I am, once again, high on sports! How could I not be? This is (as I have said many times before) the BEST time of year to be a sports fan ... Here, the TOP FIVE things that have me uber-excited this week:
1) I just saw Moneyball, and it is AMAZING! I loved every second of it, perhaps because I worked for the SF Giants, in such close proximity to the A's and thought it showed a very realistic version of working in baseball ... perhaps because my "GameFace" co-author Chris Debenedetti is a die-hard A's fan and has covered their quest for a new stadium extensively ... perhaps because I loved the book, and the movie, although very different, was wonderful ... perhaps because I thought that while men dominated the movie, at least women were not portrayed as dumb bimbos, as they are in most sports movies. Perhaps because Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt and Kerris Dorsey (as Casey Beane, Billy's daughter) were all great. I still think baseball season is wayyyyyy too long, but it did renew my love of the game. Although if you asked me who is in the pennant race right now, I have no freaking clue. to me, I'm fully focused on football season ...
2) I'm just loving Fantasy Football this year. Not because my team is any good (I'm 0-2, thanks to choosing Michael Vick as my first round draft pick -- thank you Mr. Roto. I still love you). But I'm loving the fact that the BF and I are commissioners of our co-ed Hanky Panky league. Not shockingly, I am enjoying my role as co-commish, which includes sending funny mass emails and organizing coed-sports gatherings -- two things I consider myself VERY good at. My brother also invented a fantasy game that our entire family is playing -- which makes family functions even livelier, with an extra dose of trash talk. So far, this season has been wild & wacky with all of the injuries and surprise wins/losses (please don't bring up the Steelers/Ravens game. Oy!) -- so a season like this makes Fantasy a bit less predictable and more enjoyable. Even at 0-2. I'm also loving the fact that the BF got his Madden football game up & running and that he and his buddies play late into the night. Lots of good alone time to work on my own stuff ... which brings me to number 3!
3) I have rejoined my writing group and am getting excited about my next writing project -- a book or long article on the summer my dad and I spent ushering for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. I encourage everyone to quit their highfalutin jobs to take a position that pays a game (plus one free hot dog) to wipe off seats for ingrates, discipline unruly children and escort inebriated fans out of the ballpark! Actually, it was one of the best summers of my life and I loved that time with my dad, sharing something that we both loved. I'm really enjoying writing about that summer, and all of the memories from my childhood that it conjured up. I'll keep you all posted on my progress, and hopefully excerpt some chapters here.
4) Saw this wonderful article about my guy Mark Herzlich who is now a New York Giant. Read this ... and you'll know why I love him!
5) Mmmmm, pulled pork. Had my Jets friends over a couple weeks ago for pulled pork, taco dip, artichoke dip (featured in Glamour!), all the fall football fixins. Is "homegating" the next "tailgating"? Personally, I like both ... but the NFL thinks that we're on to something here at GoGameFace.com. Finally, they are realizing that female sports fans are so much more than pink-jersey-buying, "lite-sports" fans. Check this out and visit the new NFL site at nfl.com/women. Although the intro with two women dancing with each other with pom-poms on is a bit weird, (it's not as sexy as it sounds), I love the NFL Gameday Party section, filled with loads of great info, recipes and more. I am also glad to see that the NFL is hiring women (quoted in the Crain's article) and not leaving it up to a bunch of stat-head male fans to determine how women consume and enjoy sports. Now that's something to cheer about!
