Triple Crown Follow-up

Yesterday, I wrote a long piece here about Steve Coburn, one of the owners of California Chrome, he went into a full-meltdown rant after his horse lost the Triple Crown.  It's good to seem that he went on Good Morning America today and gave a long, emotional apology.

As an expert Apology Analyst, I think this is a very good one, and seems extremely heartfelt, so that's terrific to see. The best part is when he says "I promise you I'll do better," which too many apologies leave out. Also very good was him saying "I was wrong," not the traditional, "If I offended anybody."  The judges don't give it a perfect score -- those require a bit more insight and self-reflection, and explanation -- but it's high on the scoring chart and definitely well done.  Worth, especially given his head gear, a hat's off.

But he nonetheless deserved the criticism. I'm glad I noted in piece that it might have been related to the emotion of the moment, which he refers to, but as he himself says, he was wrong.  My initial reaction, too, was that it took him a couple days to make this apology, though I think that's okay.  After all, a show like Good Morning America isn't on until Monday.  While he could have released a statement that very same Saturday, or even the next day -- and probably should have -- I suspect he was pretty mortified and having a hard time dealing with it, and two days isn't problematic under these conditions.

Unfortunately for him, the rant will probably be far more remembered by the apology, in large part for the same reason it occurred -- it was a moment of high emotion for the viewing public, too, and when they wanted a release, they got the rant.

But a good apology always goes a long way, and he did a respectable one.