcaro hosted the telecast. Did Chris mention a video-tape rerun of the race?  How is that possible?  The history of sports television tells us that "instant replay" was not invented until a year and a half later, at the 1963 Army-Navy football game. Well, the historians are talking about instant replay.  The video-tape replay of the Derby was not instant.  It wasn't aired until many minutes after the race, giving the technicians plenty of time to rewind the tape and cue it up.  And video tape itself was not an innovation, having been featured on these telecasts for several years by this time.