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A cat, a dog, a bear among most awesome viral animals of the year

Everyone knows the Internet was created for animal pictures and videos.

ESPN.com, therefore, was created for (reporting and scores and analysis and highlights and) sports-related animal pictures and videos.

Here are the best sports-related fuzzy -- and not-so-fuzzy -- creatures of 2014:

5. Kama the Surfing Pig

Once an abandoned baby pig on Oahu, Kama was adopted by Kai Holt, an avid surfer who decided to teach this cute little guy the tricks of his trade.

Not long after, the pig was handling waves better than many of us could.

4. Baby "T-Rex" tosses out baseball, scares

All right, so this isn't a currently living animal, but that doesn't make it any less awesome.

Yes, Baby T, star of the "Walking With Dinosaurs" arena show that traversed the nation this year, broke out in a big way, throwing out first pitches at baseball games and, even better, scaring people such as members of the Phoenix Suns ...

... and our own staff:

3. Stray dog finds family in adventure racers

There are few things sadder than stray animals who want homes.

This guy found one, though, when he came across Team Peak Performance, a Swedish team competing in the grueling Adventure Racing World Championship, and was fed a meatball.

He was an instant member, following the group across miles of treacherous terrain. Now named Arthur and living in Sweden, this dog found quite the home.

2. Tara the Hero Cat "throws out" first pitch

Cats, the most unfairly disliked of all creatures (seriously, you're still mad a cat wasn't nice to you that one time?), scored a big win this year through Tara. This Bakersfield, California, kitty came to the rescue when one of her humans, a small boy, was being viciously attacked by a dog.

Why isn't this No. 1? Because technically Tara's heroism wasn't sports. Her "throwing out" the first pitch at a Bakersfield Blaze game, however, fits (even if the "pitch" didn't quite go as hoped).

1. Baby bear dances with flagstick on golf course

If you like animals, there's no way you won't get two-plus minutes of pure joy out of this -- a baby bear wandering onto a British Columbia golf course, dancing gleefully with the flagstick, then stealing a golfer's ball on the way out.

If this isn't the perfect nexus of sports and animals, what is?

Honorable Mention: Seattle Seahawks mascot flies into stands, "issues apology"; Toronto Blue Jays play with baby lion and tiger; Paul George hoops it up with his dog; Packers fan names cat "Ha Ha Kitten-Dix"; Bear interrupts baseball game in Alaska.