Black cat tries to put curse on the Giants vs. Cowboys

In a game between two NFC East rivals, a black cat stole the show on Monday Night Football

If the 2-6 New York Giants go on to defeat the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football, Giants fans will fondly remember this night as the “Black Cat Game.”

With less than six minutes remaining in the first half on Monday, a black cat found its way onto the field at MetLife Stadium. Proving to be more elusive than any runner on either team, the cat disrupted play for more than two minutes before being removed by security.

The Giants went on to kick a field goal during the ensuing drive to take a 12-3 lead on their division rival. But if the Cowboys were spooked by the black cat, less than a week after Halloween, they didn’t show it on their next drive. Dallas drove down the field and scored a touchdown on a 42-yard pass from quarterback Dak Prescott to tight end Blake Jarwin with less than a minute remaining in the half. The Cowboys took a 13-12 lead into halftime with a 52-yard field goal as time expired.

Whoever goes on to lose the game tonight, superstitious fans will no doubt put the blame squarely on the black cat. This isn’t the first time a black cat has interrupted play and gave off bad luck to a team. Just ask the long-suffering Chicago Cubs.

Fifty years earlier and just 20 miles away, the Cubs were leading the NL East and playing a game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium on Sept. 9, 1969. A black cat ran onto the field then too, and the Cubs were never the same. They lost the game, lost the division to the Mets, and had to wait nearly another five decades before winning the World Series. The black cat earned its way in Cubs lore alongside the Billy Goat.

That’s not to say that the MetLife black cat will earn the same notoriety as its distant cousin did fifty years ago, but at least it provided a nice little distraction for fans watching at home and in the stadium.