People running onto the field: mildly if stupidly entertaining at best, potentially dangerous situation at worst. Animals running onto the field: universally awesome.
Monday Night Football viewers were treated to plenty of the latter tonight when a black cat managed to find its way onto the field at MetLife Stadium.
There is a black cat on the field. DeMarcus Lawrence would like someone to take care of that. Big cheers for this cat. Great moves. pic.twitter.com/c9OGOWQIxG
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 5, 2019
ESPN’s broadcast gave the people what they wanted, which was plenty of the cat:
https://twitter.com/Someone20241575/status/1191540462059962368
Obviously Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland had some fun with it, including breaking down in laughter when a slow-motion closeup was used going to break following a Giants field goal.
https://twitter.com/_MarcusD3_/status/1191541019998916608
The best cat call (sorry) of the night, though, came from Kevin Harlan, calling the radio broadcast for Westwood One. Harlan has a history of calling fans on the field, so calling the cat’s incursion was a natural fit. Despite the high bar he’s set for himself for moments like these, Harlan may have actually outdone himself:
AUDIO: There was a cat on the field. @Kevinharlan had the #MNF call for us.
It was beautiful. pic.twitter.com/4ShTBVaYRZ
— Westwood One Sports (@westwood1sports) November 5, 2019
Here’s a portion of the call synced up to the television broadcast:
Kevin Harlan's Westwood One radio call of the cat on the field is, as you might expect, an all-time great call. How much of a pro is Harlan? He worked a sponsor read into it. pic.twitter.com/3x0MVNEHNY
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 5, 2019
“He’s walking to the three…he’s at the two…and the cat is in the CDW Red Zone, CDW, the people who get…now a policeman, a state trooper has come on the field, and the cat runs into the end zone! That is a touchdown!”
Burke is correct that Harlan managing an ad read in the middle of calling an animal field invasion is worthy of all the praise. Hopefully the cat is rescued as quickly as possible; given its celebrity status, that should happen pretty quickly.
More games should be interrupted briefly by adorable animals.
