While the Chicago Bears are out of the running for this year’s Super Bowl, the city isn’t going unrepresented Sunday.
Two Chicago puppies, named after Blackhawks players, are gearing up to take the field as footballers in this year’s Animal Planet Puppy Bowl.
Taser and Sharpie, members of the Chicago’s ROMP Italian Greyhound Rescue, will be running the field with 66 other contenders, playing with pigskins.
The rescue is the first Chicago-based rescue to take part in the event and the pups are the first Italian Greyhounds to be featured on the show.
Taser and Sharpie, part of a Blackhawks-themed litter with siblings Crawford and Hossa, were born on the same day as the iconic Stanley Cup parade last June.
“After they started to crawl around, Taser and Sharpie expressed an interest in football,” the rescue posted on their website. “We found this funny seeing as we named them after hockey players but without thumbs they didn’t have much hope for ever making the NHL.”
The rescue says Taser will be No. 34 in the starting lineup and Sharpie is No. 21 in the Puppy Bowl backups.
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The rescue is holding a viewing party at 2 p.m. Feb. 2 at Chicago’s Dueces and Diamonds, 3505 N. Clark St., for fans to meet the Puppy Bowl stars, get “pawtographs” with them, and watch the four-legged pups compete.
