NCAA confiscates reporter’s cat mug during Elite Eight game

As we’ve discussed before, there’s nothing more important in this world of ours than protecting your brand. Any and all measures, from the small to the grandiose, necessary to keeping your brand unsullied should be taken, which is why we applaud NCAA for confiscating Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Gay’s cat mug during the Elite Eight matchup between the Michigan State Spartans and the UConn Huskies. After all, cats certainly aren’t a major NCAA sponsor, and Gay’s use of a non-Powerade cup is tantamount to a war crime.

Gay’s story has been making its way through the sports blogosphere today, but we’ll catch you up in case you missed it. Basically, Gay found it ridiculous that there was an official rule regulating the kinds of cups and mugs reporters and other personnel can drink from during tournament games, so he decided to troll the NCAA by bringing his cat mug to press row.

To make sure he really sparked the ire of the NCAA, he tweeted some photos:

Gay says he was not harassed about the cup until the last four minutes of the game. It was then that a staffer approached Gay, asking him to hand over the mug. Gay complied, and the mug was given back to him once the game ended.

We shudder to think what would have happened had that brave staffer not become involved. Why, that cat mug, that feline assault on the NCAA’s brand, would have been allowed to emanate its evil vibes for an entire game, putting thousands of lives (and impressionable minds) at risk. God bless the NCAA for saving all of us from such a horrible fate.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]