Had a pretty great afternoon today, even though I had to work. But it wasn’t really work, per se. Tabs took me to lunch — his excuse to talk about Halloween costume ideas — but at least I got a free meal out of it. We went to this gourmet burger joint called The Counter, and I finally got the veggie burger and fries I’d been wanting all week.
The restaurant had a TV behind the bar, and I glanced up to see the Steelers playing the Raiders. I know that Tabs is a huge football fan, so I took the opportunity to pick his brain. I asked him what it was like playing professional football for the Mill Valley Wildcats before he got into kitty modeling.
He looked off into space for a minute, just sort of stared and smiled… “Meow,” he finally said. [It was one of the toughest jobs I ever had, but I loved every minute.] He went on to describe the camaraderie, the adrenalin rush, the nervousness he felt before every game.
He told me all about some of the technical aspects of the game, like how there are 11 cats on offense, defense and 11 more on special teams. He played on offense, tight end, because he was a little too husky to play wide receiver but not fast enough to be a running back.
After retiring from the game, he briefly considered going into coaching. He’s always liked molding new talent, but he wanted something more stable. As a coach, you lose one big game and you’re out. At least with kitty modeling, when you’re as good looking as Tabs, you can count on a few good years. I have to say, though, he’s a great teacher, and very inspiring. I bet he would have made an excellent coach.
I guess it’s not too late. He could always coach up-and-coming kitty models. 🙂
This was a decent week for his career. He had modeling jobs for a few big beauty brands, and here are some of the pics…
