You just love to see it, especially since I'm pretty sure that last year, a local dog was considered to be the "Most Valuable Pup" on for his team in the Puppy Bowl. And this year, it could happen again, because two local pups will be part of the 2021 Puppy Bowl!

Actually, thinking about it right now -- is there anything we need more right now than the Puppy Bowl? Last year's took place before the world pretty much blew up -- COVID hadn't really fully blown up yet, meaning there wasn't really a pandemic yet, meaning there was no reason to quarantine, meaning we were all still too busy to be keyboard warriors and go at each other.

All of that came AFTER last year's Puppy Bowl, which makes this year's even more important, because we're depending on all of those little fluff balls to relax us and put smiles on faces after a rough (ruff?) year.

Of course, that won't happen for us in New England, considering we are the absolute WORST (and I mean that as a compliment) sports fans there are. Maybe except for Yankees fans, no one is more passionate, loud, and slightly obnoxious as us. So we'll no doubt be screaming at the TV from our couch when the Puppy Bowl goes down on Sunday, February 7 on Animal Planet (and discovery+ from what I hear).

Rumor and Duke are two pups from the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland that we'll be watching closely take the field as starters on February 7 and hopefully become the Tom Barkdy and Julian Edelpup of the Puppy Bowl this year. (Listen, I know that was corny as heck, but let me live, ok?) According to NEWS CENTER Maine, Rumor is a staffordshire terrier/cattle dog mix and was born deaf. Duke is a great pyrenees/standard poodle mix, who is pretty much obsessed with every squeaker toy ever.

What's really cool is there are apparently a ton of Northeastern pups that will be part of the Puppy Bowl, as in their article, NEWS CENTER Maine said they'll be joining "more than 70 other pups from Northeast shelters and rescue groups."

Go get 'em, Team Ruff! And here's to Rumor and Duke being named co-Most Valuable Pups at the end of the game!

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