Tuffy Tuffy Toro!

Weekend Assignment #120: Do a Web search on a pet's name and let us know some of the interesting things that pop up. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current pet -- if you've got a previous pet whose name will elicit more interesting Web results, by all means use that one instead. Extra credit: Tell us an interesting name of a pet that wasn't your own.

When I just Google "Tuffy," I get a page that's almost entirely boring businesses and products:

• Tuffy Security Products - secure storage for Jeep, Bronco, Hummer truck, SUV, 4x4, auto, recreational vehicles.
• Tuffy.com (Tuffy Auto Service Centers)
• Tuffy Walleye Boats and Muskie Boats by Fiberdome
• Tuffy Auto Centers - of Central Virginia and Indiana
• Tuffy Rhodes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Annie Oakley: Tuffy - TV.com
• Tuffy UK Home Page (apparently it's a band)
• Lil Tuffy: Design, Posters and Apparel

As I'm sure you can guess, the only items on the list that I'm at all interested in are the Annie Oakley one (where Tuffy is the title of an episode), and baseball player Tuffy Rhodes. Outfielder Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes was actually a Tucson Toro in 1992. He wasn't great as a Toro: .260, 1 HR, 5 SB. He also spent parts of six seasons in the major leagues, playing for the Cubs, the Astros and others. His main claim to fame is from his ten years playing in Japan. He learned Japanese, improved his workout routine and hitting technique, and ended up one of the greatest greatest gaijin (westerner) sluggers in Japanese baseball history. He even tied Sadaharu Oh's Japanese League single season home run record with 55. Good goin', Tuffy!

When I search for "Tuffy Toro," the results get a bit better. The first one is actually a page of mine, with a couple of Tuffy pictures on it. The second one is a 1995 Tucson Weekly article about the Tucson Toros. It mentions "Tuffy Toro," but is really referring to Tuffy the Toro, the great mascot after whom my Tuffy is named. #3 is a place that sells tractors and lawn mowers (including Toro brand), and toy tractors in a Tuffy's Toy Box section of their site. Tuffy UK apparently had a Chicago area gig in June, at a place that previously hosted something or someone called "Toro, Toro, Toro!!!" The next result is my LiveJournal "userpics," followed by links to the Tucson Sidewinders and Tucson Toros entries on Wikipedia, which are among the first pages I ever worked on over there. And finally, there's a bio from a sportscaster at local tv station KOLD, Scott Kilbury, who reads great significance into the time he beat Tuffy the Toro in a race around the base paths.

Eh. This Tucson Toros stuff means something to me, but I doubt that it means anything to most of you, except maybe Howard and Linda. So let's get on with the Extra Credit question. I'm sorry to say I have nothing exciting there, either. My ex-boyfriend Bob once had a black cat named Dis (a Roman god of the underworld), and threatened to name another one Dat. Sara has a cat named Madmartigan, after the Val Kilmer character in Willow. I like his nickname: MarMar. And my brother Steve once had a parakeet named Dewey Two - but only because it was the second one called Dewey.

Oh, and I should probably mention that the two photos are of my own Tuffy Toro (of course), taken on Tuesday right after the tree pictures.

Karen

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