Tuesday, Aug. 8 was “International Cat Day” and SB Nation decided it was time to give an inaugural award to a sports-focused cat ready to take on a leadership role in the community.
The Sixers helped ‘Raise the Cat’ all the way to Catmissioner of Sports 2017
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
We received dozens of good entries. There were cats wearing jerseys, cats watching TV, cats curled up with balls, and a dead deer at the bottom of a pool because that kind of thing happens when you ask for something on the internet.
After much deliberation we narrowed down the field to four very good sports cats.
Ndamukat Suh: An angry looking cat wearing a Nebraska Huskers helmet who would definitely kill you if it could.
Fetch Cat: A cat that loves to play fetch, which makes it the most sporting of the group but also the least cat-like. What a paradox.
Raise the Cat: Beloved social media darling and beacon of hope to Sixers fans everywhere.
Tennis Cat: A cat that loves watching tennis, but likes chasing the ball on the screen even more.
Decisions like which cat is made a commissioner should not be made by a small group of people. The democratic process must be respected, and as such we put the nominees up for vote on Twitter.
Out of the gate Ndamukat Suh dominated. That kitty head smushed into a helmet was too much for voters to pass up, and for a while it seemed like the vote was over before it began — then it happened.
The Sixers jumped in with 40 minutes remaining in the vote and flipped it. Raise the Cat was already polling strongly in second place, but at this time Ndamukat Suh seemed destined for a win.
Here’s how it ended up:
Electoral purists will say the Sixers influencing the vote was a subversion of the democratic process, but I like to think it taught the team an important lesson about how you can finish first by winning something.
There is no denying who won this vote. Congratulations to Raise the Cat.
All cats are good cats, however. So feel free to print out the following certificate and award it to your cat. Yes, you’ll be lying to your cat — but don’t think for a second that your cat wouldn’t lie to you.
