In Which Our Lovely Readers Get To Help Us Avoid The Facebook Police

So apparently Facebook now considers the three eponymous dots at the end of our group page name “excessive punctuation” (because that’s clearly the aberrant behavior they should be worrying about) and has instructed us to change it. While I still fail to see how something that technically qualifies as a single punctuation mark is “excessive,” goodness knows we would rather daydream about attaching ourselves to Matt Kemp than die on the hill of internet righteousness. That’s where you, lovely readers, come in.

TLDR: Facebook’s making us change our group page name; we want you to help us decide what we change it to.

Advent Calendar of Hotness Day 17: Eric Hosmer

Time for my homer pick! Apparently Eric Hosmer has only been mentioned on this site one time in history, and it was when he was too young for the Ladies… to officially think he was attractive. Life sucked then. But this is now, so let’s DO THIS.

From his very brief stint in my town, in front of my camera.

Advent Calendar of Hotties Day 3: Eden Hazard

I was going to be a Royals homer and feature my favorite catcher in the world, but a Facebook friend recommended I look in the direction of Eden Hazard and suddenly I’ve got soccer hotties on the brain.

Hello.

Ladies… Bracket Bawl, Um, Brawl, Update

Did you pick West Virginia? Did you know Darryl Bryant broke his foot and is out for the rest of the tourney? Do you still like that pick?

Wow.  So, um, when I said it was the most wide-open tourney in years that was … possibly the only thing I’ve said about the tournament that’s actually been right so far.    The Ladies … Bracket Brawl, like so many other tourney pools this year, is a collection of shredded brackets.  The good news is, with everyone doing so poorly, everyone still has a chance to catch up.  Well, I don’t, but the rest of you do.  Let’s look at the standings after the first two rounds:

Hockey Hotties on the Rise

NHL.com has inspired me! After doing Top 10 features on the Finns, Russians and Swedes (oh my!), I thought the Ladies… could get in on the Top 10 action.  While my choices are less stats based and more looks based, I still think the following hotties are names to remember for next season.

So without further ado, here are 10 hotties on the rise.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the US Men’s National Team.

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?

It’s my party and I’ll take over if I want to

I had a great idea to do a post about the Futures game, checking out more than just the on-field talent. However, there are not a lot of pictures out there of minor league players, it turns out. Google Images and I spent some quality time together and I came up with very little.

Look to Crane to give you some Futures hottie love later…

So instead of giving you relevant content, I’m taking over.

It’s my birthday tomorrow, so follow me after the jump where I indulge myself by posting pictures of soccer boys that make me happy!

Confederation’s Cup Cuties

Considering there was quite a bit of baseball, golf and various forms of racing happening this weekend, I was super excited every time I sat in front of the TV and there was international soccer on both ESPN and ESPN2.

The Confederations Cup is going on in South Africa. This is a tournament that happens every four years, the year before the World Cup. It pits the previous WC Champion against the winners of the various FIFA Confederations. Wikidpedia gives us this handy chart:

Team	Confederation	Qualification	Participation
South Africa	CAF	2010 FIFA World Cup host	2nd
Italy	UEFA	2006 FIFA World Cup winners	1st
United States	CONCACAF	2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup winners	4th
Brazil	CONMEBOL	Copa América 2007 winners	6th
Iraq	AFC	2007 AFC Asian Cup winners	1st
Egypt	CAF	2008 African Cup of Nations winners	2nd
Spain	UEFA	UEFA Euro 2008 winners	1st
New Zealand	OFC	2008 OFC Nations Cup winners	3rd

So to celebrate , let’s check out some of the beautiful men who played the beautiful game this weekend.

The Awesomosity of Roy Halladay, Part Deux

Good morning. I think my Los Angeles time zone just kicked your ass. And hey, you can stop making fun of my headline now, because I do actually speak French.

You can also stop making fun of it because you’re going to be too in awe of what inspired it to form coherent sentences. Strap your jaw closed so you don’t drool on your keyboard, and read on past this almost totally unrelated photo of Brett Cecil.

Because I think he's unbelievably pretty and I get a lot of angry comments about not having enough hot photos. Also, I mostly like his mechanics, even though they're awfully quirky.

9 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 14 SO, .378 WPA, 88-133 pitches-strikes. Observe.

*whimpers, flails about helplessly*

That is all.

Friday Fellow: Boyd Gordon

Whew, what a week this has been. We lost so many Ladies… on Monday, which was sad. (Confidential to all the now-departed Ladies…: I will miss you!) And also, that was Monday, and those are always stupid.

So let’s all console ourselves with a hockey hottie, shall we? Say hello and “hey, come here often?” to Boyd Gordon.

I had never watched a Caps game. Maybe I should now!

Watch This Space…

The Ladies have a big announcement coming tomorrow, so BOLO! (That’s Be On the Lookout!)

Meanwhile, I received Kenny Mayne’s book in the mail yesterday. His publisher mass-emailed bloggers offering a free copy and I said, “SURE!” I’ll post a more detailed review when I’m finished reading it, but so far I’m enjoying it. He has his schtick to be sure, but overall it’s decently entertaining. The best part about it is the anecdotes he includes about his daughters Riley and Annie. He asked them to draw picture representations of famous sporting events (the Immaculate Reception, Don Larsen’s perfect game) and the illustrations are priceless. Annie drew Larsen’s game as a bowling game. I’m not sure why she chose bowling, but it’s adorable.

Hump Day Hottie: Pitcher Stares

So you’re on deck. You’ve swung the bat a few times with the donut, you’ve tightened (and re-tightened) your batting gloves, you’ve tarred your bat and helmet up nice and good, and your kick-ass music is playing out across the ballpark as you step in to the batter’s box. You’re ready to do battle with that good-for-nothin’ pitcher… and then you see this:

Oh my sweet lord.

How the hell is a batter supposed to concentrate with that stare drilling down from the mound? Never mind the intimidation factor, a pitcher’s glare is flat out HOT. It is part predatory, part arrogance, part master craftsman; all testosterone, all serious – and it is undeniably sexy. And the piercing stare from a closer? Well, you might as well turn out the lights and go home, because it is GAME OVER. The intensity, the attitude, the single-minded focus… that glare says, “I am a man. I am here to do business. And I am about to rock your world.” Please, sir- may I have some more?

Try to resist the lineup of pitchers’ stares after the jump…

Men In Suits!

Chelsea and Armani…two great tastes that taste great together:

The team will be equipped with a single-breasted, two-button navy blue crease resistant lightweight wool gabardine suit, with flat-front, straight-legged trousers and a fitted jacket with pronounced ‘Roman’ shoulder line.

These will be worn with pale blue cotton shirts from the Armani Napoli range.

Players will also get a new club tie, a navy blue polo shirt which can be worn as an alternative to shirt and tie, a dark brown mock croc belt and brown suede half boots.

What does this mean to the sporting world? Not a whole lot. To us, however, this development is of crucial importance for one reason: An excuse to post a shot of a bunch of hot athletes in suits.

(HT to our darling kleph for the story, and additional article with a bunch of Spanish words and a naked dude holding a soccer ball.)

East Coast Pants Party Wrap up: Is everyone accounted for?

Yesterday dawned bright and early. From my constant checks on weather.com, I knew it was going to be a gorgeous day. But I had no idea the hilarity that lay ahead.

Hump Day Hottie: Eye Black

Here’s the thing: every man is hotter in eye black. Especially men of the athlete variety- all instantly made hotter with smears of eye black. Why this is the case, I can only assume because eye black denotes athleticism, physical exertion, sweat, a little bit of rough and tumble and a whole lot of hottness to the female eye. Eye black is undeniably sexy – and when worn by a hot athlete? Damned irresistible.

A whole hell of a lot of hot athletes in eye black after the jump…