The Puppy Bowl: Sunday’s other big game

Posted by Maura Judkis on February 3, 2013 at 9:45 am From: http://www.washingtonpost.com

There are three guarantees of Super Bowl Sunday:

There will be tortilla chips, so many tortilla chips.
There will be commercials that will give you pause.
A few channels away, there will be roly-poly puppies with soft bellies and floppy ears, widdle black noses and football-shaped toys, squeeee.

On Animal Planet’s ninth annual Puppy Bowl, which begins Sunday at 3 p.m. and airs on repeat for the rest of the day, you don’t have to pick a team to root for. The puppies always win.

Gallery: Behind the scenes at the Puppy Bowl (Linda Davidson/for The Washington Post)

I spent two days at the Puppy Bowl taping last November for Sunday Style’s behind-the-scenes look at the cutest show on TV, and its impact on Internet culture. A few things that you won’t see on the show: Anxious hovering of hedgehog parents, performance-enhancing drugs (read: catnip) administered to the kitties and this scene:

“I don’t know why, but everyone else refused to do this job,” said Jessi Baden-Campbell, the unlucky line producer for Discovery Studios, as she stepped onto the 10-by-19-foot “field” with cleaning solution in hand. She may be the busiest person in the Puppy Bowl. In minutes her services are needed again.

“We’ve got a puker!” calls out a cameraman.

And again.

“Someone made a touchdown right here!” calls out another, using a euphemism for a moment you probably won’t see on TV.