The Alex Morgan tea-sipping celebration is catching fire across the country, even finding its way to a minor-league baseball game in the Texas Panhandle town of Amarillo.
Morgan commemorated her goal in the USWNT’s 2-1 victory over England in the Women’s World Cup semifinals on Tuesday by pretending to drink a cup of tea. Because it’s 2019 and social media is still a thing, people got upset, sparking the U.S. co-captain to defend her celebration by saying guys do worse shit all the time — true — and that it was an homage to “Game of Thrones” actress Sophie Turner, who was honored.
The Queen of the North has spoken
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 5, 2019
But not everyone hated the Alex Morgan tea-sipping celebration (ourselves included).
On Independence Day on Thursday, a Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres called the Amarillo Sod Poodles had a unique take on the Kiss Cam. Instead of asking fans to kiss or some other awkward thing, the stadium asked fans to do their best tea-sipping to honor the American hero that is Alex Morgan.
Well @alexmorgan13 thanks for the inspiration! #SipTheTea pic.twitter.com/eBRL4G8yM0
— Amarillo Sod Poodles (Blue Checkmark) (@sodpoodles) July 5, 2019
Sure, why not?
Now to the question you’re all asking: What the hell is a sod poodle?
What In The Heck Is A Sod Poodle?
A sod poodle, according to the Texas Standard, is supposedly an archaic name for a prairie dog. Prairie dogs, for those of you from east of the Mississippi, are not just what you do when you really gotta go No. 2 on a road trip; they’re little yapping, burrowing rodents who aren’t dogs at all.
Initially thought to be too weird for Amarillo (that’s more Austin’s thing), it’s now a bit more acceptable and the team even has its own fan-made theme song that’s almost not horrible.
The team has a goofy “sod poodle” mascot who wears a cowboy hat and a bandana and for some reason looks more like a chipmunk than a prairie dog. And the social media department is desperate for a verified Twitter account.
So @Jack you can hang with Ruckus and Welly but you can't give us the Blue Checkmark? @Verified #VerifyTheSodPoodles pic.twitter.com/d6T8eUwVMA
— Amarillo Sod Poodles (Blue Checkmark) (@sodpoodles) June 13, 2019
The Alex Morgan Tea-Sipping cam might be just the thing the team needs to get that blue checkmark.