Barcelona’s Feline Mascot ‘Cat’ Makes Its Debut at Home Game

 Barcelona's new mascot "Cat" makes an appearance before the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and UD Las Palmas at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona on November 30, 2024. (AFP)
Barcelona's new mascot "Cat" makes an appearance before the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and UD Las Palmas at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona on November 30, 2024. (AFP)
TT
20

Barcelona’s Feline Mascot ‘Cat’ Makes Its Debut at Home Game

 Barcelona's new mascot "Cat" makes an appearance before the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and UD Las Palmas at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona on November 30, 2024. (AFP)
Barcelona's new mascot "Cat" makes an appearance before the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and UD Las Palmas at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona on November 30, 2024. (AFP)

Barcelona’s new mascot, a large yellow feline named “Cat,” has made its debut as part of the Spanish club’s 125th anniversary.

The mascot cavorted on the field at Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium before Barcelona hosted Las Palmas in a Spanish league game Saturday. The visitors won 2-1.

It wears Barcelona’s burgundy and blue shirt and shorts, and its mouth opens to reveal the same soccer ball icon found on the club’s emblem.

The name plays on Barcelona’s standing as the leading club in Spain’s northeast region of Catalonia. The four red stripes on its forehead, the club said, refer to the Catalan regional flag.

“Cat” was unveiled Friday at an anniversary gala.

The club describes the mascot as a “friendly, positive puss that is especially passionate about football, but also embraces all sports that are part of FC Barcelona’s multi-sport ethos, whether male or female, pro or amateur.”

In addition to its champion women's soccer team, Barcelona competes in other sports, including basketball, handball, indoor soccer, and roller hockey.

A previous mascot, “Clam,” was created for the club's 100th anniversary.



Pizza Delivery Monitor Alerts to Secret Israel Attack

The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Pizza Delivery Monitor Alerts to Secret Israel Attack

The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)

The timing of Israel's plan to attack Iran was top secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell.

About an hour before Iranian state TV first reported loud explosions in Tehran, pizza orders around the Pentagon went through the roof, according to a viral X account claiming to offer "hot intel" on "late-night activity spikes" at the US military headquarters.

"As of 6:59 pm ET nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity," the account "Pentagon Pizza Report" posted on Thursday.

While far from scientific, the Pentagon pizza theory "is not something the internet just made up," The Takeout, an online site covering restaurants and food trends, noted earlier this year.

Pentagon-adjacent pizza joints also got much busier than usual during Israel's 2024 missile strike on Iran, it said, as there are "a multitude of fast-food restaurants in the Pentagon complex, but no pizza places."

Pizza deliveries to the Pentagon reportedly doubled right before the US invasion of Panama in December 1989 and surged again before Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal he was fully aware in advance of the bombing campaign, which Israel says is needed to end Iran's nuclear program. "We know what's going on."

For the rest of Americans, pepperoni pie activity was not the only way to tell something was about to happen.

Washington had already announced it was moving some diplomats and their families out of the Middle East on Wednesday.

And close to an hour before Israel unleashed its firepower on Iran, the US ambassador in Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, sent out a rather revealing X post: "At our embassy in Jerusalem and closely monitoring the situation. We will remain here all night. 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!'"