OK, remember back in my old blog (rowinvane.blogspot.com) I mentioned that I row with a great bunch up north who call themselves the NIANTIC RIVER SCULLING WARTHOGS. NRSW for short. I would not make this up.
And so, the question: "How did the Warthogs get their
name?" A related question" "What the hell is a warthog, anyway? All will be revealed. Within the bounds of decency, of course.
First, the 'hog who claims to have brought the name to the group, Dr Ian Williams writes:
And so, the question: "How did the Warthogs get their
name?" A related question" "What the hell is a warthog, anyway? All will be revealed. Within the bounds of decency, of course.First, the 'hog who claims to have brought the name to the group, Dr Ian Williams writes:
"Many years ago, I was riding in Botswana. I am uncertain as to who my companions were or the exact location of our ride. The sun beat down on a dry land, recently scorched by bush fire but game was still plentiful. We stopped by a small lake. Pug-marks from lion were fresh in the cool lacustrine mud. I wandered away from my companions, anxious for solitude. The hot midday air reverberated with mind-bending noise from countless insects. My senses were a tip-toe. We had just encountered a lone bull elephant less than a mile back. Skirting the lake’s edge, a white blur shimmered, mirage-like, ahead of me. As I approached, it resolved itself into a warthog’s skull. The curled tusks were fine, worn underneath from digging but still bending like scimitars. I held it aloft, a latter-day Hamlet contemplating a swinish Yorrick. An icon of vanitas; beholding my fate in this bleached pig’s head. I determined that this noble beast should be immortalized for its brave service to me. And so, many miles away, upon a Connecticut river’s edge, the Niantic River Sculling Warthogs were conceived."
Others remember it differently: Dr Eric Larson and others have this to add:
"Um, I seem to recall a genesis in the marked similarities between the two groups; both being somewhat generous of belly and spindly of shank. This, of course, may be apocryphal, since I wasn't around at the christening (and if I had, the similarities would have not been so obvious.)"
They are good rowers, and are early backers of my weathervane venture: Row In Vane...see the site at row-in-vane.com. There are 4 docs in this group...phd's not the 'real' kind. The rest of us are pretty undistinguished.
So the pictures are of 1. 2 warthogs resting at the Lowrey Park Zoo in Tampa, 2. our club logo, and 3. the 'human' rowers who make up this group.
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