After Florida beat Missouri back in October, one of Florida football’s beat writers noticed something weird on the field.
Anyone want to tell me what this is, exactly? pic.twitter.com/W1d9DfVooP
— Thomas Goldkamp (@ThomasGoldkamp) October 16, 2016
Some Redditors and others determined this to be the skeleton of a cat, with some accusing these players of mocking LSU’s live Tiger mascot, Mike VI, who tragically passed away from cancer last week at the age of 11. You can see the “skeleton cat” has gold and purple beads on it, which are obviously LSU’s colors.
Florida football released a statement on Twitter about it.
The Halloween cat seen on the field after last nights game was thrown onto the field by a fan. It has no significance within our program.
— Gators Football (@GatorsFB) October 16, 2016
But the object certainly had significance when Florida returned to Gainesville after beating LSU in Baton Rouge.
— D.SHARPE (@Sharpe_Theory) November 20, 2016
Yeah, that’s the same toy, and yeah it’s the same dude that brought it to the airport to greet the team.
Chris Harry, a writer for the school’s website tweeted (then deleted) this picture Saturday night ...
... with this text:
This #Gators fan came out to greet the team at the Gainesville airport -- with his skinned cat. #notscaredeither #lsutigers
Here’s the same fan with the object early in the Mizzou game:
So the cat skeleton Florida players were photographed with apparently belonged to a fan in the audience, as noted in the 4th quarter: pic.twitter.com/FVLKkVXot9
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 16, 2016
A few days after the Mizzou game, this fan reportedly called into WRUF, a University of Florida radio affiliate, and said he was unaware of Mike VI’s death.
The Gator fan who brought the skeleton tiger to Saturday's game just called @TheTailgateWRUF and said he did not know LSU's mascot had died.
— Zach Abolverdi (@ZachAbolverdi) October 18, 2016
LSU and Florida were supposed to play in Gainesville, Fla. back in October, but it was rescheduled to Nov. 19 in Baton Rouge due to Hurricane Matthew. Things have been pretty chippy between the two programs throughout this whole rescheduling process.
“The conference office asked us to find a solution in working with LSU, yet LSU was never a true partner in our discussions."--Jeremy Foley
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) October 13, 2016