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!

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

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.

As much as it pains me to relive the horrible loss that the Arizona Cardinals suffered, there is no denying that Super Bowl XLIII was a major highlight of the year–and one of the firsts of the year for that matter. My pick for the #2 Sports Moment of 2009 is Santonio Holmes, the Steelers and the catch that ended Super Bowl XLIII.

Super Bowl XLIII was my most anticipated Super Bowl (including the one I actually attended). First, the Super Bowl was in Tampa, where I live so there was a lot of local hype about the game. Plus, I had spent weeks covering the teams as they advanced through the playoffs and fell in love with the underdog Cardinals whose remarkable season played out like a Disney sports flick.

Kurt Warner, the hot, old quarterback who should have retired, having one of the best seasons of his career. A team who has never even made it to a divisional playoff game, let alone the Super Bowl…..definite Blockbuster movie potential.

And then there were the big, bad Pittsburgh Steelers out for Super Bowl win number 6.

For most of it, the game really wasn’t all that exciting. It was okay, but not an edge of the seat match-up that you hope for. The Steelers dominated and the Cards were shut down almost the whole game. They were not playing to win.

And then….. suddenly it was.

It was like someone lit a fire under their hot tushies or told them at the beginning of the fourth quarter “hey, you guys are playing in the SUPER BOWL today….” It waslike watching a race where the runner or horse was conserving its energy the whole time and then bursts out at the end!

• In eight minutes they went on a 16-0 run.
• They scored two touchdowns and were awarded 2-points for a Safety
• With under 3:00 remaining in the game, they took their first lead of the game!

And with that lead the Cardinals defense stepped up and began to shut down the Steelers offense as well.

But….

With only :35 seconds left to go and Arizona up 23-20, Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball for a truly stunning end zone catch by Santonio Holmes, reminiscent of the Giant’s Super Bowl XLII win the year before.

And even though it meant that my beloved Cardinals and Kurt Warner did not win the Super Bowl, and that Disney would not be making a movie about this awesome story since it no longer had a happy ending… it made for a really exciting finish, and an amazing sports moment for the record books to start 2009 with.

The Pittsburgh Steelers became the first team in NFL history to win 6 Super Bowls. And “The Catch 2009″  will be immortalized in NFL history as well.

For the complete game recap, see my Top Deals Steals & Scores: The Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII

On July 23, 2009, the Tampa Bay Rays headed up North to take on the Chicago White Sox in a mid-season game that no one really thought twice about. But no one knew magic was about to happen.

Throughout eight innings, White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle was throwing a perfect game. No runs, no hits…. nothing. Now of course, no one dared mention this or speak of it because that is against all baseball lore. You never talk about the streak.

But then disaster struck in the top of the ninth. Tampa Bay’s Gabe Kapler connected with Buehrle’s pitch, and the ball took off like a rocket into left center field for a home run.

And out of nowhere, DeWayne Wise, running as fast as a rocket himself, reached over the wall and snagged the ball out of the stands, juggling it a bit on the way down, to secure the out and keep the no-hit record intact

It will be going down in the books as one of baseball’s all-time great clutch catches. The White Sox have added a sign to the top of the left-center-field wall that reads simply “The Catch.”

Oh, and two batters later, Buehrle polished off his Perfect Game. It was “27 up, 27 down,” something that has only been accomplished 16 times in modern baseball. That’s a pretty huge moment!

Funny – Funny Videos

And also a fun tribute video set to David Cook’s “Declaration” How could I resist posting it?!

But my absolute favorite, never get sick off, LMFAO every single time I see it no matter how many times I see it, best sports commercial for 2009 is…..

E-Trade Golf Baby: Shankapotamus

Now, I’ve always had a thing for the E-Trade Baby. He cracks me up in almost every commercial he is in. But this one even more hysterical. It features ETrade Golf Baby and an old man. Two of them have been out golfing and the baby is totally mocking the old guy’s golf skills and calls him a “Shank-a-pot-amus” cuz the guy can’t hit the ball straight.

Makes me laugh every time I hear it!
To be honest, I can never remember what the ad is for or how the golf theme ties in, its just the “shankapotamus” that sticks with me!

Hope you enjoyed the Top Sports Commercials of 2009 Countdown! Do you agree with my picks? What was your fave? Leave me a comment below or send me a tweet @StilettoSportsJ!
Don’t forget to check out the Top Sports Moments of 2009 countdown as well!
shankapotomus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhhEdDNWl6I&feature=related

Why? Because the VERSUS Brand Sports Commercial was even more amazing. From the opening lines to the breathtaking montage of powerful sports moments at the end, this video will give you chills. The commerical is an add for VERSUS cable network to show all the exciting things that happen and why we should watch sports with them. And I gotta say, after this commercial, they have turned me into a VERSUS fan!

Here is the voiceover of the ad set over the thrilling music and the breathtaking sports clip montage:

“Here’s the thing that makes life so interesting.
The theory of evolution claims

only the strong will survive.
maybe so, maybe so
but the theory of competition says:

just because they’re the strong doesn’t mean they can’t get their ass kicked.
thats right.

see, what every long-shot, come-from-beyond-underdog will tell ya is this:
the other guy may in fact be the favorite, the odds may be stacked against you.

fair enough
but what the odds don’t know is this isn’t a math test
this is a completely different kind of test
one where passion has a funny way of trumping logic
so before you step up to the starting line

before the whistle blows and the clock starts
just remember, out here, the results don’t always add up
no matter what the stats may say and the experts may think and commentators may have predicted
when the race is on, all bets are off
don’t be surprised if someone decides to flip the script
and take a pass on yelling ‘uncle’
then suddenly, as the old saying goes

‘we’ve got ourselves a game’

2009 has definitely not been the year of the Tiger, that’s for sure. Even before all the crazy scandals about all his millions of mistresses and his silly little car incident, Tiger was having a rough year in the golf world as well. Like back in June when virtual unknown Y.E. Yang actually beat him in the PGA Open…..

Now, in the golf history books the claim to fame about Y.E.’s PGA win was that he was the first Asian golfer to win the championship. But in reality, the bigger claim to fame was that he took down the legend himself, Tiger Woods.

This random guy, who didn’t play in the championship last year and didn’t even make the halfway-through cut in the 2007 PGA Championship, was ranked 110 on the tour. Tiger, on the other hand, always leads the tour and was named Athlete of the Decade in 2009…..

Yet, when the final holes played out, Yang wound up beating Tiger by three strokes, despite having gone into the final round down two.

Just like in college basketball/football, if you beat a big name in a big game, you are going to bump up big in the rankings! Y.E. jumped up to being ranked #34 after his PGA win.

The #5 sports moment of 2009 goes to the winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness because the races were ones for the record books.

The Kentucky Derby

The legendary horse race that kicks off the season and the first leg of the coveted Triple Crown, was eagerly anticipated just like it always is. The ladies decked out in their Sunday best with big hats and the men wore their dapper suits and smoke cigars.  Pioneer of the Nile was projected to win and was ahead of the pack going into the final leg until…..

Out of nowhere, first-timer Mine That Bird came racing up against the rails. Mine that Bird, a 50-1 longshot took down Pioneer and won the Kentucky Derby to the complete astonishment of the racing world.

“He took the lead so fast after the final turn that NBC Sports race announcer Tom Durkin didn’t notice that the gelding took the lead until it had a three-length opening ahead of the pack. Mine That Bird had the longest margin of victory in over 60 years, and was the longest-odds horse to win the Derby in over 85 years” From Wikipedia

The Preakness

Flash ahead a few weeks later. Mine That Bird is all set to race to win the Triple Crown and the world was holding their breath in eager anticipation. What a wonderful underdog, come-from-behind story that would be! A horse racing story for the ages!

And it was! The 2009 Preakness definitely became a horse racing story for the ages It was an amazing underdog, come-from-behind, unknown-little-guy-wins-it-all story! Or rather….unknown little-gal-wins-it-all.

Rachel Alexandra became the first filly to take on all the boys of the Preakness and win since 1924! She even bested Mine that Bird by 3/4 length and dashed his hopes of the Triple Crown.

Another crazy thing about the races is that the jockey who rode Mine that Bird in the Derby, Calvin Borel, was the jockey for Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness. He’s the first jockey to win two legs of the Triple Crown by riding two different horses!

Prior to the Preakness, Borel told interviewers that Rachel was going to win and that he believed she was the best horse in the country.

The videos I selected are really long and i apologize for that. But it tells the tale of Mine that Bird and Rachel Alexandra and how they came to win.

It might not have been the NCAA National Title Game. It might not have been a Final Four matchup. In fact, it wasn’t even an NCAA Tourney game at all. But the Syracuse-UConn Big East Tournament Quarterfinal matchup was the best college basketball game…..ever.

The two schools went into battle for the Big East title in Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2009 and neither team wanted to go home.

The game went into SIX overtimes. It lasted 3 hours and 46 minutes, making it the second longest basketball game in history. It didn’t end until 1:22 a.m.!  (Gameclock was 70 minutes; 2 2ominute halves and 6 five minute OTs)

The Crazy Stats:

• The teams combined for 244 points. Most college games top out at 70ish points per team.
• 102 points came after regulation
• Eight players fouled out, four from each team. So a lot of unknowns finished the game
• Johnny Flynn played 67 out of 69 minutes of the game
• Six players had double-doubles
• Syracuse never led in OT… until they won.

The game become one of legends and will be talked about….forever. It also kicked off the March Madness season and wet our appetites for buzzer beaters, OTs and well, Madness!

I am going to give an honorable mention to Villanova and Scottie Reynolds’ last second shot against Pittsburgh. Villanova defeated them 78-76 with that desperation shot and sent the Wildcats to the Final Four for the first time in to 24 years.