Last Tuesday, Jan. 25, was one of those bad days that I’ll remember as Black Toast Tuesday.
If you know your history, Black Tuesday is the reference for when the Stock Market crashed back on Oct. 29, 1929, a day that changed American history. While my Tuesday may not be as dramatic, my Tuesday, I think, changed me.
You see, I started out the day learning the news that my dog, Frank, was going to have to be put down. For any of you who have a dog or a pet, you know it’s a painful thing to go through. But my day did not stop there because soon after, I had read the news that the New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was announcing his retirement from the NFL about an hour later.
The icing on this ugly cake came just about 20 minutes later. As I was reading about Payton, while still soaking in the news on Frank, I burned my morning toast, i.e., Black Toast Tuesday.
Strangely enough, at least in my own eyes, my dog Frank and Payton have a lot of coincidental similarities.
For starters, my dog Frank got to hang around this world for 16 years, and Payton was head coach of the Saints for 16 years.
Now when you talk about Payton, you somehow have to mention Saints quarterback Drew Brees since they defined their careers together. Like Payton, Frank also had an inseparable companion with his brother Dexter.
My parents adopted Frank and Dexter for my 10th birthday. Frank and Dexter, who were both 3 years old at the time, had the rare distinction of being from the same litter and were together for their entire lives. It’s even more remarkable given that they moved around a lot after their previous family gave them up.
So here is the next Saints coincidence. My dogs became part of my life in October of 2009, which just so happens to be the same season the Saints won the Super Bowl.
Later in life, Brees retired before Payton did, which is how things played out for Frank and Dexter, with Dexter passing a couple of years ago – a painful goodbye itself.
These two respectable groups of characters solidified two of my loves. Frank and Dexter grew my love for dogs, while Brees and Payton helped put me on my path for my rather obvious career choice.
Some of you may think, ‘Well, it’s just a really bad day,’ but as I thought about it after the fact, the day was the ending of what few remnants were left of my childhood. I grew up with Frank and Dexter, and I grew up watching Payton and Brees, and in one day, both of those chapters are over.
That didn’t occur to me until a few hours later as I was on my way to cover a pair of Purvis basketball games. I hate to say these thoughts crept into my mind at the most inconvenient time because I started to struggle with my emotions on the way to the game, so if my writing wasn’t the sharpest that night, well, please forgive me.
You see, whenever I get bad news, my coping mechanism is by throwing myself into my work. I admit that it might not be the healthiest way to do things, but to be fair, I have officially embarked on the busiest time of year. Consider this as a heads up to be on the lookout for our Baseball Preview Magazine.
I didn’t get to tell Frank goodbye, which is the only time I wasn’t with any of our dogs in their final moment. I hope and think Frank knew that I loved him.
So my final thought on both Frank and Payton is simple - I’m going to cherish all the memories. It also never hurts to take a minute to make sure your loved ones know that you love them.
Andrew Abadie of Pine Belt Sports can be reached via email at andrew@pinebeltsports.com. Follow him on Twitter: @PineBeltSPORTS.
