Wild Bill Hickock?  Annie Oakley?  Buffalo Bill?  John Wesley Harding who was so mean he once shot a man just for snoring?  Please...they have nothing on me.  I need a cool nickname, something that summarizes me with a gun in my hand.  I gotta say, I even impressed myself this weekend.  Now for some background...I have never shot a handgun before in my life.  I've shot various rifles before, but never a handgun.  When I was in high school and took R.O.T.C., I went with some guys in our battalion to a shooting range with the Tennessee National Guard.  We fired M-16's that day.  We started off triangulating our site which is where you shoot three rounds to make any adjustments needed to the sights.  Once that was done, we went to the pop-up target range.  This is where you're in a pit resembling a foxhole, and targets pop up at random every 50 meters all the way out to 300 meters.  I hit 35 out of 36 targets and got a cool medal to wear on my uniform for my efforts.  The only target I missed was because they were staggered a little, and when the target at the 100 meter mark popped I thought it was mine but it was actually in the dude's lane next to me.  So basically everything I shot at I hit...and that includes the target at 300 meters.  In case you don't know, that's longer than 3 football fields.  My dad was quite a marksman in the Army and that gene got passed down.  I scored the highest of anyone on the range that day, and that includes the guys from the National Guard.  See why I wanted to go into the Army so bad?  I'm a born killer!  Ah...I'm kidding...I've just got GREAT eyesight and know how to handle a rifle.  Here's a side note - do you know why the military uses targets that have that outline of a human body?  It's to desensitize them to killing people.  Back in World War I they trained using standard targets, and then realized a lot of the guys had a problem shooting a person.  The Army switched to the ones that have a human outline, and the problem was solved.  True fact...see how educational my blog is?  Hahahaha.  Anyway, I went to a gun range this weekend to try out my .357 Magnum snubnose I bought last weekend at the gun show.  I wasn't sure how much of a kick there would be to a handgun, but man this thing packs a wallop!  Once I got used to it, I was Johnny bulls-eye.  One thing that ticks me off about video games where you can go into sniper mode is the button to hold your breath.  You NEVER hold your breath when firing for accuracy.  You exhale and THEN shoot.  When you hold your breath it makes your body tense and you'll miss.  You exhale....hold it for a second...and then shoot.  I went through a box of .38 rounds, and the guy at the range told me "c'mon man, you have to shoot some .357 rounds while you're here" so I gave in.  My gun shoots either, which is nice, because .357 rounds cost about twice as much.  I get the box of .357 rounds and try those out.  Wow...you want to talk about some firepower?  Jeez...those things were awesome.  It was like twice the firepower of the .38 rounds.  I went through a box of 50 in no time.  I wanted to save the two targets I bought just for the heck of it, but won't be able to.  Why?  Well, I kinda blew them away.  The targets are placed at 50 feet and when I was on my last shot of the .357 rounds I decided to go for a headshot.  Oh I hit it, but in doing so I hit the wire that was holding the target so I knocked it to the floor.  Same thing with the last box of .38 rounds I went through.  I was going to finish up with 6 rapid fire headshots, and once again shot the wire holding the target which left it on the floor at the end of the gun range.  Oh well, I know I kicked ass.  I can't wait to go back.  Once I got home I cleaned the gun and put it away, and I have to say, it's quite comforting knowing I have a loaded .357 Magnum in the house if I need it.  Between it and my buddy Vick, I feel pretty good.

Speaking of my favorite attack dog, he was looking bored this week so I took him to a nearby dog park.  I have never been to one before, and I was wondering how he would take to it, but he LOVED it.  I pull up and walk him towards the gate.  Several people are already in there, and as I'm bringing him to the gate I hear a few "wow...look how big he is" and stuff like that...like Vick was going to use these other dogs as a chew toy.  We go in, I take him off the leash, and he's like a kid in a candy store.  He's running around and pawing at the other dogs and sniffing all over them and chasing them...it was great.  I can tell when he's excited because his breathing picks up and a sort of foam of saliva builds up in the corner of his mouth, which was pretty apparent.  Now one of the really cool things about Vick is that he's as adorable as his master...hahaha.  Whenever I take him anywhere, all I hear from people is "oooohhh...he is SO gorgeous!" and they want to pet him.  And because I've raised him right he is VERY friendly.  Granted he is a pure killer deep down, but as long as people are being cool around me, he's cool with them.  Next time I'm going to take a camera because there were several chances for some funny pictures.  This couple came into the park with a little bitty dog, and the girl was all worried when she saw Vick.  He ran up to it and started sniffing around and she was like "oh no, he's going to hurt him" so I went up and put my arm around her and said "hey...relax...he's a big teddy bear...now why don't you lose the zero and get with a hero" so she dumped her boyfriend and we went out to dinner.  Ok, maybe it didn't go down quite like that...hahaha.  Jeez, has that line ever worked?  It's one of the dumbest I've ever heard in my life.  Anyway, she was concerned, but I told them that Vick was cool and he really seemed to like this little bitty dog.  It was so funny seeing him come to it's defense when this black lab was barking at it.  Vick jumped in front of the little dog and started barking and the lab ran off.  I hung out for a couple of hours and then brought him home and he slept for about 6 hours.  Hey it was a big day for him.  But the people there adored him, as is usually the case when I take him somewhere.  The only bad thing was he bruised my sternum a little bit.  I walk him to the car and open the drover side door to hit the locks to unlock the back door.  When the driver side door was open, he decided he wanted to sniff at some place on the grass and jerked me forward.  My sternum hit HARD right on the top corner of the door.  Oh yeah, it hurt and it's still sore.  I swear sometimes I think I need the huge padded outfit that attack dog trainers wear when I'm around him.  Of course a lot of it is my own doing.  One thing I like doing is going out into the garage at night and crouching down...then I'll say "Hey Vick, let's wrestle" and he's like "oh yeah....GO TIME!"  My forearms have many scratches and bruises due to this, but it's cool.  He is my best buddy after all.

Well I have a HUGE event coming up this weekend.  I'll be speaking at the Tennessee Conservative Union's Reagan Day Dinner.  And the "real" candidates running as Republicans will be there as well.  I've also heard Senator Bill Frist might be there.  Oh man this is going to be SO much fun.  I have so many things I want to say but I have to condense it all.  And next week there will be a full recap of it all.  I honestly thought I wouldn't get this far in the Senate race, but I have.  In fact I did an interview with a radio show out of Knoxville last week, and of course I rocked...hahaha.  That's why when the debates roll around after the primaries next week, I wouldn't be surprised if I don't get invited even after I bug them to death about it.  I can freely speak my mind and I know that scares the crap out of the "real" candidates.  Truth and fact are amazing things, and people really seem to gravitate towards them...wow...what a concept...truth and fact.  But I will have a full report next time so stay tuned.

Life is good sportsfans.  You always have to make things interesting otherwise life becomes dull.  You have to seek new adventures and take chances.  Don't ever play it safe because you are robbing yourself of some awesome times.  Until next week.....

Oh, and did I mention that the Atlanta Falcons start training camp this week?  Oh yeah....major drool time...someone please get me a towel....