Whats Better Than Being Charlie Sheen? Horse Games!

Wouldn't it be great to be like Charlie Sheen, with a different heart, a different constitution, high on yourself and not caring who knows? Yes, but not in real life. Maybe in a risk-free fantasy world where there are no negative consequences.

What's better than bragging about your extreme lifestyle? It's called Internet horse games. You don't have to snort anything when you can let your fantasy horse do your snorting for you with any of several downloadable Internet horse games.

Don't look now, but horse games are no longer for the few or the immature or the wealthy. They're becoming everybody's favorite sports games.

We're not talking about real horse races. We're talking about free online downloadable horse games that simulate the real thing. In a world where there's a million things begging to be tried each month, this old genre has been given new life with fast accurate 3-D virtual reality and sound effects, along with the social networking possibilities of the Internet to let players join a community and build their reputations and accumulate community points to win prizes. Not virtual prizes, real prizes, all the way up to a free trip to the Kentucky Derby.

When you look in the mirror do you see anything but a jockey, much less a top track bettor, let alone a horse owner-breeder? That's where virtual reality comes in. It's limited only by the imagination. Mere heredity, location, financial condition, and connections are for the real world. The virtual world is truly egalitarian.

Talking about social networking, horse racing networking is threatening to rival Facebook as a new lifestyle, that of the international super horse jockey/bettor/breeder who can do it all, even if their real physique resembles a stack of spare tires and their real life is like watching paint dry.

What fun is there in friending somebody on Facebook when you can win the Kentucky Derby or the Belmont Stakes on your own carefully-bred horse that rivals Seattle Slew? The breeding angle alone is enough to absorb many happy hours as you select just the right mares and studs to build the perfect horse, then make him come alive and ride him yourself. Talk about feeling invincible.

With the latest horse games you're in complete control, including the track and track conditions, the betting strategy, and the racing strategy. The simulation provided by top vendors is often so uncannily accurate that it can easily recreate real races to a crossed t and dotted i, stride by stride, snort by snort, and allow them to be rerun to explore every what-if. Even top jockeys and breeders are taking to them - the best recommendation.

Yes, even Charlie might think of joining the online horse racing community to blow off steam without risking his TV career. Anybody know his number?