My Awesome New Hat

How cool is my new hat?
(Answer: So cool.)

And only $2. Can you believe it?
For some reason they had tons of Bucs and Seahawks hats and nothing else. Weird.

I need a new lucky shirt.

Ok, so it’s been established (by the loss of the Bucs’ last four games and missing of the playoffs) that last year’s lucky t-shirt was not actually very lucky. When you think about it.

The shirt that was lucky for a while and then not.

So last year’s shirt is out, obvi.
But what am I supposed to wear this year?
For the record, I usually go with something that is very loosely themed (like no Bucs jerseys), because when I can no longer wear the shirt to watch football, I would like to be able to wear it somewhere. (Though usually that somewhere ends up being the gym.)

I need assistance, and so let me walk you through the past several years’ worth of shirts so you can get a feel for what has not helped the Bucs reach the Super Bowl in the past:

2005-06: The front.

And the back. This was American Eagle.

2006-07. This picture covered in my shadow, but the shirt is light pink and it says Tampa, FL-- hence the thematicness. Also American Eagle.

2007-08. Forever 21. I think I wore this twice. Two bad losses and out.

Ok, so now, this year I have a couple of options.

Do I, 1) Go fully Bucs-y? (all from the NFL Shop)

Retro Bucs

"Ex Boyfriend Fashion T-Shirt" The ex boyfriend in question has a very girlish figure.

Or maybe some truly retro Bucco Bruce?

Or 2),  go vague:

I just happen to want a Golden Girls t-shirt. Alloy.com

Ha! Or maybe this. Forever 21

Opinions welcome.

Please note that alloy.com has a bunch of very cool vintage-y t-shirts in NFL themes, but no Bucs shirts. Boo.
You can check them out here.

Also, there’s always the Alyssa Milano collection.

American Idol–Top 36, Part II–Plus Football

Ok, big football day for me. Big in a bad way, sadly, as the Bucs (my team) released basically everyone on the roster who has ever played well, including Derrick Brooks, probably the best player that the Bucs have ever had and  a good guy to boot. Tampa loves Derrick as much as the Idol judges love D. Gokes (who, by the way, got another shout-out from Simon today even when he didn’t perform) and Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson combined.  Anyway, I’m expecting that this is either, a) a hugely unfunny almost March Fool’s Day joke by the Bucs front office, or, b) a reason to call the 2009-10 season a wash already.  So much for hope.

It’s hard to lose hope before the game is even played, no? Happens on Idol, too, something I noticed tonight when song choices were revealed before the singers took the stage. So tonight I’m going to go through my first impression upon hearing the singer’s song choice and then whether they pulled it off or not. Maybe it’ll give me hope for my potentially awful (but potentially great?) Buccies next year. Come on, singers! Make those crappy songs, well, sing!

Jasmine: Love Song by Sara Bareilles

First impression: Eh, not too exciting, but whatever.

Performance: Eh, not too exciting, but whatever.  Only problem was that she seemed to want to make this stripped down song into a Whitney solo, and that didn’t so much work. But she’s totally adorable, so I can see the judges putting her into a wild card round.

Matt: Viva La Vida by Coldplay

First impression: Ugh, that song again?

Performance: Ugh, that song again? Chris Martin doesn’t sing runs, and clearly there is a reason for that. A good one.

As Paula said, “I did hear you go for it and bring what you brought to it.” Exactly.

Janine: This Love by Maroon 5

First Impression: The hell is she singing Maroon 5 for?

Performance: Um… At least the backup singers were good? And loud? And, hey, she got all the judges votes for her legs, so if this was like Hawaiian Tropic, she would be sooo in.

Norman or whatever: And I Am Telling You by Broadway

First Impression: Ugh

Performance: Ok, so “Norman” is from the same town that my friend Kevin is from, and he did karaoke or something at Kevin’s favorite bar, so I won’t really mention here how I do not understand why people think that he is funny, and that perhaps these are the same people who kept “Life with Jim” on the air for so long. Randy Jackson must love him some Belushi.

Irahita: Alone by Heart

First Impression: No! This belongs to Carrie Underwood!

Performance: Never mind! That totally rocked! Still, Carrie was probably better, but Irahita totally sang it Kelly Clarkson-style, and that’s a-ok by me. I was a little worried in the pre-interview that she had been drinking from Paula’s cup of Coke, but maybe she’s just an awkward teen? And awesome singing forgives all weird slurry half-answers.

Kris Allen: Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson

First Impression: Ok, this could work!

Performance: Loved it! Ok, full disclosure,  Kris and his argyle sweater made an impression on me in Hollywood Week. He’s a little dreamy. (And 23. And married, I’m guessing, based on the wedding-ringed finger that he flapped in front of his face for the first half of the song.) But anyway, we’re America. We vote for cute when we vote for Idols. (Unlike on Canadian Idol. You should watch. Their contestants range from moderately unattractive to monumentally plain in a way that Americans would never forgive.)

See the Kris and his argyle sweater and some other people below:

Corkrey: Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae

First Impression: I’m unable to muster an opinion.

Performance: The singing was ok, but I have to tell you, I was completely charmed by her spontaneously erupting spastic  twisty dance. And she wore her hair curly, which, as a curly-headed person myself, I totally approved of.

The Welder: She Said She Loved Me (or something) by Tonic

First Impression: I think I remember that song.

Performance: Oh yeah! I remember it now.

Jesse: Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes

First Impression: Yay! I love this song!

Performance: I love that song, and her voice is really good. She might want to darken her eyebrows a touch, but otherwise, I enjoyed very much.

Post-performance: Ugh, Jesse is a talker. Like, she has to respond with nothing less than a, “ok, yeah, totally” to every. single. thing. they said. Like, Hey, that was pretty good. “”Oh, uh huh.” And I liked the song. “Yeah, right? Great song!” And, uh, I think you can still grow. “Really? I can? How?” Shut up, Jesse!! Geezus.

Kai: What Becomes of a Broken Heart by someone old or maybe dead

First Impression: ZZZZZZZ

Performance: ZZZZZZ

Mishavonna: Drops of Jupiter by Train

First Impression: Wait, is tonight’s theme “Cool ’90s Mix Station”?

Performance: She does sing well, but what a freakin’ wacky song to sing. And apparently she’s 18. I would have guessed maybe 25, 26, 30.

Adam Lambert: Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones

First Impression: Ooh, maybe he’ll do the Britney version!

Performance: He sings well, and the judges love him and his technical ability, but I have to say that I would never download an itunes single that had as much screeching/screaming as that song. Also, I loved how Randy called him the most current artist of the night. And why? Because he is a mix of Aerosmith (uh, are they current? Maybe to Mishavonna…), Fall Out Boy (due to the guyliner?), and Robert Pattinson (maybe the hair?). To Adam’s credit, he said he loves the Twilight series. And that is why I will be ok when he advances.

However, my top three: Irahita, Corkrey, and Kris

Did enough Idol contestants take a bad song and make it better to give me hope for the Bucs this year? No, no they didn’t. But the season is young…

Sad

This is a sad story.

I guess the appropriate thing to do is send well-wishes and positive vibes?

If so, I’m sending some now, and everyone else should feel free to do so as well.

UPDATE: Matt Bryant played in the Bucs game on Sunday and made all three of his field goals, including the one that put the Bucs ahead for good in the fourth quarter.

You’re welcome, Bucs

As a non-impartial blogger, I will say that I’m very pleased about the Bucs’ win.

Expect a bunch of articles to be written in Tampa and Chicago tomorrow explaining the outcome of the game. They’ll probably talk about Chicago’s defense wearing out and maybe about how the Tampa receivers decided to start catching a couple of balls at the end of the game. Stuff like that.

Here’s the real reason they won: Beginning around the end of the fourth quarter, when the Bucs were fighting their way back from a 24-14 deficit, I got the truly brilliantly inspired idea to sit with my hands folded, almost like in prayer but not in an obvious way because people at the sports bar around me would think I was weird. I folded my hands thusly for each of the Bucs’ offensive plays in the rest of the fourth quarter. And what happened? Field goal, defensive stop, and last minute touchdown, sending the game into overtime. Then in overtime the praying hands lost their touch, so I shifted to a relaxed, “it doesn’t really matter what my hands are doing right now” approach. I was fooling the football gods into believing that I really had no impact on the final outcome of the game. Success! The football gods totally bought the casual hands act, and we won.

I hope that Jon Gruden will play Jeff Garcia at quarterback next week. It was Griese’s three interceptions, after all, that forced me to take the game into my own hands, and it was way stressful.