There are less than 2 months until the London Olympics people: today’s links start with another great slideshow of Team USA (distance runner Barnard Legat is just a sample). Hat tip to The Hairpin, whose staff are clearly our Olympic soulmates.
Via Pete Beatty (@nocoastoffense)
My brain is pretty much in the same place as whoever was responsible for that little mistake there, so links it is! Luckily there’s some good stuff you may have missed. Continue reading
Last weekend, while watching the Knicks pull out their one playoff victory over the Heat, I realized that I had barely spoken about my newly discovered love for Tyson Chandler. I enjoyed Linsanity, of course, and I still think the New York media should cut Melo a break, but I was raised on the bruising, defensive basketball of the Big Eight and Big XII — a true defensive star is always going to catch my eye. Although, there are other reasons for Tyson to catch my eye, which I will be happy to share with you while I gush.
(Photo: Getty Images)
First of all, many thanks to my friends (including Games Mistress and various members of Red Sox Nation) for pulling me out of my Pinstriped Spiral of Gloom last Friday morning after receiving word that Mariano Rivera suffered a season-and-possibly-career-ending torn ACL last Thursday while shagging fly balls in Kansas City. Honestly, there is nothing like a devastating injury to a beloved future Hall of Famer to remind you who your truest friends in baseball are. Red Sox fans and I may be bitter frenemies when wins are on the line, but when something like this happens, we all feel for the biggest fans of the affected team and athlete. So thanks you guys – you are the best!
And what a difference a day made. It wasn’t long until Rivera’s competitive nature bounced back as he declared to reporters “I’m coming back. Write it down in big letters. I’m not going out like this.” So it won’t be long until you can go back to hating my kind again, Red Sox Nation (know that I say this with love). It’s been reported that three doctors at two hospitals examined his knee today, so hopefully surgery and rehab go smoothly enough to get him back on the mound in 2013. Until then, it’s the Soriano-Robertson Show from here on out. Continue reading
Just...no.
Another one to file under Why Can’t We Just Be Women Who Like Sports?
I realize I’m not the target demographic for Victoria’s Secret Pink line for Major League Baseball, and even if I was I’m simply not a fan of large hydrofoil screenprinting on my tees. But news of Blue Jays’ third baseman Brett Lawrie participating in their product launch on Monday caught my eye (for one thing, Brett Lawrie.)
So I kept an open mind…until I heard about the undies (left) and read this quote from the team’s VP of business operations: Continue reading
Since the Cardinals played the Opening Night game on ESPN this year, on actual Opening Day I had my pick of games on MLB.tv. By the time I got home from work, the Indians and Blue Jays were tied in the 9th inning. “Oh, I’ll just watch this quick dramatic conclusion,” I thought. Then it turned out to be the longest Opening Day game ever played. It went on so long, in fact, that the benches for both teams saw a lot of work. Which brought in Omar Vizquel. Who yesterday turned 45.
A longtime Indian now with Toronto, Vizquel got a warm round of applause from the Cleveland fans both when he was first inserted as a defensive replacement, and later when the game went on long enough to give him an at bat. In an MLB where players my age are now considered on the far side of their prime, and where many of his contemporaries are now mangers, Vizquel’s longevity is both remarkable and jarring. (Related: Chipper Jones turned 40 the same day. Chipper. Jones. is 40.)
Other sports news properly introduced with “it seems like only yesterday….”
Here’s a little treat on your Good Friday. New Era, the company that brought you the brilliant Alec Baldwin-John Krasinski series of ads (I watch this one whenever I need cheering up), have launched an all-new rivalry featuring Nick Offerman and Craig Robinson. Yes, friends, Ron Swanson and Darryl Philbin, together at last. Sort of.
It goes without saying that this ranks highly on the Lady Bee Pyramid of Greatness. But I just said it anyway.
No helmet hair here. (Photo: Getty Images)
Did we seriously not have a Hump Day Hottie post on Henrik Lundqvist?!! Sorry, we must have been too busy paying attention to his fantastic goaltending. Okay, lies! We’re really all about those baby blues and how he looks in a suit. More on that in a moment.
Seriously, though, it’s been another excellent season for the Rangers’ longtime netminder: 3rd among NHL goaltenders with a smashing GAA of 1.93 and tied with Jonathan Quick and Brian Elliott for the most shutouts (8). It may not be a Vezina year for Hank (as Tortorella affectionately calls him) but if he gets a chance to hoist a certain Cup in June, well, does it really matter?
Let’s make your Wednesday. More on Handsome Henrik after the jump.
PHEW! I just received word that my beloved Bills will be keeping their, erm, controversially playful wide receiver Stevie Johnson around for another few years (thanks for the good news, Adam Schefter). Continue reading
Why am I so happy when my NHL team is in 12th place? That picture should give you a hint. Five for Friday after the jump, y’all… Continue reading
Evans in 1988
In 1988, I started my public career as a sports geek by standing up in front of my entire elementary school and correctly volunteering that the summer Olympics would be held in Seoul, South Korea. For this feat, I won an official US Swim Team swim cap.
Barely old enough to be one of my babysitters, Janet Evans went to Seoul and won three gold medals.
Now I’m all grown up (I’m actually older than my parents were in ’88) and looking forward to a summer of geeking out about the London Olympics all over the Internet. Janet Evans hasn’t changed much either: at 40, she’s qualified for this summer’s US Olympic Trials after an unprecedented 14 year hiatus from swimming.
(Photo: Mike Carlson/AP)
The Yankees weren’t exactly making a huge secret out of the fact that they were shopping A.J. Burnett this offseason, so none of this came as a huge surprise to me. What actually surprised me was that a team was willing to freaking take him. So thank you, Pittsburgh Pirates, Good Samaritans of Major League Baseball, for being willing to give up a couple of prospects and a milk crate of batting practice balls knowing what you are getting into. Because even though this is going to cost the Yankees nearly 20 Raul Ibanezs, it is worth not worrying which pitcher will show up every five games: Good A.J. or Bad A.J.
So why do I feel bad about this? Continue reading
It’s been three minutes since we last mentioned Calgary Flames’ forward Mike Cammalleri, so we thought we’d treat you to his new spot for Adidas. I guess there’s some sort of shoe that suited for barefoot training that they’re pushing? I wouldn’t know. Too busy pretending I’m chasing Hot and Sweaty Mike.
Pat Burrell is retiring, which means this site now has to exist in a world without him. Ladies… without Burrell is like Seinfeld without Jerry, like a flower without petals, like Grady Sizemore without that one coffee cup. Just…totally naked, but in like a really sad way.
According to Google, the Ladies… have written about Pat Burrell 118 times. By no means is that the most we’ve ever covered a hottie of sport (paging Tom Brady, Ryan Lochte, etc.), but he is a part of the very fiber of our collective heart nonetheless.
In most of the rest of this post, we'll forget he has a face, too.
So I’m flipping through the ads in my Sunday paper last weekend and this dropped into my lap:
There were a lot of sports-themed gifts given in my family this year. I received a set of Cardinals pens and my first official Jets shirt (right at the time when I was most mortified to be a Jets fan, but that’s another story), my boyfriend received a few Saints items, and a lot of orange changed hands among the 3/5 of my immediate family who attended Oklahoma State.
But, as often happens, it was only this week that I discovered a few awesome sports related items that I really wish I’d known about in early December.
Your TV, radio and internets are being bombarded with Year In Review posts and specials as I type this. Well, guess what? It’s no different here at Ladies… We took a few moments this week to reflect on our favourite memories of this past year. Some will be hilariously obvious, others may surprise you. All of them will make you warm and fuzzy, like a delicious flute of champagne.
Hope everyone out there had a very Merry Christmas yesterday! (and Happy Hanukkah for two more nights!) As I’m sure you noticed, the NFL treated Saturday – Christmas Eve – as if it were a regular Sunday filled with regular season football games, and we were treated to an extra Christmas present of Aaron Rogers and his Packers getting back on track with a Bears beatdown last night. (I believe my favorite Facebook comment from a friend last night was “I can’t believe McCarthy is making the Packers practice on Christmas.”) However, something was brought to my attention this morning that made the Packers-Bears game just a little better, and that is sweet vindication from this lady Green Bay fan:
Bet he wishes he didn’t cheat now! You go, girl!
I could think of worse Christmas presents than being 6th in the East. OH, HERE'S ONE: Ron Wilson's contract extension!
We hope that wherever you are today, you’re celebrating with those you love, doing stuff you love. For me, that’s home with my family in snowy Lower Canada, where we have a turkey roasting and a pumpkin pie baking as I type and I’m counting down until my kids go to bed so I can watch my hubby’s new Classic Games in Old Yankee Stadium DVD (or the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” set I found in my stocking. Or Bears-Packers. It’s a toss-up.) In the meantime, there’s Lego all over our living room. It’s a beautiful thing.
We’ll pop in occasionally over the holidays in between visits and travel, but rest assured we’ll be back in with an everloving vengeance in 2012. Which is apparently the end of the world or something? I’d better get a last trip to the Bronx in, in that case.
On behalf of the other Ladies…, hugs and kisses and this groovy Christmas tune, a nice antidote to that piece of Carey-Bieber dreck that you’ve been hearing this holiday season:
Hot man. Stupid cap.
At some point earlier this week, Games Mistress pleaded in our Top Secret Ladies… Email Exchanges “[Would] someone please do Wes Welker. So hot, but so much a Patriot.” I offered to hold my nose and do the job.
OMG, YOU GUYS, THE SACRIFICES I MAKE FOR THIS BLOG! I cannot begin to describe the hardship – nay, the emotional distress! – involved in researching this post. I hope you’re all happy now! Y’all owe me!
It’s Saturday night, I’ve had a lot of wine and baked brie, and I came home to…football on the NFL Network? I guess that would be the best place for it. So have some images of unfortunate Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder.
Thank heavens for the New York Post. Without them, how would he know that Derek Jeter sends his single-serving ladyfriends away with gift baskets?
He used to give out t-shirts. True story.
But hey, trends spread like wildfire in baseball. By now, stars all around the game are in the post-booty gift basket game. Step into my office; I’ll show you the baskets I’ve been able to unearth so far.
Continue reading
OK, y’all. I try not to be too much of a homer for ACoH, but surely I am allowed one Cardinal — especially this year. So, I hereby appoint as Day 3 ACoH your 2011 World Series MVP, David Freese.
* in some cases, we wish.
1) Your World Series MVP David Freese
Ladies, we have a new favourite on the blog to swoon over, and it’s this guy – yes, GM, we’ll wrestle you for him. David Freese also won the NLCS MVP, hit .397 in the postseason, broke a bunch of records, and came through in the clutch. But it’s his humble nature that teammates like Pujols and gals like us love.
But wait, there’s more in our treat bags…
Guys! He needs to wear that tonight!
Somewhere in the middle of the ninth inning last night, I realized I was clutching a sofa cushion to my chest and rocking back and forth. Then Freese tripled with two outs and two strikes and I threw back my head and cackled.
It was about then that I realized baseball had succeeded in driving me mad.
Five years ago today, I was sitting in front of my TV when my phone rang.
“You’re watching?” my friend Susan asked.
“I’m watching,” I said. ”I had to stop knitting because I’m too nervous. We’re going to win the World Series!”
“I’m so happy for you,” she said. ”Even if the Tigers are going to lose.” (At the time, Susan lived in Michigan and knew a lot of Tigers fans.)
Susan was one of the first people I met at college, and the very first girl friend I ever had who cared about baseball. When we arrived at college in 1998, my Cardinals were inching excruciatingly slowly towards the end of a decade long funk that happened to coincide with my entire baseball fandom to that point. Susan’s team, in the AL, was better, winning their division twice in three years, albeit only to get swept out of the first round by the Yankees both times.
You see where this is going. Susan grew up a Rangers fan.
Over the years our friendship has continued, our love of baseball always on the periphery. St. Louis improved, Texas declined, St. Louis declined, Texas improved — in fact in the entirety of our friendship, this is the first year the Cardinals and the Rangers both made the playoffs, much less the World Series. We graduated college, moved East (Susan then moved South, and North, and South again). We went to old Yankee Stadium and CitiField together. We went to Europe together (where, disappointingly, we were a few weeks too late to attend a German professional baseball game). I was rooting hard for the Rangers during last year’s run, and delighted in their first playoff series win almost as much as she did.
It’s not that I don’t want to win the World Series. If the Cardinals somehow put two more wins into their pile of improbable, backs-against-the-wall victories they’ve been accruing for the last two months I will be ecstatic; if they lose, there will be a weekend of moping in my near future. But I will also make that call on the phone, and I will be happy to do it. If you can’t celebrate a World Series with your best friend, what’s the point?
Good luck, Susan. Good luck, Rangers. Go Cards!
Hockey season is in full swing, I’m 6-and-0 in the Ladies… Fantasy Football League (what the @#$!), the World Series begins Wednesday and in the NBA…yeaaaah, anyway, it’s a busy sports week here at Ladies… I promise I’ll return to some NHL Hotness Profiles soon, but in the meantime, enjoy these stories written by other people:
Finally, I have to tell you I came thisclose to buying these tonight, until I realized that I probably wouldn’t receive them in time for Hallowe’en. Are they not awesome? If only I could hop into my invisible jet and pick them up myself in Pennsylvania.
(Will that work for a You Tube title, or do I need more exclamation points?)
As I type this Wednesday evening, the ALCS is just getting under way after a two hour delayed start; it remains to be seen how an impending storm will effect the NLCS. Meanwhile, an unexpected 24 hour “suspension” of my evening plans has forced me to scramble for a post idea a day early. Remembering an old baseball video we had growing up that featured (I think) Robin Yount and Paul Molitor goofing around during a rain delay, I hit YouTube hoping to find a clip. Either no one shares my appreciation for Robin Yount, belly padded with towels, pretending to hit a Molitor “air pitch” for a home run on top of a rain soaked tarp (complete with face first slide into home), or MLB’s license police have been really earning their pay, for I came up with nothing. Fortunately, though, I found other rain delay antics to enjoy. But first, we have to get that tarp on the field!
Francona at his last news conference with the Sox: classy to the end.
Like any true Yankee fan, I quietly snickered when the Red Sox essentially pissed away the month of September, playing crummy ball and falling out of playoff contention. It’s nice to have a little ammo for the next time someone makes a snide comment about the Yankees “buying championships”. Yes, because Carl Crawford came so cheap.
Then I read this feature today by Bob Hohler and…honestly, Sox fans, I don’t know why you haven’t taken the pitchforks and torches down Yawkey Way. Lackey, Beckett, Ortiz…I could go down the list of selfish bums but why bother. It will only make you angrier. And far be it for me to comment on selfish ball players (*cough*Rafael Soriano*cough*)
Selfish athletes can be found throughout the league, and baseball history is full of douchebag moves by douchebag owners and managers. This situation is, for the most part, no different. But…this crap about Terry Francona popping pills? REPREHENSIBLE. The man brought your organization two World Championships, slayed a supposed 86-year-old demon, dealt with effing Manny and this is how you thank him for his time in Boston? Dragging Francona’s personal issues out in public when the real problem is that you have $15 million pitchers who don’t have the decency and maturity to put down that bucket of KFC in the locker room and go support their teammates and stand by their manager when he obviously needed them most? Real classy, Henry, Werner and Co. Here’s a tip: when a staff member is dealing with personal issues – say, a crumbling marriage – try support and empathy you a-holes.
Here’s how awful this is to Sox fans: one good friend of mine is shunning the team he has supported his entire life on account of this.
And now that Theo heading to Chicago, this is likely Ben Cherington’s mess to clean up. Thankfully, he has a bright spot in Dustin Pedroia, who still cares…until he has an opportunity to leave town. Could you blame him?
Red Sox fans, you have given me hell over the years, but you don’t deserve this. Watching a team choke in September is bad enough, but that’s baseball. Watching the smearing of a beloved manager’s name is simply disgusting. And for that, I feel terrible for you guys.
As I may have mentioned once or twice before, I don’t have cable, and though my boyfriend has been happy (or at least pretends he’s happy) to let me watch the Cardinals games on his TV, for many of the other games I’ve been listening to the radio feeds through MLB.com. It’s been quite some time since I’ve listened to baseball on the radio on a regular basis, and even longer since I listened to any baseball on the radio that involved non-Cardinals announcers. It’s quite instructive. Some things I’ve learned:
