The most notable catch in an American football game between Miami and Appalachian State did not even happen on the field.
A cat had got into Hard Rock Stadium, then got caught by one of its paws off the facade of the upper deck in the first quarter.
It eventually fell to the lower level of the stadium, where fans using an American flag as a makeshift net were able to catch it before it was carried off to safety.
“They were trying to grab it from above and they couldn’t reach it but they were scaring it downward,” said Craig Cromer, a facilities manager at the University of Miami and season-ticket holder who with his wife Kimberly brings the flag to each home game.
“It hung there for a little while with its two front paws, then one paw, then I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s coming soon’.”
That is when the Cromers unhooked the flag from the ties they use to keep it on a railing and hoped for the best. The petrified cat fell, bounced a bit off the flag and eventually was secured by some in the nearby student section before being brought away by stadium security workers.
The cat did not show any signs of injury. The Cromers, other than a spilled beverage and getting sprayed by the dangling cat, were otherwise fine.
“Strangest thing that’s ever happened at a game,” Kimberly Cromer said.
