Girl on Girl Hate: Sometimes, it just feels so good!

We here at Ladies are obviously 10 pillars of feminist virtue. We would never engage in activities unbefitting successful, classy, intelligent, and hilarious women. Well, maybe those other nine wouldn’t… I on the other hand am quite guilty of one of the cardinal sins of womanhood: Girl Bashing. I really enjoy talking some shit about other women. Mostly women I don’t know. Why? I couldn’t tell you (I’m sure there are subtexts of low self-esteem, daddy issues, and borderline personality disorder bubbling below the surface). But honestly, sometimes it just feels good. Especially when it comes to the significant others of my favorite athletes. It’s really more like pointing out the pink elephant in the room. WHY IS HE WITH HER? She is (blank). Fill in the adjective that best fits. Now I don’t know these women. Perhaps they are lovely and awesome and in real life we would be BFFs. But for now, I want to talk some serious trash!

The Sunday Afternoon Movie

I am a Minnesota Vikings football fan. Like many Minnesota fans, the longer I watch our home-town team, the more bitter and jaded I get. I’ve even started to become superstitious. And it appears that this football season will not be good. Whether the Vikes start Tarvaris Jackson or Gus Frerotte, it appears that we have an uphill climb with our remaining schedule and our receivers/passing game. All that being said, I must admit that I did not watch the Vikings game on Sunday when they saved themselves from an 0-3 start. Could I have been the jinx the first two weeks? I’m planning to not watch next week as well … we’ll see. Therefore, I decided I have to find something else to watch on Sundays for the rest of the season. So follow me after the jump to see the 12 sports movies I’ll watch the rest of the season (we still have a bye week, you know).

Sad News Indeed

Kenny George, the tallest man in NCAA college hoops (standing at a ridiculous 7 ft 7) is not going to be playing for UNC Asheville next season due to a foot injury. He had to have multiple surgeries on his foot due to an infection and is still under the care of a doctor.  I would imagine that being that tall affects your circulation and also the ability to fight infections in the extremities.

The Tailgate, with Mistress Christina

I am torn about this whole food post thing. One, I rarely use my oven or stove because I live by myself, and I don’t really know any recipes that are for one person only. I hate to have tons of left-overs because I feel compelled to eat them. However, I love to cook. Like a lot. Like if this law school things fails I will probably ship myself off to culinary school in France. But, again on the con side, I don’t like to share my recipes. I just like to make awesome food, have people be amazed by it, and never let them know how to make it themselves. I’m weird like that. I don’t want people taking credit at a later date, for my food. But I have decided to share one of my families tried and true weekend recipes for an awesome, pre-day o’ football, breakfast (brunch/lunch/dinner/snack/shit I could eat breakfast food all day) foods. I present to you my super-awesome DELUXE FRENCH TOAST recipe.

Hit & Run: Tom Who?

I must admit that I don’t watch a lot of football. I can be roped into it. I don’t hate it. I just don’t watch it. However, since the Ladies… have started a fantasy football league (oh and WOOT I’m number 1! Had a monster 115 point week which put me on top. I’d like to thank Adrian Peterson and Brandon Marshall for all their hard work… moving on), I have paid slightly more attention to the stats than in past years, especially the injury and suspension reports. I also have a major crush on Tom Brady. So while watching the Pats play in week 1 (and subsequently seeing Dreamboat go down in a sickening heap within the first 10 minutes) I wondered how the Pats would fair without their golden boy at the helm. Apparently, they can do just fine. Enter, Matt Cassell.

Ed Hochuli and NFL Rules to Blame

 

There was much talk Monday about the blown call by Ed Hochuli in the Denver Broncos/San Diego Chargers game on Sunday. Personally, I blame the NFL rules that prevent the referee from “fixing” this mistake after review. But clearly, Ed Hochuli admits he was also to blame and really feels badly about it. I feel he showed great class in stepping up and taking responsibility, and in personally discussing it with Norv Turner right after the game. I believe he’s a good ref who’s getting a bad rap.

I’m Psychic.

I love when my good feelings turn out right. Today my boy Rey Maualuga, the one I posted about on Friday, ran an interception 48 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter against Ohio State.

And then humped it.

Now, I am not, of course, always right on these things. Like when fackin’ Tom Brady went down. But whatever, I have Philip Rivers – that’ll work, right? Oh God. I hope so.

Hottie Prospectus: The F’s Up With the Giant Pretty Dude?

Rey Maualuga, 6'3", 255, LB for USC.

I was under the impression that linebackers were, you know, rather lumpy. Not pretty, or at least not appealing to my own sensibilities. Then this cat from USC started showing up in ads and on my television.

Why was I not made aware of this sooner?

More Rey, and other hottie prospects for next year’s NFL and NBA drafts, after the jump.

Keep On Loving You

This weekend I got the Time-Life collection of the Ultimate Rock Ballads. Let me tell you, it is AWESOME! I spent the better part of the weekend enjoying the music. Then I got really excited about Monday Night Football, and the match-up between my Minnesota home team and the Green Bay Packers. I was really excited to blog today about how great Adrian Peterson is, how our D-line lived up to all expectations, and how Tarvaris Jackson showed real improvement over last year. However, after last night’s Vikings performance, all I wanted to do was cry. So I consoled myself with this.

Very Superstitious, Writing’s On The Wall

One of the best parts of being a sports fan is the superstitions we come up with. How so? Because where else in life can you completely rationalize some of the crazy stuff we do in the name of “not jinxing” our teams? And it just doesn’t work in other parts of life. There aren’t too many sales associates that won’t say the name of the city they’re in so they won’t jinx that next sale.

Or something. I don’t think that analogy works, but you know where I was going with it.

Anyway, superstitions are fun. They make all our crazy behavior during games normal. And those among us without a silly superstition about their favorite baseball or hockey team? They’re the crazy ones.

So I asked the Ladies… what are some of the superstitions they have for their favorite teams. Add yours in the comments.  

Hits For Cycle X2

 

For the first time since 1920, two major league baseball players hit for the cycle yesterday: Stephen Drew of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Adrian Beltre of the Seattle Mariners. Arizona beat St. Louis 8-6 and Seattle won 12-6 over Texas. Thanks to Miss Minda for the heads up on this one! Check out their pictures, after the break…

Why must life get in the way of sports?

I’ve been freakishly busy lately, what with school starting again and me desperately trying to secure myself some post-graduation employment. And, to that end, I am flying out to Seattle in less than 24 hours AFTER I have an interview at 8:40 in the morning. Ugh. Unfortunatley this means that sports have been on the back burner. However:

Friday Afternoon Grab-Bag: Wait, Two More Months?

I had a busy week, y’all, and I’m tired. It was my first week of classes, and of work; on top of that, there was cleaning up from Fay, taking care of new kittens, trying to figure out who to draft in fantasy football, and staying up for the DNC. Yes, I am a dork. But I am a sports dork, and as I paged through my planner this morning – determined to be organized for the first time in my life – my thoughts turned, as they often do, to basketball. Specifically, the NBA. And, as I actually noted the dates on my planner pages, my heart sank. The NBA’s season doesn’t start until October 31st. With a quadruple-header, no less! How am I going to deal that long?

But then, my heart sank even further, for at the end of my hectic week I realized: crap, I haven’t planned anything for my post this afternoon. I want to do right by you all, so I scoured my various folders for the very best of the pictures I’ve saved: pictures I’ve never had recourse to use here before, cute pictures, hot pictures, pictures for an off-season rainy day. For example, this picture of Kevin Garnett. Never had a post to use it in before; the Timberwolves jersey made it out of date before I even became a Lady. But I do appreciate his intensity here. And also, veins.

And so, join me in weeping at the length of the offseason enjoying the best of the basketball grab-bag – long on pictures, short on analysis – after the jump.

I’m in Olympic denial.

The Olympics aren’t over! What are you talking about? Closing Ceremony? What Closing Ceremony? Ok, fine. They are over. I have to stop writing about them … after this post. Looking at our header, and the gorgeous Olympians who have been staring back at us for the past month, the men on the right did really well. The ones on the left? Ouch.

Boys, can you comfort me about the ends of the games? Thanks!

Day-Before Hump Day Hottie: Fernando Torres

Taking a break from the drama and ranting and back to what I’m good at: ogling man-flesh. Yeah I know, it’s not Wednesday, but sometimes you stumble across (or in my case increase my interweb stalking of) a beautiful piece of man that you just cannot wait to share with the world. Meet, become reacquainted with, enjoy, drool over: Fernando Torres.

Hot Wide Receivers Of The Big 10

I read a piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune this weekend about Eric Decker, wide receiver for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. It was well-written, thoughtful and informative. But what caught my eye was the picture. So I started looking for wide receivers in the Big 10 to see who’s hot. Because he’s hometown (for me, at least), Eric gets top billing here. But follow me after the jump to see who else is on top for WRs in the Big 10.

Here’s Your Saturday Morning Wheaties!

American Bryan Clay won the gold medal in the decathalon last night in Beijing. In fact, he ran away with it. He was so far ahead that he literally just had to finish the tenth event to win. He was untouchable. “I just want the Wheaties box,” Clay said afterward with a shy smile. “Put me on the Wheaties box.”

Second (or third) Best No More!

Mmm, so hot.

Two of my most favoritest Olympians finally secured themselves a place in Olympic history by taking their own individual gold medals!

There’s No Place Like Home

 

I have really enjoyed the Olympics this year, as I do every time they come back around. I’ve watched a lot of my favorites, like gymnastics and swimming/diving, as well as some others, like beach volleyball, track and field, and fencing. I have been impressed overall by the athletes’ dedication and drive, and jealous of their athleticism and fitness at the same time. But I started thinking tonight about how long they’ve been over there, and how long until they get back, and I realized they must be homesick in some way. I know if I were in China for over two weeks in early August, I would be missing things. Follow me after the jump to see what they are.

Basketball Grabbag: Team Spain!

The Olympics are for chicks, and I mean that in absolutely the best way possible. We love the Olympics, and they love us – all the boy athletes we love to lust after have girl counterparts for us to root for, and everybody gets equal time. It’s the best time for hottie-spotting and for women’s sports. What’s not to love? Me, I love the Olympics for the same reason I love so many things: basketball.

See, I adore Team USA, I really do. I love Melo and Wade and Bron, I love Tayshaun, I love Chris Bosh. But I also love international competition, because it allows me to see so many hotties I never would see otherwise. Case in point: Team Spain. Case in point on Team Spain: Ricky Rubio. Does anybody know the Spanish for “wunderkind”?

Ricky Rubio, 6'4" starting point guard for Spain.

And The Bronze Medal Goes To…

With Japan and China all but locks for the mens’ gymnastics team silver and gold, in one way or the other, the real battle was for bronze. The main four teams in contention were USA, Germany, Korea and Russia, all within less than two points for the predictions. The outcome, after the jump…

Phelps Watch 2008: Three Down, Five to Go (and other musings)

In a completely unshocking turn of events Michael Phelps, the Golden Boy, American Hero, BFF of one George Walker Bush, won his third gold medal of these Beijing Olympic Games. Oh, and again unsurprisingly, he did it in world record time (1 minute 42.96 seconds to be exact). He made that 200 Freestyle his bitch. I used to swim as a child and in high school. He makes it look so easy it makes me sick. I went to the pool today and swam for an hour. It was hard to SLOWLY swim even a few hundred meters, let alone blast through the water faster than anyone in history. As Andrea noted yesterday, Phelps won his second gold in the EPIC 4×100 meter free relay. Is it even possible to stop this man (without going all Tanya Harding on his ass, that is)? Not even OTHER PEOPLE can mess up his quest, and I mean, other people screw up everything!

Friday Afternoon Cheesecake: Guilty Crushes

The Olympics are here!…Well, on a tape delay, at least. Still, they’re very welcome – the natives have been getting restless on the interweb with, as my fellow Lady mentioned below, only baseball to keep us busy. But the Olympics won’t really be here until tonight, unfortunately. It’s Friday afternoon – who’s read to turn off their brains a little?

You see, this morning, I happened to turn on ESPN. Hmm, I thought absently, readying my breakfast, that guy’s kind of hot. Imagine my horror when I woke up a little to realize I had been admiring Mike Greenberg. These kinds of guilty little crushes happen to me all the time, as you’ll see under the jump. How about you, lovely readers? You got them too, right?

Joey Porter: Sucker-puncher, all-around jerk...attractive man. Alas.

Hit & Run: Are the f*#king Olympics here yet??

It's okay, MC, don't freak out, only 3 more days til Ryan Lochte is on your tv screen and not stupid baseball...

I hate this part of the summer. It’s hot. I’m in North Carolina so it’s humid as hell. My hair doesn’t look it’s shiny awesomey best (and trust me I have great hair). There are no sports worth watcing on a regular basis. (Die, baseball! DIE!) My one shining bastion of hope is NASCAR, and that is only on Saturday or Sunday. Alas, I have no tv right now. (Product of moving and Time Warner Cable hating my guts). So I missed the one sporting event of the week that I actually look forward too. Yes, I followed along on the internet, but it’s not the same. When one cannot see the racecars crash, does it really happen? One of those questions we may never have an answer to.

Please Give a Warm Welcome…

Here we come Brewers. Be afraid.

The Ladies have very sadly had one of their crew take a hiatus (come back soon, Allie!), but that has also brought us a brand spankin’ new Lady.  Please welcome Whitney!  We are ecstatic to have her joining the crew here.  Look for her first post later today.  Here is a brief bio:

She is 28, born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but moved to New York for graduate school and then down to Brooklyn about five years ago.  Just to say she still uses that degree she went in debt for, she writes some fiction and edits the web journal Pindeldyboz.  She is a baseball fan in general and a St. Louis Cardinal fan in particular [ed.'s note: WOOT WOOT!], and also a University of Oklahoma alumna and fan of college basketball and football, and the NFL (she has adopted the Jets as her team, but has always HATED the Cowboys).  Hockey and the NBA usually get some of my attention during the playoffs, but not so much the rest of the time.  I do have a blog of my own, Tres Geek, which is at www.journalscape.com/tresgeek . It’s not the most regularly updated blog in the world, but I try to check in at least every few weeks, if not sooner.

Tuff Stuff

The Minnesota Twins are a team to watch. They are 2 1/2 games back as of last night, going into the 4-game series with the AL Central leaders the Chicago White Sox. They have Justin Morneau, who made quite a showing at the All-Star game. They have Joe Mauer, whose combination of talent, respectability and good looks are more than enough to qualify him as a HDH. And they have the stuff to contend, incluidng scrappy, hungry young players like Carlos Gomez – above – and Denard Span … after the jump.

Women Fight With Fists, Not Pillows; Men Frightened, Confused

I watched this game, and let me just say – awesome. A good, close game, capped off by a bench-clearing brawl and multiple ejections? Does it get better than that? The suits that run professional basketball, and the players involved, may parrot the lines about “embarrassing the sport” and “not how we want to represent ourselves”. But it’s a simple truth: people love a good fight at a sporting event. Whether it’s hockey players ripping each other’s clothes off or baseball players ineffectually posturing at each other or soccer players slap-fighting and/or head-butting each other – fights are exciting! They bring an extra dimension to something that is, by nature, fairly routine. I mean, that’s why people watch hockey, right?

Here’s how it all went down:

Favorite sports memories

Twice this week, I’ve seen things at baseball games that may end up being some of my favorite sports memories, ever. One was nothing historically significant; just a really well-pitched minor league game that ended with a walkoff home run. The other probably also holds no huge, big-picture significance, but it was good for a chuckle: Royals shortstop Tony Pena, Jr. pitching. Pitching really, really well.

Maybe these two games won’t stand the test of time; but some moments will be with me forever:

If only the ESPYs had been done MY way…

So the ESPYs came and went Sunday night, and I must say they were quite disappointing. I have been a Justin Timberlake fangirl since my formative years (I’m talking 13) but his song and dance numbers were a little over the top. Is this the MTV awards now? His “I love sports” song was pretty funny, but some of his other moments were just plain awkward. Hugging Aaron Rogers in front of the whole crowd? Aaron was clearly uncomfortable, and well, it really wasn’t that funny. Although, if they had panned to Brett Favre’s disgruntled face, that would have been GOLD. But no, ESPN missed that prime opportunity. Also, note to JT: We get it, you are a Memphis fan and they lost and you are sad and Mario Chalmers crushed your dreams and they sucked at free throws, etc, etc. BUT OMG that joke got reallllly stale after the 3rd reference, and I was about ready to drop dead at the 700th. Get funnier material next time, KThxBai. On top of the whole event itself, some of the awards were total crap! I really think if they could have, they would have given all the awards to the Giants. What did they win like 6? Unacceptable. So here are the awards where I think they got it really right or otally got it wrong, and what my much more awesome and correct choice would have been.

Hit & Run: Nereida Gallardo, tell me how my ass tastes… No homo.

I know, I know. We already did a post about this yesterday but I felt it was necessary to add some additional commentary and pics. Cristiano Ronaldo may be the undisputed king of the douches right now, but HOT DAMN, that is one beautiful piece of man-meat! AND HE”S BACK ON THE MARKET. Fangirls and working girls alike shall rejoice in this glorious news! So if only he would shut his gorgeous pie-hole, stay with Manchester United and be frickin happy about it, he could go back to being in first place in the Mistress Christina’s future husband race.