"Champions aren't made in the gym."

[gzhpcu]

Here is my Jack Russell....

[John Yandell]

Geoff now that Hunter Thompson is dead, you are the man!

[stotty]

Where some threads end up going is bananas! We start of in the gym and end up helping old ladies cross the road and posting photos of dogs

[gzhpcu]

Actually, I thought the thread was going to the dogs...

[GeoffWilliams]

Sweet little pup! Cost me $8,000 to save our Jula. G, you are one of my favs, with your fab town, club, and now, your dog! Sometimes you guys do surprise me, and it is funny to me, how we can change course, and "get along", just due to a 98 yr. old lady story!

We had a dirt straight away, next to barb wire fence, parallel to the electrified bart tracks, that the blacks would practice their sprints on. That was our track. Nicholl park, had a howler monkey cage, and three tennis courts, and an asphalt path, about 1/4 mile around. I said, to the coach, "Lets run some 1/2 miles with them."
He said, "Ok. Five halfs, with a job inbetween.", and I waited until the last corner, and kicked past the bloods each time, no matter how fast they were. Every time, they had to watch a skinny white boy blaze past them, with their 9.6 speed, limping in the dust. That was the first, and the only time, the coach did that!

I didn't matter that I was a track star, on my own team, with those guys. Records that had been there since wwII, I broke, from another guy named Williams. (Black) If you can't do the sprint, you are the gimp. Treated me like a gimp. Every time we'd head past the howler cage, they'd be screaming and whooping, and yanking on the fence, and letting us know we were in their house! I used Stan Smith running shoes, and bare spikes, with no socks, on other school's tracks. I can still hear the noise they made, "Clack, clack!" with each step. Had shin splints, and my muscles tore away from the bone. "1, 2, 3" breath in, and "1, 2, 3" breath out, with arm pump on each breath, and a step in between. Pain. Burning lungs. Tearing legs. Desire.

[gzhpcu]

Even got him on Youtube....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq_nQh98uEY

[GeoffWilliams]

Gorgeous little dog. The pit that took off our dog's leg would have killed him.

[GeoffWilliams]

Geoff now that Hunter Thompson is dead, you are the man!

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

[John Yandell]

Didn't I see you once in a Vegas cocktail lounge wearing golf shoes and covered in dinosaur blood?

[GeoffWilliams]

jula leg bandage
jula in pain after operation
operation scar
jula after operation


Not me, but since this thread has gone to the dogs, here's the pit bull attack result, sans me. Love this girl. Most loyal creatures on earth, are dogs.

[don_budge]

Dogs...We have Gone to the Dogs

I am sorry...there are tears, now. Overwhelmed. You saved her. I am proud of you. There is no more redeeming love. There are no words. Vaya con Dios...Hermano. Be healthy.

It is an overhead...if you believe it.

If we have gone to the Dogs...we are better men for it.

[gzhpcu]

Poor dog! Great that you saved her! Has a wonderful expression....

[John Yandell]

Now that is a cool looking dog.

[stotty]

I'm gonna post my cat in a minute if this keeps up...

[don_budge]

Cats...another thread

Stotty...hold off on the feline projection. This thread has become about a man and his dog...and the great unconditional love and bond that holds them together through suffering and unbearable pain. When tomorrow seems a long way off in the future...when there is no tomorrow. It's a great lesson for all of us wannabe players, coaches and homo sapiens.

The fight facing a pitiless monster, with real blood and gore. A man drenched in blood, his dog's blood and his own...the saving of a life. The healing. The heart knowing no boundaries. Love is the reward. To love your dog another day! Somehow...it was worth it at any cost.

Somehow this story has evolved into the stuff that champions are made of...so perhaps we have not deviated as far as some might think. Champions are not wholly made in the gym or on the court for that matter...they are made in the heart. Where the love of the game...of life...of a dog, knows no boundaries and no sacrifice is too great.