Local Animal Shelter Will Name a Feral Cat After Your Ex-Boyfriend — Then Neuter Him

A feral cat like one that a Philadelphia-area animal shelter will neuter after naming it for your ex-boyfriend in its Valentine’s Day promotion (Getty Images)

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A Valentine’s Day Promotion We Can Get Behind: Neuter Your Ex-Boyfriend

It’s around this time of year that my inbox gets inundated with Valentine’s Day promotions. A special frilly drink at some restaurant. A couple’s massage with rose petals at some spa. Hotel-room packages. I do my best to ignore them. But I just heard about one Valentine’s Day promotion I can definitely get behind.

For those of you who hate Valentine’s Day or maybe your ex (or perhaps both), an animal shelter in Blackwood, New Jersey, has come up with a novel idea.

Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center has a trap-neuter-return program in which they trap feral cats, neuter them, and then return them to the wild. And if you make a $50 donation to the shelter between now and Valentine’s Day, they will name one of the feral cats after your ex-boyfriend and then neuter him. “Because some things shouldn’t breed,” the shelter joked in a statement. Kind of love this!

No word on whether they’ll send a video of the neutering of your ex’s namesake to him. Because that would be totally worth it. And, yes, they’ll spay your ex-girlfriend as well. But somehow that seems less fun.

The Return of Potholes

Another thing that always happens this time of year: potholes. Once again, they are a huge problem. Once again, it’s taking the city forever to fix them. I recently reported a major ditch — much bigger than a pothole — to the city’s 311 system. And how long will it take for the city to fix it? Well, in the email response I received from 311, the estimated amount of time is 46 days! Good luck out there. And for everything you could possibly want to know about potholes in Philadelphia, read our incredibly thorough and exhaustive guide.

Local Talent

Yet another thing that happens this time of year: the Grammys. They’re this Sunday. And one Mount Airy talent will be at the ceremony, because he’s nominated for one of those statues. No, he didn’t sing a hit, nor did he write one. He didn’t produce an album. Not a note did he play. Perry Shall is up for the Grammy for best album design. Shall is an artist who has designed album covers for the likes of Black Keys and Green Day. And he’s nominated for his designs on Electrophonic Chronic, an album by the Arcs that came out last year. Looks like this:

Somewhere out there, some boomer is thinking, “Well, it’s no Dark Side of the Moon.”

More on Shall and his art here.

By the Numbers

4: Days 17-year-old murder suspect Shane Pryor remained on the run after escaping custody last week. U.S. Marshals found him in Northeast Philly on Sunday.

$282.2 million: Additional transit funding proposed by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro amid protests over service cuts.

30 billion: Estimated number of hate-mail-type emails, tweets, comments, etc., that I’ve received over my story about Madonna’s South Philly show last Thursday. Which is really weird, because, overall, the article says positive things about the show. Can’t imagine what would have happened had I said horrible things about her or the performance.

And from the Tough-Times Sports Desk …

The Sixers played the Pacers on Thursday, the first of four straight road games. Starters: Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre Jr., Patrick Beverley, Tyrese Maxey and Nic Batum, thanks to some illnesses and injuries. The team didn’t exactly have a sterling start, quickly going down 11-2 early in the first. In the second quarter, Embiid hit the floor and got up clutching his right knee. He stayed in the game, but the whole team never got going. It was 73-61 at the half and a long, ugly slog in the second half, slightly relieved by some fun play for the youngsters on the way to a 134-122 loss. First NBA bucket for Ricky Council IV, though! And Joel was named to the All-Star team for the seventh time — one of the starting five.

He was, however, not available for Saturday’s game in Denver vs. the Nuggets. Neither was Tyrese. Neither was Tobias. Starting five: Batum, Oubre, Beverley, Paul Reed and Marcus Morris Sr. It was an ugly 13-2 start, then turned into a better game than we had any right to expect, considering the wounded.

This Jokic-Oubre rivalry 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/vdIi8YFH84

— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) January 28, 2024

Near the close of the third, Furkan Korkmaz, of all people, tied it with a three, 84-84, before Reed put us up 88-86. Woo-hoo!! The kids were playing great defense, too. Toward the end of the quarter, though, things began going south — was it the altitude? — before Reed led a flurry of a final rally to cap his career-high 30 points. It wasn’t quite enough.

https://twitter.com/THEBLITZ365/status/1751413772520927666

We’re considering it a goddamn moral victory, though. Two more road-trip games for our guys, the first tonight against the Trail Blazers, starting at 10 p.m. Joel is questionable again.

The Flyers also played.

Any College Hoops News?

Drexel, which had been on a tear — they were 7-0 and atop the Coastal Athletic Association — got in a hole early vs. the Towson Tigers last Thursday but closed to within four at the half, 32-28. Would they, could they rally? They outscored the Tigers in the second half and were down by one with 13 seconds to go … and lost, 70-67. The run was done.

On Friday night, St. Joe’s held it close through the first half and some of the second against St. Bonaventure, but an 11-2 Bonnies run — they had the home advantage — and a 29-point showing by Daryl Banks III put it out of reach. Final: 91-72.

On Saturday, Penn’s Quakers just got nipped by the Columbia Lions, 84-81. Drexel’s Dragons got right back to their winning ways with a 62-47 defeat of North Carolina A&T. In Indianapolis, Butler hung around and hung around against Villanova and came within two points with a minute to go, to the delight of the raucous crowd, then tied it with 4.2 left and forced it to overtime … and then a second overtime … and got the 88-81 win. That made four straight losses for ’Nova. Finally, the La Salle Explorers notched a big win against George Washington, 80-70.

On Sunday, the Temple Owls fell behind early at East Carolina but rallied with a 12-2 run and were only down 27-26 at the half. They took the lead in the second half on an 8-0 spree, 34-33, and stretched it to eight with three minutes to go. But ECU stormed back, and it all came down to a wild final 60 seconds and foul shots on both. Tied at the buzzer … overtime again? And another Owls loss.

Final: ECU 70, Temple 64 (OT)

Riley scores 20 for the third time this season. Dezonie sets a career-high with nine rebounds.

Owls return to action on Feb. 4 at Tulane#Team128

— Temple Men's Basketball (@TUMBBHoops) January 29, 2024

Nothing on for tonight.

All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.