Games Mistress is thankful both of these men wear Cardinal red.
Happy (American) Thanksgiving from the Ladies!
While we’re thankful for family, friends, and the chance to stuff ourselves with food while in the company of said family and friends, we here at Ladies… are also thankful for what the sports world has given us over the past year.
It’s definitely a Monday and I’m forgetful, so forgive me for this quick post.
Instead, give us a caption for this crazy picture of T.J. Houshmandzadeh:
and follow the jump for another entertaining picture that I decided wouldn’t produce captions safe for the viewing public…
I have some very happy neighbors, not to mention fellow Ladies, this morning. (And one not so happy Lady — my condolences, Maggie!) The Yankees won their 27th World Series last night; Hideki Matsui won the series MVP after tying the record for RBIs in one World Series game (6). But before we officially adjourn to the baseball off-season, let’s vote on some stuff!
While plenty of these young men are hot, hot, hot, I feel a little like a creepy old woman calling college boys hotties, so this on-going look at the pretty faces of college hockey is going to be about the cuties!
First up, half of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The conference is a bit on the larger side, so we’re doing this one in two parts.
Today’s post features Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Denver, University of Alaska-Anchorage and Bemidji State.
How are you spending your Halloween?
On one end of the spectrum for the Ladies…, Miss Minda is off partying it up in Madison, combining college football and one huge Halloween party. On the other, I’m doing absolutely nothing. But whatever you’re doing today, you can appreciate some awesome sports-themed carved pumpkins.
Raven suggested the idea, so follow the jump to see her attempts as well as a few more sports-inspired pumpkins.
Chris Paul is good for America.
The NBA season starts in just under a week (I know!), so it’s time for the last installment of our Haiku Previews. (If you missed them, part one is here, part two is here .)
Again, this week’s haikus would not have been possible without TrueHoop, Henry Abbott’s excellent NBA blog and the various NBA team blogs hosted at SBNation. If you are even mildly curious about what’s going on in professional basketball, you should check these sites out.
Today we tackle the last two Western Conference divisions: the Pacific and the Southwest. As usual, the teams are listed in order of last year’s final regular division standings.
While the NLCS got into full swing last night I’ve got my mind set on one thing… my boys in blue and the kick off of the ALCS. In honor of my Bronx Bombers finally not pooping the bed in the post season for the first time in ages, I’m here showing a little Friday Foodie love!
Here at Ladies … we’ve been a bit consumed with the end of baseball season and the start of football and hockey season, but the NBA season also starts in just under three weeks. We may not be the biggest pro basketball fans around these parts, but we certainly have an appreciation for the finer points of the game — especially since it’s the only one of the major sports in which so much of the players, uh, “finer points” (arms) are visible during the game.
Because we’ve got a lot of ground to cover in the next three weeks, I decided to write each team’s preview in haiku because 1) they are short and 2) I wanted to do this for baseball season but forgot. Oh, also there are pictures of my favorite hotties on each team, if you are not into poetry.
First up, the Atlantic and Central Divisions in the Eastern Conference, in order of last year’s final regular season standings.
I started about 17 different posts this morning and couldn’t really come up with enough ideas for one, focused post. Blame it on lack of sleep or ADD, but my head was all over the place and mostly still internally gloating about the Packers win over the Bears. So instead of being an obnoxious fan, follow the jump for some varied, quick-hit style thoughts on yesterday’s action.
Ladies…Fantasy Football is back this season and we invited back the two top readers from last year’s league to round out our 12-team league.
Some of us have done this before, but a few of us are rookies, so I imagine it could be an interesting season, full of trash talking and hotties.
Follow the jump to see who’s on each Ladies…team…
This week's theme is a toy only and should not be used as a livesaving device.
Partly because I’ve been consumed with fantasy football drafts and partly because the university at which I work a)has no football team and b)hasn’t started classes yet, the start of the college football season this week caught me a little off guard. This round of Theme Thursday pays tribute to the scholar-athletes of the gridiron no matter how seriously they might take the first part of that title*. No one won last round, so I’ll be taking the credit (or blame) for this trio.
*Note to NCAA: I am not implying anything about the players pictured in this post. It’s called a joke.
So yeah. That happened. The Mets are down 6-0 before they even came up to bat, and they managed to make a decent comeback effort throughout the game. It’s now the 9th inning and it’s 9-6. Pagan is safe at third on a crazy error. Castillo comes up and he’s safe due to another error by the idiot 2nd baseman Bruntlett, and Pagan scores. Now 9-7, Phillies still up. Then comes Daniel Murphy, who safely gets to first. We now have the tying runs on base with NO OUTS. Then my personal favorite Franheart comes up (sarcasm detection by my regular readers). And what does he do, my dear fellow fans? He line drives straight into the hands of Bruntlett (who more than made up for that previous error). Out 1. Bruntlett steps onto the 2nd base bag. Out 2, Castillo had too much of a lead. Murphy’s coming right at him, does a little loop de loop, and probably soils himself as he is tagged for out 3. That’s right. 3 outs, all made by one person. Game over, just like that.
Ugh.
I’d like to thank the Philadelphia Eagles for taking that one last step necessary to make this town a baseball town. Because no, we’re not okay with this, and we don’t understand.
Seriously, Mike Vick? Mike VICK? Mike ‘I am the scum of the earth and should rot’ Vick? And we’re supposed to be pleased about this? I just watched the local broadcast team try to justify this by saying that he’s going to bring a lot of athleticism to the offense and they can run the wildcat formation now, and no. Just no. In fact, I hate Hugh Douglas a little right now for trying to make me okay with this.
And the thing is, it doesn’t even make sense from a FOOTBALL perspective. Donovan falls apart the moment he even SNIFFS competition. Not that Vick’s much competition, because he’s been away from the game for what seems like forever. WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?
My husband’s been a die-hard Eagles fan his entire sporting life. The man bleeds green and white. For the last decade, my entire social life on Sundays has revolved around making sure he’s in front of a TV with beef jerky and a bottle of Yuengling by the time the Eagles kick off. We have no social life during football season, because ‘But the game’s on’ is a valid excuse to get out of just about everything. He just turned to me, ashen-faced, and said ‘I don’t think I can root for the Eagles any more.’
Yeah, it’s like that. Me? I’m just pissed that Mike Vick gets to play in the same town as Chase Utley, who actually SAVES puppies.
If you haven’t noticed from the last couple of posts, the ladies cannot wait for football season to start. Training camp is in the full swing of things with the first preseason game coming this Sunday. But even still, real football has not started yet so it’s only natural that news is a little slow. The first game of the season is still over a month away. People are mostly grasping for stories to report on. So I have decided to sort out some of the more ridiculous, and entertaining, stories coming out of training camps. Enjoy! Take solace in knowing football season is almost here.
I don’t know about you, but the MLB trade deadline has exhausted me. There were a lot of trades this year, so my head’s kinda spinning. My beloved Orioles only managed one little trade with the Dodgers for Mr. Flat & Breezy, so I’m not too upset. Thank God I’m not a Pirates fan. Yikes! You can check out everything that went down here.
Enough about the trade deadline, let’s see what else is happening around the sports world. If you have some time to waste, take a trip with me after the jump for some time-wasting goodness!
So it was a busy week as baseball got back into the groove of things after the All Star break. There was a whole lot going on. Brand new division leaders, a naked Tony Bernazard, and to top it all off, a PERFECT GAME! More on all of this week’s happenings after the jump.
I love the smell of nationalism in the morning.
I want to paint you a little picture, readers. You see, for the last eight years or so, I’ve spent Saturday mornings waking up, rolling downstairs, and flipping on Fox Soccer to watch the day’s matches while my husband made snide comments about soccer being lame and boring.
Tonight? My husband not only voluntarily turned on the Gold Cup SemiFinals, but I’m a little concerned he may actually lose his voice screaming in support of the US Men’s National Team in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals on Sunday. My victory is nearly complete. As soon as he picks a Premiere League team to root for (please, Jesus, not Chelsea), I can start openly celebrating his utter conversion.
That’s beside the point, dear readers. The point is that after many, many years and many, many attempts, soccer may just be on the verge of arriving in the US. Oh, sure, it’s because the men’s team is playing incredibly well right now, but I’ll take it.
I think it’s high time the Ladies… met the US Men’s National Team. Join me, after the jump, won’t you?
Head on over to our Live Blog Central and join in the revelry.
Carlos Pena wants you to liveblog with us. Really. Go!
That’s right, I won (er, Prince won!). And I’ll be gloating about it for awhile!
If you missed the liveblog, you can still read it here. Don’t forget we’re doing this again tomorrow!
We’re having technical difficulties! Bear with us! We’ll be up and running soon!
Having turned professional just 16 months ago, 17-year-old Melanie Oudin has advanced to the fourth round of Wimbeldon after defeating world #6 seed Jelena Jankovic in three sets.
Though she was pretty dominant in juniors – at one point she won 27 matches in a row – she has only advanced past the first round of a tournament once since turning pro.
She’s been the surprise of Wimbeldon – to everyone including herself. Turns out she and her coach had already purchased plane tickets home, apparently assuming she wouldn’t make it very far. But she joins Venus and Serena as the only Americans to advance to the fourth round.
From what I’ve read, American tennis fans are looking to her to be the next big American hope. It’s been 12 years since the Williams sisters came on to the scene and everyone has been looking for the next American sensation.
It’s the “big” part of that equation that are leaving people wondering if Oudin can be the new American tennis star. She’s just 5′6″ in a world of Amazonian women – Serena is 5′10″ and Venus is 6′1″.
I don’t know enough about tennis to tell you any more than that, but I’m always all about a girl kicking butt.
I am not a fan of the NBA. I have probably watched a total of 5 games in my entire life, but I absolutely love college basketball. It is much more competitive and entertaining. Also, there are a lot of hot guys to be found. (I am only 23 so I can still say that without being a total perv!) Last night was the NBA Draft. So that means that many players said goodbye to their college days and joined the pros. This also means that I will no longer know or care what is going on with them. (That’s a lie. There are quite a few players that I really like who were drafted last night. Next season might be the first year I genuinely care what’s going on in the NBA.)
OK, enough about college basketball being far superior to the NBA. Let’s move onto those hot guys. Having talent is really important and goes a long way in the actual draft, but it doesn’t get you far here. Blake Griffin may have been the number one pick last night (and rightfully so…boy is talented!), but he doesn’t make the cut in the Ladies… draft.
Now let the fun begin with the first pick…
MLB will put a logo on ANYTHING
I really, really hate Interleague. I think the “rivalries” are forced and the novelty has worn off for me. I just don’t get the appeal and since it’s always ended in losses for my team, my feelings on Interleague are less than positive.
As far as I’m concerned, before tonight, nothing good has come of it for my team. Before tonight’s win, the Brewers were 1-5 so far this season, and had been out-scored 20-35. Since Interleague started, the Brewers are 81-95 and since 2000 have had winning Interleauge records just three times. The only time the Brewers suck more is when they are nationally televised.
Just Saturday, Brewers pitchers had eight innings of one-run, three-hit baseball against the Chicago WhiteSox. Unfortunately, that other inning had five hits, three walks and six runs given up by starter Manny Parra. Stupid, stupid nationally televised Interleague games!
So imagine my concern heading into this week where the Brewers were heading to Cleveland and Detroit and Monday and Saturday’s games are to be nationally televised.
I suppose if you’re a Red Wings, Magic, Lakers, or Serena Williams fan, then it really wasn’t a disappointment of a weekend at all. But over all, this weekend seemed to be filled with disappointment from all over the world of sports – from a 25 inning game 1 showdown to missing the mark in the NBA finals.
Several years ago when my ballet career was over I decided to leave New York City and focus on one thing, College Football! I applied to every college with a major football program on the east side of the Mississippi and, being the superstitious lady that I am, decided to go to whomever I heard from first. It was a glorious day ordained from heaven when I became a Buckeye, but more importantly I became a part of a larger family, the NCAA College Football family. Every Saturday we commune in bars, parking lots, homes, you name it, and from sun up till sundown, we cheer and scream, drink and eat, and live and die with every play, because, we are … college football fans!
I made a trip last weekend to my alma mater, The Ohio State University, and was immediately struck by how badly I longed for that most glorious time of year, football season! The first time I ever set foot in the Horseshoe on gameday was one I will never forget; a sea of scarlet and grey, palpable excitement, beer flowing like wine, making new friends every stumble along the way, The Best Damn Band In The Land playing “Hang on Sloopy,” and thousands of people there for one purpose: to cheer our team to victory. There is nothing in the world like it, and there is nothing like college football season! So here they are ladies and gents, my top ten reasons I am so desperately wishing it was football season, in no particular order…
AP Photo
While this will not become a weekly installment from this Buffalo gal, I decided that every once in a while, a noteworthy play from a favorite hottie or a particularly exciting game from the weekend of sports deserves special mention. Naturally for the first installment, I had to choose one of my favorite cuties from one of my teams, and luckily the excitement is brought to you by this past weekend’s Interleague games of the Mets vs. my other NY team’s rival: The Bo Sox.
I’ve been to a few stadiums around the country and other than my team’s home, Miller Park, I would put Busch Stadium in St. Louis on the top of my list.
The views are great, the stadium and field are beautiful, and everyone (well, most everyone) was accepting and nice.
Of course, Friday night’s game ended up getting rained out, so we ended up buying tickets to Saturday’s game, which was going to be our off day, over Craigslist on Friday night.
Special thanks to the very nice man who sold us his season tickets for below face and emailed them to us. It couldn’t have gone smoother.
New Yankee Stadium has been open for almost two months now, but I finally got to see it for myself this week. I was at the game Tuesday and Wednesday. I wasn’t happy when I first found out that they would closing down old Yankee Stadium and building a new one. But by this time I had pretty much come to terms with it. There was a new stadium whether I liked it or not. However, it was still really strange at first getting off the 4 train going to see the Yankees and it was at a different venue. I saw the Yankees play at the same place for the last 18 years. It was sad seeing the ballpark I ever saw my first game at looking like an empty, abandoned construction site. But enough about old Yankee Stadium. How about the new Stadium that cost a boat load of money to build
It’s time for the weekly installment of Theme Thursday. This week’s group was suggested by Sarah after she was the first to correctly guess last week’s theme.
Once again, the first person to correctly guess the theme in the comments gets to suggest a future Theme Thursday post.
So what do these fine gentlemen have in common?
So I’ll admit it, I am a total snob when it comes thinking that the AL is superior to the NL. I don’t know if its the designated hitter deal, the difference in stadium size (I like my homers in the AL), or the tighter strike zone… whatever it is, I’ve always considered the NL to be the red headed step child of Major League Baseball. But I set those feelings aside to bring you the All-Star Team of the National League, Ladies… style.
