The Beauty Champ

“After being named the world’s second ugliest last year, Elwood, a 2-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix, is sitting pretty this year as the ultimate ugly dog. Elwood, who is often referred to as “Yoda” or “E.T.,” competed against 13 other dogs at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair’s annual ugly dog contest in Petaluma, California, on Friday, June 22. Sources: The Associated Press, Sonoma-Marinfair.org”

I picked up this piece of news from CNN. In fact, in the CNN TV news, I learnt that the owners of the dog consider it “the cutest dog in the world”…..which somehow rings hollow when you remember that they regularly get their pet to compete for the ugliest dog competition.

But what is really interesting to note is that last year Elwood (the dog) had come in 2nd. The news clip does not mention the all important part….did he beat last year’s champ, or, did last year’s champ just drop out of competition this year. I somehow think Elwood will feel only half as good if it is the latter.

Maybe last year’s champ somehow ‘lost his looks’ and became…less ugly. Maybe Elwood really worked on himself since last year’s competition determined to make the Emcee announce, “you ain’t seen nothing yet folks”. Or maybe, like a true champ, Elwood just let the year take its toll on him and he decided to be his natural self, confident that his ugliness will shine through, no matter what the opposition.