If you happened upon a creepy, misguided message board Saturday during the Kentucky Derby – and please never do if you relish sanity – you probably ran across this nugget within a conversation, totally paraphrased for a family audience with names changed to protect the guilty:

Horsehead: “Yeah, but the Derby is 42 years older than the Indy 500.”

Nurse Ratchet: “Sigh. Because horses were invented before cars, dummy.”

If you’re at all a fan of both events, you understand the similarities. Churchill Downs is 124 miles from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They’re both counterclockwise ovals that showcase horsepower. They’re both steeped in history – this was the 144th Derby, and the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil is set for May 27.

Jockeys, like racers, aren’t big people. The skills of both are often dismissed by people who don’t understand the respective sports. Both events are wondrous, open-air parties. They both draw huge crowds and some of the same characters. At Churchill, they wear silly hats. At Indy, clothing is sometimes optional. The Derby has owners, trainers, jockeys and horses. Indy has owners, engineers, racers and machinery.

And, if you watched NBC’s daylong coverage of the Kentucky Derby, you are likely enthused about the future of television at Indy. You probably noticed the use of an aerial photo at Churchill showing what could fit inside the grounds and repeated some version of Hey, that’s our trick! And we can fit Churchill Downs and all that fits inside it, along with Yankee Stadium, Liberty Island, Vatican City, the Roman Colosseum and the White House inside IMS.

You probably noticed the insanely sharp super slow-motion replays. You saw that Justify stayed largely clean during Mike Smith’s brilliant ride while everyone else behind him got a face full of slop. You saw helmet cams that proved you wrong if you’re one of those misguided people who thinks jocks aren’t jocks. Best of all – visually, anyway – was a new 80-mph wire cam that offered breathtaking views of the backstretch.

NBC Sports Group will take over the live television coverage of the entire INDYCAR schedule in 2019, including the Indy 500. What you saw from Louisville was what you’ll see next year at Indy: well-rounded, well-told coverage that brings the Indianapolis 500 into your home in a unique, clever way.

If you haven’t been watching NBC’s coverage of the Derby lately – or golf or hockey or football – you’ve likely picked up on this. They cover the technical aspect of sports precisely while also presenting the fun side of it with a wink. They laugh at funny hats with Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, yet also cover the technical side of it with Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey. They even talk in detail about the gambling aspect of horse racing with Eddie Olczyk. There was a time when it barely received a passing mention.

Not everyone who attends the Derby is an expert or a gambler. In fact, it’s possible that a large cross-section of the crowd was there just for the hats and mint juleps. Same goes for Indy – not everyone is listening in on radio communications or following live timing and scoring. NBC has been able to capture all ends of the spectrum of fans in attendance and relate to all. And they do it well.

The compliments aren’t intended to be insulting to the folks doing it now – or for the last 54 years. One of the saddest farewell stories at this 500 is the end of ABC’s coverage of the race. If you’ve got some gray on your head, Indy was about ABC’s Chris Schenkel, Jim McKay, Paul Page, Keith Jackson and Bob Jenkins. It was Sam Posey and Uncle Bobby and Sir Jackie and Doc Punch. They did it as well then as NBC does it now.

Times change. Events change. Corporations change. NBC is now the reigning king of multiplatform sports coverage, and it did so in a short period of time. What Mark Lazarus’ team does for the Derby, it does for the NFL, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Olympics and many more. It’s an aggressive, quality approach to bringing major sporting events to life on screen. The Indy 500 deserves to be on the same card, and it’s fortunate to have this platform.

But honestly, if Tara and Johnny show up next year at Indy, we need to work on our hat game.