Why Limit Super Pairings to Horses?

To Daniel Okrent -- whose identity as the inventor of rotisserie baseball is the one I'll use for this space -- the greatest baseball player ever was, unsurprisingly, Babe Ruth. It was Okrent's reasoning, which he conveyed in Ken Burns' epic television documentary "Baseball," that was refreshingly noteworthy.

"He (Ruth) was also one of the greatest pitchers ever," Okrent reminded. "It is as if imagining that Beethoven and Cézanne were one person producing the same work."

How about that? Two of the greatest artists combined to make one.

Okrent's utterance popped to mind on Wednesday when it was reported that two of the greatest thoroughbreds were combining to make one. Rachel Alexandra, the filly who put a charge into horse racing in winning Horse of the Year in 2009, was being retired to breed with Curlin, the stallion who won the most money in U.S. horse racing history en route to becoming Horse of the Year in the two seasons previous to Rachel winning the award.

"Imagine what possibilities those two super horses might produce," Jess Jackson, a co-owner in both horses, told the media.

Their coupling could make a Babe Ruth of horse racing, a sequel to Secretariat or greater. It is as if they have been joined through common and compatible attributes discovered on a Match.com or eHarmony for pro athletes.

"Single filly, 4, nice body, seeks same in slightly older male for walks in the pasture and frolic in the hay."

Rachel and Curlin getting together isn't the type of arranged marriage that is bad for sports. That would be the BCS, which is bad for college football. Instead, theirs is the kind of which we unfortunately don't see enough.

There are dating services for everyone else with some defining attribute about them: race, religion, height, college conference, income, preferred dance style. ... Why not for pro athletes? "Single male, thirtysomething, all-time leading scorer in my sport, seeks the same in similarly aged female for possibility of producing progeny that could break our records."

There are dating services for everyone else with some defining attribute about them: race, religion, height, college conference, income, preferred dance style. I saw one advertised at the Monterey Jazz Festival two weekends ago for jazz aficionados.

Why not for pro athletes?

After all, the greatest women's volleyball player in U.S. history is Misty May-Treanor, the daughter of Bob "Butch" May, a member of the 1968 US volleyball team, and the late Barbara May, a nationally-ranked tennis player who later transitioned to beach volleyball.

May-Treanor took her last name from Texas Rangers' catcher Matt Treanor, whom she married in 2004. It would've been more interesting had she wed the greatest men's volleyball player in U.S. history, Karch Kiraly, but he's 17 years her senior and, in fact, babysat her as a child.

Former tennis champions Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf married in 2001, two years after they captured their respective sides at the French Open and started dating after the winners' ball.

They wed in 2001 and had the first of their two children, a son, Jaden Gil, four days after their nuptials. Two years later, Graf bore their daughter, Jaz Elle. Dad was 22 when he won his first Grand Slam and mom was 19. So Jaden and Jaz should start dominating their parents' sport by about 2022.

The greatest women's soccer player, Mia Hamm, married six-time All-Star baseball shortstop Nomar Garciaparra in 2003. They have three-year-old twin girls, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline. Good for them. But mixing sports parents doesn't create as much anticipation for what their offspring might do.

Now had Hamm hooked up with Landon Donovan, the greatest men's soccer player in U.S. history, and Garciaparra with Jennie Finch, the gold medal softball pitcher and two-time college player of the year, I'd be a little more excited.

Mixing sports in parentage hasn't always produced the results we would want to see as sports fans. The MVP of the 1986 World Series, Ray Knight, married World Golf Hall of Fame member Nancy Lopez. They had three daughters, none of which have taken golf or baseball by storm.

Volleyball star Gabrielle Reece and surfer Laird Hamilton are a couple and, in early 2008, had their second daughter, Brody Jo, who joined then 4-year-old sister Reece Viola. It is safe to say they'll at least be beach bunnies, that sexist-sounding phrase for women who hang out on sand and in surf. My apologies.

U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is married to former NHL player Bret Hedican and they have two daughters, Keara Kiyomi and Emma Yoshiko. Future women's ice hockey stars? We can hope.

There isn't any guarantee that the dating and mating of two extraordinaire athletes in one sport will produce another such athlete in the same game. May-Treanor is as much an anomaly as her parents' union.

Only time will tell if 1 1/2-year-old Lailaa Williams, the baby girl of the first WNBA Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season, Candace Parker, and her husband, Denver reserve center Shelden Williams, grows up to become at least as good as her dad, a first-team All-American as a senior at Duke.

Two U.S. Horses of the Year have bred before, most recently the 2002 winner Azeri and 2004 honoree Ghostzapper. They had a successful conjugal visit in 2008 that resulted in a filly sold for $475,000 this year at Keeneland stables in Lexington, Ky. And in 2006 Azeri was bred with the 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy that produced a colt named Take Control.

Take Control raced for the first time just before New Year's Day. He hasn't been saddled up again yet, but he won that inaugural race.

The yet-to-be conceived foal of Rachel and Curlin, however, has already won my imagination.