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Sports-Related Dog News And Dog-Related Sports News

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It’s not entirely true that sports are going to the dogs. But it’s sort of true.

Let’s start with Ludivine, the hound that runs people races in Elkmont, Alabama. She was not dogging it in the most recent edition of the Trackless Train Trek Half Marathon last Saturday, finishing a strong seventh in an hour, 32 minutes and 56 seconds. Photos at the finish line confirm Ludivine’s achievement.

The time is especially impressive, since the dog left the course at various times to play with another dog, visit with some mules and cows, and investigate a dead rabbit.

It’s not exactly Babe Ruth promising to hit a home run for the kid he’s just visited in the hospital, but during these days when so much of the sports-related news is bad, we’ll take it, right?

She was not disqualified, because, um, she’s a dog.

Ludivine’s owner, April Hamlin, took no credit for her dog’s performance. “All I did was open the door,” she said. But she was just being modest. The dog probably couldn’t have opened the door by herself.

In other dog-related sports news — or sports-related dog news — on Sunday afternoon during a game between the Ottawa Senators and the New York Rangers, a young Ottawa fan held up a big sign directed to Senators forward Bobby Ryan. It read: “Bobby, Dad said if you score, we get a puppy!”

It’s not exactly Babe Ruth promising to hit a home run for the kid he’s just visited in the hospital, but during these days when so much of the sports-related news is bad, we’ll take it, right?

Right. Because with just under 20 seconds left in the second period, Bobby Ryan scored, meaning the little boy with the sign gets a puppy, unless his dad is a bum.

At least one little girl who roots for the Columbus Blue Jackets was apparently paying attention to the Ottawa fan with the sign. She showed up at a game Monday night with a sign of her own. It was directed at Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson, No. 13, and it read: “Dad said if 13 scores on my birthday, we get a dog.”

Maybe No. 13 was inspired by the look on that little girl’s face. In the photo of her, she really looks like she wants a dog.

Anyway, Atkinson scored three times in that game.

Happy birthday, kid. If you have any sense, you won’t push your luck and ask for three dogs, all at once.

Where will this lead? Superstition is common among athletes. Will hockey players who haven’t scored in a while search out kids to hold up signs urging them to help them get dogs?

I’m kind of hoping for it. Kids and dogs are good for each other, and you can’t have too many human interest hockey stories.

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Bill Littlefield Host, Only A Game
Bill Littlefield was the host of Only A Game from 1993 until 2018.

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