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Woman holding puppy sign at Royals game plans to adopt puppy from KC Pet Project

Posted at 5:18 PM, Oct 01, 2014
and last updated 2014-10-02 17:39:26-04

One person getting a lot of attention after the Royals win Tuesday night is not even a player.

Katie Castan is a new Royals fan who brought a sign to the game that read, “If we win, he’s buying me a puppy.” It had an arrow pointing to Castan’s right, where her boyfriend was standing. It also had a picture of a Corgi wearing a gold crown.

 

 

“Corgis are my favorite,” said Castan. “They're the queen’s dogs and we're the Royals so I thought it was the perfect one for the sign with the crown.”

Castan appeared on TBS, the channel broadcasting the game, in the middle of the fifth inning. Little did she know, that moment on television would propel her into the viral world.

During the seventh inning, when the Royals were down, Castan and her boyfriend, Joe Onofrio, left their seats and headed for the outfield.

“When we were in the outfield we had a couple of people come up to us and say, ‘Do you have a sign with you by chance?’” said Castan. “I go, ‘Yeah why?’ They go, ‘Well, I saw you on Twitter, can I take a picture with you?’”

That’s when Castan knew her sign was blowing up. Her story appeared on a Yahoo! Sports blog. Sports Illustrated called her Wednesday morning. All this attention for a little bet Castan had made with Onofrio earlier this year while he was watching a Royals game in TV.

“Started back in June and I wanted to change the channel and he said if I would watch all the games, get to know some of the players, and if the Royals made it to the playoffs, he would get me a puppy,” said Castan.

As a huge animal lover, Castan knew she wanted a dog. So she dedicated herself to becoming a Royals fan.

“She can name a bunch of players on the team,” said Onofrio. “We watched pretty much every game together on my couch and she didn't make me change that channel once since we made that bet so it was perfect.”

Now, it’s time for Onofrio to pay up.

“There are a lot of questions on whether I'm going to do it and I absolutely am going to get us a puppy,” he said. “The dog is staying at my house. I'll be taking care of the puppy, coming home on weekends, coming home at lunch, I'm excited to be taking care of it.”

Castan said they plan to adopt a puppy or a dog from the KC Pet Project.

“We would love to help her find a puppy to adopt here at KC Pet Project,” said Tori Fugate, Manager of Marketing and Development.

Other local shelters, such as Wayside Waifs and Great Plains SPCA, have also put Castan’s story on their social media pages, to encourage others to adopt animals.