The Standard

Issue date: 3/19/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Caleb Jobe

The process sounds similar to cooking chicken.

"Imagine if you had a piece of chicken and it dripped some fat on the stove and made that sizzling sound," Missouri State's Dustin Rich said.

But forget poultry. Following every Missouri State lacrosse victory this season, it's Rich's right arm that has been getting sizzled.

Rich, a senior defender for the Bears, has a victory routine that is nothing like the standard high-five.

Following each win, Rich takes a hot knife and rubs-in a "victory mark" on his right arm.

Painful? Not really, actually. At least for Rich.

"I've been hurt before and this is nothing," Rich said. "On a scale of 1 to 10, I would probably give it a 4, maybe 5, in terms of pain. It's like getting punched in the arm."

He offered a few simple reasons for adding these marks to his arm.

"I'm too broke to get a tattoo," Rich said. "Being a senior, I also wanted something that would remind me of lacrosse for the rest of my life.

Then the thought hit me: 'I'm going to put brands in my arm.'"

Just like his reasoning, the method for getting the brands is pretty basic.

The process

The supply list is not long. Rich only needs two things: a butter knife and a working stove.

"You take the knife, put it on the stove and get the flat, non-serrated edge hot," Rich said. "Then you run it across your arm and basically go until you hear the skin boil and pop.

"It only takes a few seconds and then you let it scab over on its own."

Missouri State is 5-1 on the season and located on Rich's arm are five marks representing the victories.

The longest one represents the Bears' 12-4 victory over rival Saint Louis University on Feb. 27.

Another portion of Rich's body recently got branded. Last Friday night, his jersey number (17) was engraved on the left part of his upper back.

"I told my friend about the marks on my shoulder for the first time," Rich said. "Then he goes: 'Let's put one on your back.' I was like, 'No … OK, let's do it.'

"Halfway down one of the numbers, everything went numb. Five minutes later, feeling came back and it hurt a bit."

Rich said that he hasn't suffered any health problems yet.

"No infections so far," Rich said. "If something bad was going to happen, I think it already would have."

Continued...

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