Some dropped balls we anticipate more than others. Like the New Year’s Eve ball that drops every year at Times Square. We know it’s going to happen and so we wait for it with baited breath. Hell, we even throw parties in honor of it.
Dropped balls in football – not so much. Take Braylon Edwards (wide receiver for the New York Jets) for instance. As we all know, every time he gets the ball there’s a 50/50 chance he’s going to drop it like it’s hot. The man just can’t hold on to the ball. If you’re watching at home, then you might as well make yourself a cup of coffee, or go back to your online game at PartyCasino.it for a couple of minutes – the chances are that nothing’s going to come of his catch. Our hearts race because as much faith as we publicly profess to have in the guy on any given Sunday, the moment someone like Edwards (and every team has an “Edwards”) gets the ball, said faith is thrown out the window. When push comes to shove you just never know if he’ll hang on.
Football often reminds me of the song if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. When the guys on our team snag a high pass or run a sick slant through a tough defense, we’re exuberant fans cheering up and down high-fiving anyone that passes by. But when that same guy, even if he’s the same guy that got the game-winning TD last week, fumbles in the red zone, he’s dead to us. At least until we get the ball back and it’s out of our systems.
When I tell people I’m from Virginia and follow that up with the fact I’m a HUGE Philadelphia Eagles fan, a perplexed look immediately swoops across their faces. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.
Newsflash: Virginia isn’t home to any NFL team and never has been. Sure, the Washington Redskins are 200 miles north, but being as that’s my dad’s favorite team and I’m the rebellious little zealot that I am, I was on the hunt to find MY perfect team. (Note: the Ravens franchise did not yet land in Baltimore as they would have possibly been another viable close-to-home option.)
In sixth grade (back in good ole 1991), Starter jackets were all the rage (it blows my mind these same once-coveted trends now clutter the clearance racks at TJ Maxx, but I digress), so rationally, like an only child I just had to have one.
https://theblondeside.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/BlondeSide_EncyclopediaBlonde2.jpg271291Jaymehttps://theblondeside.com//wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1526998321020-300x192.pngJayme2010-12-16 18:24:172014-10-31 00:09:51It All Started with a Starter Jacket…
Breast cancer awareness month has officially ended, but the long-standing affects from league efforts are still kicking.
I hate to use the word trendy in relation to breast cancer, but the pink ribbon phenomenon and proceeds from product XYZ benefiting breast cancer charity XYZ are compelling. So much so, the NFL and a handful of elite players have taken it to another level with the league’s campaign, “A Crucial Catch,” which ran through the month of October. A Victoria’s Secret-esque tinted campaign no less; “A Crucial Catch” is currently in its second year. The campaign partners with the American Cancer Society and various local team charities. The NFL has emphatically committed to the cause stating, “This is an issue that has directly touched the lives of so many in the NFL family, and we are committed to helping make a difference in breast-cancer prevention.” Touching the lives of so many in the NFL is a grossly accurate statement. Just to name a few in recent media:
–Derrick Dockery (Washington Redskins) – his wife Emma lost her mother to cancer four years ago
–Chris Cooley (Washington Redskins) – his mother Nancy is a survivor
–Ryan Denney (Houston Texans) – his wife Sheri is a survivor
https://theblondeside.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/BlondeSide_fitzgerald.jpg427291Jaymehttps://theblondeside.com//wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1526998321020-300x192.pngJayme2010-11-11 14:39:342011-10-02 20:40:37Real Men Wear Pink. And Love Boobs.
I know exactly when it happened. The day I became a real, big-time Dallas Hater. I was 11 months old, sitting on my mom’s lap wearing a onesie that read, “This is your brain [Redskins helmet]. This is your brain on drugs [Cowboys star].” I knew from then on that to get anywhere in life I had to be a Dallas Hater.
I’ll be the first to admit I started this season with an uneasy feeling that the Cowboys, unfathomably dubbed America’s Team, would be good this year — maybe even Super Bowl-bound. This had nothing to do with their roster or the fact that Tony Romo wears that gay fedora in every single press conference. My suspicion stemmed from the Kardashian Bang Theory, or KBT if you will.
Let’s face it — odds are pretty good that when you bang a Kardashian your team will start playing better and winning championships. Case in point:
Reggie Bush: Long-time banger of Kim Kardashian; 2010 Super Bowl champ w/ the Saints
Lamar Odom: Bangs/marries Khloe Kardashian; back-to-back NBA champ w/ the Lakers
Miles Austin: Current banger of Kim Kardashian; TBD
https://theblondeside.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/JLAMM_DallasHater_sm1.jpg365291Jaymehttps://theblondeside.com//wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1526998321020-300x192.pngJayme2010-10-03 19:40:532011-06-08 01:04:26If the Cowboys are America’s Team, I don’t want to be American
Fantasies come in all shapes and sizes. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston in one bed for example. Most chicks don’t fantasize about sports unless of course it includes a raunchy affair with a steroid-stiff athlete, but since when I have been most chicks? Growing up I was never that kid that wanted to be an astronaut or ballerina. I simply wanted to own my own football team – presumably the Philadelphia Eagles so I could hang out with Randall Cunningham everyday.
Right now my current fantasy lies with the nationally esteemed M.O.F.F. (man of fantasy football), Matthew Berry, and Lance Zierlein, one of the most respected fantasy football experts in Houston. I picked their brains on sleepers, trade secrets, and why on earth fantasy football has become a bigger trend than a professional athlete dating a Kardashian.
https://theblondeside.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/JLAMM_fantasy-illus1.jpg365291Jaymehttps://theblondeside.com//wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1526998321020-300x192.pngJayme2010-09-02 14:29:162011-05-05 14:55:19My fantasy…with a football. And Matthew Berry and Lance Zierlein.
Illustration courtesy of Melissa Sims (Melrose Designs)
Ladies, I know you get excited about the Super Bowl… it’s a great excuse to throw a party, to make the piquant salsa your guy loves, or to wear that cute pink jersey from the team you know nothing about. Or maybe you detest the Super Bowl. But maybe it’s because you don’t know enough about the Big Game or what the play calls mean. For those of you tomboy sports nuts, get ready. I’m about to school your friends on some things you thought only YOU knew.
If you’re questioning why you’d want this frivolous, useless knowledge, know that Super Bowl XLIII (last years) holds the record for total US viewership attracting an audience of 98.7 million ranking second only to the final episode of MASH in 1983. Odds are your boss watches the game, so do all your co-workers and probably even that guy you’ve been eying every Thursday at Pub Fiction (and the one you’ve been stalking on Facebook). A girl with a little sports knowledge is sexy… or so I’ve been told a time or two.
The Super Bowl is played on the first Sunday in February (after a grueling 17-week season, which includes 16 games and a bye week, and three rounds of playoffs). The 2010 Super Bowl will take place on February 7 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, FL (home of the Miami Dolphins, for the past eight months the stadium was named Land Shark Stadium but sponsorship naming rights did not include the 2010 Super Bowl or Pro Bowl). This is the 44th anniversary of the game and is technically known as Super Bowl XLIV. This annual game is now considered to be a de factor American National Holiday fittingly referred to as Super Bowl Sunday.
The NFL consists of two leagues, the NFC (National Football Conference) and the AFC (American Football Conference) and the conference champs play in the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl tradition came about in 1970 as consummation of the merger between the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). The winning team receives the coveted Vince Lombardi trophy in memory of the legendary Green Bay Packers head coach after his sudden death from cancer. The trophy commemorates his victories in the first two Super Bowls.
Super Bowl Sunday is the 2nd largest food consumption day in the U.S. (followed by Thanksgiving). Listen up ladies; here are a few facts to make you sound a little more legit and knowledgeable on the big day.
If you ever want to know which team is the home team and which team is visiting, look at the score strip (also known as the “Bug”). The team names on the left are always the visitors and the team on the right is the home team so you’ll always know where the game is being played. This can come in handy when attempting to apply your newfound knowledge saying things like, “I’m surprised it’s not snowing in Green Bay right now” or “There are a ton of Philadelphia fans at Cowboys Stadium, they must be hardcore fans.” Since the host city for the Super Bowl is determined 3-5 years in advance, the only advantage in being the home team is the choice of jersey color. During odd-numbered years, the NFC is denoted the home team and in even-numbered years the AFC is the home team. (Typically the home teams wear white and the away teams where colored jerseys.)
Current NFL policy is to host the game only in cities, which have an NFL franchise. Houston has hosted the Super Bowl twice; once in 1974 at Rice Stadium (Dolphins beat Vikings) and in 2004 at Reliant Stadium (Patriots beat Panthers). Next year’s game will take place in Arlington, TX at the new Cowboys Stadium followed by Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN in 2012.
Exclusive television broadcast rights for the Super Bowl rotate each year among 3 of the 4 major American television networks: CBS, NBC and Fox. This year’s game will be broadcast by CBS with The Who performing the ever-popular anticlimactic halftime show.
Never Have I Ever..
There has never been a Super Bowl overtime, although three games have been tied in the final minute.
There has never been a Super Bowl shutout; every Super Bowl participant to date has scored at least 3 points.
No Super Bowl has ever been scoreless at halftime.
No coach has ever won a Super Bowl with two different clubs.
No starting quarterback has ever won Super Bowls on two different teams. (Twice starting QBs have played on different teams but each has only won once.).
No Super Bowl host has played in Super Bowl.
The NFL takes their trademark and broadcasting rights to the umpteenth level. The league says that Super Bowl showings are prohibited in churches or at any events that “promote a message”. The league also prohibits venues that don’t regularly show sporting events to show the game on any T.V. screen larger than 55 inches.
Due to the high viewership (with an average of 80-90,000 viewers tuning in at any given moment), commercial airtime is the most expensive of the year. Advertisers are paying as much as $3 million for a 30 second spot (not including production and such), knowing that a segment of the audience only tunes in to see the commercials. Since the inception of TiVo, sources have reported that viewers were not skipping the commercials, but in fact pausing and rewinding the top creative ones. Due to the weak economy, many have speculated this year’s advertising will pale in comparison to years past. Many companies are nervous about the perception of spending such money on a commercial and the message it sends to consumers. Industries that seem the most cognizant are automotive, financial services and healthcare.
If you plan on taking off work the Monday following the Super Bowl, you are not alone, nor are you fooling your boss. The Monday after Super Bowl is rated the highest “sick” day in the U.S.
Trivia Time..
Who was Brett Favre’s first career pass to?
Which team has appeared in the Super Bowl the most?
Which team has the most Super Bowl wins?
What are the 5 active NFL franchises that have not appeared in a Super Bowl?
Which player had the honor of playing on 5 straight Super Bowl losing teams?
Which player has the most passing yards in the Super Bowl?
