Who Should I Root For: The Quiz

I think this was really helpful for FifG’ers last year, so I thought we’d try it again.

Directions: Choose A or B

1. In competitive situations, who do you root for?

A. the underdog
B. the superstar

2. What color(s) do you bleed?

A. black and/or gold
B. blue and/or white

3. What does your Patronus look like?

A. I don’t believe in those, silly. I have religion on my side.
B. a horse

4. Which celebrity girlfriend/wife do you find more likable/less annoying?

A. Kim Kardashian
B. Kendra Wilkinson

5. American Express commercial is on the air for the zillionth time today…

A. … Ugh.
B. … Priceless.

6. Fill in the blank: When I hear the name Thomas Moorstead, I think ______________

A. Who DAT!
B. Who dat?

7. You’re choosing a book at the library. Which kind of story would you prefer to read?

A. a tale of rebuilding and overcoming the odds
B. a tale of an epic hero

8. My favorite things include…

A. … good food and jazz music.
B. … basketball and cornfields.

Results:

Count the number of times you chose A and B.

If you chose more As: Geaux Saints!

If you chose more Bs: Indyay Colts! (Yeah, so the Colts don’t have any slogans.)

Super Bowl Cupcakes: Colts

It’s that time of year again. Super Bowl Sunday is a week away, so now’s the time to shore up game plans and figure out the menu for the big day.

As a cupcake lover, I’d argue that there is no better dessert to serve your fellow SB-watchers. And you will be even more popular with the gang if you bring festively-decorated cupcakes. Which is why I do some prep work each year to help you come up with some easy decorating ideas for your own Super Bowl parties.

Without further ado, here are some Colts cupcakes (with Saints cupcakes coming tomorrow):

And there you go. The official most-successful Colts cupcakes. Very easy to make, too. I used a box mix of white cake, and store-bought vanilla icing. Just bake the cupcakes, and cool until non-mushy. Then put a gob of white icing in a bowl and add a bunch of blue food coloring (the neon blue kind works best for Colt blue). Ice half with white, half with blue, and then pipe the opposite color in a horseshoe shape on top of each. (I use a Ziploc bag with one corner cut off for piping–fancy, I know.)

Then just put these fancy new-fangled York Peppermint Pieces around the outside of each cupcake. Et voila!

For another, simpler idea, you can just frost the cupcakes with white frosting, and use a little tube of blue icing to make the horseshoe. (Note: I didn’t look at a picture of the Colts logo until after making these, which is why they look kind of off. Trying to do it from memory…)

I actually dyed some of the cupcakes themselves blue. It was only sort of cute. But it makes your mouth much less blue that dyed-blue icing–which will make your mouth blue for many moons. Just as a warning.

And I added candy hearts for people who love the Colts. Or who just want to take advantage of all the Valentine’s candy.

Who Should I Root For? Gossip Girl Edition

I love chatting with other girls who love football, but I also understand that some folks who are not into football are forced to watch the Super Bowl. (For instance, when I was a kid, the halftime show was the only thing I enjoyed. Dancing children in multicultural costumes! Random singing people! Audience members with color-coded cards that form stadium-size pictures!)

So for those of you who are going to watch whether you want to or not, please trust me when I say that you will have much more fun watching if you pick a side to support. And I am here to help.

First of all, the two teams playing are the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints.

Now, let’s put these teams into perspective, Gossip Girl Style.

In the world of Serena vs. Blair, the Colts are Serena and the Saints are Blair.

Let me ‘splain:

The hair! So pretty!

Indianapolis Colts, aka Serena: The Colts are good. They have been good for years. They will be good for years to come. That’s because they have an amazing QB in Peyton Manning. Manning is, in fact, one of the best QBs of all time. Like, top 5 easily. The rest of the team has had its ups and downs, but as long as Peyton is around, they have always been able to pull it together. Never the underdog, always lauded by the media, they lead sort of a charmed existence, but somehow still manage to be likable.

Just like Serena, who gets whatever she wants, whom every boy loves, no matter how weird or stupid her actions are. And yet, you can’t really hate Serena. Mostly, I think, because she has awesome hair. Which doesn’t really apply, but it’s just the truth.

Chuck + Blair = Awesome

New Orleans Saints, aka Blair: The Saints, on the other hand, have been perpetual losers in their NFL life. This will be the team’s first ever trip to the Super Bowl. And though their QB, Drew Brees, is also amazing at what he does, he flies way under the radar compared to Manning and his 20 bazillion commercials (he’s the one on those American Express ads). The Saints are having a charmed run this NFL season, but they’ve been through a lot–not just the fact that they are city representatives for post-Katrina New Orleans, but even in football terms, the team has been championship caliber for years, but always fell apart due to injuries, poor coaching, etc. This is their time to shine, and suddenly they are becoming the most likable team around.

Just like Blair was the underdog all along–sure she had all the advantages, but no matter what she did she always fell short in the eyes of boys (Nate loved Serena more), her mom (who loved Serena more), and everyone else (her school, the media, etc.). But then she started dating Chuck, and the show became hers. No arguing it, right? She has the TV season in the palm of her hands with awesomeness. Granted, she is also way privileged and super-bitchy, which isn’t Saints-like at all, but it’s all about context.

So who would you rather support: Serena’s Colts or Blair’s Saints?

Playoffs: Conference Championship Schedule

Long day in the life of FifG, so I’ll just give you this weekend’s schedule.

(I might be watching one of these games on a plane this Sunday. Go jetblue!)

Sunday, January 24

NY Jets at Indianapolis Colts, 3:00 PM on CBS

Jet Darelle Revis. Watch out for him, Colts.

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints, 6:40 PM on FOX

Viking Sydney Rice. Cute! Who knew?

I love him, too, but…

A slight overstatement by the announcers, perhaps?

“For those of you that love this game and have any sense of history at all, appreciate what you’re watching every time you get the opportunity to watch Peyton Manning play the position of quarterback.”

So, there you go. I hope all of you historians are appreciating this opportunity.

"Hey Brett, how do YOU deal with the kiss-ass announcers?"

Playoffs: Saints vs. Cardinals

New Orleans Saints vs. Arizona Cardinals (4:30 P.M.)

About the game:

This one pits the NFC’s #1 seed against last year’s Super Bowl loser. It’s big news for the Saints, who have not ever reached a Super Bowl. The fan support in New Orleans is huge, especially after the city went through so much devastation in Hurricane Katrina. Arizona was the top team in the lowly NFC West. They are definitely the underdog here, but then they were the underdog last year, too. And came very close to a Super Bowl victory. So don’t count them out.

Want to make Cardinals cupcakes? Get some ideas here.

Players you should mention in discussion:

Kurt Warner, QB, Cardinals
Sample question: Do you think Warner will retire at the end of the year? After all, he is 38 years old.
Fact you should know: Kurt Warner took the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl after the 1999 season. They won the game and Kurt was MVP.
Also: Kurt Warner’s wife is like 10 years older than he is. And before he went to that first Super Bowl, he worked as a grocery store stocker.

Vintage Kurt Warner

Darren Sharper, Safety, Saints
Sample question: How much of a difference did Sharper and the improved defense make for the Saints this year?! Right? OR: Do you think the last three losses suffered by the Saints are signs that the team is not going to do well in the playoffs, or was that just fatigue and injuries?
Fact you should know: This is Sharper’s first year on the Saints. He most recently played for the NFC #2 seed Minnesota Vikings.
Also: Sharper had 9 interceptions this year. He returned the interceptions for a league-record 376 yards this season. (Meaning, he caught the ball that the other team threw, and he ran it back in the other direction for a total of 376 yards this year. Which is a lot.)

Darren Sharper. How often are these player pictures adorable?

Who should I root for?

Typically I’d say you should root for the Cardinals as the underdog, but there’s a bigger picture here. Which is that the Saints are the underdog of the NFL, if not the season. So, if you want the underdog, go Saints.

Also, if you root for the Saints, you can say “WHO DAT!” a lot. (That’s the fan slogan. It’s fun!)

As for the Cardinals, they’re the team you want to root for if you want to support an aging QB (maybe) on his way out of the league.

Or if you really like birds.

FifG Game of the Week: Indianapolis Colts v. Baltimore Ravens

Indianapolis Colts [9-0] vs. Baltimore Ravens [5-4] (Sunday 1:00 p.m., CBS)

Why it’s good football:

The Colts are still undefeated, thanks to a wacky win against the New England Patriots last week. The game this week against the Ravens could be the toughest they face for the rest of the year.

It should also be noted that Peyton Manning has gotten his team to 9-0 nearly single-handedly, as he has a bunch of young players around him. Also, he may or may not actually be coaching the team. (Tony Dungy-replacement Jim Caldwell notwithstanding.)

Why you might care:

Because you love Ravens QB Joe Flacco. (And it seems that, yes, he’s still dating the same girlfriend.)

Or, because you saw The Blind Side, with Sandra Bullock, and you want to see Michael Oher play.

Football is just like Pop Culture!

The Baltimore Ravens used to be the Baltimore Colts. Then they moved to Indianapolis, and Baltimore was NFL team-less. Many years later, the city got a new franchise, and thus became the Baltimore Ravens. (Yeah, this is way shortened, but you can read the whole story here.)

Totally like the old Becky vs. new Becky on Roseanne. Old Becky, of course, was the cute one of the family, but still fit in nicely with the whole lower-middle-class Wisconsin ethos. But then she left the show and new Becky came, and new Becky was a foot taller, weighed 20 pounds fewer, and sort of didn’t really seem like she could believably be born from Roseanne Barr and John Goodman. And that was off-putting.

But then old Becky came back, and it was like, ooh, she is kind of whiny when you think about it. And then new Becky was back again.

You know what? I don’t know that this really relates to the game much, after all. But I prefer old Becky on Roseanne and new Becky on Scrubs. For the record.

Old Becky (left) looks great here! Good for her.

Boyfriend/Husband/Dad/Other will be so impressed!

Conversation Starters:

-Who do you think will stay undefeated longer: New Orleans Saints or Indianapolis Colts?

- What exactly do you think Jim Caldwell does on the sidelines?

Fun Facts:

-Colts’ kicker Matt Stover was released by the Baltimore Ravens in the offseason. Bad move by the Ravens? They had to release their kicker, Steven Hauschka, just last week.

Player Pronunciation:

Haloti Ngata (BAL): hah-loh-tee nah-tah

Joseph Addai (IND): joh-sehf ah-dahy

Cute football player(s) of the week:

Do I have to put someone other than Donald Brown?

Oh, fine.

Then let’s return to Baltimore’s Brendon Ayanbadejo.

With nipple-piercing and child.

Cute Football Player of the Week: Indianapolis Colts Rookies

We have two Cute Football Players this week!

Congrats to the new Indianapolis Colts: wide receiver Austin Collie and running back Donald Brown.

Both players have the potential for good playing time this year.

So first, Austin Collie.

In tight pants.

Collie Facts: He played at BYU. He is 6’2″. He is Mormon.
There, that’s 3!

Does he have a girlfriend?
Seems like, no, he doesn’t have a girlfriend. But seems like, yes, he has a wife.

Collie and his wife on the far right.

Player Pronunciation: aw-stuhn  kol-ee

And now, Donald Brown:

Donald is a winner.

Brown Facts:
He is from New Jersey. He played at the University of Connecticut.

Also, FifG is mildly (to the 5th power) obsessed with him after watching his Draft Day newly-drafted interview. He seemed so well-spoken and funny.

FifG Facts:
FifG is a great judge of character, because Donald Brown is, in fact, awesome. Even the New York Times thinks so.

Does he have a girlfriend?
Harder to tell, but according to this person, he did have a girlfriend named Lauren. Probably he’s saving himself for FifG.

FifG Games of the Week: The Playoffs, Wild Card Edition

Welcome to the playoffs!

Since there are now only four games per week, it seems a little silly to choose one game of the week. So I’ll go ahead and try to give you a few talking points for each game.

Game 1: Atlanta Falcons vs. Arizona Cardinals [Saturday 4:30 p.m., NBC]

This one is super young vs. super old as rookie QB Matt Ryan and the Falcons travel to Arizona to face 37-year-old Kurt Warner. (In football years, 37 is equal to like 97.) In January of 2000, Kurt Warner won a Super Bowl with the Rams.  In January of 2000, Matt Ryan was a high school freshman.  Hmm.

Pop Culture: Don’t you think Ed Hartwell wishes he was still a Falcon? Poor dude.

Player pronunciation:

Steve Breaston (ARI): steev brehs-tuhn

Reasons to root one way or another:

Falcons: Feel good story of young guy going to the Super Bowl.

Cardinals: Feel good story of an old guy going to the Super Bowl.

Game 2: Indianapolis Colts vs. San Diego Chargers [Saturday 8:00, NBC]

So, the 8-8 Chargers did make the playoffs and got a home game for winning the division. However, there really doesn’t seem to be much if any uproar about it, so never mind my thought that people would be upset. Oh well. Anyway, somehow lots of people seem to think the Chargers will win this one. I guess because of the home field advantage? Even though the Colts have won 12 games this year? And Peyton Manning was voted league MVP? Whatevs.

I think you all know who I want to win this game. (It rhymes with Schmolts.)

Fun fact:

-Indianapolis running back Joseph Addai had 1,072 rushing yards in 2007 and 544 in 2008. Lots of angry fantasy football players out there counting on big numbers from him.

Reasons to root one way or another:

Colts: Tony Dungy may retire this year, and it’d be nice for him to end on a good note. Dungy is widely respected for his calm demeanor and Christian values. He faced adversity a few years ago when his teenage son killed himself, but remained active in charitable work as well as football.

Chargers: The Chargers were pre-season favorites and faltered during the year. A good story for a team who managed to pick themselves up and dust themselves off heading into the playoffs.

Game 3: Baltimore Ravens vs. Miami Dolphins [Sunday 1:00, CBS]

Two unlikely teams in this one. The Ravens have a famously strong defense, but it was hard to imagine that a rookie QB/coach combo could carry the defense to the playoffs. Surprise! As for the Dolphins, they won a single game last year, and this year they won 11. QB Chad Pennington was dumped by the Jets last year in favor of Brett Favre, and the huge chip on his shoulder didn’t hurt his throwing arm at all. (Must have been on the other shoulder.) It probably didn’t hurt that the dolphins had former (really good) coach Bill Parcells pulling strings in the front office, either.

Conversation Starter:

-Who is the better story this year: Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan?

Reasons to root one way or another:

Ravens: Again, the young QB makes a nice feel-good story.

Dolphins: 1-16 one year, Super Bowl the next. Not entirely likely, but a great story!

Game 4: Philadelphia Eagles vs. Minnesota Vikings [Sunday 4:15, FOX]

The Eagles seriously backed their way into the playoffs with a Chicago and a Tampa (sigh) loss in the last game of the season. However, they did destroy the Dallas Cowboys, who were favored by many before the season started to be the NFC’s Super Bowl contender. So what do they have? Momentum! And what else do they have? A QB who is playing for a big new contract! Donovan McNabb might play somewhere new next year, though that likely depends on what happens in the playoffs, and this is a great time for him to show other teams how much money he is worth on a national stage!

As for the Vikings, they won the weak NFC North division and have the potential to do great things, but that potential rests on the legs of running back Adrian Peterson. The second-year Oklahoma grad is a phenom, and he’ll likely need to continue to be to win playoff games.

Cute Football Players of the Week:

Adrian Peterson, Vikings RB

An old photo, but he's still only 23.

Mark Sanchez, USC QB

No, he's not in the NFL yet. But he's earned this.

See?

Reasons to root one way or another:

Eagles: My friend Renada just moved to Philadelphia. Please root for them on her behalf. (I don’t like the Eagles, personally, so that’s all I got.)

Vikings: Their colors are purple and yellow. Pretty!