So right you are averagedawg. Allow me this little ditty . . . .
One day an old Bulldog starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a panther heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.
The old Bulldog thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep s*** now!"
Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the panther is about to leap, the old Bulldog exclaims loudly,
"Boy, that was one delicious panther! I wonder, if there are any more around here?"
Hearing this, the young panther halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.
"Whew!," says the panther, "That was close! That old Bulldog nearly had me!"
Meanwhile, a squirrel who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the panther. So, off he goes.
The squirrel soon catches up with the panther, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the panther.
The young panther is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, squirrel, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!"
Now, the old Bulldog sees the panther coming with the squirrel on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?," but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old Bulldog says....
"Where's that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!"
Moral of this story....
Don't mess with the old Dawgs . . . Age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery!
Bulls**t and brilliance only come with age and experience.
I post this thinking that some of that might be going on in Athens now. Stop, look and listen. Some of the old farts know what they are doing. There is no easy way, if the young squirrel above knew all that was needed to know, might still be eating acorns.