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!

————————————————

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.

Yesterday I did a post about my insights (a bit delayed) into the contestants before their Top 13 performance. And then last night, I had a blast tweeting with everyone about their performances on Twitter! As I watched the show, I copied my tweets into a new blog post and added any other first impressions I could think of!
Here are my semi-coherent insights and thoughts!
*I did post some videos on here, some to show you the wardrobing style and some because they were so fab! But they are from YouTube and may get deleted! For all performances, see American Idol.com

The Top 13

Lil Rounds
Song Choice: “The Way You Make me Feel”

HATED her version. It is one of my fave Jackson songs and I didn’t like the bluesy tone and didn’t think her voice was working with her at all on it. Just not the right song for me, for her. The judges loved her which made me think I was crazy but my girls on Twitter agreed with me!

But I thought she looked fab and LOVED her shirt despite all the haters. It actually was prettyfashion forward–not 80s prom dress or southern Bridesmaid from hell—like some tweeters commented! I think she’ll do fine this week though and think she will totally kill it next week

Scott MacIntyre
Song Choice: Keep the Faith
I agree with Randy & Simon–thought it was safe and a bit blah. Good, but blah! His piano skills were just sick but I wished the song had a little more power or emotion to tie me to him.

Danny Gokey
Song Choice: P.Y.T
To quote myself from twitter “I really wanted to like Danny Gokey tonight because I love him but huh. huh. That was weird. Great vocals though!”
I do love him and think his voice is just sick! but the actual song….yet I am still a bit perplexed. Just didn’t really feel that song.
I am however, LOVING his style! Those glasses were hot

Michael Sarver
Song Choice: You Are A Not Alone
I really liked it! I wouldn’t download it and listen to it every day or anything. But I thought he did a great job and was clearly loving it which made me love it!
Totally agree with Simon! Not the best vocalist but his passion and love came through and he sang the hell out of that!

Jasmine Murray
Song Choice: “I’ll be There”
*Sigh* Just didn’t feel it. Had potential but it just didn’t feel right. Felt a bit flat and without passion

Kris Allen
Song Choice: Remember the Times
So so so so sad! I Love him. I love the song. I love boys playing guitar (see My Love For David Cook  & Daughtry). However, I did not love anything about this performance. If it is possible to be karaoke while playing guitar, he did it.
I was also horribly creeped out by Paula Abdul declaring Kris “adorable sexy”–even though he is. (I have also been asked to mention that “adorable sexy” is not grammatically correct. It should be adorably sexy)
Oh, and I totally agree with Simon–even if he was kidding—that Kris shouldn’t have showcased the wife in a video so early! It’s like Daughtry! Totally crushing! Hot musicians are not supposed to be married damnit!

Allison Iraheta
Song Choice: “Give into me”
(just the song, not video of performance but it’s good!)

This girl is just ridiculous! She could skip Idol and just make an album already and head on tour! And she’s only 16! I can’t say enough great things about her without gushing like a total idiot! My only critique is that it did sound a lot like her other song “Alone” but hey, that’s not a bad thing since that was badass too! I am not going to throw down and say I want her to win —because I feel it is far worse to win and be forced to produce a crap record then to come in oh, say, third or fourth and put out a really freaking good one—but I want her in my Top 3!

Anoop Desai & Jorge Nunez
Ok, so I was in my kitchen making dinner while these two sang and only heard the performances, I didn’t actually see them. But I found them so lackluster and flat to my ears that I didn’t even bother watching it back on the DVR. Very boring and blah–and in Anoop’s case cheesy as hell—which I think is a shame because I really liked both contestants.

Megan Joy Corkrey
Song Choice: Rockin’ Robin
Quoting myself from Twitter again: “MAKE HER STOP! Rockin Robin? WTF was that? She took Rockin Robin and beat the poor thing to death! I can not figure out what was up with that song choice! Totally didn’t fit her personality”
And before I dig farther, Simon jumped in and vocalized exactly what I was thinking with the quote of the night:

“What a stupid song choice! Vocals weren’t very good. Dancing was verging on ridiculous….If this was the first time anybody had seen this person without all the hype and you were the great hope for american idol they would think we’d all gone completely mad.”

If I didn’t make myself clear in yesterday’s post, I DO NOT LIKE HER.

Adam Lambert
Me: “WOW. He rocked the hell outta “Black or White!” That was original and JUST SICK! He was da bomb dogg!” I totally agree that he could go and drop an album right now and be #1.
But…….
For some reason, I still don’t heart him. Me, the girl who worships Daughtry and Cook and is a secret rocker at heart. I think it’s the rock image styling that’s going on. It’s a little too cliche and over the top for me. I said it yesterday—not a a fan of the uber-black attire–and it was nice to see the blue tonight but still felt like 80′s rocker. I know it’s an image but it turns me off. I would totally love him if he found his own style and not a played out over-stereotyped cliche,

Matt Giraud
Song Choice: “Human Nature”
It started great. I was totally wowed because I just didn’t expect him to be good. I found myself holding my breath the whole time hoping that it wouldn’t go flat! And it  just got better and better. His falsetto was a total shock and impressive. His piano skills were hot!
It really sucks that he came after Adam because I really enjoyed his performance and I think the judges would have been wowed if he was earlier in the show.

Alexis Grace
Song Choice: Dirty Diana
“DAMN! Just like Adam she rocked the hell out of that song! I don’t even know that song but I was definitely feeling her.” What did Kara say? Alexis is “Naughty but I liked it!” Thought she looked fabulous and totally want the necklace! I think the judges came down hard on her. I think her attitude made that song totally work for her and I was very impressed! Stupid Adam ruined it for everyone else!

Like my opinions or just like talking about reality tv? Follow me on twitter at StilettoSportsJ for live updates and fun facts!
Most photos were from Rickey.Org—a FABULOUS reality blog! Check it out!

I’ve decided I might not be cut out for networking sites like The Bleacher Report. I wrote a piece a few weeks ago about how intimidated the site makes me. It’s almost like a magazine or newspaper made for sports blogs. And it’s full of pro sports bloggers writing about sports that are way over my head. There is a whole editing system and different levels (I’ve moved up to being a scribe now!). And if the piece is good, it makes it to the “front page.” It can be a bit overwhelming to a new sports blogger.

The first weeks were rough but lately, I really feel like I’m making my own little niche in there and I’m quite happy in that little niche. I make it to the front page with almost every piece I put on there (except the ones I accidentally uploaded…oops!). I’ve gained a core group of fans and friends and life is good.

But then…. I got this and it made me question the whole thing all over again.

“Just a few grammatical hiccups, and also something that I find quite often whilst editing: an author not having faith in his or her abilities. When you say something to the effect of “here’s what I’m going to do,” or “Hope is a tricky one,” instead of just coming out firing with your assertions, it weakens the piece. You have a great message here. Take a cue from your inspiration, Pres. Obama, and use that strength without couching it. Let the punches roll, and your work will be that much stronger for it.”

That’s worse then when I was told the KU Rock, Chalk Jayhawk piece was “a bit Wikipedia!”

First of all, are you freaking serious?  Clearly this guy is not a Stiletto Sports follower because if I “let the punches roll” anymore than I do well, I’d be scared. In the last four months I’ve compared football to Legally Blonde, the Phillies to Snow White, created an official rulebook on how to pick teams without ever looking at a stat, and said my top sports moment of 2008 was Dancing with the Stars. Oh yeah, I really hold myself and my thoughts back, don’t I?

Now, don’t get me wrong because I love having an editing system over there to help fine tune my work. And the guy did change my headline for me to make it stand out–which I was having trouble with. And I like constructive and helpful critiques. But I don’t deal well with vague comments (i.e. the Wikipedia one. Guy didn’t explain his point or over suggestions) or personal “attacks.” I am pretty sensitive to stuff. I don’t have hard outer shell. I’m pretty much a pink bubble of goo. And I think before I give criticisms. I try to find a way to give them in a way that would be helpful and not hurtful.

The sucky part (besides those icky words) is that he actually really liked the piece and had nice things to say:

“You have a great voice and a great message, as I said, so don’t muffle it. Other than that little piece of advice, you’ve really created something nice here. Love it.”

But I was so taken aback and genuinely offended by the “not having faith” part that I barely read the rest. I think that was a pretty bold statement for someone to assume just because he edits a lot of blogs. Whoop di freaking doo.

I am so indescribably proud of myself right now that there are no words for it. In the last four months I’ve turned my life totally upside down and am starting all over. I’ve learned how to design my own website, run multiple websites, advertise, promote, network. None of which I knew a thing about four months ago. And I think I’ve been really successful so far. Maybe not monetarily successful…but successful in growing a great fan base and being discovered–and liked–by some pretty important people.

I have so much faith in my abilities and my talent as a writer and I found it beyond hurtful to hear someone question that. I spent the last eight years since college too scared to write because I didn’t think I was good enough. I finally gained the courage to rediscover my voice and my talent and put it out there for everyone. And then I hear something like that.

You know what, buddy, fuck you. Seriously.

Here’s what you should have said, ass.

“Just a few grammatical hiccups! You have a great voice and a great message! I’ve edited a lot of blogs and noticed that when you say something to the effect of “here’s what I’m going to do,” or “Hope is a tricky one,” instead of just coming out firing with your assertions, it can weaken the piece. Just say it without prefacing it and and your work will be that much stronger for it. You’ve really created something nice here. Love it.”

Ah well. At least it’s toughening me up. I didn’t even cry this time.  And I know if I want to make it in this writing world I need a tough skin. I write as I speak.

Thoughts? Do I really suck that bad?