Saturday, January 22, 2011

Saxon Wolfsblood

Pictured above is Saxon Wolfsblood Dequaine.  His name is not an arbitrary amalgamation that I just thought sounded cool.  Nay, his name has deeper meanings than that.  He is of hound/ German Shepard descent and this is partly taken into account in his name.  The other aspects taken into account are my love of strength sports, punk music, and not sucking.
First up, the name Saxon.  This name has a double meaning.  The first meaning, which is entirely historical, is the ancient Germanic tribe called the Saxons.  The Saxons were originally from mainland Europe but were allowed to settle in southern Great Britain to protect Britons from invasion of the Irish and others.

The warlord Hengist shit-talked the then British king, Vertigorn (I know it sounds all kinds of Harry Potter but I'm not making these names up), into giving them more land and allowing in more settlers.  This led to the creation of four Saxon regions: Essex, Middlesex, Sussex, and Wessex (you should be able to figure out where in England those are).  Eventually the kings of Wessex unified the country into what is now the kingdom of England to protect themselves against Viking hordes.

The second meaning comes from the old-tyme strongman Arthur Saxon.

Weighing in at around 200 lbs. this guy was a brick shithouse.  His nickname was "The Iron-Master" for shit's sake.  He was born Arthur Hennig and performed as a strongman and circus entertainer in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  He was famous for his world record bent press.  This is where a barbell is cleaned to the shoulders, taken in one hand, the performer then lowers the upper body and extends the arm at the same time, then stands upright.  Using this technique he put a record 371 pounds over his head with one arm.  There are some who say he did 385 pounds in training.  Either way I would call that a metric fuck-ton.

Some other reasons to like Arthur Saxon is that he believed in heavy training to get stronger, lighter training to practice technique, loved to eat massive amounts of meat, drank his weight in beer on occasion, sometimes lifted naked, and invented a "health drink" that consisted of "dark lager beer, Holland gin, an egg yolk, and plenty of sugar."  I wouldn't be surprised if he tossed some gun powder in there for shits and gigs.

Needless to say Arthur Saxon is the epitome of not being a pussy.  He drank hard, lifted heavy (sometimes at the same time), ate a hell-of-a-lot, and broke egos and world records like it was no big deal.  Fucking A.

Last up, the Wolfsblood.  This is an homage to one of the first punk bands I ever listened to.  I had just had surgery on my knee and was laid up on my mom's couch.  My friend Greg lived a few blocks away and came to visit.  With him he brought The Misfits Vol. 1 for me to borrow.  This cd changed my life.  I was hooked upon first listen.  I had never heard music with so much balls to it.  The lead singer is named Glenn Danzig and for my money he might truly be able to gaze into one's soul and then tear it apart.  Songs like Bullet, Death Comes Ripping, and Die Die Die My Darling have and always will be go to songs when I'm about to hit a PR.  He actually has two songs that could be about demon dogs.  Hellhound, which is based on an old horror film, and Wolfsblood, which is about a guy becoming a werewolf (I think).  Both songs, along with the entire Misfits catalogue are ten times more kick ass than anything you'll hear on the radio today.  I highly urge you to check them out if you aren't into music that just might turn you into a eunuch.

So there you have it.  A badass name for a badass dog.  I think it's time for a walk.

Song of the Day:

"One very useful trick which the weightlifter should adopt is a wisely moderated contempt of his weight." -Arthur Saxon

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