Exclusive with Rodney Peete, Kitten Bowl Host, Lions, USC Legend

The Hallmark Channel may have cancelled the Kitten Bowl before last year, but the format lives on. You can watch the Kitten Bowl on YouTube, and more information can be found here.

With that in mind, let’s go return to our exclusive with USC Trojans and Detroit Lions star Rodney Peete, one of three celebrities who provided colour commentary for Kitten Bowl V.

The co-host of Roggin and Rodney on AM 570 Los Angeles, M-F noon-2, is a former Philadelphia Eagles player, and his wife, actress Holly Robinson Peete, is from Philadelphia, hence the Peetes will root for the Eagles in Super Bowl 52. Rodney Peete graciously granted us an exclusive interview ahead of the Kitten Bowl, and we discussed a variety of topics, including his new reality show, which will premiere on Hallmark Channel, his Chicago Bears family connections, his battles against the Michigan State Spartans and UCLA Bruins while at USC, and much more.

Peete began and spent the majority of his career with the Detroit Lions before finishing with the Carolina Panthers, therefore he remains on the feline brand here. According to Rodney Peete, he is best recognised as a Lions player.

“I spent the most time there, my first five years in the league were in Detroit,” he told reporters.

They were the squad that drafted me. If I’m out in a crowd and people recognise me or whatever, the first thing that comes to mind is that I’m a Detroit Lion; more people associate me with that. They took a chance on me, so that’s probably where I’m most loyal.

Boomer Esiason, the legendary play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Bengals (a large cat mascot team, of course), will call Kitten Bowl V. Peete will be joined by Hallmark Channel’s Dean Cain and Alison Sweeney to provide colour commentary during the show.
Of course, this is all for a very good cause. In its first four years, Kitten Bowl (“game preview” at this link) has spurred the adoption of over 13,000 animals. The baby cats in the game have a 100% adoption rate and their own trading cards.

“The North Shore Animal League does a great job of finding these kittens and then helping them in finding them a home,” Peete added. “They have been incredible to work with.”