Member Interview: TheBeagle

[teej]

Real name (first only): Michael
Age: 30 as of May
Current City: Community of Arcadia in NW Davidson County
Hometown: Same as above
Occupation: Sickly bohemian type

1) How did you choose your screen name? Pretty esoteric stuff. I've just been around beagles for 24 of my 30 years, and love the little cuddly hellraisers.

2) Could you tell us a little about where you grew up and about your family? Arcadia, which is a pretty small community about 6 miles south of Winston. As its name indicates it's rural farmland, but the encroachment of the city and moneygrubbing developers is changing the landscape for the worse bit by bit.
The eternal bachelor, I'm currently single. Grandparents and mom are dead, so it's just dad and then the cousins, aunts and uncles.

3) Did you play in any sports or where you involved with any High School clubs and such? Played baseball and basketball until it was discovered I had a pretty serious heart condition that prohibited me from fulltime sports.

4) What is your fondest memory of your teenage years? Glad when they were over? I don't know, 15 was pretty cool. That was when I took Theatre Arts and met a couple girls who dug me and um....well, you gotta love those free-wheeling, open-minded, artsy gals.

5) What was your first job? Running blueprints at the company where my dad worked during the summer between 9th and 10th grades.

6) What lead to your dedicated following of the Bobcat's? I'd have to say the style of ball they played the first two years. Just that gritty, hard-nosed, hustle we've come to know and love. Became a Cats fan when it was announced Charlotte was getting a new franchise, but it was the way the guys played those first couple seasons that led to my dedication;just a lot of fun to watch.

7) Could you tell us one of your favorite memories of the Bobcat's? The firing of the Ham Biscuit and the subsequent hiring of Larry.

8 ) How did you find the Bobcats Planet and what keeps you active on the site? Pretty funny story about how I found the site. I'm a Houston Astros fan, and I frequent the Houston Chronicle website and exchange emails fairly often with a columnist of theirs, Richard Justice. It's June '07 and I'm asking him something Astros-related, and he throws in as an aside that the Bobcats are one of a few teams that have the cap space to sign Rashard Lewis, which I thought was pretty cool at the time. So I google, and Bobcatsplnet pops up and the rest is history. It's just hilarious that I may not have ever found the site if not for Rashard Lewis!!!

9) What other sports teams do you follow? Astros baseball, Carolina Panthers football, Tar Heel sports (yes, not just basketball.)

10) When you’re not on Bobcats Planet what could you likely be found doing with your spare time? Hobbies (see below), spending time with the actual beagle of the house, goofing around with my 9 year old cousin next door.

11) If you could have one moment being part of the Bobcats organization, what would it be? Basically be Larry Brown's shadow for a preseason camp: on the practice courts, in the meetings with assistant coaches, on the bench during pre-season games. There's no way I'd be able to look at the game the same way after an experience like that!

12) How many trips have you made to the Time Warner Cable Arena? 60 or so.

13) What is your worst fear? LOL! That's a loaded question for a neurotic like me! I suppose becoming a schizophrenic would be the WORST. I mean, shit, hearing fucked up voices in your head and hallucinating?!?! I hate heights and elevators, but schizophrenia? That is some scary shit indeed!

14) What type of hobbies do you enjoy? Reading some "classic" authors, comic books, and some essays; playing video games; listening to music.

15) What’s your favorite food? Don't have one particular favorite. I have a pretty liberal menu when it comes to food, and I'll try anything once for the most part.

16) Where are some of the places you’ve been, and where are some of your favorites. I am the non-traveller; I don't travel well. The farthest locale I've been is Oxford, MS. Really, my favorite place is my home.

17) What is one thing you've always wanted to do, but haven't done yet in your lifetime? Meet Fiona Apple. She may be a little eccentric, but she does it for me!

18 ) If you could live anywhere where would it be? I love it here in Arcadia, but I've been told by everyone I know who's been there, that somewhere on the British Isles would be perfect for me, due to my love of cloudy, rainy, cool days, and my antipathy for heat and humidity.

19) Name your favorite 3 Bobcats all time and explain the reason for one of them. 1. GW--not much explanation needed here. I'll just say, as much fun as he is to watch on the court, he's a really cool person off the court as well. Funny dude!
2. Raymond
3. I'll go with Smitty at 3 for reasons listed on teej's popular player polls #2, I think?

20) Up to this date, what is one of your favorite Bobcats Planet memories? I'll just go with the "Ballwhore Incident" I mean, that was such a mix of humour and surrealsim...I don't know, it was just what makes BCP BCP!

21) Anything else you'd like to add? Sorry for the length. Love the site and all the things each member brings to the boards that make it such a great community.

Who would you like to nominate to be interviewed next? I'll take the safe route that won't hurt any feelings, and choose the first BCPer I met face-to-face:Keetch.

[SWedd523]

TheBeagle = TheMan!

[teej]

Hey Beagle, are you a Los Caballitos, a Little Puma, an O Bro, or a Killer B

or do I know more about the Stros than you? lol.

[davcbow]

Hey Beagle nice to learn more about you, I had a friend that grew up in Arcadia and he called it Arcadiaville he now lives in Winston. I love dogs especially Beagles, I've had a couple Beagles as pets over my 49 years....

[ziggy]

Great stuff Beagle!!!

But you forgot to mention the "epic beard"

[amour217]

Right on for the comic books...awesome interview Beagle

[dav7z]

Great Bobcatsplanet member . Will see you at some games this year.

Are you still in 214?

[Ampsportsduo]

My takeaway - Hippies dig the Beagle.

[TheBeagle]

Thanks for reading all.....as if it didn't come across abundantly clear in the interview, I'm pretty damn dull, so thanks for taking the time!


Swedd: Gracias!

teej: LOL. No, I know the denizens of the old MMP of whom you speak. Being a fan since the early 90s, I love my Biggio and Bagwell, and nobody'll likely take their place. Still, what Roy and Puma did during the '05 World Series run, they are of the next tier. But yeah, I'm a "Killer B" at heart.

davcbow: Yeah, my folks got a pair of sister beagles 4 or so years before I was born, so being an only child, I was pretty much raised alongside them. They're glorious dogs, and even though you have no privacy with them, their howling/barking wakes the dead when they see something moving outside, they have a bottomless pit for a stomach, and there is no such thing as walking them....they walk you, I can't see myself with another breed! Long live the Beagle!

ziggy: HA! You should've seen the thing last week before I trimmed it up a little. It was the first trim I'd had since before the end of the Bobcats season. It wasn't a pretty sight to say the least.

amour: Thanks, man. Have to stay true to my comic book roots. Anybody who says they rot the brain, well, . 'Nuff said!

dav7z: Yeah, renewed for the same seats: 215, J, 1-2. We'll definitely meet up, bud!

Amphibious: That is not an altogether untrue takeaway to take away.

[ohara831]

Terrific read Beagle! Thanks for the insight into one of the truly great fans here at BCP!