So, before I get to the real reason of this quick post, let me drop the knowledge on Video Bo. If you were like me, back when you had your regular Nintendo and that was about it, Tecmo Super Bowl was one of the best games EVER. And who was the best player, unquestionably? Bo Jackson on the Raiders. The creators at Tecmo juiced up Bo to levels unimaginable in the real world. Anyway, I don't want to give too much of Bill Simmons' story away, but I'll say that as I was reading it, I couldn't believe how well he described the game and how fanatics played it. He mentions the Madden Cover Jinx, too. What, you didn't know about that? The last five players to be featured on that year's Madden NFL game box have had terrible seasons, culminatng in this year's Michael Vick cover resulting in... well, you saw what happpened to HIM already. Anyway, click here for the story.

"Richard!... Fat guy in a little coat, Richard!"

I mention that quote because I will be unable to stop myself from saying it while I'm trying on sport coats tomorrow night.

What? I'm buying a new sport coat? "Why?", you ask? Well, I've got THREE dogs in the Quarter-Mile Chalenge finals on Friday night. Walk through some math with me here: There were 18 dogs originally entered, of which I had 4. There are 6 dogs in the finals, of which I have 3.

Not that I'm patting myself on the back or anything, but... well, yeah, okay, I'm patting myself on the back. The ¼-mile distance is kind of screwy, what with its start right there at the finish line. It takes just the right dog (or three... *cough*), because the box literally opens right into the first turn. It's less about a dog who has a lot of early speed than it is about one who is used to exploding out of the box. Many trainers mistakenly simply enter dogs who can get to an early lead consistently, but this can fail them because you have to be able to tell the difference between a box-breaker and a dog who just has average box-popping ability but uses the 110 yards' worth of track before the first turn to power to an early lead.

Anyway, I know I'm boring my audience whenever I launch into a greyhound theory discussion... So, what with our better-than-average odds of winning this thing, Da Boss called me from Kansas (more on that later) and told me to go out and buy myself a new sport coat, on the business. (Hey, I'm all for free clothes...) I've only got the one coat, the gray one I'm wearing in the two photos on my main page, but my dad told me he didn't want it to look like I only owned one sport coat, since I keep getting dressed up for these stake finals. (Even though, you know, I do only own one sport coat, but, well... y'know.) Also, I need a new pair of dress slacks; ask Kristy and Jenn, who were with me the night of the Swift Six match races back in May, and they can tell you all about how I split oppen the seat of my pants getting into the truck leaving my apartment for the track. I've worn my nice black jeans to the last two stakes I dressed up for, including that night. From a distance, you can't tell (sooner or later I'll scan in the pic from that night), but up close it's fairly obvious. So I'll be stopping by Wal-Mart tomorrow, too, to pick up a pair of pants.

Like I mentioned briefly above, my dad's at Wichita right now. Our trainer up there supposedly "up and quit" on us, calling on Saturday morning and informing my dad he had X-number of hours to get up there before she left, because she "couldn't take it anymore." Funny thing is, see, Mark, my uncle who's our co-trainer here in Phoenix, has a brother, Greg, who works for another kennel up there in Wichita. Greg told Mark they'd been planning this for at least a week, maybe longer, and that they had already cleaned all their personal effects out of the kennel by Friday -- before our trainer's alleged breakdown. *shrug* Oh well. Uneasy is the business owner who doesn't have a contingency plan. This didn't come as a total shock, since we knew she was unhapppy. We had a guy here in Phoenix who was looking to get back into the business, and when the boom came down, we let him know, and he's already on the road to Kansas.

So I'm the de facto had of affairs while he's out of town. I had thought (and those who were at the birthday bash Saturday night can attest to this) that it was going to be a big stress-fest, but in reality, it's not a lot different than it usually is around here. I just have to do a little more office work, is all.