Make of this what you will: On a recent walk with my 10-year-old greyhound, Earl, I stopped to grab a copy of Red Streak, competitor of RedEye, the Trib’s new five-day-a-week tab for the young and trendy. It doesn’t hurt to check out the competition, I figured.
But apparently Earl saw things differently. The normally drowsy and dignified old critter lunged at the paper, sank his teeth in deep and tore it from my hands. He furiously chewed and spat out chunks of paper, shaking his head back and forth as he danced a little jig on the sidewalk. Maybe the sight of a rolled-up newspaper brought up some trauma from his big, bad racing days, but I don’t think so. I’m sure I saw a happy gleam in his eye.
Such ripping and rending didn’t happen when I picked up a RedEye the next day. Think that says something about Earl’s taste? Or simply that he won’t bite the hand that feeds him?