Dogs

Sheldon: Is that what you’re wearing to watch football at Penny’s?

Leonard: What’s wrong with a football jersey?

Sheldon: Nothing. That, however, appears to be a football cocktail dress.

Leonard: It’s the smallest size they had, except the one for dogs. I can’t believe they had one for dogs.

Sheldon: Oh, yes. Canine football fans are a common sight in Texas. Cats, however, refuse to wear sporting apparel. My sister found that out the hard way.

via Series 3 Episode 06 – The Cornhusker Vortex | Big Bang Theory Transcripts.

I love this exchange between the anything-but-athletic roommates Dr. Sheldon Cooper and Dr. Leonard Hofstatter on TV’s “The Big Bang Theory.” Sheldon does know all there is to know about football, because he grew up in Texas and his father forced him to watch the game all the time, but he’s certainly no sports fan. I’m not a fan either, and NO: I am not ready for some football. I could not care less about football, which makes me something of an anomaly in this completely football-mad “Cornhusker State.” I could also care less about being an anomaly. I would like to be able to avoid seeing or listening to football altogether, but since the airwaves of almost every retail establishment, restaurant and office in the state are filled with nothing but loud cheers, jeers, and play-by-plays on “game day,” I’ve trained myself to tune it out as much as possible. If I have the opportunity, I immerse myself in a book or go visit a garden. Or curl up with one of the cats. Cats could also not care less about football, or baseball, or basketball, or hockey.

I suppose there are some cats that take an interest in watching the action of a football game on the “big talking box” but I believe cats in general find it all much too noisy, and they certainly don’t enjoy all the boisterous cacophony of a house full of humans who have gathered to watch a sporting event on their humongous-screen TV! And they definitely do not want to be “kitted out” (as it were) in sporting duds. Dogs, bless them, are always eager to please their two-legged family members, and are even more eager to get in on a game – they really are team players, right down to their DNA! – so most pooches have no objection whatsoever to donning a doggy version of your favorite team’s uniform, because they know it means they get to spend time with the people they love and get all kinds of attention because they’re so cute in their football shirts. Cats, not so much. In fact, not at all!

Sheldon tackles Harry in a scrimmage

This is not to say that cats do not enjoy sports; in fact, our feline friends excel at athletics of all kinds! Aside from their obvious talents in gymnastics, track, and field (balance beam, tumbling, dash, and high jump to name just a few,) some cats also have superior skills that would make them stadium stars on any team. My Oliver Twist was a champion ball catcher (ping-pong size division) and had truly amazing paw-eye coordination; he could smack a ball across the living room, and surely out of the park if he wanted to! Sweet Sheldon can play offensive or defensive tackle against a much larger cat (Harry, for instance) and he’s got some moves that would baffle the best of the gridiron giants. And Harry … well, Harry’s probably just the gruff and grumbly coach who stalks the sidelines and screeches at the referee or umpire all the time!

However, athletic prowess aside, my cats are just as content to enjoy the sports of bird and critter watching, and they get plenty of exercise from a spontaneous hundred-yard-dash around the house, so we can get along just fine without ball games. And together, we shall enjoy the truly wonderful things about football season: the arrival of autumn weather, the delicious scents of baking apple & pumpkin pies, and snuggling up in our fleece blankies for a nice nap ’til the game is over!

Since today is “Throwback Thursday,” I thought I would share a piece that I wrote about a year ago for my previous blog …

My mom baked some cornbread this week. It was delicious, but it was slightly overdone. Mom heard the oven timer go off, but she couldn’t get out of her chair because Sheldon was all curled up on her lap! Now my dear mother will roll her eyes at me when I do something like this, but she knows very well that lap-time with Sheldon is precious. We’ve had Shel a little over a year now, and he’s always been a snuggle-bun, but he’s devoted all his snuggles to me … until just a few months ago. Mom was so excited the first time Shel jumped up in her lap and settled down for a little nap, she could hardly wait to tell me about it when I came home that day, and I was just as excited for her! Our beloved Oliver T used to sit with Mom almost every day, and I knew she’d been missing that since he’d passed away in March 2013.

We feel so privileged when our cats bestow their affection on us, and contrary to what many people believe, it’s not because cats are less affectionate than dogs. I love dogs too, but I think it just takes a little longer to earn a cat’s affection. A cat who has come to know you and trust you and love you will shower you with just as much adoration as a dog, but without the accompanying shower of drool! Cats in loving homes are every bit as devoted and loyal to their family members as are their canine counterparts; my own cats have proven that to me on a daily basis, and cats around the world are finally getting the credit and the headlines that they deserve as well.

A case in point: the kitty who so warmly welcomed his soldier daddy home from deployment. (Just click that highlighted text and a video will open up in a new window.) The video was all over the interwebs last week, because we’ve seen about 100 videos of dogs welcoming their soldiers home, and this was one of the first cat welcomes on record. And it’s ADORABLE. But you know what? My Oliver T used to leap into my arms when he was a kitten almost every time I came home, and as an adult he would rush to meet me at the door and then have a good scratch on my left shoe. Then I would pick him up for a snuggle and up the stairs we’d go. Yes, we went through a lot of shoes … but I wouldn’t dream of denying Oliver his greeting ritual! Now old curmudgeon Harry, he’s usually too lazy to meet me at the door, but if Mom and I have gone out together for awhile, Harry is right there when we come home. As for Sheldon, he takes after Oliver (minus the shoe-digging) and almost always comes flying downstairs when he hears me announce my arrival. Oftentimes I see him watching for me from the window above our garage. It warms my heart beyond description!

Dogs are wonderful, and of course there’s nothing like a big sloppy kiss and a wagging tail to let you know you’re loved (although I have to say that personally, I can do without the big sloppy kiss!) Cats are no less demonstrative, their love is just revealed to us in the fabulously feline way: the blessings of the snuggle, the adoring gaze, and of course, the purr.