A melancholy ‘happy trails’ to Klay Thompson’s 13-year-old English bulldog Rocco, who has unfortunately gone on to that great splash puddle in the sky, though does so with a legacy of 61,800 Instagram followers.
You may think it’s silly for the public at large to care about the death of a prominent sports personality’s dog. But the loss of these dogs is often newsworthy. When ABC/ESPN college football announcer Kirk Herbstreit’s golden retriever Ben died from Leukemia this past November, it made national headlines, as fans of the sports personality do legitimately form bonds with these dogs that they have seen but never met.
Sadly, the doggie reaper has visited these fans again, as the Chronicle reports that former Golden State Warriors fan favorite Klay Thompson’s dog Rocco has died. Rocco was an English bulldog whose dedicated Instagram account had 61,800 followers. He was 13 years old.
We get the news from Thompson’s father Mychal Thompson, who if you don’t know, played 14 years in the NBA and won two championships. “We had to put Rocco, Klay’s dog, down over the weekend,” the elder Thompson said Wednesday on ESPN Los Angeles’ “Mason & Ireland” radio show. “We were all sad, but Rocco had a great, long life.”
Rocco did actually get to appear in an advertisement during his lifetime, the Bay Area BMW Centers ad seen above. It is a very stupid and formulaic ad. But Rocco steals the show with his orange cone-chewing antics.
As the Bay Area News Group notes in their obituary for Klay Thompson’s dog, Rocco exceeded the unusual lifespan of an English bulldog. These dogs usually only reach eight, maybe ten years old, because they do not have particularly healthy respiratory systems.
But like Rocco, the calm sense of joy that English bulldogs inspire has therapeutic benefits that are beyond description.
Related: Steph Curry Posts Emotional Instagram Story After Klay Thompson Departure Announcement [SFist]
Image: Golden State Warriorsvia Youtube