Pittsburgh Beat Arizona in Big Game Pet Name Competition

Football Teams Inspire Fans to Creatively Name Pets

True dedication is not measured in ticket sales, or Terrible Towels. True dedication is the fan with a cat named Rothlisberger, or a poodle named Polamalu.

Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), the nation’s oldest and largest provider of medical insurance for pets, recently analyzed its database of more than 467,000 insured pets to find which national football competitor has inspired the most fans to name pets in honor of the team or its players.

While the exact inspiration for any pet name may be impossible to determine, there’s no doubt the Steeler Nation made a more pronounced impact on pet names in 2008. Here’s a look at how the two teams match up:

Big Game Pet Names

Arizona	#	Advantage		#	Pittsburgh
Pets Named After:		Cardinals	Steelers		Pets Named After:
Overall	76			159	Overall
Team (“Cardinal” or “Cardinals”)	1			19	Team (“Steeler” or “Steelers”)
Quarterback (“Warner”)	3			4	Quarterback (“Roethlisberger”)
Receiver (“Fitzgerald”)	8			5	Receiver (“Hines Ward”)
Current Stars (“Boldin,” “Edge”)	15			19	Current Stars (“Polamalu,” “Woodley”)
Former Stars (“Tillman,” “Marcel”)	35			32	Former Stars (“Bettis,” “Bradshaw”)
Nickname or Mascot (“Big Red”)	9			4	Nickname or Mascot (“Steely”)
Intangibles (“Whisenhunt,” “Leinart”)	5			76	Intangibles (“Rooney,” “Myron”)

Return to the VPI Pet HealthZone

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