SPORTS FOLDEROL

  New Kent County probably should have sued Virginia, the commonwealth of, for losing a lot of money when the General Assembly reneged on its pledge to convince the county to accept construction of Colonial Downs. In a deal that appeared, at the time, weighted against  New Kent – given the multitude of costs surrounding  the state’s only parimutuel Thoroughbred race race  track, which opened in 1995, the county nevertheless  agreed to take on the  burden . And most of the  politicians involved (cliché alert) breathed a sigh of  relief because they didn’t want the facility in  northern Virginia or Virginia Beach but rather some  centrally-located county even if it was “in the middle  of nowhere” … as one consultant put it. Until recently, when Richmond, the city of, in  particular cried foul over New Kent getting half of  all money bet at the track’s affiliated Rosie’s betting  parlors, the politicians recognized how w...

  Hockey, hockey, and … more hockey ... Welcome back … one of sports’ really good  people,  CRAIG LAUGHLIN , who returned  to the Washington Capitals’ TV booth  Sunday (March 30) after missing more than  two months recovering from open heart  surgery … “Well, look what the dog just  dragged in,” said on-air partner  JOE  BENINATI . Laughlin, 67, has been to the Caps what  former Richmond Robin  STEVE COATES ,  now retired, was to the Philadelphia Flyers  radio/TV … friendly, fun guys who played  the game yet learned early on to take what  they did, but not themselves, seriously … In  fact, they enjoyed each other’s company so  much that the give-and-take kidding  occasionally got serious. In town to conduct  a youth clinic for  FRED FESTA ’s Ice Den in  Powhatan a couple of years ago, Laughlin  recalled being a guest on Coates’ between- periods show and … “we talked about a...