It is with a heavy heart that I must make the following announcement: over the weekend, we lost one of our own, Tinker-Doodle.

Tinker-Doodle was as fine a sparring partner as could be provided for Helmut. A 5-year-old with spunk and charm, Tinker certainly took the cake as far as dolphins go. She was a competent, spirited girl with fire in her soul and a killer’s instinct. Unfortunately, during a training exercise, Helmut became a little over-zealous in his desire to win as he violently snapped at her upper-torso, severing it completely from the rest of the body.

From the moment they entered the cage, it was obvious that Tinker was outclassed and that Helmut was not treating this as a mere sparring session but as a full-fledged fight to the death. It was over before anything could be done.

While this loss is regrettable, I could not be more satisfied with Helmut’s performance. He showed no hesitation, no timidity. More importantly, he showed no remorse. I have no doubt that when the time comes to fight for real, he will rise to the occasion.

And so, Tinker-Doodle, we salute you. Godspeed.

Posted: January 14th, 2009
Comments: none

It’s been a while since I wrote anything here, but I have some good news. I won’t try to kid you, the years have made me bitter since I lost Mr. Smiley Wiggles. I’ve put forth every effort to be the better man, to help and train future stars of the dolphin fighting world, but my heart never got over the loss of Mr. Smiley Wiggles. They tell you not to get too attached. You win some, you lose some. Well, my losing days are over, friends.

Deep in my dolphin fighting lab, I’ve been working on a new breed of dolphin over the past year, along with my hand-picked team of ruthless, amoral marine biologists, an ex-pat Russian geneticist named Nikolai Sidorov and my personal assistant, Delores Dimartino. With their help, I’ve crafted a new species of dolphin that will surely become world champion. I call him Helmut. This new breed is going to be unlike any on the current fighting circuit and Dr. Sidorov assures me that Helmut will be a dolphin worth reckoning with. Or, rather, not worth reckoning with? I can never remember. No matter. Here are some of Helmut’s finer details:

A hybrid bottlenose dolphin cross bred with nothing less than a goblin shark. That’s right, a goblin shark. They are scary as Hell and one nearly took my hand off on a deep sea diving expedition I do not wish to discuss any further under any circumstances.

Helmut also has a computerized brain built by the finest team of desperate, nearly-failing MIT students who needed the credits and are also ruthless and amoral. While they were at it, I had them replace his eyes with Nixie tubes – strictly for effect. Seriously, he doesn’t even need eyes thanks to the advanced sensor system the MIT lackeys built for him. It’s so advanced they actually give him the ability to predict his opponents’ moves. For real, the tubes just blink numbers and make him look awesome; that’s all they do.

Finally, here’s a picture of Helmut:

There are a few more features I’d like to share, however, as there are spies everywhere and I don’t want to tip my hand anymore than I already have, I’d like to keep them under my hat, for now… I think it’s safe to say we’ve raised the bar. Confidence is high.

Posted: December 4th, 2008
Comments: none

One of my old fighting pals, Kevin Carroll, has built a prosthetic tail for his retired dolphin Winter (who now lives at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and Aquatic Battle Colosseum. CBS and Engadget have all the details. I can’t wait until battle-ready prosthetics are on the market. I suspect they’ll really up the stakes for what this sport is capable of.

Posted: September 3rd, 2007
Comments: none

Gawker, BBC Radio, NY Post, Huffington Post, MotherJones, CNET News

Posted: September 3rd, 2007
Comments: none

2006 Dolphin Fighting Championship in Tampa Florida. Koondo versus Miss Flipsy:

RIP Mr. Smiley Wiggles (Southern Region Dolphin Champ 1998-2001). Photo taken during the 2002 Southern semifinals: Mr. Smiley Wiggles (top) vs. Sir Cucumber Salad (bottom):

Posted: September 3rd, 2007
Comments: 6

Here’s a picture of my daughter tina betting $7000 dollars on Fish Taco Breath during the 2004 world championships

Posted: September 3rd, 2007
Comments: 3

MSNBC.com screenshots:

Here’s a link to the corrected MSNBC.com article.

And here’s the original Al Sharpton post.

Posted: September 3rd, 2007
Comments: none

Dolphin fighting on FOX News:

Dolphin Fighting on Reuters TV:

Know of any other dolphin fighting mentions on TV. Let me know.

Posted: September 3rd, 2007
Comments: none

According to Environmentalgraffiti.com:

Live dolphins fetch a few hundred dollars each for the fishermen who capture them, but once shipped abroad and trained they are bought and sold for about $30,000.

I paid $26,000 for my first dolphin. Plus another $6,000 in travel expenses for its handlers. The best piece of advice I can give anyone looking to get started in dolphin fighting is to not spend too much on your first dolphin. Like a first car, a first dolphin will likely get hurt or destroyed in the first 6 months of live fights. You can save tons of cash by heading straight to the dolphin hunting source, instead of dealing with the money hungry dolphin dealers who prowl the fighting circuit for first timers.

Posted: August 31st, 2007
Comments: 1

Hi my name is Jim Whitington. I discovered the world of dolphin fighting in 1997 during a trip out to Vegas. I fought and trained my own dolphin, Mr. Smiley Wiggles, for four years, and now mostly enjoy going to matches and helping other dolphin fighting trainers learn the ropes.

Posted: August 31st, 2007
Comments: 4