I lost my retired racing greyhound, Andy Warhol, to cancer
in early February. It was sudden and shocking, and I'm still trying to get over
it.
I started to foster a new dog and my life got turned on its
ear. He is mischievous, curious and wants to lift his leg all over the place.
To add to the confusion, the poor animal has been walking around with no name
for over a month now. He will respond to Dog or Doggie, because he's been called that for so long. He came with the name Coji Love. I have had four other
greyhounds and I do not like to keep their racing names. It seems like he has a
new life, he should have a new name. Finally inspiration intervened.
For the past month every time people visited my house,
they came up with 10-20 different name ideas. I even tried an online survey
where over 60 people voted and still was not satisfied. Most of the name
suggestions were pretty good, but I couldn't find the one that sold me.
While watching the Washington Wizards game on TV the other
night, a name popped into my head. And that name was George Karl.
George Karl is an inspiration to everyone he knows and
millions he does not know. He battled cancer twice and won. He is a former NBA
player and coached five NBA teams in his career. Years ago, he coached Sean
Kemp when he was with the Seattle Supersonics leading them to the NBA finals. More
recently he led the Denver Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony. Last year, George Karl
won Coach of the Year with Denver, and yet they did not renew his contract. He
now works doing commentary on ESPN. It would be great to see him coaching again
some day.
While undergoing cancer treatment a few years ago, his girlfriend Carol, kept a
blog, that I read faithfully to follow his progress. The blog is still there to inspire others.
Out of the four greyhounds I have owned, three have died of
cancer. My hope is that with a name like George Karl, cancer will be frightened
away from this guy.
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