Now these are Google Analytics numbers. Any good blogger/website master knows each analytic site comes up with different numbers but Google’s seems most trusted. Although I would love to go with the SiteStats program on my site since that shows there were 90,000 visits on Stiletto Sports in September alone (and no, it does not count my own visits!)

Top 10 Facts of 2010

1. There have been 250,000 visits to the Stiletto Sports site in 2010!
2. The average visitor views at least 2 pages per visit
3. There have been almost 500,000 pages viewed on Stiletto Sports in 2010
4. The top searches have been for sports recipes and football. And Mark Sanchez!
5. Google Analytics declares October 25, 2010 as the biggest traffic day of the year for Stiletto Sports with just under 5,000 views
6. Site Stats says it’s September 12 and there were 5,541 views
7. The Stiletto Sports Store has been visted almost 6,000 times!
8. The Stiletto Sports Custom Designs articles have been viewed over 8,000 times!
9. The Stiletto Bowl Championship Tee has been the fastest selling–and most popular–Stiletto Sports design of all time!
10. The Stiletto Sports Facebook Fan page has grown to well over 3o0 of the best fans in the whole world!

The Top 5 Referrers

Most visitors to Stiletto Sports came from Google. No surprise there! But I have to give much love to all the fans of Stiletto Sports who came from Twitter and Facebook. You guys rock! Are you a Stiletto Sports Fanatic on Facebook yet? What are you waiting for! Go there now! And if you follow me (@stilettosportsj) on Twitter, you will get to hear all my amazingly insightful insights!

Also, have to give love to a few other referring sites. I was shocked to find over 25% off the traffic to Stiletto Sports came from these wonderful sites:

1. Hockey for the Ladies. Back in November, I told all of you that Stephanie’s site is a definite must-read. She has been a huge supporter of Stiletto Sports, especially during the tough times. I am looking forward to working with HFTL in 2011 to expand Stiletto Sports’ coverage of hockey!

2. Daily Shot of Coffee Some of you know that on occassion I moonlight as a coffee reviewer. Not often, since I make the world’s worst coffee (not kidding). But Mike Crimmins, owner of Daily Shot has been the backend of Stiletto Sports since the beginning and anytime I try a new coffee, I give him my feedback. And my mom’s special recipe for Italian Chocolate-Coffee Wedding Cookies is one of his fan-favorite posts!

3. The Bleacher Report If you are a sports lover and you don’t know what Bleacher Report is, well shame on you! Get over there right now! It’s one of the most amazing sports communities around!

4. Guys Girl Blythe‘s site is one of my all-time favorite sites and I am honored that her readers come over here!

5. My Car Kinda not kidding here! Ever since I added my Stiletto Sports Bumper Stickers to the back of my dirty shiny red Honda Civic, the traffic coming from the Tampa Bay area has skyrocketed. Just the other day in the parking lot at Target I had a woman tap on my car window to tell me how much she loved the stickers. (And her husband said “if only I knew you when I was younger….” but that’s a whole other story!) We’ll see what happens now that I’m not driving 90 miles a day!

The Top 10 Posts

1. 21 Super Sliders & Mini Burger Recipes for Football Parties: Views: 50,500+ This article was compiled for the Super Bowl last year and rapidly it’s way to becoming the most popular article of all time. So which slider the most popular? The Southwest Turkey Burger!

2. A Girl’s Guide to Football Players & Positions: If you Google “football positions” check out the first or second image on Google Images. That is from Stiletto Sports! It’s become the biggest search term so it’s no surprise that this article has become the #1 all-time fan favorite post. But this year, the views fell to #2, partially because there have been multiple instances of people hijacking the traffic to their own sites. Since it was written in January 2009, the article has been viewed almost 108,000 times!

3. The Ultimate Fantasy Fulfilling Quarterbacks: 20 Hottest NFL QB Views: 25,000+ Needless to say, this is one of my favorite posts! And I’m happy to report that Mark Sanchez is leading the way with 63% picking him as the hottest QB in the league!

4.  14 Fabulous Outfit Ideas to Wear for Any Super Football Party Views: 11,200+ This post came out a few weeks before Super Bowl XLIV and it’s been a huge hit all year! In addition, the follow-up posts “What to Wear to Watch Football: 18 Game day Looks” and all of the Stiletto Sports Custom Designed Football Fashion Tops and New Orleans Saints Stiletto Bowl Championship Tees have racked in over 8,000 views this year bring the Football Fashion Articles views to almost 20,000!!!!!!

5. What to Wear to the Kentucky Derby: Day at the Races Fashion Views: 23,000 This is actually harder for me to gauge since the article came out in 2009 but seems to have a cult-like following in 2010

6. Girl’s Guide to Basketball: The Court, The Game, The Basics Views: 24,00+ This post debuted in late November 2009 and has become huge this season.

7. 17 Unique Chicken Wings For Football Parties Views: 12,200+ It ain’t a football party without chicken wings! It was my pleasure to try out these recipes while compiling the article and I’m glad to see it’s a hit with the readers too!

8. 19 Unique Football Party Dips: Views: 12,000 For Super Bowl XLIII I whipped up a post “All About the Dips” and it became such a huge hit, I knew I needed an expanded 2010 version!

9. 32 NFL Team Inspired Burger Recipes: Views: 10,000+ This is one my all time favorite posts. It took months of research to compile all 32 mouthwatering recipes. I wanted to make sure the burgers were truly inspired by the team, like the RoethlisBurger or were based on the regional cuisine of the team’s city like the Baltimore Crabcake Burger. I learned a lot about the regional and staple items for a whole lot of states!

10.  55 Gifts ideas for NFL Lovers & Football Fans Views: 7,000+ Still looking for a gift idea for the hard-to-buy-for sports fan in your life? This post will definitely help ya out!

And The Most Popular Series:

The Best Dressed Athletes: Combined Views: 40,000+

• The Haute Stove: MLB Players: 6,800+ views
• Fashion Face-Off: Hockey: 10,100+ views
• Pretty In Plaid: Golf : 6,600 views
• NBA All-Star Best Dressed: 6,550+ views
• Sexiest, Most Stylish, Best Dressed NFL Players: 10,000 views

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Top 10 Searches:

1. Football Positions It’s no surprise that a huge chunk of my top 50 searches are dedicated to “football positions” and variations of it. Google “football positions.” The first or second image on Google is from Stiletto Sports!

2. Slider Recipes When I compiled the Football Party Recipe Guides, I knew they would be a bit hit but I had no idea just how popular the Slider & Mini-Burger recipes would be!

3. Top Selling Sports Jerseys of all time Last year, the series we ran right before the holidays were all about the Best Jerseys of 2009 for seven different sports and the feedback has been amazing!

4. Basketball Positions

5. Mark Sanchez Again, no surprise if you are a follower of Stiletto Sports! You know I’m practically the president of the Mark Sanchez fan club!

6. Stiletto Sports This surprised and delighted me to see how many people are searching for Stiletto Sports! Thank you!

7. hottest (and sexiest) NFL players My mission is complete….

8.  What to wear to the Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is like the haute couture fashion event of the sporting world and apparently Stiletto Sports knows what to wear!

9. What to Wear to the Super Bowl

One of the stats that wowed me the most is how many people stayed on Stiletto Sports and looked at over 100 pages! My favorites were those looking for “Guide to Pick Your Favorite NFL Team” or “Which NFL Team Suits me Best” and…..” Mark Sanchez New York Jets Pictures.” I, too, would look at 100 pages of Mark Sanchez!

But the winner for the most dedicated and die hard reader has to go to the person who Googled “Kentucky Derby hats” and stayed on Stiletto Sports for a record shattering 415 pages!!!!!

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Thank you to everyone for an amazing year! I look forward to all the exciting things that 2011 has in store!

In case you missed it, don’t forget to check out last week’s Sports Photos of the Week! And let me know your Favorite Fan from this week! Leave me a comment below, on Twitter or on Facebook!

Football Fans of the Week

Too bad the Miami Dolphins-New England Patriots game was decided by who had the craziest fans of the week because then Miami may have had a chance:

Everyone knows that Elvis died and came back to life as a New York Giants Fan….

The Ryder Cup Fans of the Week

Ah the Ryder Cup. The stuffy golf tournament in Whales. Figured it would be good for a few laughs, maybe some plaid pants or something. Had no idea that it would turn out the craziest fans and the wackiest photos of the week!

Team Ireland & Team USA

Makes ya proud do to be a citizen, don’t it?

They’re Grrrrrreeaaaattttt!

Wait, let me guess! You like Jack “The Bear” Nicklaus?

No? Really? Tiger Woods? Hmm, never would have guessed….

Grandmas Love Golf!

Now, I know what you are thinking… “Aww look at that sweet little old lady! How cute it she all decked out for the Ryder Cup! Look at those pretty flowers in her little bonnet! She appears a little confused on what team to cheer for but she’s old, maybe a little senile. So sweet!”

Why on earth would I pick on her for crazy fan of the week?

Well…… here ya go:

She ain’t a sweet little old lady afterall!

But this isn’t even the crazy fan of the week!

The Crazy Idiot Fan of the Week Goes to…..

The Streaker at the Freaking Ryder Cup

Like the photos of the week? Stay tuned, this week there is a second edition coming! Sports Photos of the Week: Who Wore it Better Edition based on the fashion do’s and don’ts of the 2010 Ryder Cup

*photos from Zimbio

One of the most popular features of Stiletto Sports was the Wordless & Wacky Wednesday Sports Photos of the Week and we are bringing it back!

Originally they were supposed to be “wordless” meaning let the photo say it all. But I’m not too good at that. I have to throw in my own captions or titles. And I invite you to caption them youselves as well! So “wordless” turned into “wacky”  Leave a comment below or over on Facebook giving me your Sports Photo of the Week Faves and Captions!

Bloopers of the Week

Um. You Missed…

So did you….

Where’s Waldo? Shots of the Week

Peek a Boo! I see You!

This shot of the Monster in the Green Monster makes me think of that tv show Laugh In

I spy with my little eye….Ian Poulter

Idiot Fan of the Week:

Hey Dude in the red shirt! I didn’t pay $100 to watch YOU catch a ball!

Great Shots From Around the Way

I am Batman, bitch

My version: click on it to see it full size!

“No Way! I AM BATMAN! I Even have the cape!”

Tony Pike is Batman

Delay Of Game On the Inclimate Weather…5 Yard Penalty

I’m sorry folks, looks like we are going be having a bit of an Apocalypse Delay. Go ahead and get some beer and concessions. We’ll get this game started in a jiffy.

Hockey fights make for great sports photos. Especially when one tough and burly hockey player is crying for his mommy….

Professional Reality Star of the Week

It will come as a shock to all of you who follow Stiletto Sports regularly that I did not pick Kurt Warner as the reality star of the week with his debut on Dancing with the Stars. I didn’t even go with any of the Jets after all their drama last week. No, I’m going with….

The Miss America Contestant from Ohio: Chad Ochocinco

Thank you, thank you. If I win today, I would like to use my power for World Peace. And to get you to watch my show on VH1 “Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch”

Scariest Photo of The Week…and possibly all time:

Dude, Where’s My Head?

(And is it just me or does the costume make it 1000 times worse? It looks like it was beheaded and blood dripping down her front…)

You Caption It!

The shots that left me truly wordless so I’m leaving the headings and captions up to you! Leave a comment below, on twitter or facebook with your caption. Best captions will be posted to the picture with full credit to you of course!

Did you like this week’s Wacky Wednesday Sports Photos? Check back next Weds for more! In the meantime, check out the Sports Photos Archives for more wacky pics!
*photos from Indianapolis Star and full credit goes to them and their photographers. We are just usign them for some fun and entertainment over here!

I regret to inform you that I would like to revoke my recently submitted petition to become an official Arizona Cardinals Fan.

I know when I submitted my petition and asked to be moved from “Bandwagon Fan” to “Brand New Fan” status, that I promised to love, honor and cheer for you until death us do part. Or at least for a while longer so no one could call me a bandwagon fan since I jumped on the Cardinals Fan Bus during the Super  Bowl run….

However, I feel like I was mislead and due to recent events, I feel I can no longer pledge myself to the Cardinals. You can go on and call me a Bandwagon Fan, I don’t care.  I was taking a huge risk by offering to commit myself to the team, something I don’t do often.  And now I’m left, mere moments away from the season, scrambling to find a team I can believe in.

See, when I first met you, it was love at first sight. It felt like kismet. Here you guys come into the playoffs, the perfect Cinderella Story led by a very charming, charismatic and well, let’s face it, drop-dead-gorgeous leading man (with just enough of a struggled past to make us ladies absolutely swoon).

And like every good story with a leading man, there was an equally impressive sidekick, a speedy guy who could leap into mid-air from out of nowhere and catch the ball one-handed with such astounding grace that it left me breathless.

Not to mention:

1. your colors are red, white and black which are my fave
2. you represent Arizona, a state close to my heart since two of my favorite people live there
3. your backup Prince Charming, er, quarterback, was even hotter than the one who performed every week….

How could I not be swept off my feet and ready to pledge my love for all eternity?

And then…..

You broke my heart. Twice.

First, you do nothing to convince Kurt Warner that he must stay. I know, I know, it was his decision and his knees and all that. But seriously! My favorite part of Sundays in the fall was watching Kurt complete a pass to Larry. He inspired me to want to watch football every week–and learn about it. And I was devastated and heartsick when he announced his retirement.

But hey, my heart patched itself up over the off season. I began to look forward to watching Matt take the field and hoped that he could carry on the magic.

And then you made him go away too! WTF Cardinals! Why do you hate me so much? Was my petition to be a fan such an unwelcome surprise that you had to go do any means necessary to get rid of me? That’s just mean.

Not to mention the other players that have wandered off to other teams (Boldin…)

Yes, I know, Matt sucks. I’ve heard it from everyone and their mothers that don’t even watch football. But you trade Matt, a QB so smokin’ hot he could almost knock off King Tom as the hottest in the all the league, for this guy?:

Ew. I do not want to watch that play.  And I don’t want to have to go start watching the freakin’ Houston Texans!

Yes, I understand that hotness does not guarantee wins and blah, blah, blah. I’ve gotten a lot of “Well do you want your QB to be Hot or do you want your team to win?” Why can’t I have both? If you are gonna boot out a hottie, you should bring in a new one, that’s all I’m saying. Sam Bradford was out there…..

So, anyway, I hate you. And I no longer wish to watch your games.

I ask one small thing, as a favor for my unwaivering loyalty since December 2008. Please release Larry Fitzgerald so he may go somewhere else (Tampa Bay please, Larry!) so I will no longer have to watch any of your games and be reminded of this horrible betrayal of trust. Because I still love him and he did nothing wrong:

“I want to clear the air on that one,” Fitzgerald told Bob Baum of the AP. “I had nothing to do with that. Somebody told me I was pulling for Derek. I’ve never taken a snap with Derek, so how can I vouch for a man that I haven’t even played with. … Birds Blog

(My Translation: Um, if I’m going to be part of a Batman/Robin duo out here, you gotta get me a Val Kilmer or a George Clooney; not some actor that will scare away the women. )

In conclusion, I will be spending my Monday nights watching Kurt Warner on Dancing with Stars and refusing to watch any of your MNF games.

Thank you,

Jennifer L. Taglione

Former Arizona Cardinals Lover turned J-E-T-S, Jets Jets Jets! Fan (But Larry, I still love You!)

I suppose another title for this post could be “Pride and Prejudice,” as the pride for what I have accomplished and what I do is overcoming the prejudices of others…. One quick side rant before the big rant, I’m very annoyed that this is my Welcome Back! piece. I had another one planned for two days from now all about the new line of Stiletto merchandise and fun football stuff coming, and instead….this.

Last week I had a face-to-face run in with someone from Champs World Headquarters who insisted that there is no market for pink jerseys or sports fashion and that girls who like sports or want to learn sports are all about real jerseys and team colors.

At first I was pretty upset and insulted. But then I realized I could hold my own and defend my site, my company, my vision. That there is a market! I mean, look at all our Facebook fans already! And the Stiletto Bowl Champion Tees have become the best selling product in the site’s history!

And by the end of the evening, we were exchanging business cards and talking about the future. She may never be the pink, sparkly, high heeled kinda sports chick but I opened her eyes to my side of the story!

But tonight was a little different. Tonight there was an “attack” that I couldn’t defend myself against. Tonight I became the mockery of another website. I’m sure any successful blogger at some point in their career has been there. But this is a first for me and it fired me up to the point that I had to tell the world.

Because, as upset as I am, tonight actually reminded me why I started Stiletto Sports in the first place.

Sure, I’ve had some backlash in comments and emails but this was the first time I’ve had someone write an article about me, mocking me and insulting my intelligence, or lack there of, as the case may be.

A few months ago (back when I was posting regularly!) I did a series about the Best Dressed Athletes. It was one of the hardest series’ I ‘ve ever worked on since I delved into a lot of sports that I don’t really follow regularly. I had to rely a lot on outside helpers and my BFF: Google.

Apparently in my NHL article I made a glaring mistake. Did you know there are two Niklas Backstoms in the NHL? Niklas of the Minnesota Wild and Nicklas of the Washington Capitals.

I never claimed to be a hockey (or any sport, for that matter) expert. I can count on one hand the number of NHL games I’ve watched on TV. So no, I had no idea there were two. I knew when I did the article (which, by the way, took hours and hours of research since, like I said, I don’t know hockey. At all.) that these two pictures kept coming up for the person even though they looked shockingly different. Hence what I had originally written:

“Niklas seems to have two different sides to his personality. One is a clean shaven, cropped hair gentleman that looks like he is made to wear suits. The other is a shaggy haired kid who rocks casual clothes and is made to break hearts! Either way, his style is impeccable!”

It’s called making a mistake.

Luckily for me, I had the writers from a ladies’ hockey site stop by and find this mistake and let me know about it.

Unfortunately, instead of taking the polite way of leaving me a friendly comment or shooting me an email, they wrote a pretty condescending and insulting article mocking me.  And because they hyperlinked to Stiletto Sports, it pinged-back and let me know. Then I found out it spread like wildfire throughout Twitter and quite a few people came to laugh at me.

Here’s my favorite part of their article. Umm, favorite might not be the right expression. It was more the part that made me die inside, want to cry, punch something and question everything I do:

“Yes, indeed according to this, umm shall we say “lovely”, site Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild goalie (and apparently one of the best dressed players in the NHL,) and Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals angelic center are one in the same.”

Apparently in the last year or so that this hockey site has been up and running, these girls  have never made a mistake. (But, for the record, the comma after “lovely” should be inside the quotation marks…) Good for them, I make them all the time.

I don’t care that I made a mistake. And I’m glad someone, after 3,000 views, finally pointed it out to me. What I do care about it the fact that the person used it as fodder for their site and pinged back to me so I was aware of it. And made me feel stupid. (For the record: Someone else did let me know back in April, via a nice comment, not long after the article was published but the site has not been updated since then, summer hiatus and all, so I did forget to make those changes!)

And very angry. To the point of saying very, very nasty things about their little WordPress.com blog (note the .com, not a custom designed WordPress site….) ranked, like 8 million in Alexa. At least my site does look lovely, not white, black and boring. Just saying.  ( I thought about taking this line out after I calmed down, but this is how upset I was by what was written about me, I resorted to petty meanness back. And I truly apologize if those girls happen to see this because it’s the kind of hateful thing that cuts ya to the core when you are working so hard to build your site.)

Then I calmed a bit. Afterall, this is the exact reason I started Stiletto Sports: To have a safe place to learn. A place where you can ask any question, big or small, in-depth or “stupid.”  I won’t mock you. In fact, I’m usually mocking myself!  To have a networking community of people that want to help others learn. To do so without fear of my mistakes. Like I said, I know I make them.

So I end this night on a positive, remembering how many people love Stiletto Sports and how it’s evolved in the last year and half. And thinking towards all the amazing visions I have for it in the very near (and even distant) future.

But unfortunately, as a smart woman once said (is that egotistical to say since it was me?): Sticks and bats may break my bones, but mean words will haunt me forever. So thanks Mean Girls for the un-constructive and mocking criticism.  I found a way to make it constructive and inspirational anyway.

So I ask all of you…. do you love Stiletto Sports as much as I do? Become a Facebook Fan or leave me some love below and let me know!

…….I found myself poking around on their blog and came across a newer post about Ugly NHL jerseys which made me think, hmmm, maybe we can be friends afterall.

“I don’t want to “glamorize” my hockey gear or be “flirty” at hockey games. Surprisingly some ladies go their entire day without trying to hook themselves a husband. SHOCKING, I know…. NHL please by all means make these sparkle-y, pink or white or black jerseys. Some people like them. Little girls tend to look adorable in them. However I am not only a grown women but a women who is a “jersey addict….”

Perhaps not.

I don’t dress for a husband or to impress a guy or to come across flirty at a game.

I dress for me. And I am–always have been, always will be–a pink, sparkly kinda girl!

And I’m damn proud of that.

I did, however, interrupt the article by pulling out quotes. There is more that I actually do stand behind: a plea for NHLs in women’s cuts so she doesn’t look like a slob who buys ill-fitting clothing. There is hope for them afterall!

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Update:

I have to take a minute to thank everyone for their overwhelming love and support in the last few days. It truly blew me away how many fans and friends wrote comments, emails and Facebook letters–reminding me again that this website basically kicks ass! You guys are the reason I do what I do!

Oh, and maybe I should mention that some of those comments came from the readers that the Mean Girls sent to laugh at me. And instead, they are now following me.

Not to mention, Stiletto Sports had it’s biggest traffic day of all time this week! So thanks Mean Girls!

On a quick side, I want to give huge love to Stephanie from Hockey for the Ladies and Blythe from GuysGirl.com. Both authors are truly amazing, inspiring women–and remarkable sports writers. They both battle against the same stereotypes, ridicule and prejudices that I have been up against. And they both do it with class and style. Both pointed out that usually the people attacking us, are other females.

Which is horribly sad. The female sports writing community, while growing leaps and bounds, is still very small. We should all be sticking together and helping each other grow.

I had to share this article that Stephanie wrote after very similar Mean Girls attacked her website in 2009.  Yes I do Know Who I Am And I’m Proud Of It Part II.

And in closing….. Jealousy is a sickness. Get Well Soon.

Of course, there are the Kardashian Sisters and their pro ballers (Kim with Super Bowl winning NFL star Reggie Bush and Khloe with Lamar Odom, NBA) and Girl Next Door Kendra with Indianapolis Colts player Hank Baskett but um….. yeah…… I don’t think so.

Some of my personal all-time favorites included Halle Berry and David Justice, A-Rod and Madonna, and even…. Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson.( Hey, she popularized the pink jerseys so I can’t hate on them as a couple!)  But they are really not the relatioships that fairy tales are made out of, now are they?

So here’s what I am left with:

5. Tom Brady & Gisele

In reality they probably aren’t the best all time couple. But they certainly are one of the best looking couples in the whole world of all time! I mean she is ranked as the hottest woman, like, ever (personally I like Adriana Lima better but that’s just me….) and he is arguable the sexiest NFL player to ever walk the gridiron. They make the countdown simply because I’m truly dazzled by their hotness.

4. Tony Parker & Eva Longoria

There is just something so sweet and charming about seeing Eva in the stands cheering her man on. Yeah they’ve been splashed over every magazine time and time again but for some reason it doesn’t seem so in your face or obnoxious. More like sweet and romantic! One thing’s for sure, she definitely makes him hotter! He’s a decent looking guy but because she seems to think he  is super-hot, so do we! They are one of those couples that if they were to ever break up, I think everyone would be devastated—kinda like Brad and Jen from back in the day. Sure, the men would move on because that means Eva would be available for them, but it just wouldn’t seem right to link either Tony or Eva with another person.

3. Andre Aggassi & Steffi Graf

The merging of these two powerhouse tennis stars back in 2001 was huge. While people still love to talk about Andre’s relationship with Brooke Shields and dwell on the “what if…..” as if they were Dawson and Joey……I think the Andre/Steffi story is far more wonderful!

2. David Beckham & Victoria “Posh” Beckham

If Tom and Giselle rank as the hottest couple in the world, then David and Victoria rank as the hottest couple in the universe. Seriously, these two are absolutely stunning together.  It’s rare that a couple can become practically British royalty… and American royalty too! It seems like everyone loves them!

And they’ve redefined style and fashion in sports. No, Posh doesn’t play but with her on David’s arm, she’s shown that fans can be fashionable and chic, yet still supportive. And David has shown men that white T-shirts and baggy basketball shorts are not “sports fashion.” They are so pretty it almost hurts to look at them.

and the No. 1. athlete couple is…….

Joe DiMaggio & Marilyn Monroe

Their marriage lasted only 274 days, yet it lives on in baseball history and fairy tales forever.  Maybe it’s because it was such a whirlwind and so explosive. Or maybe its because for 20 years after her death,  even though they had been divorced for a lot longer than they had been married, he had a half-dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week.

Do you agree with my top 5? Who else is on YOUR top sports couple countdown? Leave me a comment below or send me a tweet @stilettosportsj

Out of about 80 ads, there were only 11 that stood out to me this year! You can see them all in the Hulu Widget below. If for some reason the widget is not working go here to see them on Hulu.

1. Mark Sanchez CBS “Heart” Yes, I am biased since I heart him but you have no idea how awesome that commercial was on my bosses movie theater sized screen and mega-surround sound. By far my fave ad of the super bowl. The sexiest man in the NFL standing there saying “This is the sound of my heart beating. You are important to me… especially if you watch football.” I drool just thinking about it
2. Bud Light “T-Pain Voice Box” Remnicient of the old skool Bud Light “Wazzzup!” ads that were so awesome! This ad cracked us all up. Very well done!
3. Doritos “Playing Nice” Doritos took over the Super Bowl with their ads. I don’t even want to know how many bags they would need to sell to cover the cost for all their ads….. And for the most part, they weren’t that great. But “Playing Nice” was hysterical! It had a little kid laying down the law to his mom’s date.  “Don’t look at my mom. Don’t touch my Doritos”
4. Career Builder “Casual Fridays” There are no words for this….. A whole lot of ugly people in their underwear. It’s priceless.
5. Google Search On This was one of the best commercials I have ever seen. I thought it was extremely well done. Very simple, but very powerful.
6. ETrade Baby: “Girlfriend” The ETrade Baby can do no wrong in my world. All of his ads amuse me and this one was pretty freaking funny. Etrade baby gets a girlfriend who gets jealous of another girl. You thought Shankapotamus was funny? You gotta check out the “Milk-aholic”
7. Dodge Charger “Man’s Last Stand” Okay I was a bit disappointed when I found out it was a car commercial because the ad was seriously funny. But the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it seems. The guys in the ad are being voiced over with their thoughts—all the things they sacrifice while being in a committed relationship. But the one thing they won’t give up…..their car. Best line “I’ll watch your vampire tv shows with you”
8. Hyundai “Brett Favre” Gotta love when a player can be self deprecating and mocking himself! It’s 20 years in the future and Brett is still playing football at 59 and still not sure he is ready to retire!
9. Volkswagon Das Auto “Punch Buggy” Remember the old Punch Buggy game? Every time you see a Volkswagon Bug you punch someone in the arm and declare the color of the car you saw? Well, welcome to the 2010 version! With 13 Volkswagon models, Punch Buggy becomes a whole new game!
10. Budweiser Clydesdales: Calf Grows Up Baby ponies and calfs! How can you not love it! The pony and the cow are BFF growing up and then the Pony grows up to be a clydesdale and goes away. But when he returns to town, the cow remembers their friendship and they are reunited!
11. Tru TV “Punxsutawney Polamalu” Yes, this ad is beyond stupid. But I don’t care, I get the giggles like crazy every time I see it. Instead of pulling out a groundhog, the mayor pulls out a little Polamalu, complete with curly fro. Polamalu sees his shadow which means 6 more weeks of football on Tru TV!

There was a semi entertaining ad by Snickers that featured Betty White. Some are saying it’s going to be “the” commercial. But *shrug* it didn’t make my list!

The Super Bowl XLIV Commercial Awards:

Best Use of a Hot Guy In a PSA: Mark Sanchez Heart Commercial. Tim Tebow’s highly “controversial” and anticipated ad pretty much sucked. The hype was more exciting than the few second commercial. Mark’s commercial was so much better. I drooled a little.

Best use of tighty whities in an ad Career Builder “Casual Fridays”

Runner up is the Dockers, “I wear no pants” commercial. Which would have been funnier if it hadn’t aired right after the no pants Career Builder commercial. By then, the room was a little sick of seeing ugly men in no pants.

Best Anheiser Busch Commercial:

For Bud Light– T-Pain Voice Box.

For Budweiser Clydesdales “Calf Grows Up” Definitely a sweet commercial. I’m a sucker for the Clydesdale series of commercials!

Best Doritos Commercial “Playing Nice/House Rules”

Best “awwwwwwwwwww!” Commercial: Tie. Google “Search On” and Budweiser Clydesdales “Calf Grows Up”

Best Throwback Commercial Volkswagon Punch Buggy

Boost Mobile tried to win this with the “Super Bowl Shuffle” but I didn’t think it was funny. It kinda made me sleepy. The punch buggy, however, that was hysterical.

Best NFL Star Mocking Himself in a Super Bowl Ad Hyundai “Brett Favre”

Also nominated: Tru TV “Punxsutwaney Polamalu”

Biggest Letdown Commercial Cars.com “Timothy Richmond”

There were actually a lot of these ads. The ones that seemed so good, couldn’t wait to see what the product was….. and then they sucked.  Cars.com was definitely the worst. It was a loooooong ad and you kept thinking, I wonder where this is going……. and then….. it went.

Best Gratuitious use of Sex to Sell Something: Motorola Megan Fox in the Bathtub

Worst Gratuitious Use of Sex to Sell Something: Go Daddy! with Danika Patrick

What was your favorite Super Bowl XLIV Commercial? Leave me a comment below or shoot me a tweet @stilettosportsj and let me know!

And you spend at least half your day doing Social Interview and Friends Exposed quizzes.

Well now it’s time to join for you to join, what is sure to be the next hottest trend on Facebook: The Stiletto Sports Fan Page!

Get the first look at all the newest posts as soon as they hit the presses, er, web! You can also interact with other fanatics, get one-on-one time with Stiletto Sports Jen, and unlike most Facebook time-wasters, you’ll probably actually learn something!

Coming soon we’ll be doing some fun giveaways just for Stiletto Sports Fanatics so join now and get the early scoop!

Plus, if you sign-up now, your picture will show up in the cool Facebook Fan Badge in the sidebar of Stiletto Sports! How’s that for a special perk!

What? You’re still only a MySpace user? That’s okay (but btw, it is 2010 now, time to join Facebook….just saying…) we have a Stiletto Sports fan page on MySpace too!

And of course, you can always get Stiletto Sports on Twitter. Or at least the random musings of Stiletto Sports Jen!

Some are funny, some are insightful, some are full of random facts and info. They aren’t always the most viewed or commented pieces. In fact, much to my dismay and embarassment, one of them only has 34 views after almost a year! But these are MY favorite pieces that I’ve written in the last year.

I’m also giving your my favorite guides and series of posts for the year and of course, the favorite hotties of 2009!

And tomorrow I’m going to be sharing the love and giving you my links to my fave sites and twitter friends!

So what was your favorite post from Stiletto Sports? Leave me a comment below or sent me a tweet @stilettosportsJ!

My Personal Favorite Posts

1. Stiletto Sports Official Guide For Team Selection aka “The Picks” This is by far, my favorite post I’ve ever written. It makes me laugh every time I read it and I reference it in countless other posts. It’s all about the methods to my madness of how I pick my teams whether it be my weekly NFL picks or my teams for the NCAA tournament brackets.
2. Caught Between Calipari, My Rock and A Hard Place One of the big sports dramas of the spring was when Memphis Basketball’s head coach John Calipari was offered a position at Kentucky. Would he take the big money and run? Or would he stay with the team he built from the ground up to NCAA tourney contenders? It put me in a really interesting place because I have been a Calipari fan for over a decade. And while Kentucky would be a huge promotion for him, it bothered me a lot that he would leave the team.
3. The NBA All-Star All-Shoe Team: Back in February I wanted to find a unique way to cover the NBA All-Star Game. And my friends were telling me all about the hot sneakers that would be premiering at the game. Sometime in the wee hours of the night I had the brilliant idea to make an all-star all-shoe team…. of all-time. It was…… I want to say “fun” but in all honesty, it was a LOT of work. But it was the first article I was extremely proud of. It landed on the front page of the Bleacher Report and made waves on Yahoo! Sports as well!
4. Dancing with the NCAA:  Why it’s called the big dance I loved this article because I’ve wondered for years where the term “the big dance” came from but never took the time to look it up. While working on my Getting Ready for the Big Dance piece I finally decided it was time. And it took forever to find the answer! No one really knew. But I consider myself an excellent researcher so I refused to give up until I found out!
5. And Starring in This Year’s Production of Cinderella…..MSU! I get into March Madness every year but in 2009 I was especially captivated by the tale of the Michigan State Spartans and I really loved writing this piece. They inspired a lot of hope around the country, and especially in Michigan when they made it to the Final Four in Detroit, only 75 miles away from their campus. Even though they were a No. 2 seed in the tournament, they really were the underdog Cinderellas because no one, not even their biggest fans, really expected to see them in the Final Four going head-t0-head with big name powerhouse North Carolina.
6. Bracketology 101: This post cracks me up every time I read it. I broke down March Madness Bracketology into about 13 different kinds of methodologies like….Mascotology, School Color-ology, Hot Boy-Ology…… all the most popular ways to pick teams for the NCAA brackets! Similar to the Official Guide to Team Selection, but totally different!
7. Battle of the Blues: The Historic UNC-Duke Rivalry I don’t even have a real reason why I like this post so much, I just do! I learned a lot about the Tobacco Road Rivalry and I laugh whenever I read the post because of the way it flows and the pictures I found to go along with it. Plus there are pics of Lucas and Nathan Scott (One Tree Hill), which always makes me happy!
8. Dancing with the nba all stars: I have to say,  I didn’t even remember writing this post. I had just had minor surgery and was highly medicated, and I think I had the flu too. So I was all sorts of loopy. So in addition to having some really fun videos of NBA player dance-offs at the All-Star Game, I also made up a very special song about the All-Star Shoes at the game…..set to the Beach Boys “California Girls”  Just be thankful you don’t hear me singing it!
9. he said/she said How to Throw a Fabulous Football Party Another fun piece that makes me happy! A male/female perspective on how to throw Super Bowl party from snacks and fashion, to TVs and decorations!
   

My Favorite Series of Posts

In addition to having my favorite single posts, I’ve also run a bunch of series of articles in the last year. I love doing series posts because there is such a sense of a completed journey when they are finished. Of course, I’m usually sad to see them end!

1. “Yes We Can” Inspirational Sports Moments Series Despite changing the name of the series like 10 times, this was my absolute favorite series I wrote in 2009. I was inspired by President Barack Obama’s inauguration and it made me think of all sorts of inspirational sports moments. It started as one post….and turned into an entire series. Each post was a different theme: Hope, Believe, Inspire, Dream Big, and Imagine the Unimaginable
2. College Players You Probably Don’t Know But Should In January I was contacted by the Bleacher Report to write a piece about the unknown college basketball players for the 08-09 season. At first  I wasn’t really into it because I’m a March Madness college basketball fan, meaning, I do not pay attention until about St Paddy’s Day. But I figured why not? I learned a lot while researching this piece and I loved the way it came out! And it was nice to give some credit to other players besides Blake Griffen and Ty Hansbrough. And not to brag, but there were a bunch of us that did these kind of posts and I really think mine was the best. Most people chose the same little cluster of players but I dug really deep and went in depth for a Three part piece: Part I Part II Part III
3. Stiletto Sports Academy Awards of Sports Moments: This was one of my ‘brilliant ideas” that didn’t exactly pan out how I hoped. It was a ton of work. I don’t think I slept for a few weeks while compiling this series. But it definitely wasn’t a fan favorite! Which is too bad because it’s really cool! I took all the key sports moments from 2008 and categorized them like they were an Acadamy award like: Best Actress = Best female athlete, best special effects = extreme sports and NASCAR crashes, best picture = The Olympics and playoffs/championships from all the sports. Pretty clever, eh?
4. Top Sports Moments of 2009: I loved doing the sports moments & Sports commercials for 2008 and couldn’t wait to do the ’09 version. And this year was so much easier since I actually knew the events unlike ’08 when I had very minimal sports exposure!
5. Top Sports Commercials of 2009: Always a fan favorite and always one of my faves too! Most of the time, ads irritate the crap out of me, so I love when I find ones that I actually like to watch! And they are always so funny or really inspirational!

Best Guides of 2009

Slightly different from the series posts because these are more complete guides of stuff and don’t necessarily have a beginning or an end!

1. Girl’s Guide to Football: This is the most in depth guide of them all so far. It required countless hours of research, translating football speak and organizing but I think people really learn a lot and I know I did!
2. Girl’s Guide to the Bowls: Rose, Orange, Super….Cereal Before last January, the only bowls I knew were the Rose Bowl (which I though just sounded pretty!) and the Super Bowl. Boy did I have a lot to learn! I was really fascinated with the Rose Bowl and it’s history. And very perplexed by the entire college football bowl championship subdivision thingy.
3. Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Gift Guides are a P.I.T.A. Seriously. They require hours of tedious double-work. Well, at least for me. I don’t want to be a copycatter. I go and try to find really unique gift ideas for sports fans. So it takes awhile! But I really love the way this guide came out, especially the 102 Gift ideas for Yankees Fans.
4. Girl’s Guide to March Madness: As you know by know, I’m a big March Madness junkie. I was looking forward to doing these guides from the first piece I wrote for Stiletto Sports in October! I covered everthing from Getting Ready for the Big Dance to Masctot & Bracketologies.
5. Recipe Guides: I love, love, love to cook! So finding and trying out new recipes makes me a very happy girl! Here are some of my faves from this past season:
   1. 32 NFL Inspired Cocktails
   2. 17 Chicken Wing Recipes
   3. 19 Dip Recipes
   4. 32 NFL inspired Burgers: Coming soon! It’s in my scheduled drafts and I have been pulling recipes for my Game of the Week Key Matchups all season

7 Favorite “Hotties” Posts of 2009

And finally, what you have all been waiting for…. my favorite Hotties of 2009!

1. SportsMan of Style: Kurt Warner: Does it come as any surprise that Kurt is my favorite hottie of the year? The quarter back and leader of the Arizona Cardinals has definitely stole my heart this past year and converted me to a Cardinals lover!
2. SportsMan of Style: Tim Tebow: Tebow takes the #2 spot on my list of hotties. When I first sat down to write his SportsMan of Style piece I was groaning and bitching because I really didn’t care for him. I thought he was an arrogant ass. And despite living in Florida, I hated Gator Nation. But boy was I wrong about Tebow. Not only is he an amazing athlete and leader for his team, but he is also a truly remarkable person and inspirational role model.
3. Hottie of the Day: Will Demps The funny thing is that this was just a test post to see if the hottie of the day front page button we were creating was working but somehow, it has received over 4,000 page views! I’ve used that pic in a few other articles because this guy is smoking hot!
4. Hottie of the Day: Mark Sanchez What’s not to love about this former USC Trojan turned New York Jet? He is delish!
5. SportsMan of Style: Sam Bradford: This post is actually from ’08 but I didn’t think you would mind! Cutie pie Sam won the ’08 Heisman and went head to head with Tebow in the ’09 BCS Championship. Unfortunately in ’09, Sam was injured early in the season and didn’t have the best year but we still love him!
6. SportsMan of Style: Larry Fitzgerald: Fitzy! This guy makes catching a football and scoring look easy…. and damn good!
7. Stiletto Sports Pro Bowl: For the NFL Pro Bowl last year, I went through and picked out all the hotties that would make up my Pro Team!
8. The Fantasy Football Boy Draft 2009: Last spring I wanted to do a Fantasy Boy draft a la One Tree Hill, with the NFL draft picks! To do it, I had to complete scouting reports for all the key positions which was a lot of fun! Got to scroll through hundreds of pics of hot college football players!
9. My Super Sweet 16: The Hotties of the NCAA Tourney: It wouldn’t be march Madness without hot college basketball players! This two-part series featured 16 of the hottest players in the tournament like Blake Griffin and Tyreke Evans! YUM!
10. Gilles Marini: DWTS Profile: How can I not put Gilles on this countdown when his steamy photo on my site shot to the #2 Google image result for him and the article has received more than 21,o00 views! He is dreamy!

So what moment was so amazing, so powerful, so fan-tastical, that it earned the spot as the #1 Sports Moment of 2009?

The Michigan State Spartans Take on the North Carolina Tar Heels for the NCAA National Championship.

No, they didn’t win. They didn’t even come close. It was in fact, a massacre of the little green men from Michigan.

So….then why is it such a great moment?

Because it wasn’t just about that one game; it was about their entire journey.

First, the Spartans took the world by total surprise. Even though they were actually a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Michigan State was definitely the Cinderella Team of March Madness.  Sure, Michigan State is known in the college football world, but college basketball? Not so much. But there they were taking down powerhouses like the UConn Huskies and the No. 1 seed of the entire tournament: Louisville.

I don’t even think Mich State fans would have put money on their boys to go all the way through the tourney but there they were, standing tall and proud against the elite March Madness dominating Tar Heels.

But it was more than just the little underdog-that-could story. I’m not going to dwell on “these hard times” or the “economic crisis of ’09″ because it irritates me to no end that the hardship has become a major marketing ploy. But it does need to be mentioned to understand the significance of the Michigan State Spartans. Their “surprising” uprising through the ranks of the tournament inspired such hope to so many across the country especially to those living in the economically ravaged state of Michigan.

See, Michigan State campus is only 75 miles away from Detroit, Michigan where the 2009 NCAA Final Four was taking place. So when the Spartans defeated Louisville and took their place in the Final Four, the boys in green were coming home!

Hope had packed up and left Detroit months before and the city had become a place where spirits were low. In the last year, they have been rapidly losing their esteemed title of “Motor City.” Having the “underdogs” of the tourney coming home to battle it out has breathed life back into the bleak town–in the same way that Seabiscuit and James Braddock  (Cinderella Man) brought towns back during the Great Depression.

In fact, the 2009 Final Four in Detroit had the highest attendance of all time. Ford Field packed in over 72,922 fans. To compare to the next highest attendace, in 2003, when the Final Four was in New Orleans, 64,959 fans showed up.

So maybe they didn’t win the National Title, but they won over the heart of the nation. And that, to me, is even more important.