Of course Darnell Dockett bought a tiger cub

Published Jul. 26, 2013 1:45 p.m. ET

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In the summer of 2011, Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett appeared in a series of internet
videos as part of his quest to buy a pet alligator. Yes, a pet
alligator. And he did; its name is "Nino."

Two years
later, he's not too far off from being able to start his own wildlife
preserve.

Dockett, who's been known to ride a Segway around training camp and say a variety of inadvisable things on Twitter, announced this week that he
had purchased a tiger cub and named it either "Buddy" (according to his
tweets) or "Little Buddy" (according to a follow-up interview with FOX
Sports 910 AM in Phoenix).

Dockett knows what you're
thinking, by the way, and no, this is not a
joke.

"Yeah, I'm serious. A little baby tiger," he
said in his interview with FOX Sports 910. "It's the coolest thing
ever."

Of course it is. And what do you do with the
coolest thing ever?

"I'm trying to bring him to
training camp," Dockett added. "I don't know if they'll let me, but
we're going to see."

Dockett reiterated that plan on Friday, the first day of training camp.

"I asked coach. But if I do, y'all will never know about it," he said, referencing the "four-letter company" (PETA) that keeps a close eye on wild animals in captivity. Dockett added, ""He's awesome around people. Some guys on the team have seen him already."

And as for whether the tiger and alligator get along, Dockett said, "I don't keep them around each other," although he declined to detail their living situation or whether they even stay at his residence in Arizona.

With that established, perhaps the
most entertaining aspect of this story is that the tiger cub might not
even have been Plan A when Dockett went exotic-pet shopping. What was
Plan A, you ask?

Dockett offered $30,000 for a
monkey. The owner wouldn't sell, he
said.

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