Boycott Grey2K

by Rockingship

By now I'd hope we are all familiar with the flapdoodle casserole that Grey2K whipped up over the cute little Skechers commercial that ran during the Super Bowl extravaganza. They tried all sorts of bullying tactics and temper tantrums to get Skechers to withdraw or censor the commercial, including a national boycott of Skechers shoes and stores. It didn't work.

The commercial was broadcast as planned, and Mr. Quiggly, wearing his teeny-weeny French Bulldog-sized Skechers shoes, uncorked a furious stretch drive, caught an dpassed the greyhounds, and won the race by enough daylight so that he even had time to taunt the tardy needle-noses before passing the finish wire.  Nearly everyone in the country, much to the consternation of the Carey Nation, got to see greyhounds racing around a track.

And guess what? The glaciers didn't suddenly melt, the Rockies didn't crumble, and the Earth wasn't consumed in the bonfires of Vulcan. The Giants won the Super Bowl, and we Patriot fans would have to, once again, "wait until next year."

It's unlikely that the Carey Nation will "wait until next year" to find something new to get all haired-up about, so that they can convince the public that giving them lots of money, as with the Skechers commercial, will make it all go away.

They would definitely like Tucson Greyhound Park, where the commercial was filmed, to go away.

In his most recent epistle, the Grey2K Blogger-In-Chief seems to have been granted a startling revelation, and has apparently become some sort of an Inter-Dimensional Dog Whisperer.

After about a decade of accusing every single person who has ever worked with racing greyhounds of being guilty of having subjected them to a lifetime of cruel and inhumane boredom, confinement and neglect, he now says that those dastardly villains at Tucson are racing their greyhounds too frequently!!!

Yup, that's what he said. Naturally, we would presume he has done a hands-on inspection of each and every greyhound on the premises there, and that this latest proclamation is his "expert" opinion, given his many years of experience in breeding, training and careing for greyhounds. Well, not exactly. Not in this life anyway.

So, just like our New England weather in March, the Blogger-In-Chief goes from one extreme to the other, in this endless, extremist quest, which will cultivate donation-extracting animosity for the evils of greyhound racing. Which will ten be projected upon racing professionals, the families, their livelihoods, their culture and their lifestyles.

The greyhounds are bored.... The greyhounds are cramped...  The greyhounds are kept in captivity all their lives....

...and then, suddenly... Voila!

...the greyhounds are overworked!! ... the greyhounds are exercising too much!!!.... the greyhounds are too busy to even catch their breath!!!

Whew! It's no wonder some people are so confused about racing and greyhounds.

Perhaps he was laying the groundwork for a shiny, new Carey Nation "The Greyhounds Are Getting Too Much Attention and They Want You to Give Us Money" campaign to be waged against the Tucson track.

Meanwhile, some greyhound breeders, owners, trainers, fans and actual greyhound welfare providers, were busy with a "campaign" of their own.

An Arizona greyhound breeder -- one of those local, small, Arizona breeders Carey Nation wants to put out of business -- was racking her brain trying to find a way to afford a $6,000 heart operation for one of her racing-age saplings, who wouldn't be racing, no matter what.

He had contracted Valley Fever as a pup. As I understand it, Valley Fever is a spore-borne malady that is endemic to the Arizona environment. Because of his affliction, this young greyhound has developed fluid buildup around his heart, necessitating periodic, expensive draining procedures.

His breeder-Mom was tapped out at this point. He needed that expensive operation to fix the problem, and to give him a chance at experiencing a good-quality life as a pet. She didn't think she could swing it, and in her despair, turned to her "greyhound friends" in racing, adoption and fandom, just for some consolation.

Not surprisingly, two golden-hearted adoption gals decided to put together an online auction to help the young greyhound, whose name is Blazin Blue Blast. People from all areas of the greyhound world--breeders, owners, trainers, adoption folk, pet folk, webmasters, and even gamblers, joined together and contributed auction items, or bid generously on them, or both, to help raise some of the necessary funds.

They rallied around a greyhound who would never, ever race. That would be never, as in "not a bleepin' chance".

The auction netted about $5700, just short of the 6K required for the operation. Another greyhound breeder immediately volunteered to make good on the difference. So, once again, by banding together, REAL greyhound advocates made a difference.  Blazin Blue Blast could have the operation he so desperately needed to survive!

Carey Nation's Internet Infantry routinely "monitors" the internet venues where the auction was publicized and took place, but Grey2K took no part in the auction-- nor did they seem to mention it to their donation-providing web readership.

Nothing but crickets over at Fortress Grey2K.

Those crickets would be the very same crickets we hear when we expect, instead, to hear some sore of disavowal of the incendiary and hideous statement written on their Facebook wall by a Grey2K Board Member--the day after the fabled Skechers commercial was broadcast, nationwide:

"Middle class educated white people don't go to bet on the dogs. That is Skechers or the TGP's wet dream." (note: TGP is Tucson Greyhound Park)

Crickets... nothing but crickets from Carey Nation.

Perhaps it's time for rational people of conscience and good will--whatever their stance on racing--who disagree with, or who are repulsed by that Grey2K Board Member's statement, or by Grey2K's seeming refusal to publicly address and disown it, to simply go on and begin a boycott of their own. How's this sound?

"BOYCOTT GREY2K"

That's right... Boycott Grey2K. No more donations until they publicly acknowledge the remark (simply removing it from the wall so no one else could see it doesn't count), and explain why, by not owning up to it at once, they have continued to "own it" for this long.

"Middle class educated white people don't go to bet on the dogs. That is Skechers or the TGP's wet dream." 

"Boycott Grey2K", until such time as they not only condemn that disgusting remark, but until they demonstrate that they can pursue their agenda in a much more civil manner, which does not stir-up or pander to haters, trolls and bigots.

And, please, keep Blazin Blue Blast and his "breeder-Mom", who refused to give up on him, in your thoughts and prayers. They've got plenty of good Karma working for them already. Hopefully, with the whole greyhound racing world pulling for them, it'll be enough to get them through his operation.