The Cat And The Jaded Journalist

Luke the cat, owned by Crysty Terminella, watches Coach John Pelphrey and the Razorback basketball team.

OK, I admit it. I rolled my eyes and thought to myself “There’s no way in the name of Odin I’m printing that in the Freekly.”
Oh, I listened very politely and was completely courteous as an extremely sweet, polite and enthusiastic older woman told me the story of how her granddaughter’s cat likes to watch the Razorback basketball team on television and has a particular fixation with Coach John Pelphrey. Naturally, she had photographic evidence of the phenomenon and wanted it to run in the newspaper.
Insert eye roll. Yep, in the cold, sometimes soulless and grim mind of the journalism veteran, the mental gate immediately slams down with a big sign that says “No News Value.”
But somehow, the tale of Luke, the Pelphrey-loving feline stuck with me through the week. Maybe, I’m getting soft as I get older, or maybe it was just how sweet the woman was and how much it clearly meant to her to have the photograph published.
A lot of things get printed every day in newspapers or aired on television or radio that don’t amount to a hill of beans to a large number of people. Why not occasionally just do something just because it makes someone happy?
So, I apologize for my crusty, jaded eye rolling, and present for the public pleasure Luke, the Hogs’ No. 1 fan among cats, owned by Crysty Terminella.

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