Super Bowl: Who Should I Root For?

Need a little help deciding which team to root for in tonight’s game?

Here are some questions to help you figure it out.

1) When I think of the United States, I think of:

A) The ol’ red, white, and blue
B) The Statue of Liberty

2) I am on “Team ________”:

A) Angelina
B) Jennifer

3) My favorite dance is:

A) white boy shake
B) salsa

4) The teen movie character I identify most with is:

A) the cocky homecoming king who wins everything
B) the kind of loudmouth guy who wins sometimes

5) New Yorkers are, to me:

A) obnoxious
B) awesome

6) I identify with…

A) the favored child
B) the younger child who has grown up in his sibling’s shadow

If you answered mostly As, you should root for the Pats. If you answered mostly Bs, then go Giants!

(Guys, there is no easy checklist on this one…)

Super Bowl Bingo: NY Giants vs. NE Patriots

Ok, I’ll admit it. I’ve let this blog get away from me.

No excuses. Except I moved out of the country. Does that count? No?

Anyway, even from all the way in Europe, I’ve come up with my annual easy and fun Super Bowl bingo game. Ideally, Super Bowl Bingo will help keep football fans invested in case of a blowout, and it will make the game more interesting for those who are in it for the commercials.

Super Bowl Bingo

2 Players (or two teams of 2)
Materials: Super Bowl Bingo game Cards (1 per player); M&Ms, pennies, or just a pen/highlighter

Directions:
1. Download the Super Bowl Bingo cards.
2. Print and cut out a game card for each player/team.
3. Fill in the Bonus square with something you think you will see during the game.
4. Readvover the squares with any non-football fans before the game starts.
5. Watch the Super Bowl. Each time an item on your card appears on the screen, cover the square with an M&M, a penny, or just draw an X on the square.
6. The first player who marks 5 squares in a row must shout, Super Bowl Bingo! The first person to call it wins. Or, if you want to go all out, the first player who marks the entire board wins.

Enjoy!

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?

FifG Cute Football Player of the Week: Will Demps

Honestly, I didn’t know who Will Demps was exactly until I saw him on Extra! in the man crew, or whatever, with Mario Lopez and the guy from More to Love, aka The Bachelor for big folks. I learned a lot from seeing him on TV.

1) I am the type of girl who learns thing from Extra! (Eek.)

2) Will Demps is beeyooooootiful.

3) Will, Mario, and the More to Love guy all prefer curvy women. (I daresay that Will and Mario’s idea of curvy is somewhat different than the More to Love guy’s. Mario dated that Doritos girl and Karina from Dancing with the Stars.)

Anyhoo, Demps plays Safety, and he’s played for the Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants, and the Houston Texans, but he’s currently sans team.

Allow me to introduce Will Demps.

Which must explain the gig on Extra! It seems a little humiliating to me, but then I didn’t know him before, so if it’s exposure he wants, then exposure he’s getting.

Will Demps is getting lots of exposure.

Fun Facts that I learned from wikipedia:

• Will’s parents are African American and Korean, so Will speaks conversational Korean.
• He was in a music video with an ex-Destiny’s Childer. Because he’s a model.
• He’s had 6 career interceptions. (Ok, so wikipedia doesn’t have that many interesting facts about Will, but the Korean thing is awesome.)

Does Will have a girlfriend?

I dunno. But if he does, she could be the one:

Weekly Wrap-Up

Today was the first snow of the year. I love the first snow. I tend to hate every snow thereafter, but the first is wonderful. Especially when you remember to wear your boots in the morning, which I did.

That is the good news.

The bad news is the Bucs lost this weekend. Again. Miserably. I won’t go into it too much, but rest assured my hope is floating for next year already. Granted, the Bucs will make the playoffs if they win their last two games, but I just don’t see that happening. Clearly my hope is sunk for this season. I’m either a pessimist or a realist. I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks.

Here’s what else happened in football:

• The Cowboys won the Game of the Week. Surprising! Especially considering all of the in-fighting that went on before the game started. The announcers kept saying that winning will solve any problem, but I’m just not so sure those guys can pull it together with all of the ego fragility going on in Dallas. But who knows? Never say never.
• As for the Giants, two losses in a row at the end of the season is not a great sign for their Super Bowl aspirations. Is the loss of Plaxico going to keep them from a second trip to the Super Bowl? The game this Sunday night against the Carolina Panther will be huge. The Panthers are hitting their stride at just the right time, and if they beat the Giants they just might end up the NFC’s number one team in the playoffs. Game of the Week? Potentially, but maybe it’s too repetitive. Are there any Giants left whose name need pronunciation keys? I doubt it. Then again, everyone loves the NFC East.
• Tennessee has been losing, too. Bad timing, folks. You’re supposed to start winning at the end of the season. Remember?
• The Redskins’ coach is having self-esteem issues. Maybe he needs a hug. (Though perhaps fans in the DC area would disagree.)
• Despite the loss of his father earlier in the week, Matt Cassel led his team to a win. To put it mildly. Very cool for him.

And this has nothing to do with football:

• My friend and I got coffee this evening, and the (sorta kooky) lady sitting next to us asked if one or both of us was in love because, she claimed, it sounded like we were. (I blame my obnoxiously loud laugh for that.) She told us she was about to ask us what kind of shoes “he” likes to wear, because she was so sure there was a special “he” to ask about. Then she told us a story about how when she was in college she was in love, or her friend was in love, or maybe it was a friend of a friend, and she and her friends went to the lover boy’s dorm and saw his shoes outside his dorm room, and they immediately left. Because they didn’t like the shoes, I think. Or maybe because they liked the shoes too much? I couldn’t really follow. But I do know that she said you can tell a person’s quality by the amount of wear and tear on the shoes and whether they walk on their heels or the sides of their feet. I didn’t think to ask her which one is better. Shoot. Maybe the ideal man is flat-footed?

Also, it snowed today!

 

It took me like 7 tries to take this picture without the lightpost snowflake lights blurring.

This one is artistic. You can see the snowflakes in the light! Sorta.

 

Ok, so there's not that much snow yet.

FifG Game of the Week: New York Giants v. Dallas Cowboys

New York Giants [11-2] vs. Dallas Cowboys [8-5] (Sunday 8:15 p.m., NBC)

Why it’s good football:Because the NFC East is the most popular division in football (see Pro Bowl voting), and this is a big chance for the Giants to prove that they have not been hindered by the loss of Plaxico Burress after last week’s less than stellar outing against the Eagles. This is also a huge game for Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys. They need to win to stay firmly in the NFC Wild Card playoff race,, and considering they were considered preseason Super Bowl favorites, it would be rather humiliating for them to not even make the playoffs. Romo was out with a bum pinkie for a while, but his return hasn’t had quite the impact some thought it would.

Why you might care:

If you’re a football fan, the odds are good that you are either a huge Cowboys fan or a huge Cowboys hater, and considering how crucial this game is to “America’s Team,” this is a fun one. Also, it’s on NBC, so everyone can watch. Because, really, Brothers and Sisters has just not been that good this year. And I was hoping they would Ephram or Jason Street to play Ryan–which would have made the whole premise of Ryan less stupid–but they hired this dude instead.

So, what I’m saying is, you’ll have the free time to watch the game anyway.

Football is just like Pop Culture!

It’s happening! It’s happening!

Shannen Doherty is getting kicked out of Charmed!

Read this awesome article, please. And this. Oh, it’s too good.

Owens still has one good comeback left in him. Right, Shannen?

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

Conversation Starters:

- Can Tony Romo win any big games? He sure seems to choke at the wrong time.

- Do you think the Giants’ loss last week was related to stress from the Plaxico incident, or did they just have an off week?

Player Pronunciation:

Andre Gurode (DAL): ahn-dray jur-ahd (I don’t usually feature offensive linemen here, but he’s a fellow Buffalo.)

Mathias Kiwanuka (NYG): mah-thī-uhs kee-wah-noo-ka

-Player name note: When I hear the name of Giants WR Amani Toomer, my brain goes right to Kindergarten Cop when Ahnold says, “It’s not a too-mah.”

This memorable catch-phrase has exactly the same number of syllables as the receiver’s name!

I recommend you do as I do, and every time an announcer says his name, repeat it like this: “A-mah-ni Too-mah.”

Cute football players of the week:

Jason Witten, Tight End, Dallas Cowboys

 

Jason Witten doesn't watch Charmed.

Witten and Mose Philips look away when 90210 comes on TV.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Hello, everybody.

It’s almost Thanksgiving, the most football-friendly holiday of all and my own personal favorite of the year. Hooray! And the wrap-up:

• The Titans/Jets game was exciting as predicted. Ok, so the Jets won by a mile, but fact is there are no more undefeated teams in the league, and the 1972 Dolphins can keep their place in history as the only undefeated team. However, the Detroit Lions also did not win–though there must have been a million pundits predicting the Bucs would lose that game (thanks, guys)–so they are well on their way to tying the 1976 Bucs’ record of not winning a single game. Well played, boys!
• After the Giants beat the really pretty good Arizona Cardinals this weekend, there is talk all over the NY media about a potential Jets/Giants matchup in the Super Bowl. Would the rest of the country care about that, or would that just be a NY/New Jersey thing?
• Speaking of the Cardinals, can they throw the stupid ball to Larry Fitzgerald? He’s on my fantasy team, and I’m happy that they have three high performing receivers (along with Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston), but Fitzgerald never catches touchdowns anymore. And I’m totally losing!
• Even though I grew up in Florida, I’m going to Vermont tonight for Thanksgiving. It’s cold in NY, but it’s colder in Vermont and it’s supposed to be snowing the whole time. I am not thrilled with my family’s decision on this one. I guess I should be thankful for the gathering itself, though. Sigh. I’ll just stay inside and drink lots of hot chocolate.
• Brady Quinn just got called up to start QB’ing the Browns, but now it seems he’s out for the year. That was fast.
• Happy Thanksgiving!

At least Vermont is pretty!

FifG Game of the Week: New York Giants vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

New York Giants [5-1] vs. Pittsburgh Steelers [5-1] (Sunday 4:15 p.m., Fox)

Why it’s good football: The Giants won the Super Bowl last year, and they haven’t been in a Game of the Week yet. Huh! And this is possibly a preview of the next Super Bowl. Two strong QBs in Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger. Two of the leagues top records at 5-1 each. And in a season where few teams seem to be clear favorites, this game should be a good chance for either team to prove its mettle.

Why you might care:

Want to be a part of water cooler discussion? Well, there are officially 20-30 zillion Giants fans, and 40-50 zillion Steelers fans in the country (It’s a proven fact–noted think tanks have done years of research on just this topic), so this is the game people will be talking about.

Football is just like Pop Culture!

My friend is in town this weekend, and we went to Madame Toussaud’s wax museum today. Despite all of the really slow and annoying tourists milling around the Times Square area, it was lots of fun. They even have a 4-D SpongeBob Squarepants movie, which is an experience, and a really super cool one–no matter what the annoying blond behind us had to say about it. (Yes, lady, I can believe we just sat through a SpongeBob movie. This is a wax museum, not the Guggenheim. And there were bubbles! Get over yourself. Geez.)

But I digress. So there was a wax statue of Eli Manning. I took a picture next to him, and, wow, that dude is tall. I looked at the picture on my friend’s digital camera screen, and I was like, do my legs look really short in this one? And she was like, no, no, I think I just didn’t get the bottom of your legs in this shot. But then on second glance we realized that my feet were in the picture, and even still  I did look ridiculously stumpy. The moral: There isn’t one.

Know who else is really tall? Ronald Reagan! Or he was, anyway. Really tall! Who else… Brad Pitt is pretty tall. Salvador Dali was short. The Incredible Hulk? Tallest of all.

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

Conversation Starters:

- Peyton’s slipping now with the Colts, and Eli seems to be on the rise. Who do you think will be the greater quarterback when their careers are over?

-Pittsburgh has a really tough schedule the rest of the year, and they’ve had tons of injuries already. What effect do you think injuries are going to have on their final standing?

-Omar Epps. Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin. Same person, right?

Who's who? (Hint: Omar Epps likes shiny watches.)

Player Pronunciation:

Sinorice Moss (NYG): sin-awr-is moss

Mewelde Moore (PIT): muh-weld-ay moor

Cute football player(s) of the week:

Kevin Boss, New York Giants Tight End

For Kevin H. You're welcome.