Written for the USC Triathlon Newsletter 09-19-06

On a lighter note, we want everyone to take notice that today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day (reference: http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html)! Avast, ye scurvy dogs!

Arrrr, matey! We be the pirate scourge of the sportin' world! Sneak in our practices between the swimmers and the track & field team, we do! Be on the hunt for sportin' booty, we be! Live in the water and revel on the land, we can! Do great deeds for nothin' more than glory and thrills, we know! And freedom, for freedom to roam we always seek! A pirate's life for thee!

Ah yes, pirates of the sporting world we are. Fear and love us people do. You know...that sense of outrage when we violate their swimming lane, take their road space, blaze down their track lane. That fear when they feel us catch their feet, and then roll by them hell-for-leather like mindless unconscious fiends seeking speed. That wonder when they see our lean, hungry, sun-grilled bodies wrapped in terminator glasses locked like super-charged nitrous-fed over-revved machines. That moment when they ask themselves in utter bewilderment and say "Oh my God, who *are* these people?!?!"

And oooohhh...their heart races, their blood rises, their face flushes, their skin tingles...kind of scary, huh? Kinda exciting, huh? Kinda different, kinda out-of-the-world, kinda new? But kinda like it, huh? Kinda of a thrill, huh? Want some more, huh? Oh yeah...they know they do...

And that's when they realize it. When the fear turns to admiration. When outrage turns to envy. When the confusion turns to obsession. That's when they wish they could be with us. That's when they want to follow us. That's when they know all they want, all they desire, is to be...just...like...us...

And that's what we are. And that's what we'll be. Kinda different. Kinda new. Kinda a little adventure. Kinda a taste of freedom. To be outside in the open air, in the elements, with the wind and water and earth and sun, beneath the wonder of wind and sky. Outside, to know the world we live in, and to know the world within us. To know that we are ultimately, truly, completely alive.

Aaarrrrrrr, matey! A pirate's life for thee! Shiver me timbers! Freedom it be!

And oh yeah...this might help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67XmgLlZ9LI