Chapter 1: What unique stories about football are shared in this episode?
Welcome to The Moth. I'm Michelle Jalowski. It's that time of year when it feels like everyone is talking about football. And whether you're a diehard fan or you don't know the difference between a tush-push and a flea flicker, and yes, those are both real football phrases, the stories around the game are often just as fascinating and exciting as the game itself.
On this episode, two stories related to football that aren't about the game of football. We're talking halftime shows, big game pageantry, and puppy bowls. First up is Eliana Smith, who told this at a Philadelphia Grand Slam where the theme was making waves. Here's Eliana, live at the Moth.
I started fostering dogs, or convinced my parents that we needed to start fostering dogs, when I was 12 years old. This quickly became my entire personality. And within the first year, I had fostered over 40 different dogs. And it was around then that I was presented with the holy grail of foster dogs.
Annabelle was about a year and a half old and she was like a pity mix, very stereotypical, very sweet and like wanted to be all over you. And she was very pregnant as well. So in a few short weeks, I would have five tiny puppies in my house at all times. And I was so excited. I learned everything I could about early puppy development.
Even in those first few days, exposing them to the right things will determine what they're afraid of and how emotionally stable they are later in their life. It's really incredible. So on the 4th of July, Annabelle had not five, but 10 puppies. And again, I'm 12 years old and I get to have 10 puppies in my lap at all times. It's incredible. And the first few weeks, they're not really doing much.
They don't really do anything. But then come three weeks, those eyes are open, their ears are open, they're learning to walk, they're learning to play, and they're realizing there's a world around them. And they get really excited about that. And it's around then that I got the best email you could ever receive. Animal Planet.
the network, TV network Animal Planet, reached out to my shelter looking for puppies for the 2017 Puppy Bowl. And when you're 12 years old and your entire personality is fostering dogs, this is the Olympics.
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Chapter 2: How does Elyana Smith prepare a dog for the Puppy Bowl?
And I needed to submit my three best contenders with headshots and personality bios. So they are three weeks old. They are the size of a soda can. And you might think that personality bios would be difficult, but I'd been watching them. I know who was cut out for it. There was one that was really into toys, so I was like, that could be good, and another one, so I was exploring.
Then there was a third one, Juniper. She was the first girl who was born. And she always got into so much trouble. She taught all the other puppies, all nine other puppies, to crawl out of their crated area and to escape into the house. She was very interesting. And so we submitted these, and I waited to hear back so anxiously. And they continued to grow very fast.
And I continued to expose them to everything I was supposed to expose them to and made sure they had every milestone. And then I heard back. Juniper was in. She was going to go to the puppy bowl. We were going to the puppy bowl. And this was next level. So time continued to go on. At around eight weeks, all the puppies got adopted. Their mom got adopted. I met all their families.
It was wonderful. And Juniper stayed with me because she needed to be four months old before she could go. And so during that time, we went everywhere, we exposed her to every sound and movement, and there was going to be nothing that could break her focus. And by the time she was like three and a half months, she was an incredible dog.
Potty trained, crate trained, slept through the night, we were ready. And then I got my second life-changing email of the summer. Animal Planet had not known that I was 12 years old. And you actually can't go to the Puppy Bowl studio if you're under 18. And obviously I was crushed. This was terrible. But I knew. I knew that the Puppy Bowl was there to promote pet adoption.
It was there to support a cause that I believed in so much. And it would be okay. So a volunteer at the shelter took Juniper to New York City. This was in New York City. And... They took her, and she went, and she did a great job, whatever. And then she got adopted, which was great by my neighbors, so I get to keep seeing her, whatever.
And they filmed this in October, but they don't air it until February. That's a little inside scoop. And so come February, the local brewery is having a public screening. I'm allowed at the brewery, but not the Puppy Bowl studio. And... I got to bring Juniper, who's now like eight, nine months old, big, full of energy, but scared of nothing, very confident.
And we're at the puppy bowl, we're watching all the puppies do whatever they do, and people are coming up to me and wanting to meet her and asking questions and taking pictures. And then this woman came over to me, and she started showing me pictures of Juniper when she was a puppy. And I was like, this is so weird. Why is this lady showing me pictures of my puppy?
And then she explains excitedly that she was the one who got to take Juniper to New York. And in this moment, I knew that I had set this dog up for the best life, and her nine other siblings, and her mom, and that I had made a change greater than myself. And all of this was so important. But I also knew that that woman stole my moment. And I would never forgive her for it.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Elyana face while fostering puppies?
And I hated Football Mickey. I would take Football Mickey out of the bottom of the toy pile, where he was always kept, just so I could rail him against the side of my bed. And when I played pretend with all my stuffed animals, Football Mickey was always the bad guy. And I hated that expectation that just because I was a boy, I was supposed to like football.
But every year, my grandpa would buy me another football for Christmas and another baseball glove. And every year, he'd ask me, are you going out for any sports? I went out for Little League baseball once, but I just sat in the outfield and made daisy chains, so I decided to quit. And one Christmas in particular, he and my mom got in a yelling match.
He had asked her who my friends were, who I was hanging out with, what I was doing with my time. And when she told him the truth, that all my friends were girls and that I preferred piano over baseball, he just lost it. I can still, like, place myself in relation to the dinner table so vividly, as my grandpa yelled from one side and my mom defended me from the other.
And she's always felt undervalued by her dad, so that didn't help either. Well, I lost track of Football Mickey years ago, which would have been super sad had it been any other stuffed toy. Like one time I came home and I found my favorite toy rabbit hanging in shreds from the jowls of the family dog. God damn it, Billy. And I was like immobilized by grief for the rest of the night.
But no tears were shed over Football Mickey. And so after baseball, I never went out for any other sports, and I never watched them either. In high school, I hated being in the pep band because it forced me to go and watch every single game. But last year, something changed. And I have to give some credit to Beyonce. Because it was Super Bowl Sunday, 2013. Right? Right? We almost won!
And you know, after the Beyonce halftime show, the only reason I had turned on the TV, I kept it on. And I watched the second half of the game. And I paid attention. And I loved it. I did. I loved it. And it just made me think, you know. My grandpa's not athletic like he used to be. He was always drinking and cussing and working. A midwestern farm guy. And now he has Alzheimer's. He's quite old.
And he misses his farm. And he misses me. Well, the other month I was home for Christmas. My parents and I went and visited him in the hospice. And his memory came and went throughout the evening. But in those moments of forgetfulness, his thoughts were completely unfiltered. And in those moments, without even knowing who was in the room next to him,
He talked about how proud he was of my mom, how great of a worker she had been, and how he wished that she would come around more often to visit. And he talked about me, how proud he was of me, and how great of a young man he thought I had become. And I could see it in his eyes, this kind of love unfiltered by circumstance or expectation.
This kind of love that, I mean, I realize now had always been there, even when it hurt. And you know, the next time I'm home, I'm going to look around and I'm going to try to find Football Mickey. Thank you.
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