The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) lashed out at quarterback Joe Namath for flipping the coin before the Super Bowl in a fur coat. The group’s Twitter account asked followers, “[H]ow many animals died to make Joe Namath’s fur coat?”
How might the PETArians react when they discover that one of their number watches a contest in which twenty-two carnivores fight over a dead animal’s hide?
“The National Football League is the only major sports league whose balls are manufactured in the United States,” Wilson says of its official NFL balls. “The footballs get their start on the backs of cows taken from feedlots in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Young, lean steers are preferred over fat dairy cows because the leather is more resistant to stretching. When the cowhides arrive in Ada, they are received from our tannery that treats them with the Wilson exclusive recipe and are stamped with the Wilson ‘W’ to authenticate our NFL leather.”
Though a pig’s bladder hasn’t composed the pigskin for more than a century, Wilson confirms that it still makes its prolate spheroids from slaughtered farm animals. Wilson not only bypasses synthetic leather for the genuine article, the sporting goods manufacturer brags about making their footballs from especially young cattle.
The Hall of Fame quarterback sported his iconic look throughout Sunday night’s game at chilly MetLife Stadium. “Who?” a puzzled or playful Broadway Joe asked Sean Hannity when the Fox News host brought up PETA’s objections. “They can be mad if they like. I love animals. It’s not the end of the world.”