Thursday, November 03, 2011

Five Years Ago Today, On This Date in Blog History

Coda
Five years ago today, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls wrote this blog's inaugural post.

Pretty lame, admittedly, with no photos and no set purpose or defined plan, other than to have some fun. It was a hobby, a mere diversion, and it remains so.

The first post provided a link to the news story about former Steeler linebacker Joey Porter's dogs, Tina and Nemo, that somehow "inspired" the  blog name. The unfortunate incident prompted national news coverage and blog posts such as "A Letter From Joey Porter's Pit Bull" by The Mighty MJD. At the time, the incident was so bizarre ... well, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls seemed a fitting name for a blog focused primarily on the Steelers and their typically ferocious style of play.

Joey Porter with dogs.
Since then, we've learned much about pit bulls and have come to know and admire them for the wonderful dogs they are. A great breed, and it would be nice if people like Joey Porter and Michael Vick would take steps to dispel rather than promulgate stereotyped misperceptions of the breed. It would really be great if people would stop mistreating and breeding pit bulls for fighting ... and if people would stop abandoning the poor dogs.

Personally, we try to be unbiased and nonjudgmental about groups of people and dogs -- we try to take them one at a time. Everybody deserves a chance.

Happy Five-year Birthday and Anniversary!
We've allowed the blog to go dormant for long periods, mainly because life intrudes. Simple as that. For a brief time after Porter became a former Steeler, we even changed the name of this blog to "Steel Triangle." It didn't stick, however, as the name "Joey Porter's Pit Bulls" already had a sort of perverse brand equity and was listed on multiple blogrolls across the Internet landscape. So, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls it remains today, five years later.

The blog may or may not be here tomorrow ... a day-to-day thing, just as all else in life.

If you can manage it, enrich your life today by adopting a stray dog from a shelter such as the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania or Animal Friends. And, if you can swing it, try to support organizations like the ASPCA and the Humane Society.

Wag more, bark less.