Advent Calendar of Hotness Day 12: David Wilson

Unless you’re a Giants fan (or happen to be an unfortunate Saints fan that saw last Sunday’s matchup), you might be wondering who on earth David Wilson is.  Well, I’ll happily tell you – he’s a rookie running back for the Giants out of Virginia Tech who hasn’t really seen much action or field time in his first year.  However, this past Sunday he not only broke the team record for all purpose yards in a single game (327) including 4 kickoff returns for 227 of those yards and one being a 97 yard return for a touchdown, but he also ran for 100 yards for 2 touchdowns, making him the NFC player of the week.  Keep an eye on this one – not only is he hot on the field and extremely enthusiastic about backflips, he’s quite adorable (and rather ripped, I might add) off the field too.

Advent Calendar of Hotness Day 8: Adrian Peterson

Adrian Peterson is an old favorite here at Ladies, but can you believe he’s never been in the ACoH? In honor of his stunning return from last year’s knee injury (on Christmas Eve, no less), and because I am a total Sooner homer, please enjoy some pics.

Ladies Links: Don’t Forget the Chyron Edition

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.

Friday Foodie: Super Bowl XLVI Special (Featuring JELLO SHOTS! and Bonus Booze Review)

New slogan? Ladies...: Bringing The Meat Since 2007

We’ve made our predictions. Now it’s time to get cookin’. And drinkin’. In fact, it is advised to do both at the same time.  The other Ladies… and I have pulled together a Friday Foodie post of epic proportions. If you’re getting a bit bored of chili, we have several suggestions to ensure your Super Bowl Party guests won’t be pulling Manning Faces over the menu.

The Ladies… Super Size Super Bowl Preview

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The majority of us Ladies may still be licking our wounds from disappointing playoff losses to either the Giants or Patriots* (not Maggie, obviously) but that doesn’t mean we’re not watching the game!  Lady Bee has a yummy treat for you all tomorrow, so we’re getting a head start on our Super Bowl preview. Our thoughts and picks after the jump**.

*Or didn’t even make the playoffs because of losses to both. Hi, my name is Games Mistress and I’m a Jets fan.

** Are they bringing one of these foam pit things when the Super Bowl is in New York? Because I might have to reconsider my no-way-in-hell stance about going out to the Meadowlands that week.

Cute wool hats, floating heads and stupid Tebow: Your NFL Wild Card Weekend Preview

I'm just relieved this isn't an animated gif in which the outer floating heads rotate around Boomer. (Image source: ESPN)

It’s NFL WILD CARD WEEKEND! And I know this because ESPN sent me the most frightening email yesterday to remind me. I’m normally all for floating heads, but I live in fear of falling asleep and having the floating head of Keyshawn Johnson bellow “C’MON MANNNN!” in my dreams. Also, what the hell is with the green glow? The Countdown Crew are aliens, I tell you.

Meet me after the jump for a quick look at Wild Card Weekend. I have to go find my tinfoil hat first…

Visiting the White House

Super Bowl Champions the Green Bay Packers visited President Obama at the White House today. For Bears fan Obama, it was a bit of a heart-break, but for Packers fans, it was a visit a long time coming.

Often, when championship teams visit the White House, they give the president a gift – this is usually a jersey and the number on the back is usually the president’s number in the succession of presidents. (For example, Obama is the 44th President of the United States.)

While at the White House today, Packer Charles Woodson presented the president with a certificate of stock in the publicly owned Green Bay Packers. As a Bears’ fan, Obama took the opportunity as a new “owner” to suggest a trade for Aaron Rodgers.

Considering I’ve usually heard of teams giving the president a jersey, I thought the stock certificate was a pretty cool gift. It made me wonder what other gifts teams have presented to the president.

The Giants also gave President Obama a signed bat and fielder’s gloves for his whole family.

2009 World Series Champions the New York Yankees don’t appear to have given any gifts other than the jersey, but their jersey had the #27 on the back – for their 27 world titles.

Chicago Blackhawks, the 2010 Stanley Cup winners, gave hometown president Obama a Blackhawks sweater and let him try on the ring.

Auburn, 2010 National Football Champions, gave Obama a jersey and a helmet.

The jersey the 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins upped the jersey ante by giving Obama one with a captain’s “C” on it.

UConn, the men’s basketball national champions, gave President Obama a basketball with his name etched on it.

The Philadelphia Phillies, who won the World Series in 2008, also gave Obama a baseball.

As far as I can tell, 2008 and 2008 winners the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints stuck to the jersey gift.

Not a gift, but when the UConn women’s basketball team visited in 2009, President Obama challenged a few of the players to a game of P-I-G. Naturally, he won. But the women were wearing heels and dress.

The Detroit Red Wings, 2008 Stanley Cup Champions, gave George Bush Jr two jerseys – one #43 for him and one #41 for his dad. And also invited them to visit on their annual father-son trip. They also gave President Bush a miniature Stanley Cup statue.

So maybe I’m a little biased, but I think the stock certificate might have been the coolest gift in recent memory. The Packers also broke tradition by giving him a Packers jersey with the name on back “Commander In Chief” and the #1.

You can check out video of the Packers White House visit
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Advent Calendar of Hotness: Day 14

Sensing a serious lack of ink in our lovely ACOH – today’s hottie comes fully loaded.  For your viewing pleasure ladies – Devin Thomas.

Friday Fellow: Miles Austin

Now that he’s free of the clutches of Kim Kardashian,  it’s time to celebrate. It’s once again allowable to love on the pretty smile of Dallas Cowboy Miles Austin.

If he buys earrings this big for himself, imagine what kind of bling he buys his lady!

Hit & Run: Fantasy Football Disasters Edition

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Guess who writes for a sports blog and has Reggie Bush on both her fantasy teams, including one that is in such bad shape as far as running backs go that she is resorting to starting Fred Taylor and 3 WRs for week 3?  Yeah.  So.  (Though as someone who dates a Saints fan, I must note there’s a certain amount of relief among the NOLA fanbase that Reggie’s leg is “just” broken and he didn’t reinjure his knee.)

Injuries and fantasy football lineups thus being on my mind, I thought I’d take a quick survey of other developing situations around the league that might impact your fantasy choices this week.

I Was There: The Ladies… Do New Meadowlands Stadium

Yes, I know it’s just exhibition time and the games don’t really count for anything. But when this Buffalo loving Lady had the opportunity to check out the new Jets/Giants digs without it being -20° out, I obviously jumped. Here is a (almost literally) bird’s eye view and review of the fabulous new stadium from last Friday’s Jets game against Washington (which started as a snooze, looked as if it may end in a win, and ended in a 16-11 loss for NY).

Hit and Run: September’s coming soon

Hands up: who cannot wait for September?

No, no, NO, Malcolm Sheppard of the Texans! That's not what I meant by "Hands up!" (AP Photo)

Oh, September. What’s not to love? The return of NFL football, baseball hurling towards the Fall Classic, hockey and basketball waiting in the wings. We’re almost there, but in the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of what happened the last weekend of August.

Hit and Run: Football, Football, and more Football!!

The NFL regular season is over. With Alabama winning the BCS National Championship game, college football won’t be back until next fall. For those of you who play fantasy football, a winner has already been decided. (Congrats to THE Blonde Bomber for winning the ladies… fantasy football!) But don’t be too sad. There is still plenty going on in the football world. There’s coaching changes in college football. New coaches in the NFL. And mostly importantly there’s the NFL playoffs!! The Cowboys remembered how to win in January (which didn’t make me very happy). The Patriots got slaughtered by the Ravens (which did make me happy). This weekend is a new set of games that will hopefully be more entertaining than the Wild Card games. (Admit it, aside from the Cards/Packers game, all those games were pretty boring.)

Congrats to Bama for beating the Longhorns 37-21 in the BCS title game.

Hump Day Hottie: NFL Wild Card Playoffs

Well, it’s finally here: Playoff Time!  This is when you separate the men from the boys.  Well us Ladies are separating the hotties from the not-so hotties.  Take a trip with me after the jump to see some hotties playing in the Wild Card match-ups this weekend.

2010 Welcomes You… With Hotness!

2010 begins with a plea from this sports/man loving lady.  I believe in the power of intention and attraction, so let’s put our thoughts together, and will Jeremy Bloom back into the world of professional sports.

NFL Playoffs – losing 20 teams of hotties for eight months Part 1

It’s late and I’m still awake, so instead of reveling in the happiness of the NFL Playoffs, I’ve decided to focus on how many cute, lycra-clad behinds that will disappear from our weekly viewing schedule for the next eight months.

In order to tide you over until August, follow the jump for one last look at the cute boys of the 2009 season who we won’t be seeing anymore…

The Top Five Games of the Week

Ah, football season is finally here! I think I speak for everyone when I say that it couldn’t have come soon enough. Preseason football is so boring. Watching starters play about one quarter does not feed my appetite for football. Also, this will be my first season playing fantasy football (wish me luck!), so that makes the start of the season that much more exciting. There are 13 games this Sunday and another two on Monday. Some should be entertaining, while others are sure to be a snooze-fest. Unless you’re a fan, you probably aren’t counting down the hours until the showdown between the Rams and Seahawks.

So without further ado, I present to you (in no particular order and with my completely biased opinion) the top five games of Week 1…

And while we’re talking about Philly…

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.

Okay, we’re asking.

That's a waste of a perfectly good $7.50.

Say this happened in Philadelphia. How much time would everyone spend bitching and moaning about how awful Philadelphia fans are? I mean, we’d go from this to booing Santa Claus in like, six seconds flat, right? And everyone could shake their head and cluck their tongue against their teeth and feel that their fan base is just so much better than a city full of hooligans?

Sorry, but this is a pet peeve. Sure, we have (and had) our share of drunken idiots whose drunken exploits made us all look bad. Doesn’t every city? You’re trying to tell me that Philadelphia is the only city where folks get drunk and run with some hairbrained ideas? Someone ask William Ligue, Jr. about that, or the idiot who decided to see if the netting in Old Yankee Stadium could hold his weight. So why is it that Philadelphia is consistently singled out as being full of violent and destructive goons?

Look, I’ll give you the 700 level in Veteran’s Stadium. I’ve done some pretty stupid and cocky things (like sitting with the Creatures at a Sox/Yanks game in Yankee Stadium while wearing full-on Sox regalia) and even I never had the guts to go anywhere near those lunatics. But because one group of guys in one level of a defunct stadium were crazy people once upon a time, we tar the whole city with that brush? Doesn’t that seem a little ridiculous to you?

Whatever. It’s over, it’s done with, Shane filed a formal complaint, and the idiot who made all baseball fans look bad has turned himself in.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see what creative things the Linc crowd can come up with to howl at Tom Brady. (GO PATS.)

Hump Day Hotties: AFC & NFC East

One of these three are representing the Cowboys after the jump. Who do you think it is?

Some of us Ladies have been looking forward to football season, so I thought what better way to get everyone hyped than to feature a hottie from every NFL team.  Each week for the next four weeks, we’ll be featuring lesser-known hotties from an AFC and NFC division.

Last week we featured hotties from the AFC and NFC North. This week, follow me after the jump to get a peek at some hotties from AFC and NFC East.

Is It Football Season Yet?

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.

NFL Training (Camp) Wheels: A Photo Essay

Right, Reggie. Back to work. We get it.

I love NFL training camp, not because football is upon us again (if it’s still hot, it’s still baseball season, in my mind) but because of the sheer entertainment value of the photos.   Reggie Wayne showing up to training camp in a dump truck, dressed as a construction worker?  Obvious publicity grab, sure, but funny in a look-at-the-rich-and-talented-athlete-being-a-cheesy-goofball sort of way.

Strangely enough, Reggie’s transportation related stunt reflected a similar theme in many of the less staged photos of training camps across the league : the many unusual ways in which the athletes travel to and around their team’s facilities.

Tony Romo Makes Some Really Stupid Decisions

Sorry Dallas fans, this is by far my favorite Romo pic.

I am always conflicted about my feelings towards Tony Romo. I hate the Cowboys and I relish anytime he has a crappy game and they lose. However, as much as I try, I actually kind of like Romo. He seems like a genuinely decent guy. And I ALMOST feel bad for him at times. Of course never enough where I actually want to see him prove himself and win a playoff game. And God forbid, a Super Bowl. I shudder to think what the Cowboys fan base would turn into if they won six championships.

But this post isn’t about my love/hate relationship with Romo. This is about some of the ridiculous things Romo seems to do, including his latest decision.

Misery Loves Company… In Our Nation’s Capital

There is an understanding in my home state of Maryland, you either root for the Redskins, or you root for everyone else but the Skins. I’m a glutton for punishment, so I became a sad sap of a human, full equipped with Skins Starter jacket and a love of Joe Gibbs.  Follow me this week as we travel through the capital city of this great land, and the teams that almost seem like afterthoughts to professional sports.

Misery Loves Company… Lonestar Edition!

In this installment of our weekly exercise in the agony of defeat, we head south to Texas.  The heart of the Bible Belt, the home of Matthew McConaughey, Lance Armstrong, George Foreman, Nick Jonas, and the live music capital of the world; if the great fans of these teams can survive the Dust Bowl and bang bang McCoy, they can endure a few more years without championships!

Hit and Run: In Which Barry Zito’s BABIP Regresses, Right Before Our Eyes!

A.k.a. the “Complete MLB Rundown (To The Exclusion Of Everything Else)” edition. Why? Because I can. Yesterday’s scores presented BBC-style for extra hilarity and confusion.

• Red Sox 3 – 5 Blue Jays. Sevven sollid innings from Tallet (see what I did there?) provide a lead for Scott Downs to preserve, bringing them back into 2nd place in the mighty AL East. Go Jays!
• Marlins 7 – 3 Mets. Tim Redding sucks. Josh Johnson doesn’t. Go Fish!
• Braves 2 – 3 Diamondbacks. There are a lot of 3s today. Eric Byrnes finally does something good; namely, driving in the winning run in the 11th. No, wearing awesome socks doesn’t automatically mean that you’ve done something good.
• Dodgers 0 – 7 Cubs. Eric Stults fails as Dodgers get shut out for the first time all year. You know, I like the guy, but hey dude, put up or shut up. As in, put up zeros on the scoreboard, or shut the hell up when the reporters interview you and ask why you sucked. Go ahead, say, “I sucked”. David Ortiz did, you can too! Ugh. STULTS. My boy Brent Leach faces 1 batter, records 2 groundouts, because he’s cool like that. Go Dodgers.
• Twins 2 – 5 Rays. David Price blah blah blah 11 strikeouts blah blah blah 1st Major League win blah blah blah Free Rick Porcello!
• Reds 5 – 9 Brewers. Some dudes hit some home runs.
• Tigers 6 – 3 Orioles. Is Luke Scott on steroids? Naw, he’s just in an un-slump.
• Astros 4 – 7 Pirates. Hey guys, the Pirates just won another game. Meanwhile, the Astros lost another one and are hopelessly out of contention. Kind of like the Nationals.
• Yankees 10 – 5 Indians. Your first double-digit scoring game of the night was notable only for the fact that CC Sabathia gave up runs. I really hate that guy. Oh, and Nick Swisher (perhaps better known simply as AJ Burnett’s new boyfriend) hit a home run. I’m sure they celebrated in an entirely appropriate fashion that didn’t involve ice cream or maple syrup or leather and chains. No, I didn’t just imply that.
• Nationals 6 – 9 Phillies. Cole Hamels gets shelled but gets the win anyway. Disgusting. Lidge doesn’t implode, but his ERA is still above 8. Good luck with that, buddy.
• White Sox 5 – 3 Royals. Gil Meche gets no love from the bullpen. Which sucks.
• Athletics 1 – 14 Rangers. The average Leverage Index for this game was so low that it actually may have caused a Fangraphs implosion. Seriously, check it out:

• Padres 7 – 8 Rockies. This game is actually so boring that there’s no proof it happened, so I can’t tell you what happened, although I’m sure if you really want to know you can look it up somewhere.
• Mariners 4 – 3 Angels. If you’re a Mariners fan, then Jose Lopez is your saviour. On the other hand, if you’re a Mariners fan, then you probably have bigger problems, including the fact that your #5 starter is actually a vampire. That’s my clever way of saying that I sort of have a crush on Jason Vargas.
• Cardinals 6 – 2 Giants. Zito was doing fine until he gave up 3 consecutive doubles in the 7th. Actually, on a team that didn’t epitomize suckitude, he would’ve had an easy shot at winning this game, except that 1) Albert Pujols is on steroids and 2) The Giants suck, ergo, their bullpen sucks, ergo, their starters don’t win unless they pitch complete game shutouts. Except for that one time, but I’m pretty sure that was an accident. Oh, and Albert Pujols did do something good; namely, he struck out looking on a curveball from Zito that came thisclose to making me scream in delight. (I did actually sort of whimper, but the sexual power of a pitch like that is a discussion for another time. Just watch any Roy Halladay start, or a good AJ Burnett start. You’ll understand.)

Good morning. I know in darkness I will find you giving up inside like me.

Theme Thursday Returns

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?

Another entry in the ‘Dick Move’ Hall of Fame.

So. That happened.

I’ll be up front about this. I’ve been a vocal Favre hater for more than a decade now. I rolled my eyes when Madden waxed rhapsodic about Favre’s status as a gunslinger. I groaned inwardly every time someone told me that he was a ‘man’s man.’ I hated the entire city of Green Bay for unleashing him on the world.

I hated him because he (and the Green Bay Packers) stomped all my beloved New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, leaving college freshman Maggie slumped on her bed wearing an expression that looked…kind of like the expression in that picture, actually. I’m bitter, I have a long memory and I learned how to hold an old-fashioned Irish grudge at my Grandma’s knee.

I tell you this only so I can explain to you, Green Bay fans, that I understand how you’re feeling right now, or how you’re going to feel if he goes through with this and suits up for the Vikings. That white hot, fiery hatred? That urge to punch that picture at the top of this post repeatedly because you can’t get the real thing in your hot little hands? The indignant, righteous and strangely helpless fury? I’m with you. I’ve been there. Hell, I’m upset on your behalf.

See, I’ve long suspected that Favre was going to end up with a plaque in the ‘Dick Move’ Hall of Fame. (The man took a dive for Michael Strahan, for God’s sake. He did the ‘I’m going to maaaaaaaybe retire, maybe not, let’s talk about me some more’ dance so many times I think Peter King performs the steps in his sleep. The writing was on the wall, people.)

The question, though, is just who he’ll be joining in the semi-hallowed, but mostly tarnished ‘Dick Move’ Hall of Fame. Come for the self-indulgence, stay for the money-grubbing.

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 :

Hump Day Hottie: Some Dallas Cowboys

I grew up hating the Dallas Cowboys, and have always thought that was pretty normal. Around Nebraska, there aren’t many Cowboys fans at all, and no one ever had a problem with my hating. Except…well… my boyfriend loves that team the way I love my Royals, or the way Jim loves Pam, or the way Billy Butler loves Baconators. I’m trying to come to grips with this, and find something to like about his yucky team. Jason Witten is a good start, and there’s more after the jump.

Loooves me some Witten. Yum!