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MadDog · (02-01-2023)

I'm strong enough to hold you through the winter

Mean enough to stare your demons down

The hard times put the shine into the diamond

I won't let that keep us in the ground

"Baby, we'll figure something out, we always have. Ya know the Lord will provide like the good book says in Romans eight-twenty eight, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” As the words escape my lips in an attempt to console my wife, Heather, I wondered if I was trying to convince her or myself.

My beautiful feisty redheaded bride and I sat at our kitchen table. Like many people around the world right now, we are wondering how we are gonna pay our bills and put food on the table this month. I looked at this beautiful woman who I had promised to provide and care for, and with tears in her eyes she said, "this isn't like any other time Mark, the world isn't the same, I'm laid off, basic groceries are two to three times more than they used to be, and we are burning through the little savings we have.”.

I hate seeing my bride worry, especially over money. I was raised old school, where the man is the breadwinner and it’s his responsibility to provide for the family. I took her hand from the table and into mine. As our arms rested on the table, I looked into her beautiful green eyes and spoke from the heart. “Baby, I’m gonna win on the eleventh and I’ma hit the pay window. After that, I’m gonna be in the sweet sixteen, and I’m gonna win this whole damn March Madness tournament, and we gonna be set, baby.”.

Heather smiled at me, with a look of knowing her husband loved her, but still, she held back tears. Both of us had grown up poor, and she had sworn to herself that her kids would never have to go through the struggles she did growing up. She has faith in her husband, and I had never let her down, I had always kept my word and done everything I could to provide for, her and our family. However, things are different this time. The world is different and it may never be the same again.

I could see the uncertainty in Heather's eyes. This uncertainty hurts my heart worse than that heart punch from Raion Kido did, it shakes me to his core, and I feel it in my soul. I know my wife means nothing bad by it, but it hurts my foolish pride. I gripped her hand tighter, reaffirming my seriousness but also giving her a sense of security. “I can fire up the still and run a few gallons, you know old white lightning is recession-proof”. I should have known better than to suggest this, but I was at my wits' end.

“MARK, NO!”, Heather shouted at me as she pulled her hand away. “We have too much to risk for you to get caught shinning. Just… ju…”. Her words trailed off as she fall silent and slumped back in her chair. Her body language grew my concern, and I leaned forward, sitting even more at attention, troubled by my wife’s state. “Baby, what is it?” I asked.

“Nothing, I shouldn’t have even thought it” she replied. This only makes my curiosity stronger, and I have to continue my line of questioning, “baby, just say it, I’m a big boy, I can take whatever it is”.

Heathers' arms unfolded from her body, and her somber demeanor changed to one of fire, not of anger, but of determination. She leaned forward and with a very serious look in her eyes and tone in her voice said, “Just make damn sure you win, not just this match, but you go on and you win that whole tournament. We took a leap of faith when you quit the mines and went into wrestling full-time, so you better make this work, because this is your last shot at making your dream your career. Now, baby, I love you and I’ll always stand by you, but you gotta make this work.”.

Those words lit a fire in my belly. I leaned forward and placed my hand on Heather's. I looked her in the eye, making sure I was matching her intensity and passion, and said, “baby, you know I’m going to give every last drop of blood, sweat, and beers I got to make this thing work”.

Heather smiled at me, and said, “I think you mean blood, sweat, and tears baby”.

This gave your Old Dog a smile and a little laugh as I said, “na baby, beers, I’m not crying like some little b*tch”. Heather cracked a smile and laughed a little bit as well, saying “you’re such an idiot”. I smiled back at her with my goofy grin, and said, “yeah, but I’m your idiot”. We smiled at each other, the smile of two people still deeply in love, and then we both leaned across the table and embraced in a kiss.

I'm a riser

I'm a get up off the ground, don't run and hider

Pushing comes a-shovin'

Hey I'm a fighter

That was a few days, but today I'm heading to Houston. I had called Sunny up and told him to cash our airline tickets to Hounston into the office, we were going old school and driving. I needed to get back to my roots and use the time to think. I stared out the window at the bare trees that had been ravaged by the cold winter. As I watched the world pass by I couldn’t help but think about my upcoming match, after all that was the point of road-tripping, to give me time to think.

“Tough break Mad Dog.”

“You’ll get um next time Mad Dog.”

“You faced two of the toughest people in your first two matches here, and hung with them, you got a bright future ahead of you.”

That’s what everyone has done been sayin to old Mad Dog, but ya know old Mad Dog thinks that’s a bunch of bologna. If I can’t beat the best, then I’ll never be the best. I ain’t get into this to be second best. I ain’t come to XWF to be a good hand. Na, Mad Dog came here to build that rags-to-riches story for himself and his family. Ya know, to live that real American dream where the worken man can pull himself up from the gutter to the big house through hard work and perseverance. Right now, old Mad Dog is just liven a dag-on nightmare.,

I’m oh and two, and back up to bat again. Is old Mad Dog gonna strike out like the Mighty Casey and leave everyone in Big Ugly joyless? Or, is old Mad Dog going to call his shot like the Great Bambino, and knock this sum b*tch out of the park? I tell ya what, no matter which outcome, old Mad Dog is going down swingen.

But, this going down swingen poses another problem for old Mad Dog, the problem of doing the swingen on a woman. Sally “The Magician” Copperfield, ya see old Mad Dog ain’t real keen on cracking open a cold can of cranium crushen on a woman. Call it my toxic masculinity, but I’ma mansplain to everyone that even in twenty-twenty-three, it ain’t right for a man to be beaten on a woman. Shoot fire, my Daddy watch me beat up on old Sally Blane, he might just whoop the tar outta me with that belt he still keeps on the mantel above the fire lace.

I reckon Sally Houdini know what she was getten into when she signed up for this March Madness tournament though, well, at least she thought she knew. But ya didn’t know you was gonna be standen across the ring from a wounded animal in the first round did ya, girl?

Yeah, old Mad Dog is back into a corner here. It’s really win or go home for ya boy. Why would anyone wanna keep around a lame old dog who can’t do nothen but lay around and lick his butt? Ya wouldn’t, and ya shouldn’t put that poor dog outta its misery. That is what XWF fitten to do to old Mad Dog I drop another, put me outta my dag-on misery. So, my back is against the wall, and I’m perceiving all challenges as a threat to my livelihood and my life.

This is how I pay my bills, this how I keep the lights on, and this is how I put food on the table for my old lady and youngins. I dang sure ain’t gonna let old “Mind Freak” Sally Angel put me out. I’m gonna bit, claw, punch, kick, or whatever the heck I gotta do to beat ya Sally. My job and my future depend on it. So for me, old Mad Dog, if I don’t win this one, I might just be the one pulling the magic trick, cept it won’t be pulling a rabbit outta a hat, it’ll be a disappearing act.

For you, Sally Penn and/or Teller, the best trick you are gonna be able to pull off come at Wafare, is gonna be maken it out this match with all your limbs attached, and without my size, thirteen boot dangling from ya booty hole. Cause girl, I ain’t no Jason Cashe, but I’ma whoop ya ass. You might have come back just for him, but ya know I don’t see him in this tournament. Now my wife tells me I can’t find something even when it is right in front of my face, but I double check and had Sunny look it over, and ya boy ain’t nowhere to be found. So, you must not have really come here looking for Jason Cashe, ya musta come looking for trouble, and sister ya found it with old Mad Dog.

I don’t know how ya think this March Madness thing gonna go for ya girl, but I can tell ya right now you ain’t gonna be in it long. Na, I’ma dispatch ya in the first round and let ya get back to tracen down Jason Cashe, while I keep tracken down cold hard cash. Ya ain’t fitten to get revenge in this tournament girl, and ya ain’t getting to the sweet sixteen either, cause old Mad Dog gonna win this whole dag on thing, and like that saying by someone old and wise goes, the journey of thousand miles starts with one step, and Sally Sigfried and/or Roy, you the first step in the finals for old Mad Dog.

So, I’m gonna do ya a favor girl, I’m gonna let you get outta this tournament and let ya get back to chasing ya man. Cause the only thinking you getting out of this March Madness tournament is Madness. Cause old Mad Dog is gonna make you, and everyone else I face in this tournament GO MAD!

Sunny sped up and hit his turn signal, and this drew my attention back to him. “What’s up, Sunny?”, I asked as I sat up straight.

Sunny gripped the wheel tighter as panic crept across his face.

Mark, that gas station burrito is making an unexpected return.

Oh, no brother.

“MONTAZUMA’S REVENEGE!!!” Sunny shouted as he pulled into the Pilot truck stop parking lot.

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