Puppy Bowl XVI

By Celia Landry and Mya Miller

Lion’s Roar Staff

If sports is not your forte, Animal Planet had a great Super Bowl option for you. Last Sunday afternoon, the sixteenth annual
Puppy Bowl aired at 3p.m., just after the Dog Bowl. The Puppy Bowl aired three hours before the real deal as a pregame show.
Similar to the Super Bowl, the Puppy Bowl had players, a referee, and a model stadium. The only difference was that the
players were puppies, foster puppies, to be exact. These puppies were adoptable after the show by the spectators at home. The
HGTV hit show “Property Brothers,” gave a Puppy Bowl dog, Lucca, to one of the families for whom they were renovating a
house. You can give these dogs their fur-ever homes and adopt them at animalplanet.com/adopt.
Two of the dogs on the show, Sebastain and Eli, were even being fostered at a local adoption center in East Greenwich, Rhode
Island. Another pup, Filbert, a Shetland Sheepdog/Border Collie mix, is located in a canine special needs home, centered around
adopting out dogs with hearing and sight disabilities. Out of 40 dogs, five of them were disabled, and many others were strays
that were left to the streets.
The puppies were first given their teams and colored collar bandanas. The two teams were Team Fluff in blue, and Team Ruff
in orange. Like any football game, the team with the most points wins. The same was true for the Puppy Bowl, except in this
game the puppies had to bring a toy or ball to the endzone in order to get points. They could even fling a ball or toy through the
yellow goal posts to score a field goal.
What made the show extra hilarious was commentary, based on the puppy’s actions. There were comments on parts such as
the dogs getting penalties, having a staring contest, and even sitting on top of one another. Papaya, a Labrador Retriever/Border
Collie mix took a hysterical move by stealing the referee’s flag and walking away with it towards the end zone, earning herself a
touchdown!
This year's Super Bowl performers during the halftime show were Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. On the Puppy Bowl, they
spoofed that by having two kittens named Jenni-purr Lopez, and Catira. These kittens arrived in a limo, and then gave their own
rendition of Shakira’s “Hips [Catnip] Don’t Lie,” with flashing lights and props. In this show, there were even cheerleaders! The
cheerleaders for Team Ruff were armadillos, and the cheerleaders for Team Fluff were goats. On top of that, there was a hamster
named Surge that would run on his wheel to “power” the score board.
The Puppy Bowl was also semi-interactive. The spectators were able to vote on which dog would win the MVP award by
going to the Animal Planet Twitter during the show to vote. The contenders for this year were Cafecito, Bert, and Gina. Towards
the end of the show it was announced that Gina had won the MVP award by popular vote. The award for the drive of the day
went to Strudel for the play she made for Team Ruff.
At half-time, the score was tied at 35-35, and after many touchdowns between the two teams it came down to the last seconds.
Rocky Road, a German Shepherd/Samoyed mix won the last points for Team Fluff, scoring a touchdown in the last three
seconds. This was a first in history for the Puppy Bowl, for the last points to be scored in such a small period of time left in the
game.
In the end, Team Fluff won the game with a score of 63-59. They were presented with the “Chewy Lombarki” Trophy, which
was given to their team captain, Theodore, a Pomeranian/Siberian Husky mix.
For anyone who is not a die hard football fan, the Puppy Bowl offered a paw-fect alternative. Who doesn’t love puppies
playing football?