Meet the pigeon that swooped into Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver where the League of Legends spring season finals are being held. It flew around a bit and drove the crowd wild, proving not matter how advance entertainment gets, people fucking love when animals interrupt sporting events.
The city dove dropped in some time during game three of a best-of-five series between Fly Quest and Phoenix1. The two teams are competing for third place and when Fly Quest was dishing out a brutal beating to their avian opponents (including a nasty penta-kill), the crowd got a little distracted by its new feathered friend.
He looked sad and confused, unsure of what his next move was just like Phoenix1.
When things settled down after match three, the camera crew got down to business and gave the pigeon a few close-up shots while the commentators cracked jokes about it being Phoenix1's unofficial “12th man,” dishing out advice to the team that was currently losing 2-1 to its lower seeded rivals.
It wasn’t as perfect as when that little bird flew up and landed on Bernie Sander’s lectern during the 2016 Democratic Primary, but Phoenix1 did seem to get a lift from the strange new energy that was filling the stadium. In game four they came back to convincingly crush Fly Quest and tie the series up.
Now it’s onto the fifth and final match which, if the pigeon can stick around for and avoid getting killed, might go P1's way as well.
[Update 7:40PM] After blazing through game five, Phoenix1 completed their epic comeback, no doubt spurred on by a random pigeon from Vancouver, and take home third-place in the spring championship.
Fly Quest fought their reinvigorated opposition off at several key moments, but ultimately the momentum in the final match was against them. P1 had come online and were ready to demonstrate why they had been the superior team all season.
You can watch the rest of the series here.