When people gather at a football game, they expect to see football. They don't expect to see cats hanging on for dear life from the upper deck. But, that's exactly what happened at a University of Miami-Appalachian State University football game.
The game was held at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. While fans were having a good time, it suddenly became apparent that a cat had snuck into the stadium and got knocked down off of the upper deck. The cat was trying hard to cling onto the railing for security. But in a situation like that, there's only so much it could do.
Luckily, people took notice — and, the cat was OK. But the video that showed what happened will leave everyone cheering.
You may question how the cat got in. Sometimes, stray cats can sneak into stadiums undetected. But this video is a good reminder that they might not belong there. While this cat was lucky, not all cats would have had such a loving and attentive crowd to help.
While everyone who saw the scared cat dangle had a wonderful motive to save its life, the true heroes in this situation were a well-prepared Air Force veteran and his wife. The couple bring a flag with them to every game, and it just so happened that they were sitting right under the cat. By using the flag as a way to cushion the fall, the cat was able to survive.
That veteran was season ticket holder Craig Cromer, who was at the game with his wife Kimberly. Craig currently works as a University of Miami facilities manager, so needless to say, he's attended plenty of games in the past. When they saw the cat was in trouble, they began to unfurl their flag.
Would the cat have died had they not caught it? That's an interesting question. Cats are agile, and will almost always land on their feet. But the cat could have easily been injured in the fall. One of the best parts of the video is seeing the cat alive and well after it lost its grip.
The cat appears to have an owner, as many noticed that it was wearing a collar. Hopefully, nobody tried to sneak the cat into the stadium. It's not easy to have a cat sit still, especially in a noisy stadium with a lot going on. No matter what, hopefully the cat found its home after its big moment in the spotlight.
According to Deseret News, that might not be the case. And while the cat is alive, it seems like fans lost track of it shortly after the fall. According to Craig, the cat scratched and clawed the student who was holding onto it. That caused the student to let go, and the cat ran away.
While it seemed like a sweet moment on camera, Craig said that the moment was a little more intense than fans at home realized. For one, the cat had urinated on the crowd below. And secondly, it did some damage to the flag, which Craig and his wife plan to retire.
As Craig said to the news outlet, "It was a nerve-wracking two to three minutes." Surely it was something he never expected to witness. But he managed to make the cat's landing just a little easier, which is something he and his wife should be proud of.
More and more footage has been released of the fall, with many catching the moment on their phones from different angles. Regardless of how you view it, it's a tense scene before we know the outcome. But it's also really beautiful to see how many people were cheering this cat on.
That said, hopefully it doesn't happen again. Stadiums aren't safe places for animals, and it must have been a scary situation for the cat — which likely explains why it was so quick to flee. Pet owners need to make sure their pets are safe at home. Had this cat met another fate, it would have been quite a sad day for football fans.
