Call me sentimental.

Call me old-fashioned.

Call me someone who likes to live in the past.

All I know is that when I think of the Preakness or the Kentucky Derby or the Belmont, there's only one horse that comes to my mind: Secretariat.

I realize all the buzz right now is about I'll Have Another after it won the Preakness on Saturday to secure the second leg of a possible Triple Crown. And, yes, I realize that winning these two races is an amazing feat, and the horse, trainer, owner and jockey all deserve an incredible amount of acclaim, but I'm still stuck on 1973.

I know a lot of great race horses have come and gone since then. I know that Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978. I realize a handful of other horses have come so close to winning all three races, but no horse in my lifetime matches Secretariat.

It's been nearly 40 years, but I can still vividly recall watching all three of those races in 1973 as a 13-year-old when Secretariat burst onto the nation's sports scene.

I watched all three races in my family's living room on a black-and-white television set. I remember seeing Secretariat win the Kentucky Derby. Then, two weeks later, Secretariat beat its arch-rival Sham to win the Preakness.

The hype was incredible leading up to the Belmont. Could Secretariat win the third leg, the first Triple Crown in 25 years? That was all the talk.

There was no ESPN or sports talk back then. Secretariat's owner didn't have a Facebook page and jockey Ron Turcott didn't have a Twitter account to add to the excitement.

But network newscasts reported stories on Secretariat. Time magazine on its June 18th cover would put "Super Horse" on its cover.

Secretariat was a national celebrity.

The pressure was intense, as Secretariat sets sights on the Belmont.

And Big Red delivered in one of the most amazing performances in sports history.

I watched that incredible performance on live TV and can still picture it in my mind to this day.

"Secretariat by 12 ... now it's 14 ... Secretariat is now opening up a big lead on the back stretch."

Then, in what I view as one of the most chilling calls in race history, track announcer Chic Anderson remarked, "He's moving like a tremendous machine." To this day, that description gives me chills.

Indeed, Secretariat was moving like a tremendous machine. Its lead continued to open up over Sham. Now it was 18 lengths. Then it was 20. Then 25.

As Secretariat powered to the finish line, all horse-racing fans were awestruck. They never saw anything like this amazing horse.

In a sports history profile on ESPN, race fans were asked about their thoughts on witnessing true greatness that day as Secretariat captured the Triple Crown by 31 lengths in a record-time of 2:24.

Anderson described as an "unbelievable, amazing performance."

Some fans admitted to crying as they watched this incredible specimen power down the stretch all by itself. It was a moving moment. You can't explain it. Even watching YouTube clips of it nearly 40 years later, I still get a bit emotional watching this phenomenal performance.

How do you explain that? I can't. We were watching true greatness that day, and it took less than three minutes. As someone said, it was as if God touched him that day and told him to run fast. It was almost a super-natural experience.

"He just felt like running. He felt terrific," said owner Penny Chenery Tweedy.

"Everybody was speechless," said TV announcer Jack Whitaker.

"There were (girls) on the rail and half of them were weeping as he (went) by," said writer George Plimpton.

Even the great Jack Nicklaus said he got choked up watching Secretariat head to the finish line.

Secretariat died in 1989, 16 years after that Belmont victory.

To some of us who watched him that year, he lives on, though, as the best race-horse that ever lived. And every time we hear about a horse possibly winning a Triple Crown at the Belmont, our thoughts go back to 1973, and watching Big Red demolish the field.

What a fabulous horse.

And what an incredible performance at the Belmont.
