PHOENIX (KATC) – It’s a headline writing first for me: “Orangutans cause controversy at Fiesta Bowl.” That is, hands down, the biggest story coming out of Phoenix in the hours leading up to the Fiesta Bowl.
Vegas lists LSU as a touchdown favorite, the Advocate’s beat staff has a 2-2 split decision, and a pair of orangutans named Jiwa and Mike have officially named UCF the winner. Sort of.
The job to pick this year’s winner was in the hands of 4-year-old Jiwa. Slowly the youngster approached a pair of homemade manikins wearing team t-shirts, and ripped off the LSU one’s head before returning indoors. The Phoenix Zoo declared the choice unofficial saying it didn’t really interact with the LSU one, just took off it’s head.
Jiwa’s dad Mike (surely an LSU fan, right?) came out and pulled down the UCF and LSU dummies, in that order. Mike went on the destroy the LSU one and the zoo declared his choice as being pro-UCF since he interacted with the UCF dummy first. It’s also worth pointing out that he destroyed the LSU one, and didn’t the other.
Twitter controversy has ensured, but for Pete’s sake, these are orangutans picking winners, this isn’t science.
LSU head coach Ed Orgeron has instead found humor in all of this, and with three defensive backs out for Tuesday’s game, coach wondered what Mike or Jiwa would look like in purple and gold.
“I was thinking about that orangutan because maybe give him a couple of snaps tomorrow morning,” Orgeron chuckled. “Maybe we could use him in a couple of positions there.”
