Sports ‘N Crafts: Mardi Gras Beads Makeover

There are a number of reasons to start our new (and hopefully, semi-regular) feature on sports themed crafts with today’s project.  For one, it is nearly Mardi Gras (and our own CuteSports is in New Orleans as you read this!). For another, the beads in this project belong to my oft-mentioned Saints fan boyfriend, and today is his birthday.  (Don’t worry, babe, I got you real presents, not just a blog post.)

As you can see, my boyfriend’s lucky Saints beads, which he wears for every game, are a little worse for wear after several seasons of nervous fingering.

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…

Advent Calendar of Hotness: Day 8

Today’s ACoH selection was inspired by the last two weeks of New Orleans Saints games and my boyfriend’s growing mancrush on tight end Jimmy Graham.  Since becoming the starter last year, Jimmy has become one of the Saints’ biggest offensive weapons — and this year, he has become one of the best tight ends in the entire league.

Your NFL Fantasy Starts Here!

Well, it's ... not Bieber hair. (Reuters/Adam Hunger)

First there was the lockout.  Then there was preseason.  Finally, finally the NFL season actually starts playing games that count, with tonight’s Saints – Packers matchup.  Which also means, after weeks of draft preparation and stat scrutinizing, your fantasy team can finally start proving its worth (or disappointing you, if you are like a buddy of mine who says he only likes his fantasy team before the season starts).  We have a record 14 teams in Ladies… League this year, so there is much excitement and anticipation.  My team, Creepier Doll Collective (it was too good a name! it had to have a sequel!) wound up with Dreamboat himself, Tom Brady, at starting quarterback, but oddly I am much more excited to have my backup quarterback…

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

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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.

Five Ways To Spend Labor Day

Yes, some people have to work today.

Happy last weekend of summer as we know it! For those of you not spending it at work, or moving to your dorm, or counting down the hours until you can put the kids on the school bus, we bring you five ways to spend that (hopefully) least of laborious days.

Who Dat? And while we’re on it, what was up with those ads??

Riding out the Ladies… Super Bowl excitement further, I’d like to extend my congratulations to Drew, Coach Peyton, and the city of New Orleans on winning the 44th Super Bowl!!!  And call it my nature, blame it on where my interests lie, but I found it only fitting to include this awesome video for K. Gates’ “Who Dat”, along with my own analysis and recap of the (incredibly disappointing) Super Bowl ads.

Congratulations New Orleans Saints, your Super Bowl 44 Champs

We could post picture upon picture from last night’s game and celebration, but let’s be honest, we’re all smitten with Drew Brees after the images of him holding and talking to his child while tears streamed down this face.

The proud papa brought the whole huge party back to a human level and there were plenty of folks who were crying right with him.

Congratulations, Drew, Sean Payton, and the rest of the New Orleans Saints. Well played, guys. Well played.

You can see tons of photos from the celebration and the game in this gallery at nola.com

An exercise in drawing cartoon hearts.

So by now, you may have seen this profile of Saints linebacker Scott Fujita.

If you’re me, you’ve now spent the last twenty minutes drawing hearts around his name while daydreaming about skipping through New Orleans hand-in hand and dispensing bon mots about social justice and equality.

Then again, if you’re a normal person, you thought ‘Huh, cool.’ and went on with your daily life.

Let’s just jot down the reasons why Scott Fujita is my new boyfriend who just doesn’t know it yet, shall we?

Ladies… Linkups: Your Pre-Super Bowl Edition

I would have loved to have had a Friday Foodie for you, but with my recent vacation, the two night classes I’ve been taking and the usual mama and work stuff it’s been too hard to find the time.

But you know who does it better anyway? The original author of our Football Foodie Fridays, The Starter Wife, who has been busily dishing out 14 days of delectable Super Bowl eats, including Sugar Pie. Sugar Pie! I didn’t know people outside of French Canada made this! Youpi!

Speaking of countdowns, Fack Youk has been counting down the days until spring training begins, pinstripe-style. If you love baseball history, check it out over your lunch break. It’s good reading!

The Ladies… also salute those who gave us a kind shout-out in the blogosphere in recent days, like Stumptown Magazine whose writers discuss everything Portland, Oregon. Like Rudy Fernandez.

We also thank the ladies at the funny and feminist Not My Gal for including ours among their My Gal Blogs of the Week. It’s where you’ll find an insightful piece on that ad. Regardless where you stand on the issue, check it out.

Mens’ hockey is fun to watch and all, but we’re really excited about womens’ Olympic hockey! CuteSports linked you to Team USA’s profiles a few days ago. Here’s where you can learn more about Team Canada. I wonder if it’s too late to order a Wickenheiser jersey for next weekend.

And now I give you stretching Saints…

(Reuters Photo)

Enjoy the game Sunday!

Hit and Run: Here Comes the Super Bowl!

Three more days to endure until Super Bowl Sunday.  Fortunately, I’ve had a busy week to take my mind off the waiting.  Also fortunately, there’s some great pictures coming out of Miami to whet your football appetite and save me from having to write too much.

First up, Daylife.com (via Getty Images), has a whole series of pictures of the painting of the turf, which I found fascinating.

NFC/AFC Championships: A Hotness Retrospective

Fine, this was an excuse to post one more Mike Tomlin picture this year.

The big storyline in last year’s Super Bowl was the tradition rich Pittsburgh Steelers and their (then) five Super Bowl victories matched against the Arizona Cardinals in their first trip to the championship.  This year, 3 of the 4 conference finalists have either never been to the Super Bowl or have not been in decades. To put things in perspective, I took a look at the rosters of each team — both from their last trip to the conference game (win or lose) and their last conference championship — and selected a player representative of that era in the team’s history.  You might be surprised who I came up with.

Vintage (sort of) football hotness, after the jump.

Advent Calendar of Hotness: Day 17

Oh, Drew Brees.  I’ve liked you ever since your Purdue days; I’ve never been able to like Philip Rivers because the Chargers chose him over you.  I’m so happy you’ve found success with the Saints, and I am so, SO happy you finally cut your hair so I can justify including you on the Advent Calendar.

Lucky 1,300

This is officially the 1,300th post on our fine site and we decided to celebrate with a list of 13 very special hotties. Since we realized it was the 1,300th post pretty late, not every one of the Ladies… was able to join in the fun, but we picked a few individual hotties, plus some “all-time” hotties.

Follow the jump for the pictures!

Hump Day Hotties: AFC & NFC South

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.

So far we have featured hotties from the AFC & NFC North, East and West. This week is our final installment.  So take the plunge, and follow me after the jump to get a peek at some hotties from the AFC and NFC South.

Adrian Peterson vs. Reggie Bush

I’m watching Monday Night Football. I’m trying to focus my energy on rooting for the Minnesota Vikings, to get them to a 2-3 W-L record instead of letting the New Orleans Saints go over .500. Understandably, the national sports media seems to be focusing on the match-up between Adrian Peterson and Reggie Bush. The more pics they put up, the less I seem to hear about the game, the players, the stats, the strategy. All I see is this…

Let There Be Footbawl.

Blood season begins in earnest tonight. Last weekend was glorious, but without a lazy NFL Sunday of lolling and snacking to follow Saturday’s CFB whirlwind, it’s just not the same. In a few hours, the WORLD CHAMPION Indianapolis Colts welcome the New Orleans Saints to the RCA.

For me, this means four hours of screaming my lungs to shreds and basking in the reflected glory of one Mister Peyton Manning (time to reference that disclaimer again, I suppose). For the rest of you, well, this is Ladies, and I know why you’re here. It’s a marquee night; let’s have a look at some marquee manflesh: