Barry's getting robbed!

Puppy Bowl II is on, and it is the latest idea that I wish I had.

The premise: Animal Planet draws non-football fans by putting 14 puppies in a fake football arena and giving them a bunch of toys and a water bowl and letting them do whatever they want. They nap and eat during commercial breaks. At "halftime", kittens frolic.

Two disturbing trends so far:
1) You can vote for Most Valuable Puppy, and Barry -- who is far and away the feistiest, spurring much of the action by fighting bigger dogs and sprinting laps around the little field -- is getting drubbed. I think voters are picking the Cutest Puppy, but that is not in the spirit of the world. I'll admit Barry isn't much to look at, but he gets the job done. Vote for Barry.
2) Every time one of the puppies has an accident, he is penalized! A creepy guy in a referee uniform stomps onto the field, throws a flag, and announces "intentional grounding" or some other pseudo-entendre that would normally make you chuckle. But as I said before, the guy is creepy, and he has an earring. No self-respecting referee would wear an earring on the field, but since this guy is, in fact, refereeing a game involving puppies, I'm guessing his self-respect may be less than it normally is. Plus, he has to clean up the "intentional groundings," so no wonder he looks pissed.

Anyway, it's on four times today: 3-6, 6-9, 9-midnight, midnight-3.