Team Ruff faces Team Fluff in Puppy Bowl 13 for Petco Lombarky Trophy
The nation’s eyes won’t only be focused on The New England Patriots vs. The Atlanta Falcons this Sunday for Super Bowl 51. They also will be watching the 13th Annual Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.
This year the cutest competition in sports history is an epic matchup between Team Ruff and Team Fluff, who’ll go nose-to-nose to win the inaugural Petco Lombarky Trophy. They might be tugging on each other’s tails or pulling each other’s ears, but they will wind up finding forever homes right here in the Las Vegas Valley.
The two pup-tastic players are Peanut and Lil Tarzan, both rescued by Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ no-kill animal sanctuary when they were a few weeks old. Peanut is a Maltese and Powder Pull mix, and L.T. is a precious baby girl Brussels Griffon mix.
Peanut was foster cared by Las Vegas vegan chef Mindy Poortinga of Vegan meals who found a generous anonymous donor to pay for the puppy’s surgery to solve a blood flow problem to her liver. Puppy Bowl is a three-hour telecast with pre-game aww-nalysis and cuddly commentary from sports correspondents such as Rodt Weiler.
Puppy Bowl 13 leads into a one-hour premiere of Animal Planet’s “Animal Nation” with Anthony Anderson. Animal Planet worked with 34 animal shelters and rescue organizations in 22 states before narrowing it down to fill the rosters with 78 adoptable puppies in the pile-up with the two Las Vegas team leaders.
My longtime friend Jill Rappaport, who I worked with often in New York, will handle Pup Close and Personal segments, one with our chef Mindy that will wind up in the Super Bowl LI telecast on Fox. So will it be Luke Bryan vs. Lady Gaga, Tom Brady vs. Matt Ryan or Peanut vs. Lil Tarzan for your couch viewing pleasure Sunday?