Classic Minnesota Commercial Celebrates ‘Cat Herder’ Day

I'm not sure how one celebrates it, but Thursday was National Cat Herder Day, and one classic commercial from here in Minnesota pretty much nailed it.

Apparently, the day itself is a relatively recent phenomenon, and doesn't really have anything to do with cats-- other than to reference how difficult it is to actually herd them.

The day gets its name from an IT worker who, according to one story, once uttered the phrase, “managing senior programmers is like herding cats”. It's now gone on to be a celebration for those of us whose job or life consists of many frustrating, difficult tasks.

When it comes to herding cats, though, my favorite commercial on the subject was a spoof produced right here in Minneapolis back in 2000. It aired during the Super Bowl that year. And if you have cats (like we do), many of the things in this commercial-- like the lint rollers and ball of string-- will look pretty familiar, and pretty funny when put in an old west, Cowboy setting.