By Rory S. Goree

The HUMAN TOUCH

These days we have access to every conceivable bit of information thanks to the Internet. Websites, blogs, discussion boards, Twitter, Facebook. All fill our heads with...Exactly what do they fill our heads with, Facts, Personal hypothesis, or just made up stuff that you believe as you figure the writer knows from personal experience or interaction what they are talking about?

When it comes to greyhound racing and the stance of those who seek to eliminate it from the face of the earth, I have found that the information put forth as "fact" is, more often than not, one person's view tossed into cyberspace from the confines of their hyperbolic computer room in the hopes it goes viral.

Now before you pooh-pooh my line of thought ask yourself...Would you not purchase an item if a stranger wrote a hate blog about it and you had never personally experienced the item?

Would you protest something just because a blog told you to and not bother to personally find out what exactly you were doing?

Would you vote for something simply because someone told you to and not bother to learn what the ramifications were?

On June 27, 2011, a Grey2K board member wrote the following regarding Tucson Greyhound Park holding races when the temperature was 103 degrees:

"Take off your damn shoes and run around that track and tell me how hot is too hot."

This statement has bothered me for almost a year. Was this person putting forth a question to others based on something they themselves had already done? Did the writer know for a fact how hot was too hot on the track surface? Had the writer taken their shoes off at TGP? Well, last night I decided to do a bit of personal, first hand research for myself.

I went to Tucson Greyhound Park on Friday June 1, 2012. The temperature was 105 degrees at TGP when I began my experiment. There are witnesses to my experiment. And what was my experiment?


I took off my "damn shoes" and walked the Tucson Greyhound Park track IN MY BARE FEET in the full sun when the temperature was 105 degrees.

I apologize that I walked and did not run around the track but I am not a trained athlete in top physical shape and, unlike a greyhound, I cannot run a 550 yard track in 30-32 seconds. In any case it did take me approx. 15 minutes to walk the full track in MY BARE FEET and I found the "comfort level" on MY BARE FEET to feel much the same as when I would walk (or stand) along the beaches in California and Hawaii in MY BARE FEET.

One more thing, speaking to those in the parts of the country where the temps can be triple digits during the day and in 90s even at night, .do you keep your pet greyhounds in the house 24/7? Do their paws ever step on anything other than indoor, climate controlled flooring during these times? Do you allow your pet greyhound to potty outdoors or sniff around or go for a walk for longer than 5 minutes???

By accepting and repeating anything told to you by the anti-racing faction without doing everything you possibly can to personally research the information or learn the facts before issuing judgment, you do yourself and the greyhounds a huge disservice. 

Just because it's on the Internet does not mean it is true.

You don't have to go to the extreme level that I did, but for me making sure I have the facts to the best of my personal knowledge & experience is of immense value to me in order to make the correct choices when it comes to greyhound welfare.

I will continue to take my “Damn shoes" off instead of listening to some dribble someone with a blog wrote!