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Bullocks twins stay close while apart[/SIZE]
BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
By all accounts from her owners, Lady is a good dog.
She’s trained, she’s housebroken and she’s very active for a 115-pound bulldog.
So what if Lady likes to chew on everything in sight? After all, she’s only 2.
“A lot of people think bulldogs are lazy and drool all the time,” Daniel Bullocks said, “but she don’t.”
Lady is smart, too. She can sense change. When Daniel’s twin brother, Josh, left home to embark on his NFL career, Lady knew something wasn’t right. For weeks, she’d go into Josh’s room, looking for her part-owner.
She’d sleep in his bed. She’d wait. No Josh.
“When she’s in there, the room glows,” said Gerline Williams, mother of Daniel and Josh, who visits Daniel in Lincoln during home Nebraska football games. “It’s like it’s got some life in it. I think that helps Daniel out.
“Lady can feel the emptiness with Josh and Daniel’s separation. It might sound crazy, but it’s not.”
And you thought Daniel and Josh might be having a hard time.
OK, so it’s been a challenging adjustment for them, too. Daniel is finishing his senior year at Nebraska. Josh has already moved into the starting lineup during his rookie season with the New Orleans Saints. A safety, he’ll make his third start Sunday against the Falcons.
“I miss (Nebraska). I miss my brother. I miss college,” Josh said. “It’s a different ball game.”
It’s only the third time in their lives the Bullocks twins can remember being separated for any length of time.
The first was when they were 9 or 10. Daniel and a cousin traveled to Washington, D.C., to march in a parade in front of the White House. They were gone five days. Daniel says Josh initially didn’t want to go, and when he changed his mind at the last minute, it was too late.
Josh, though, says he wanted to go but didn’t know anything about the trip until the day everyone was leaving.
“Next thing I know,” Josh said, “they’re going to Washington, D.C.”
Josh got payback, sort of, when the brothers redshirted their first season at Nebraska. Josh traveled with the team to the Rose Bowl, while Daniel stayed home.
Separation of the twins was indeed rare.
“They did everything together,” Williams said. “They slept together. They ate together. Everything they did, even though if one didn’t want to, the other would do it just so they could be together.”
Daniel thought his brother was just kidding around at first. The NFL, already? Would Josh really skip his senior season with the Huskers — and leave his brother — for an early professional career?
The answer became more and more evident as Nebraska approached its 2004 regular-season finale with Colorado.
“We talked about it all the time,” Daniel said. “At first, I thought he was playing, but when he got serious and started to get more serious about it, I was like, ‘Man this is the last time we’ll play together.’”
Both Daniel and Josh described it as a business decision.
“It was a great decision,” Josh said. “It worked out great. Even if it didn’t, I was willing to stick with it. I knew what I had to do. I knew there would be no turning back.
“I don’t have any regrets or anything like that.”
When Josh left Lincoln for his first minicamp, no tears were shed. Josh was happy for a new opportunity. And Daniel was happy because he knew his brother was in a good situation for himself and for the family.
Why cry?
Williams, though, said the move was difficult for the boys. Josh and Daniel admit they felt just a bit of emptiness at first ... more on the football field than anywhere else. For Josh, minicamps and training camps were the hardest times, training for the first time without his brother.
As for Daniel?
“Actually, I’m getting used to it now,” Daniel said. “First two games, it was different. Communication level, playing back there with my brother, I didn’t have to say nothing. I could just look at him, and he already knew what I was thinking and stuff. He would just do it.”
Daniel, Nebraska’s starting strong safety, is second on the team with 37 tackles and leads the team with eight pass breakups. In Josh’s place at strong safety is senior Blake Tiedtke.
“It’s getting better,” Daniel said of his playing relationship with Tiedtke. “It’s been good. It’s actually been better than I thought it would. He communicates. He’s making plays out there.
“It’s just not like my brother.”
Daniel and Josh talk on the phone every day. Sometimes two or three times, even if it’s just for 30 seconds. They talk about life. About football. About family. About Lady.
“She’s a sweet dog. Well-trained. She’s a pretty dog,” Josh said. “I’m so used to having her around me, I just pretty much knew what she wanted. Once we got her trained ... I just miss not being able to give her commands.”
The decision for Lady to stay in Lincoln was an easy one. She’d have more companionship, since Daniel lives with the Bullocks’ cousin, T.J. Terry. He’s lived and worked in Lincoln for nearly three years. Plus, Josh was renting an apartment while in training camp and didn’t have time or room for any pets.
“It wasn’t a problem,” Daniel said, smiling. “I wanted to keep the dog.”
It’s a good thing, too. Josh eventually bought a house in New Orleans, but it was badly damaged during Hurricane Katrina. Luckily, Josh and his visiting family members evacuated before the storm hit and were never in danger.
The house, though, is being rebuilt and is months from completion. Josh isn’t sure what he’ll do with the house; he’s not sure if the Saints will ever return to New Orleans. For now, he’s living in a condominium in San Antonio, where the Saints are playing some of their home games. Sunday’s game in the Alamodome is sold out.
“It’s nice down here,” Josh said. “They show us a lot of love.”
Mom plans to watch both of her sons play — Daniel in Waco today, when Nebraska plays Baylor, and then Josh on Sunday down the road in San Antonio. But despite being so close to each other this weekend, neither of the brothers will be able to watch the other play.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, Josh and Daniel have both dreamed of one day again playing together. Of course, they realize that’s a long shot.
“You can dream about it,” Daniel said. “But I try not to think too much about that now. I try to focus on this year.”
Daniel still wants a Big 12 championship ring. He’s planning on the Huskers still being in contention for at least a North Division title when Josh returns home for Nebraska’s Nov. 12 game against Kansas State.
It’s the next time Josh will be in town, and only the second time in several months the brothers will have seen each other.
Maybe then the Bullocks’ Lincoln house won’t seem quite as empty to Lady. And even if he finds Lady sleeping in his bed, Josh should still feel right at home.
He’s held on to his key.
