Alright Hobbs, knock the cover off the ball!

When my wife and I married 13 years ago, we wanted to give ourselves a wedding present upon return from our honeymoon. We're both dog lovers, so it was natural that we started our family with a puppy before even thinking of having any kids.

Our search began and ended at Wayside Waifs. While trying to find that perfect dog, my attention was soon captured by a little black Labrador mix. The folks at Wayside allowed us to take him into a special room to get acquainted with the little puppy, and he immediately came over to my shoe and untied it with his mouth. This was our dog.

The next step was deciding on what to name him. Being a huge baseball fan, I was thinking of anything associated with the sport. Then I thought of what my favorite movies were that had to do with baseball. "The Natural" is one of my all time favorites, and I've always been fascinated by the lead character Roy Hobbs. I didn't want to call him Roy...too many dogs named Roy. How about Hobbs? That's a cool name. My wife liked it, and Hobbs was "born" to the Spano family in July of 2000.

The headline to this piece is a line from "The Natural" when Roy Hobbs comes to bat in a game for the very first time. He laces a triple into the gap in left-center field, and in the process, actually knocks the cover off the ball. It's that moment in the movie you know that Roy Hobbs is a very special ballplayer.

Hobbs was about as good-natured and playful of a dog as anyone could have right from the beginning. Sure he was a bit wild and rambunctious, but that's how most puppies act. We were strict and meticulous in our training. He learned all the basic commands of "sit," "stay," "lie down," and so forth. But what we liked best about him was how he became loyal and protective. He wasn't a vicious watchdog by any stretch of the imagination. If an intruder happened to enter our home, he would give a few, loud barks and then probably lick them into an uncontrollable laughter.

When a car door slammed outside, that was always the worst...especially in the middle of the night. I don't know how many times I hit the ceiling after waking up from his loud bark. But I loved the fact that he loved us and wanted to protect his territory.

He never suffered from separation anxiety like a lot of dogs can when we left the house for lengthy periods of time. We began to trust him more and more and as he got older, we allowed him to roam the entire house when we were gone. Rarely was there an accident, but never was anything damaged.

Hobbs became a great lake companion. He loved our weekend trips to the Lake of the Ozarks during the summer, the excitement almost too unbearable for him...and us. Being a black dog, it didn't take much for him to overheat, so he wasn't shy about getting into the water to cool off.

When my wife became pregnant with our first child, we had heard stories about how dogs can become jealous or even withdraw when a baby joins the family and is the new center of attention. Hobbs, although extremely curious at first, couldn't have been better suited for the situation. Somehow he knew, when my son Jack was born, this new person was part of the family, and he was someone he had to love and protect too. It was uncanny the way he took to Jack immediately.

It happened again just three short years later when my daughter Emily was born. This was becoming old hat for Hobbs.

My kids grew to love Hobbs as well. His gentle nature around kids and even strangers when they entered my home was something to behold.

But somewhere along the way, Hobbs got older. His bark became muted, although still startling me in the middle of the night or when he saw a stranger walk down the street. His hearing began to go. His walk became slower. And in the end, he began eating less.

My final memory of Hobbs will be when the veterinarian opened the door of the exam room while he lay motionless on the floor with a catheter in his leg and he sees me, my wife and my two kids for the very last time, his eyes glassy and sad, as he musters enough energy to wag his tail.

The four of us gathered around our friend for a last time as he took his final breaths, ending a short, and I hope painless, bout with cancer.

I will miss the jingle of his collar, the look on his face when I'd leave the house for work every morning, the look on his face when I'd get home from work every night, the excitement he'd show when we went to the lake, the times he wanted to play fetch with the ball, whenever he begged for popcorn, watching him roll around in the grass. I will miss everything about him.

I'm sure someday we'll bring another dog into our family, but for now, we'll grieve together for a fantastic friend and family member.

We'll have memories and photographs and stories to keep Hobbs alive in our hearts and in our minds. We knew that it was that moment in our "movie" that when we selected him, or should I say when he selected us, that we had a very special dog.

My wife and I really did knock the cover off the ball when we got Hobbs.

Lance Armstrong's tangled web

I had the fortunate, or unfortunate opportunity, to work with Lance Armstrong at a previous job. I always knew in my mind the guy was a piece of shit, and now, well, he has validated it.

Say what you will about his work to "fight" cancer, Armstrong lived a lie and did whatever he could to cheat and misguide his fans along the way.

It just goes to show how people will believe anything when it comes to worshiping a sports figure or celebrity. I believe the phrase is called "star fucking." I've never bought in to that philosophy, and I never will.

But see, not only were his followers fooled by his tangled web of lies, so was Lance. He was so good at convincing the world and those within his tight inner circle, I sincerely believe he began to accept his own words and actions as truth.

There is a famous George Costanza line from an episode of Seinfeld:

Once a liar, always a liar.

As Armstrong delved deeper and deeper into his complex and intricate delusional world, he threatened those that turned against him, discarded those he no longer had use for and took advantage of those he had a Svengali-like power over. This was not a decent or moral human being.

All of this behavior has been well documented over the years by various media outlets that have investigated Armstrong at great length.

I'm not a cycling fan, never have been, but it was hard to ignore the fact that Armstrong had won seven Tour de France titles and was a cancer survivor to boot. I never followed his story that closely, because, quite frankly, I didn't really care. But when Armstrong became a spokesperson of sorts for a company I was working for, I had to take notice. He was probably one of the most recognizable athletes/celebrities in the world at the time.

Admittedly, I didn't like the fact that he was part of my company, but there were a lot of people that did. They thought it was a good move, even with all of the unusual things swirling around in his personal life. I always felt uneasy promoting him and the foundation at fundraising functions, and I never wore the yellow bracelet. It had nothing to do with the fight against cancer, but everything to do with who Lance Armstrong was as a person.

The funny thing is I never thought it was cool that I got to hang out with Armstrong. I never bragged about it. It wasn’t something I was proud of either. Now that the years have passed, Armstrong is no longer associated with the company; however, his foundation is.

Once the USADA report came out in 2012, sponsors began dropping him like a bad habit.

Now, he wants to come clean. How ironic. Cycling seems to be as corrupt as politics. Is this a ploy to try to compete again? Or is it to try to make amends with his fans? Or, is he truly sincere and really wanting to make peace with himself?

The damage is already done. He has lied for so long, and I believe people are way too cynical, and hopefully smart, to fall for his charade. I’m not buying what he’s selling, but then I never have. Oh, there are still some diehards out there that will stick with Armstrong to the bitter end and cite the work he has done with his foundation. But I can't personally forgive someone who has vigorously fought to protect his reputation against an illegal activity for so long only to have it crushed under the lies he told in the process of protecting it.

Whatever the fallout is from his admission to using performance-enhancing drugs, or if he goes on some national apologizing tour, Armstrong should be finished as a celebrity/athlete. But of course, this is America, land of the glut and home of the absurd, and someone somewhere will partner with him, and he’ll resurface in some kind of reality show, and one of his fanatical followers will step forward and say, “See, I told you so. Lance Armstrong is a good guy. He just needed another chance to prove himself. Everyone else did him wrong.”

Because you see, we never are the cause of our own problems. It’s always someone else’s fault.