College Football Season Has Returned.

{Final Score: USC 42, Syracuse 29 (following an hour-long weather delay (read: high winds, heavy rain and loudspeaker instructions to seek cover) before the start of the second half)}

Highlights from Superbowl XLV

If you're looking for highlights of the more traditional variety, try here, here or here. For a more lighthearted wrap-up (of the commercials mostly, since my beloved Jets didn't make it to the big game), read on:

1. Spotted in the VIP seats: John Madden, Condoleeza Rice, Ashton Kutcher (I think), Cameron Diaz feeding popcorn to Alex Rodriguez.

2. Nick Collins' unbelievable interception-turned-touchdown (punctuated with a leap) with just over three minutes left in the first quarter was pretty amazing. (Also, was it really necessary to call unsportsmanlike conduct after that? Really?)

3. There were so, so many Doritos commercials. Speaking of which -- the rug onto which Mikey's roommate accidentally knocked an urn? It's from West Elm. I have it in brown.

4. That claymation-esque (?) version of Eminen (Lipton Brisk Iced Tea commercial) looked nothing like Eminem. (right??)

5. Thanks, but no thanks to the "real time Facebook status updates" feature that now comes with the Chevy Cruze. Not only does that sound unnecessary, it also sounds dangerous.

6. Adrien Brody's ode to Stella Artois? I could listen to it all day.

7. Am I the only one who got a little choked up by the Detroit/Chrysler commercial? (Which, incidentally, marked Eminem's second appearance in a Super Bowl commercial.) Let's hear it for the Motor City.

8. I was sad to see Charles Woodson exit the game after the first half. I cannot believe this season marked his 13th in the league. I still remember watching him play at Michigan during his Heisman Trophy season (I'm filing this memory away under "signs I'm getting old").

9. How funny was Aaron Rodgers' face after Ben Roethlisberger's pass to Mike Wallace for a touchdown with under 8 minutes to go in the game?

10. So Dr. House is the "Mean" Joe Green of 2011? Interesting.

And that's all I got. Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers on winning Super Bowl XLV!

Countdown to the Superbowl

So I've been absent (just stating the obvious). I will offer a complete explanation for that soon. But the Superbowl is in a few days, and there's no time to dwell on my absence. Instead, I offer these suggestions for getting ready to celebrate the biggest sporting event of the year:

- EAT -

Buffalo Wings

Ingredients:

• 1 package of frozen chicken "wingettes" or "drumettes"
• 1 bottle of buffalo wing sauce (I like Ken's Steakhouse's buffalo wing sauce & marinade)
• 4 tbsps of barbecue sauce
• A spicy seasoning blend (I like McCormick Grill Mates Spicy Montreal Steak blend (it's delicious on chicken, too!) and McCormick's Grill Mates Mesquite Seasoning)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide the chicken pieces into 4 medium-sized ziploc bags. Drop about 1/4 of the bottle of buffalo wing sauce and 1 tbsp of barbecue sauce in each bag. Close bags tightly, then shake each vigorously to coat chicken pieces. Place bags in refrigerator for about 5 minutes while you line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray. Line the chicken pieces in a single layer in the pan. Season with spicy seasoning blend before placing in oven. Cook for 45 minutes, turning the chicken over after 20 minutes and again when 5 minutes of cooking time remain. Serve with blue cheese dressing!

Crowd-Pleasing Guacamole

I found this great recipe at allrecipes.com:

Ingredients:

• 3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic. Stir in cayenne pepper. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or serve immediately. (Don't forget the tortilla chips!)

- DRINK -

The Game Day Cocktail: Frizzante Mojito

This recipe comes courtesy of the Martha Stewart Show and Allen Katz, Sirius Satellite Radio host (click here for more details on this and the other cocktails that Martha & Co. recommend for game day). I'm partial to mojitos...follow this recipe for a great one:

Ingredients:

• 6 fresh mint leaves
• 3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 ounce Simple Syrup
• 1 1/2 ounces rum, preferably Cruzan
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 2 ounces Champagne or Prosecco, chilled

In a pint or mixing glass, muddle together mint, lime juice, and simple syrup to release mint oils. Add rum and bitters; shake over ice. Strain into a cocktail glass or coupe; top with Champagne.

(Note: If these recipes look familiar, it's because they first appeared as part of an August 2008 Girls' Guide to the 2008 college football season. And they're still good.)

- LISTEN -

For fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers: Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" (Too easy, I know. But it's a good song.)

For fans of the Green Bay Packers: Eddy J's "I Love my Green Bay Packers ( The Famous Packer Polka)"

- READ -

Point/Counterpoint: An interactive debate about who will win Superbowl XLV, courtesy of the NY Times.

Mark Sanchez Super Bowl Commercial

Ok, I couldn't resist. The Mark Sanchez Super Bowl commerical is here.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Super Bowl Ad

Google's Super Bowl commercial was my favorite this year. It was so sweet! Check it out here.

Coming in a very close second was the Mark Sanchez ad in which he encouraged me (really, female football fans everywhere, but I could have sworn that he was talking to me) to maintain a healthy heart.

Oh, and the Saints won! My dad owes me a bag of Haribo peach candies.

Geaux Saints!

It's Super Bowl Sunday morning! I'm really excited for today's game. After much deliberation, I've decided that I'm pulling for the Saints -- and not just because the Saints are the sentimental favorite (on a personal note, as someone who spent time in post-Katrina New Orleans, I couldn't be happier for the Saints and for what the team's visit to the Super Bowl has done for that city). In all honesty, the real reason why I'm pulling for the Saints is because the media's non-stop worship of Peyton Manning has triggered my tendency to pull for the underdog. Seriously, just yesterday I heard a sports commentator refer to Peyton Manning as the most intelligent quarterback to ever play the game. That may well be true (it sounds like a debatable point to me, but I really don't follow professional football enough to know whether or how to dispute this). But I'm inclined to think that this statement just might be part truth, part Super Bowl week hyperbole.

Setting the hype aside, I'm looking forward to what promises to be a pretty good game. Oh, and I'm also looking forward to the commercials. Although nothing's ever lived up to those talking, drinking Budweiser frogs. Who knew that talking frogs would be so funny? And scary.

When Sports and Sensitive Subjects Collide. On TV. During the Super Bowl.

I like to keep this blog controversy-free. It's a little safe space where serious subjects take a back seat to sports and fashion and interior design. However, I'm taking a temporary step away from that safe space to comment (briefly) on this: Apparently, former (that sounds so weird) Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow is set to star in an anti-abortion advertisement that will air during the Super Bowl. Yes, you read that sentence correctly.

My gut tells me that this is not okay. Don't get me wrong (and excuse the cliche): I'm a big proponent of free speech, and an even bigger proponent of free thought. We are all entitled to our own beliefs, and more often than not we will disagree. But an anti-abortion ad during the Super Bowl? Starring Tim Tebow? It just doesn't make sense, and the tacit endorsement by CBS/the NFL/any other party viewers associate with the Super Bowl = bad news. I don't like this at all.

Read more about this recipe for disaster (mine is just one girl's opinion) here, here and here.

I'm Back (Again)

I've been gone. For a very long time. I blame my absence on the holidays (spent with family in Florida - fun!) and an unbelievably busy stretch at work (spent alone (well, occassionally with my similarly overworked colleagues) in front of a computer - not nearly as much fun). Enough! Reading up on last week's Altitude Design Summit (and the amazing bloggers who participated) inspired me to stop making excuses for not blogging. And so I have returned. A few things:

1. What I'm Watching: Mark Sanchez and the NY Jets are playing in the AFC Championship game as I type this post. It doesn't look good for them. But no matter what happens, the Jets had an amazing run this season. And Mark Sanchez exceeded almost everyone's expectations for his rookie season. Go Gang Green.

2. What I'm Reading: Game Change. Whatever you've heard about this book is probably true. I've only just started reading Chapter 3, and I've already had to pick my jaw up from the floor 7 times. I still don't understand how Heilemann and Halperin gained access to all of the juicy details that drip from every page of the book. It reads like a hyper-intellectualized (and exceptionally long) "cover story" article in People magazine. And I love it for that. (P.S. I spent an entire week attempting to purchase a copy of this book in Manhattan. It was impossible to do so. Thankfully, Amazon has what seems to be an endless supply of them in stock.)

3. What I'm Not Believing: The National Enquirer is throwing its name into the hat for Pulitzer Prizes -- for its coverage of the John Edwards affair and the child he has now admitted to having with his mistress, Rielle Hunter. No, I'm not kidding. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz explains here.

Things that Happened Since I Last Blogged

1. I turned 28! I thought that 28 would freak me out, but I think I'm going to love all 365 days of it.

2. I neglected to name an NCAA Football Player of the Week. Twice. I blame this on my birthday celebration, an unintended Halloween celebration and a slight cold (which is almost gone -- thank goodness).

3. I became obsessed with West Wing reruns on Bravo. I've set my DVR to record them every time they air. I wasn't a huge West Wing fan during the height of its popularity, but I now see what I missed. TV makes working in the White House look so glamorous!

4. I've made more (minor) changes to the apartment. I've come to realize that I will be decorating my apartment forEVER. And I'm okay with that. (Yes, Mom -- I will post pictures soon.)

5. I started getting excited about the fall! The shift from summer to fall always wreaks havoc on my skin (and my sinuses, for that matter), but I am still excited for scarves and leather totes and hot chocolate and Thanksgiving! Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm anxious to try this recipe, but with sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin. Yum.

NCAA Football Player of the Week: Johnthan Banks

Better late than never! Without further delay, I'd like to announce this week's NCAA Football Player of the Week: Mississippi State's Johnthan Banks.

Mississippi State played the Gators on Saturday afternoon. The Gators managed to escape with a win (thank goodness), but the game was not pretty -- at all. What was pretty (and I apologize for using the word "pretty" to describe a football play) was freshman Johnthan Banks' amazing interception (Tebow basically threw the ball to him) and subsequent run across the entire length of the football field to score a touchdown for the Bulldogs. It was an incredible play. So incredible, in fact, that even though my blood runs orange and blue, while watching the game I realized that despite my utter lack of objectivity, even I have to acknowledge an exhilarating athletic feat when I see one.

For executing a play so amazing that you forced me to cheer (if only for 3 seconds) against my beloved Florida Gators, this week's virtual trophy is for you, Johnthan Banks:

Well done.

NCAA Football Player of the Week: Caleb Sturgis

Picasa is making me a little angry at the moment. I've been trying -- unsuccessfully -- to upload my photos from last weekend's visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to my Web Albums for the past week, and it's still not working. I'm working my way through Picasa's list of "Troubleshooting Tips" now. Hmmph.

Never mind. It's time to name this week's Stilettos on the Gridiron NCAA Football Player of the Week!

This week's honoree is Florida Gators kicker Caleb Sturgis. I know, I know -- I'm a huge Gators fan, and for that reason this pick might seem biased (I refer anyone who is skeptical of my ability to be objective to the post about last week's honoree). Caleb is this week's honoree because, with 9 seconds left in the Arkansas game on Saturday, he kicked a game-winning field goal, delivering the Gators a victory in a game that really could have gone either way. To everyone's surprise (including the CBS commentators, who didn't even attempt to hide their surprise), the conference match-up between my beloved Gators and the Arkansas Razorbacks was a hard-fought battle. Truth be told, the Razorbacks easily could have won the game (there were tons of mistakes on both sides of the field), but the Razorbacks' kicker chose an amazingly inopportune time to miss a field goal in the fourth quarter. Fortunately for Gators fans, after missing a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter and then making a career-high 51-yard field goal early in the second half, Caleb Sturgis punctuated what had been an erratic performance with the field goal heard around the world (and by the world, I mean Gainesville).

Saturday's game wasn't perfectly executed (few of Florida's recent games have been). Nevertheless, the Gators pulled out a win -- something they would not have done had it not been for the cool action of Florida's sophomore kicker (so cool, in fact, that Sturgis had the sense of mind to encourage his teammates to take it down a notch when they clamored around him after he sent the football sailing between the goal posts at the end of the game, thus diffusing what may have become an "excessive celebration."

For not letting an early miss discourage him from going on to set a personal record and make an outcome-determinative field goal, Caleb Sturgis is this week's NCAA Football Player of the Week.

Caleb, this trophy's for you:
Congratulations. And on behalf of Gators fans everywhere, thank you.

NCAA Football Player of the Week: Colin Kaepernick

My brother is visiting me in NYC this weekend, and earlier this afternoon we traveled uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Today's trip confirmed that the Met just might be my favorite museum ever -- but more on that later. For now, it's time to name the Stilettos on the Gridiron NCAA Football Player of the Week.

Before I get to this week's honoree, I have to mention Tim Tebow -- Tim Tebow is not the player of the week this week, but he almost was. Yesterday's game at LSU was Tebow's first since suffering a concussion during a game against Kentucky two weeks ago, and he looked great. Tebow lead the team to a victory in Baton Rouge -- it wasn't a blowout, nor was it a perfectly executed game, but Tebow looked strong, and the Gators pulled out a win. It was a good week for Florida fans.

This week's college football player of the week is another quarterback: Nevada's Colin Kaepernick. I had never seen Kaepernick play before Friday night, but I was completely transfixed as the Wolf Pack defeated Louisiana Tech in Reno, 37 - 14. Nevada's entire team is unusually tall and lanky for a football squad -- at 6 ft 6 inches and 215 lbs, Colin Kaepernick is no exception. And, when he wasn't sprinting down the field with the football, Kaepernick was passing the football with uncanny speed. (The back story behind his arm? Apparently, Kaepernick is also a star baseball player who throws a 94 mph pitch and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2009. When he was looking at colleges, he turned down several baseball scholarships in favor of Nevada's offer, which, interestingly, was his only football offer.)

Colin, this (virtual) trophy is for you:


Congratulations. And thanks for giving me one more reason to watch college football this season.

I've Been Bad

I seriously dropped the blogging ball -- my last post was over a month ago! For shame.

My excuse? September was the busiest month I've had in recent memory. Work was unbelievably busy, I was traveling out of town to visit my family and for special events, and I simply didn't make the time to blog.

This bad behavior changes today. I'm back, and so is Stilettos on the Gridiron. Starting this week, I'll pick up with the remaining installments of the Girl's Guide to the 2009 College Football Season. And starting this weekend, I will name the first Stilettos on the Gridiron college football player of the week (better late than never). And, if the news cycle continues to turn out unbelievable stories at the rate it's been turning them over the past several weeks (David Letterman? Khloe and Lamar? Jon and Kate?), then I'll be filling in the gaps between the college football action with random musings about whatever happens next.

In the meantime, and in anticipation of my return to the blogosphere, I'll be catching up on some much-needed rest. That and congratulating Brett Favre -- it looks likes everyone's favorite "retired" quarterback may be having the last laugh. Go figure (and go Vikings?).

Girl's Guide 2009/Part One: The Rules of the Game

(Note: This post first appeared as part of the 2008 Girl's Guide. The information is still good.)

You only need to be familiar with a few basics to enjoy a college football game. The best way to understand the nuances of the game is to sit back and watch a few games. But watching a football game without understanding anything that's going on can be really frustrating. Here are a few basics. And I do mean basics. I think it's fairly obvious that these explanations are not at all exhaustive, and they're not all that technical, either. They're really intended for brand new fans of the game. For more thorough (and technical) explanations of how a college football game is played, be sure to check out the Internet resources that I've listed below.

1. Q: Okay, I'm ready to watch a game. How long is this gonna take?
A: The game itself is comprised of four 15 minute quarters. After two quarters, the players take a break (halftime); the remaining two quarters are played after halftime. Don't be fooled by the game clock, though. Including time outs, commercial breaks, and deliberations among officials following a play, watching a game will easily take between 2 1/2 and 3 hours. (Don't worry. They will be some of the best 2 1/2 to 3 hours of your life!)

2. Q: What's the object of this game?
A: It's quite simple. For each team, the object of the game is to get the football in the opposing team's end zone. The end zones are set 100 yards apart, at opposite ends of the football field. Through a series of running and passing plays, the team on offense moves the ball toward the opposing team's end zone. Under normal circumstances, the team on offense will get four chances (called downs) to score a touchdown by getting the ball to the end zone.

3. Q: What's up with the score?
A: A touchdown is worth 6 points. After a team scores a touchdown, it is given an opportunity to earn bonus points! Kicking the ball in between the goal posts after a touchdown is worth 1 point, while running the ball into the end zone is worth 2 points. If a team gets to its 4th down and realizes that its chances of scoring a touchdown on 4th down are slim to none, then it can send out a kicker to attempt to kick the ball in between the goal posts for 3 points.


4. Q: Why are the officials throwing things at the players?
A: Throughout the game, the officials are keeping their eyes peeled for players who break the rules. When an official spots a rule violation, he throws a flag onto the field, and the game is stopped while the officials announce the violation and the penalty. Common violations include delay of game, pass interference, and holding.

That should be enough to prevent brand new fans from getting dizzy while watching their first game. But there's much, much more to college football. Check out these great resources:

Introduction to American College Football Rules
The Official NCAA Football Rules
Wikipedia's Overview of College Football

A Girl's Guide to the 2009 College Football Season: The Lineup

The first installment of the second annual Stilettos on the Gridiron Girl's Guide, A Girl's Guide to the 2009 College Football Season, will be up shortly. Just like last year's Guide, this year's Guide will be presented in four posts, and each post will cover a different topic (see the table of contents below). Fellow college football fans, please don't be shy: as always, comments and suggestions are encouraged.

A Girl's Guide to the 2009 College Football Season

Part I: The Rules of the Game (the fundamentals only. plus recommendations if you really want to know the super-technical stuff.)

Part II: The Teams to Beat in 2009 (spoiler alert: The Florida Gators are at the top of the list)

Part III: What to Wear (it's true, football fans can be well-dressed.)

Part IV: Recipes for Game Day (entice your non-football fan friends with good eats.)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The 2009 college football season officially kicks off this weekend. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! Double bonus: I'll be traveling home to Florida for Labor Day weekend, so I'll be able to celebrate the start of the season with my dad and brother.

In honor of the upcoming season (and my giddy excitement), I will be posting a newly updated Girl's Guide to the College Football Season to the blog. Stay tuned for the first installment, which will be posted tomorrow at noon. This year, I'm also excited to introduce a new feature: the Stilettos on the Gridiron "Team of the Week." Each week, I'll be featuring a college football team on the blog. In the spirit of keeping everything at SOTG funky and unique, winning a game is not a prerequisite for being named Team of the Week. To be sure, a win can earn a team the SOTG Team of the Week honor. So can a gracious loss. Or a 2-second play that made for really great tv. Or an overzealous mascot. Or even a particularly memorable post-game interview from a member of the team. The possibilities are endless, which will make this feature fun. Most importantly, I promise to be objective -- the Florida Gators will not be the Team of the Week every week (unless, of course, they earn that honor every week).

The Summer Heat, Sports and Other Random Musings

About 2 weeks ago, summer finally arrived in NYC. I celebrated by incorporating a few of my favorite warm weather pieces into my work wardrobe rotation and taking an impromptu trip to the beach last Sunday (the beach trip was so I could wear my $5 floppy hat). Today, I feel like the dog days of summer have already arrived: It's 5:20 on a Friday morning, and I'm up, blogging and sipping limeade (seriously) because it's too hot and humid to be doing anything else. I'm sure I'll regret this in about 5 hours.

Anyway, since I'm up, I might as well make the most of it. First, a brief sports round up:

1. Brett Favre. I don't know what to say, man. First you retire. Then you un-retire. Then you retire. And now, you're un-retiring again? One thing's certain: You've proven yourself to be just as good at retiring as Jay-Z. The selfish part of me is excited; I'll certainly be watching more Vikings games this season than I would have otherwise. The un-selfish part of me wonders if this retirement business is bad for professional football. And for Favre.

2. Plaxico Burress. The Super Bowl winning-turned-gun wielding wide receiver pleaded guilty to gun charges yesterday, following last winter's unfortunate incident at a Manhattan nightclub. He'll spend the next two years in jail. What an amazing fall from grace. I'll never understand why Plaxico felt that he needed to stash a gun in his sweatpants to be safe.

In personal news, I've been encouraged to give sewing another go (follow my moderately successful mostly unsuccessful stint as a sewing student at FIT here). I've also started knitting again -- I've been "knitting" a scarf for the past 6 years now, but I really am motivated to make it happen this time. My new goal is to finish a scarf in time for my family's post-Christmas ski trip this year (totally doable).

I"m looking forward to a good weekend. I have tons of work to do, but that's not so bad. I'll be sure to make time for a few fun things, too. Plus, I've got a great Netflix DVD (Footballers' Wives, one of my all-time favorite British exports) coming.

Sports Roundup

1. Breaking: Michael Vick has a new job: He's just signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. Also,
2. Rick Pitino messed up. I mean, really messed up.
3. Pre-season polls have the Florida Gators on top of the college football rankings. That's what I like to see.
4. Speaking of being on top, Tiger Woods is back on top after the first day of the PGA Tournament.
5. Apparently, A-Rod's latest girlfriend (Kate Hudson) and Derek Jeter's girlfriend (Minka Kelly) don't get along. Oh my.

College Football Is Coming!

There's only one thing keeping me from being totally dejected about the summer coming to an end ( by the way, as far as I'm concerned, summer in NYC never began this year). That one thing is, of course, college football! I'm totally stoked about the 2009 season -- it's been far too long since I last watched my beloved Gators take to the field. To make this year's season even more fun, I'm planning a few special features for my little blog -- stay tuned for those! In the meantime, you can prepare yourself by downloading the 10 songs that will get you excited for the upcoming college football season (one person's opinion) to your iPod.

Wimbledon! And the Tennis Grunt?

I'm up a little early today (I know! I am equally surprised . . .). The extra few minutes in the morning gave me time to catch up on some news (and write about it) before I officially start my day.

I've been pretty busy over the past week or so, but I still cannot believe that I seemed to forget about Wimbledon! I've just learned that both Venus and Serena have made it to the semi-final round, and if each wins her respective semi-final match, then they will face each other in the final. I love and hate it when that happens -- I'm always so happy to see them succeed, but it must a little difficult for them as well. Or maybe not . . . what do I know?

In related news, apparently a scandal has been brewing on the court (first at the French Open, and now at Wimbledon) over the intensity of the tennis "grunt" -- according to NBC's Today Show, Venus and Serena's grunt registers as loudly as a household vacuum cleaner, while Anna Kournikova's grunt is as loud as a motorbike. Question: Who took the time to figure this out?

I'm off to start my day. Here's to a good one!