When we set out to write this article, we vowed to avoid any reference to the very cliched "my dog ate my homework" line.
But is there any genuine way to tell this story without referring to the comic book excuse for forgetting to write an essay? We doubt it.
Poor ol' Norwich City fan Matt Grimmer had the excuse come to life when he saw that his tickets to the Canaries' play-off final against Middlesbrough had been gobbled up by his little pooch.
Grimmer had a full-on (very understandable) panic when he found that "the barcode which you use to go through the gates at Wembley was totally defaced," and felt his play-off dream turn into a nightmare when he thought that he couldn't attend.
But luckily the club believed his story and reprinted the tickets so that he can see his side attempt to bounce right back into the Premier League after their relegation last year.
Matt had put the tickets in a so-called "safe place" so that they wouldn't get mixed up with the recycling but that didn't stop two-year-old cockapoo Freddie from getting a hold of them.
"He's full of life and energy and if he sees something he'll go for it and have a play and obviously he saw the tickets and the rest is history," he said.
"He chewed the edges and had actually eaten some of the tickets.
"My season tickets were with them as well and we thought he might have had one of those, but we found that underneath the rug."
H/t to BBC
