The Ladies … Super Bowl Party Preview, or Preview Party, Your Choice

I hope the game is more exciting than this logo.

We are now a little over 48 hours away from the culmination of the entire 2008-09 NFL season.  Just like the World Series, this championship features a team making its unlikely first appearance in the big game and … a team from Pennsylvania.  Plus they are playing it in Tampa.  It’s certainly not the first time a city has hosted both a World Series and a Super Bowl, but it may be the first time a city outside of California has done it. So there’s your (unverified) Super Bowl fact of the day.

As this is a sports blog, written by sports fans, most of us Ladies have plans to watch the game. Some of us are neutral, some of us have a particular team, some of us are just obsessed with Kurt Warner, but we’ll all be parked in front of a television somewhere at game time.  Further details after the jump, but first:

POP (AND ALCOHOL)  QUIZ

Can you match the beverages below with the Lady who will be drinking it during the game? (Options: Lady Andrea, SA, Minda, Games Mistress, and Cinnamon Girl)

Hit & Run

A week after losing to Virginia Tech, #6 Wake Forest goes and beats # 1 Duke, all thanks to this guy.  James Johnson scored 13 point, including the shot with 0.8 seconds left to win the game, 70-68.  Duke’s Kyle Singler had 22 points and 12 rebounds, but that wasn’t enough.

Hot Stove Hotties

Each week this Hot Stove season, we’ll look at some done deals and juicy rumors involving our favorite MLB hotties, and the occasional not-really-a-hottie, but still worth talking about.

Guess what, y’all! No, go on…guess. We are less than 3 weeks away from Spring Training!  There’s a light at the end of the deep, horrible tunnel of winter!

One of the 1st Google Image results for "Hallelujah." Naturally.

College Basketball: Hotties in The Shadows

While I was home over Christmas, I finally got to see my Sooner men play a few games (of course I got to see the loss, but whatever) and I kind of fell in love with Willie Warren, our freshman guard.  Willie was a big recruit in his own right, but Blake Griffin mania has a tendency to make his teammates disappear into the background.  So I thought I’d spend this post giving a little love to some of the guys that have to share their court with a budding NBA lottery pick.

Just to make things easier, I used the latest projected NBA draft rankings at NBAdraft.net, which are as follows:

1. Blake Griffin, OU
2. Hasheem Thabeet, UConn
3. James Harden, Arizona State
4. Jordan Hill, Arizona

The teammates playing in the metaphorical shadows, after the jump.

New Jersey IT Win Only Second Most Improbable After VA Tech Beats Wake Forest

I saw this while watching the Today show this morning. Now, I don’t really like basketball much and don’t follow the pros, let alone college … but it seemed worth mentioning, especially after the lead-in for Metsy’s Hit and Run today. I know this wasn’t really as important of a game, but for the NJIT boys it sure felt like it! I’m always rooting for the underdogs. More details and photos of my MVP after the break.

Hit & Run

The Virginia Tech Hokies brought down the #1 team in the land, upsetting the Wake Forest Deacons, 78-71.  I’m sure there are very few things that feel better than beating a #1 team at their home.  Malcolm Delaney scored 21 points and Jeff Allen added 16 in support of the Hokies.

NHL All-Star Niklas Backstrom

 

Yes, it’s blatant homerism … but at its best, because I’m here to take you through a photo journey of Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom – the only player from my home team to make it to the NHL All-Star game coming up.

Australian Open Hotties

I watch tennis 4 times a year. Wimbledon, US Open, French Open, Australian Open. Well, it’s Australian Open time and the tennis hotties are out in force.  This is a photo-post as it has snowed here in Chapel Hill and (thank the sweet baby Jesus) North Carolinians don’t know how to drive in the snow, classes are cancelled, and I’m going to go play! Enjoy :)

Hot Stove Hotties: Hamels, Markakis, bad MS Paint

Each week this Hot Stove season, we’ll look at some done deals and juicy rumors involving our favorite MLB hotties. This week was extra-hot.

One of the big stories this week was Cole Hamels. The only two-time Hump Day Hottie in the history of the world signed an extension with the Phillies for 3 years and 20.5 million Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers. And just look at that suit! Is that tie some sort of paisley, or is it…amoeba?

Phils fans get to keep him for three more years.

In Which I Use NFL Team Merchandise to Predict the Super Bowl Matchup

In my short tenure here at Ladies …, I have picked an Angels-Cubs World Series, and managed to finish last in our Bowl Pick ‘Em Pool (technically second to last, but that’s only because Cinn forgot to actually pick the games).  So it’s pretty clear I have no business whatsoever picking winners of this Sunday’s NFC and AFC championship games.  Like any good sports blogger, this is not going to stop me.

Since picking based on my sports “knowledge” doesn’t seem to be working, I decided to use a random and arbitrary method, completely unrelated to how much big-game experience the quarterbacks have and whether a star player is not 100% healthy.  However, I wasn’t exactly sure how to come up with said randomness.  And then, while conducting a Google Image hunt for a picture of the Arizona Cardinals’ mascot, I found my muse :

Hit & Run

The Celtics took out their recent frustrations by winning their 3rd in a row, beating the poor Nets, 118-86.  Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett combined for 42 points, while Devin Harris led the Nets in scoring, with 17 points.

Hump Day Hottie: Larry Fitzgerald

So the Cardinals being in the NFC Championship game is a surprised huh? And hosting the game as well. Frankly, it’s just a little too much to take. I mean, these are the Arizona Cardinals here. For the entirety of my life they’ve been hapless and pathetic. Now they’re one game away from the Super Bowl. It’s almost a little too much.

You know who isn’t too much though? Larry Fitzgerald. I remember him at Pitt and was kind of upset for him when he got drafted by the football Cardinals. I thought he would surely be traded because Arizona just didn’t do pro football well. That just goes to show you what I know.

So, ahead of the championship game this weekend, let’s take a look at the hottie down in the desert.

Yes, I like the team photo. Sue me.

Hit and Run: Basketball breaks my heart, so I find solace in football…

I know how you feel, Roy. I know how you feel...

This has been a rough week for me as a sports fan. I have found myself in the odd position of having to defend my team, not only to others but to myself. I bitched all pre-season about how much I hated all the rankings. Too many expectations only means you crash harder when you inevitably slip from that lofty perch. I knew my team wouldn’t go undefeated; we didn’t last year and we are essentially the same team. But there is still nothing harder than watching the boys you love lose, and then LOSE AGAIN!!! (And then to watch that first team who beat you go on and lose to HARVARD. Harvard. I didn’t even know the Ivy’s had basketball!) There is also nothing worse than to kinda hate some of the members of your team. What was that Wayne Ellington? You thought you could go pro? How ’bout you jack up not one, not two, but THREE airballs?? That’s what they do in the pros, right? Or perhaps Ty Lawson. So called best point guard in all the land. Maybe you should have more points that turnovers in the first half. Sometimes that helps. Or maybe you should have atleast some ability to guard your man.  Is keeping him from scoring 30+ points unreasonable? Is that too much to ask? Thank the sweet baby Jesus for Danny Green. And Tyler Hansbrough’s first half effort. Ugh. I haven’t even watched Sportscenter this week because I can’t bear to hear all the shit they are saying. It makes me kind of sick.

I’m sure there are people revelling in my despair.

Congrats, Florida. Let the Moping Commence.

Last Sunday, I was in the Tulsa airport preparing to fly back East, when I noticed the airport bookstore (which is locally owned), already had a sign out next to their OU merchandise reading “Congratulations Sooners! 2009 National Championship.”  And that’s pretty much when I knew OU was doomed.  (OK, I’m exaggerating.  Kind of.)

Anyway, congratulations Florida, and also to OU for a thrilling season (with two notable exceptions, obviously).  Now I will proceed to mope for the next 24 hours or so.  I originally thought perhaps I’d get some solace from posting some hot athlete pictures, but the problem with that plan is that hot athletes remind me of sports which reminds me of the game.  So I hope you all don’t mind if I invite my Imaginary TV Boyfriend, Lee Pace, to mope (hotly) along with me.

Historic Hotties

Remember when I told all of you about the Ladies… fantasy football league? Well, sorry I didn’t give an update, but there’s one now! In a race that wasn’t so close, our two invitees, Thistle Warrior and Pam, crushed the Ladies. For real, it wasn’t funny. In the end it was between the two of them to see who would win. And our winner was…

Thistle Warrior! Her prize is a free post on this here blog. So without further ado here is TW.

I owe much of my sports fandom to my dad. He instilled in me with a love for sports, particularly its history. Over the years between my dad’s stories, documentaries, and countless books I have noticed that sports are an absolute hotbed for hotness. So without further ado, here is my Top 5 Historic Hotties:

Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison

The AP named its defensive player of the year: Pittsburgh Steelers’ James Harrison. I’m sure he’s good and all – however…

Hot Stove Hotties: the Mostly Cubs edition

Each week this Hot Stove season, we’ll look at some done deals and juicy rumors involving our favorite MLB hotties, and the occasional not-really-a-hottie, but still worth talking about.

The Cubs were just cuh-RAZY this week, making approximately 1744 roster moves. And I decided to make a theme for this week’s post: Goofy Face pictures (no Pitcherface – that’s way too easy). They’re surprisingly easy to find. Anyway, back to the Cubs: They’ll send starter Jason Marquis to Colorado for reliever Luis Vizcaino.

"I wonder if I could eat my whole chin..."

Hit and Run: New Year’s Games Edition

Source: Nam Y. Huh (AP)

Happy New Year, y’all!  If you are like me, New Year’s Day is a day best spent wearing your pajamas and watching the bowl games.  (Although this year I did actually get dressed about noonish.)  This year, channel surfing between bowl games included a stopover for some hockey at Wrigley Field, where the Red Wings beat the Blackhawks 6-4, while wearing some stylish throwback unis.  The Chicago crowd seemed very into the game, despite the cold (and the losing).