A Sincere Thank You To Georges St-Pierre and Shari Spencer

As an amateur MMA sportswriter I would like to publicly state that were it not for Georges St-Pierre and his charming manager Shari Spencer, I never would have become a syndicated writer.

Not being considered as being a sensation in the field that I have chosen to assume now that I am in my sixties, is in no way indicative of my gratitude for either of them in giving me assistance in my late-in-life endeavor.

At any point, if Georges had requested that I cease writing my often inane articles musing about his movie reviews, a possible relationship with Mandy Moore, or writing about his Canadian fighting friends, I would have quit rather than to upset him with my speculations.

I became rather obsessed with him, not as a young woman in her twenties would be, but based upon the love and respect he demonstrated to his mother by honoring her with presenting his first Welterweight belt to her immediately after the fight and then raising her up on his shoulder.

Such a loving and respectful gesture would have won my heart, being that I am a very sentimental grandmother, even if I had not already been drawn to Georges for being an outstanding athlete in a sport with which I was quickly becoming obsessed.

My knowledge of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology and sports psychology were also involved in the revelation that "Rush" was indeed a phenomenon in the fast growing sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

His excellence in the sport initially caused me great pain.

First I had to endure watching all of his matches while listening to the commentators, who had yet to catch on to his skill and superiority in the sport, which I had already recognized.

I endured repeated episodes of prolonged grinding of my teeth while tolerating their often comically condescending remarks and wondering why they failed to catch on to what I knew as a fact: Georges wasn't just great, he was exceptional!

Secondly, I was ridiculed by friends, family and even my doctors about "being too old to idolize a young stud like Georges."

(Very strange to be subjected to such comments knowing that Multiple Sclerosis had robbed me of any libido I might have had left by the time I "discovered Georges.")

How humiliating! 

Midnight fantasies had absolutely nothing to do in my being impressed by his performances, even though fellow Illinoisan Matt Hughes proclaimed that he was not!

Thirdly, I was put in an adversarial position with my much loved first grandchild because of the rivalry between my hero and his, who at that time happened to be Matt Hughes.

Writing a poem dedicated to Georges' mother brought further family strife, so I obligingly wrote a poem for Matt Hughes to appease grandson Cody.

The resulting poem did not do as much to appease him as his sudden alienation to Matt Hughes for not showing up for Cody's high school tourney which revolved around the fact that Matt Hughes, (as a favor to a Clinton raised friend and classmate from Eastern University), had promised to attended and had been consequently hyped up by the kids.

This helped to turn the tide, even though Cody did run into Hughes at a Hooters in Champaign. Illinois, during the IHSA wrestling finals and asked Hughes to autograph his headgear, which Matt did for Cody and his friends.

Cody now has joined his father and me as being "forever fans of GSP."

If I can impose upon Georges to autograph another set of headgear to bring Cody better luck in his wrestling efforts next year as a high school junior, it will totally seal the deal and I will become a celebrity to at least one person whose opinion counts the most to me.

After witnessing the St-Pierre vs Penn II fight, "Grease-Gate" brought my husband Mel firmly to Georges' side saying, "Any fool could see that Georges won the fight and that this Vaseline nonsense is just bullshit!" (I apologize, but that is exactly how my husband talks--he is a redneck NASCAR fan after all).

To look at the paybacks I have received from being a fan of Georges' there is the way I met his manager and now a friend, Shari Spencer.

As I admitted to another great friend and supporter of mine, Zander Freund, I was tempted and did stray from Bleacher Report in a wish to blog alongside Georges on Yard Barker.

Initially, being an old girl from the generation that believed in "staying with the guy who brought you to the dance," I felt very disloyal for writing on the Yard.

Had I not strayed, I never would have published my poem "GSP" there and gotten the attention of Shari Spencer, who had become Georges' manager after the shakeup of his entourage following his loss of the Welterweight title to Matt Serra.

Shari, in the kindest gesture within my experience, responded to my post and offered to have my poem translated into French and then to deliver the poem herself to Georges' mother on her next trip with Georges to Montreal.

To reassure me that I was not asking too much, Shari assured me that she had first asked Georges for his permission before making the offer to me.

What a thrill it was for me to learn that my humble poetic effort had been presented to Paulyne at the family dinner which appeared on the 24/7 show! I can never describe the elation which overwhelmed me when Shari told me of the event!

Being an amateur sportswriter has not turned me into a celebrity, which is something for which I have never wished, but having Shari Spencer care enough to give me the pleasure of hearing about my gift being given to Georges' mother on such a  prominent occasion has given me something that being a celebrity never could.

This has also made my family very happy and assured them that something which I had made them promise to accomplish after my death has been done while I can yet live to enjoy it.

For all these reasons, I want to bare my deepest feelings of gratitude to Georges for never discouraging me from writing about him and to Shari for accomplishing what had seemed to be an unobtainable dream.

Shari's gift to me plus the fact that she has continued to communicate with me and trust that I will not exploit our conversations, means the world to me.

All the people who do know me, understand that trust is a really important issue for me.

Recently Shari published a beautiful picture of her Chows for me because I have often expressed my interest and wondered about the dog which Georges said "always barks to me."

What excitement I felt in reading her public message to me on Yard Barker and seeing the beautiful picture of her dogs, which she explained was a gift to her from "the witch doctor" himself,  Steven Friend.

The excitement, satisfaction and contentment which Georges St-Pierre and Shari Spencer have brought to my life has made me eternally grateful and allowed me to become a syndicated writer at the age of sixty three.

Now how could my life be any sweeter?

**** On Monday April 20, 2009, I received the package containing Cody's headgear  which said, "To Cody, Good Luck" and signed GSP "RUSH."  To my surprise there was also a beautiful color picture of Georges with an inscription "To Grandma Dee," which I will forever treasure. My sons and grandchildren are already squabling over who should get it when I die. Fortunately, since receiving the lovely unexpected gift, I feel better than ever!