O-H!

(Your response is I-O!!) Now that the 2010 football season is upon us, GO BUCKS! And, the new Ohio State commercial is out. And yes, I had something to do with it. Two somethings, actually. You can't / won't see it in the video, but I know it's there.

Here's the video:



And here's one of the photos that's in it.

Enough said. Go Bucks!

The Saints go marching in

Congrats to the Saints, their fans and the city of New Orleans. To the residents of New Orleans, please, please, PLEASE do not set the city on fire tonight.

Like I said earlier, I wouldn't be upset if they won, because of everything they've been through (I've been there, too!), so it's good to see. I feel for the Colts and Peyton Manning. There was a lot of hype surrounding them the last two weeks, and a lot of pressure on them. It was really a tale of two halves. That onside kick to start the second half was brilliant, and I think it totally threw the Colts off in the second half. Love to see that a Hoosier made the pick 6 and sealed the win for the Saints. You don't hear that an Indiana Hoosier wins the Super Bowl for a team very often! Congrats Saints! Who Dat!?!?

What did you think about the ads? I wasn't totally "wowed." My favorite was the Doritos commercial with the kid who tells the guy "Don't touch my mama and don't touch my Doritos." Ha! The other good one was the plug for the Late Show with Letterman, Oprah and Leno on the couch. Of course, the Budweiser Clydesdale commercial was cute, as it usually is. So, those are my three favorite from the night.

So the burgers we made were heavenly. They melted in our mouths. The blue cheese and grilled onions on the burger were buttery and delicious. As for the homemade potato chips, well... those didn't turn out so well. They weren't horrible, but they weren't quite what I had envisioned. But the burgers made up for it. The spice cake was yummy, too. Overall, a winner. Like the Saints.

Hope you all enjoyed the game. Have a great week!

Super Bowl Sunday

Ah... Super Bowl Sunday. It's finally here. Does it get any better than this? I think not. Although it marks the end of football season (sniff, sniff, tear, tear), it's still an awesome day for so many reasons. The two best teams in the NFL will battle it out on the field. You couldn't have asked for two better teams - with probably the best quarterbacks and leaders in the game - to be the last two standing at the end of the season.

We all know I'm a Colts fan. I went to school in Indiana, and became a fan then. I lived in Indianapolis, and became an even bigger fan then. And then they drafted Peyton Manning, and that kinda sealed it for me. The Mannings are an iconic family. They're just all around good guys. Peyton has done, and continues to do, great things for the city of Indianapolis. I love that he has truly embraced that city - a city that I absolutely love - and if I didn't live here, I'd live there. That is the only other place I'd want to be. So that's why I root for the Colts.

But then there's the Saints, a team that I think a lot of America is rooting for. That city went through hell after the levy's broke following Hurricane Katrina, and when the Saints played at home in the Superdome on Monday Night Football, that sort of marked the rebirth of the city. It was a turning point for New Orleans, and the Saints led that charge. There's a lot to be said for that. New Orleans is coming back, slowly, but they're coming back, and a large part of that is thanks to the Saints. So, if for some crazy reason, the Saints win the Super Bowl today, I won't be upset. If it were any other team (OK, well any other team except the Niners or Texans), I'd probably be upset. But if New Orleans can beat Indianapolis, then that might be a really good thing. Plus, their quarterback isn't too shabby either (which kills me to say because he's a Purdue guy).

The other reason I love Super Bowl Sunday is for the ads. I'm in the marketing business, so I watch these things closely, and I really can't get enough of them. One of the most clever things I think has happened with the Super Bowl ads is that Miller High Life has bought a couple spots, and instead of running ads for their product, they're giving some small mom and pop type businesses a chance to advertise their business during the Super Bowl. Hello?!?!? C-L-E-V-E-R!!! Now that is smart marketing. I can't wait to see what the others come up with. Budweiser always has great ads. GoDaddy.com usually has some good ones. Pepsi has produced some classics lately. So, it'll be fun.

I also love Super Bowl Sunday because we usually have a good feast at our place. And this year is no exception. We're not doing a big party. Actually, it's just going to be Jay and I (which I don't mind one bit whatsoever). But, we're going to make burgers with blue cheese and grilled onions; homemade potato chips with this amazing blue cheese dip (thanks for the recipe, SB!!); deviled eggs; chinese salad; and spice cake. Yum, yum, yum!!!

I hope you're all enjoying your Super Bowl Sunday, and may the best team (Colts) win!

Crazy Super Bowl bets

Betting is one thing I've never gotten in to. Mainly because I don't have a ton of money lying around to just waste away. And, if I did, I don't think I'd have the balls to put a large wad of cash down on something that I have absolutely no control over whatsoever. But I do love to read about people who bet and what they bet on. Like some of these crazy Super Bowl bets. I mean, really? You can bet on what color Gatorade gets dumped on the winning coach, or how many times Archie and Eli Manning will appear on TV, or even how long it will take Carrie Underwood to sing the national anthem. If I were a betting man (or woman), I'd say yellow, eight and 1:52. But I'm not. I'm just sayin'. What about Kim Kardashian? How many times is she going to get on TV? This is crazy. But it's the Super Bowl. And I absolutely love the Super Bowl. And I can't wait for it to get here, crazy, stupid bets or not.

The Catch

I would not be doing anyone justice (OK, maybe just me, really, but whatever) if I didn't mention "The Catch" this week. I mean, it involved only the best football player ever to play the game and walk the face of this planet (and no, I'm not referring to Dwight Clark). If you don't know what I'm talking about, then I really can't speak to you anymore. Really.

"The Catch" is one of the most notable plays ever in NFL history. The greatest player on earth in any sport (can you tell I'm a fan?) - Joe Montana - threw the winning touchdown pass to Dwight Clark in the 1982 NFC Championship game against the Dallas Cowboys. Down 27-21 with under a minute to go, the great Montana did what he always did so well... drove the 49ers down to near the goal line and made the play that sent the Niners to the Super Bowl. Clark made an amazing catch, and the Niners were headed to the biggest game of the year. Does it get any better than that? OK, maybe a win in the Super Bowl tops it, but that play will forever live in infamy. Unfortunately for me, I was only 4 years old when it happened, so I really have no recolection whatsoever of seeing this play when it happened (if I saw the play when it happened) but it's still one of my favorite plays, by my all-time favorite player on one of my most favoritest teams. Yes, I know favoritest isn't a word, but I want you to know how much I love Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers.

I'm ready for the Super Bowl. I wish it would get here already! In the meantime, I'm going to watch this video over and over and over and over and re-live the moment. And you can, too! Ahhh, football...

Most popular food on Super Bowl Sunday

What do you think the most popular food on Super Bowl Sunday is? Wings? Burgers? Pizza? Queso? Nope, it's none of those. Although queso is a personal favorite of mine. I could drink it. Really. I would drink that instead of a beer. Any day. But that's not the point. I digress. The point is, according to the NPD Group market research firm that tracks American's eating habits, the most popular food on Super Bowl Sunday is veggies. Yep, that's right. I said veggies. Veggies. Veggies. Veggies. Don't believe me? See for yourself what the group had to say.

I haven't decided exactly what we'll be having at our house for the big day. Queso is a given, but besides that, I'm not quite sure. Burgers sound good. Ooo... with homemade chips. And some form of a blue cheese dipping sauce. Of course beer bread sounds really good, too. And artichoke dip. Maybe some hummus and pita chips. Gotta have brownies, too, and a chocolate chip cookie cake sounds yummy. And... OK, I need to stop. I'm making myself hungry, and I just ate dinner!

So, what's your favorite Super Bowl Sunday food? Whatever it is, have fun and enjoy the big game! I know I will!!

18 things you need to know about my future husband

In honor of the SuperBowl coming up this weekend, this week's posts will be SuperBowl and / or football related. So, to start things off, I thought you might want to know 18 things about my future husband - Peyton Manning. The guy is sick. His work ethic, his talent, his life... it's sickening. But I love him anyway.

Thank goodness for football

Last year at this time I was a wreck as we really had no idea what was going to happen to our house. I remember blogging about it, and asking people to text me with Ohio State / USC score updates because that was the only other thing I had to think about. Ha! Text? During a hurricane? That's quite funny. Little did I know...

Anyway, that very exact game a year later is helping me get through this weekend. I can't wait to sit down in front of the TV tonight and watch some good football. That and all of the other football on TV this weekend. I mean really, THANK GOODNESS FOR FOOTBALL! For a number of reasons.

Enjoy the games this weekend. Go Bucks! Go Irish! Go Texans!

Michael Vick

Ok, so I told myself I wasn't going to blog about this, but I can't help it. Sports is a passion and football is my favorite sport, and, well, you know me... I usually don't keep my mouth shut on most things.

Am I appalled at what he did? Absolutely, positively, no questions asked. It's incomprehensible. I'm not a self-proclaimed animal lover, but I also don't hate them. And I think what he did was wrong.

But I also think that the man paid his dues. That's what's so great about our justice system. (There's also plenty wrong with our justice system, ala Donte Stallworth, but that's a separate conversation.) I listen to sports talk radio in the morning, and Vick is pretty much all they were talking about this morning. And it'll be a good chunk of the conversation for the next few weeks, probably until he's fully reinstated. Plenty of people think he never should have been reinstated in the NFL in the first place, let alone for the Eagles to sign him. And I think I have to disagree. Like I said before, the man paid his dues. In more ways than one. But you know what... football is his job. What about people who commit crimes, do their time in prison, and are released? They find jobs in society and work, so why can't Vick? Just because he doesn't sit behind a desk or anything like that, doesn't mean he shouldn't get another opportunity at a job. He just happens to play football for a living. Am I wrong? Some people will say I am, and that's fine. I can understand why they would say that. But I really don't think it's that big of a deal that he's back playing in the NFL.

The job I wouldn't want is one in the Eagles PR office. No thank you. No way. No how. That has got to be a tough position right now. Even though Vick has reached out to the Humane Society (I don't know that I really believe him when he says he's learned his lesson, but again, another conversation entirely), there are still going to be organizations and individuals who feel strongly about what he did, and are going to make their voices heard. And again, that's fine. That's what's great about our country. We have that freedom and right. But I still wouldn't want an Eagles PR job right now.

The simple fact that I'm talking about Michael Vick means that football season is here. And I couldn't be more excited. The Texans have their first preseason game tomorrow night, and Ohio State opens against Navy on September 5. O-H!! I-O!!! Football season is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!