Agriculture and professional sports don’t mingle much in the news but when they do, it makes headlines.
The case of which I speak combines professional golf and hotdogs, those key foodstuffs from agricultural pork production.
Sure, hotdogs and sports go together frequently and well, but the combination isn’t often discussed in the news.
In a summary of “quotes of the year” compiled for 2011 by ESPN, the Number One quote was uttered by Janet Riley of the U.S.-based National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.
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As ESPN explained, a spectator at an October golf tournament threw a hot dog at Tiger Woods.
Riley responded: “Hot dogs are meant to be enjoyed, not weaponized.”
That quote won the coveted quote of the year prize, but Riley further stated that “the use of an iconic food in an act of violence against an iconic golfer like Tiger Woods is reprehensible and a violation of hot dog etiquette.”
Of course, that raises the question of proper hotdog etiquette. Those things can be messy, depending on the number and amount of condiments, and polite ingestion can be a messy business. Suffice to say we now know that proper handling does not include throwing. And especially not throwing at famous sports personages, regardless of our opinions on their conduct.
At ESPN.com, Riley was quoted as saying she hadn’t heard of any further weaponization of hotdogs so she considers the council’s response to be successful.
Shortly after that news came out, agriculture and the glitzy music industry were combined in the news.
The agriculture part was a new breed of horse fly, and as we all know, horse flies are ubiquitous at just about any agricultural operation that includes livestock.
The glitzy music part is Beyonce, the glamorous singer who seems to be a fixture in entertainment news.
The news was this: Australian researchers named a new breed of horse fly after Beyonce. Why? Because the fly’s golden abdomen reminded researcher Bryan Lessard of the singer’s equally lovely tummy.
The breed comprising the so-called “all time diva of flies” is now called Scaptia beyonceae.
“It was the unique dense golden hairs on the fly’s abdomen that led me to name this fly in honour of the performer Beyonce as well as giving me the chance to demonstrate the fun side of taxonomy,” said Lessard in a news release, proving he has a sense of humour rather than an obsession with pretty singers.
He went on the explain the importance of horse flies in pollination, adding that there are about 4,400 species of horse flies around the world. However, none of the others are named after entertainers.
