Yesterday I ran through the Stiletto Sports Fan Favorite and most popular Posts from 2009. Today, it’s all about me and my favorites!

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!

10 Hotties of ‘09 & 15 Fave Posts –Stiletto Sports 2009 Recap is a post from: Stiletto Sports

Waking up today and realizing it is already 2010 was a huge shock to my system. Is it just me or did 2009 totally fly by? It feels like just a few weeks ago I was writing my Girl’s Guide to the College Bowls pieces, but no….that was a year ago to the day.

Even though most of it went by in a fast blur, so many amazing things happened in 2009. After only being up and running for about a month and a half, Stiletto Sports began to break the 1,000+ visitors a day mark. After only 3 months, our photos began to skyrocket to the front page of Google images. After less than 4 months, Stiletto Sports became the premiere destination to learn about sports and had record-shattering numbers for March Madness with #1 Google results for A Girls Guide to: basketball, NBA, college basketball, & March Madness, baseball terms & MLB, football terms & college football. And we ranked on first or second page of Google results for “a girl’s guide to…sports, football, baseball, NFL” Bracketology 101, and guide to March Madness.

Spring was a huge time for Stiletto Sports. I was interviewed on Diva Talk Radio, launched my own Stiletto Sports product line and we had over 50,000 visitors a month. In September, I began work on the first Stiletto Sports E-Book.

Despite taking a few months off to work on other projects, I still wrote over 400 posts for Stiletto Sports in 2009. Obviously, I can’t recap them all! But I wanted to break down the Fan Favorite/Most Popular Posts and also let you in on some of my personal favorite posts.

Thank you to all of the Stiletto Sports fanatics that have helped to make this site such a success! Can’t wait to see where 2010 takes us!

Fan Favorite Posts

1. A Girl’s Guide to Football Players & Positions: 23,300 views Apparently football is not just a bunch of fat guys beating each other up! Who knew? I’m glad this post has been so popular because it took a really long time to compile. First I had to find out what the positions were called. Then I had to translate all the gibberish in their descriptions to figure out what they actually do! After that, I had to treat myself to pictures of the hottest football players for each position! I earned it! Don’t worry I shared them with you!
2. Gilles Marini DWTS  Profile & Recaps 21,000 views Back in February 2009, I cut out a small section of the site to be for Dancing with the Stars, American Idol and other shows that I like. When Gilles Marini, the steamy naked neighbor from the first Sex & The City movie joined the DWTS cast, I put a small profile up. Well, a photo of him from my site shot to the first page of Google images and send hundreds of people to Stiletto Sports looking for him. During the finale when Gilles and Shawn Johnson battled it out for the mirror ball trophy, so many people Googled him and came to Stiletto Sports that it took down our server. Four times.
3. Mascotology: What happens when a Memphis Tiger meets a Missouri Tiger? 17,000 views Ah Mascotology, the science of comparing one team’s mascot to another’s to determine which team will win the game. It’s one of my favorite ways to pick my March Madness brackets! And it’s easy when you have a Bulldog meeting up with a Tiger. I mean, duh, a tiger can eat a bulldog like a snack. But what happens when a Tiger meets a Tiger? How do you determine who should win then?
4. NFL Draft 2009: Quarter Back Scouting Report 14,500 views In the spring, we decided to do a Stiletto Sports Fantasy NFL Boy Draft, a la One Tree Hill. To help everyone determine who they wanted to “draft,’ we created scouting reports for the quarterbacks, running backs, etc. And the QB and Running Back Scouting Report became a huge fan favorite post. Though I’m not sure those who were looking for scouting reports were really expecting lots of pictures of hot NFL draft picks!
5. The Unofficial Ask Stiletto Sports Forum 7,100 views My favorite part about checking my website stats is checking my Googles, or search terms people used to get to Stiletto Sports. At the end of every month, I put up my favorite “googles” and links to the closest relating article on Stiletto Sports. I consider a Google to be almost like an unofficial “ask stiletto sports!”
6. The NBA All-Star All-Shoe Team 6,000 views This is also one of my all-time favorite posts as well. For the 2009 NBA All-star Game I wanted to do a unique look at the game: from the fashion angle! All-Star Weekend is like the Spring Haute Couture Fashion Show of the Basketball World. All the players premier their brand new kicks that hit the stores a few months later. The All-Star All-Shoe team covers the best All-Star Game sneakers of all-time!
7. My Super Sweet 16: The Hotties of the NCAA Tourney 5,200 combined views in Part I & Part II: This two part series honored my favorite part of the NCAA March Madness tournament: the hot, young virile players of the game! And last year was a great crop with hotties like Blake Griffin & Tyreke Evans
8. 10 Reasons to love the Boogity Boogity World of NASCAR 5,000 views As a girl who really didn’t understand the excitement of watching cars go around in circles for hours and hours, this was a post I was really excited to write. I genuinely wanted to have some reasons to tune in and apparently, so did a lot of others!
9. Live Photos from Yankees Home Opener: 4.500 views Being a displaced New Yorker living in Florida, I have about 200 Yankees-loving friends on Facebook. And lucky for me, a lot of them headed to the opening days at the new Yankees Stadium and granted me permission to publish the photos on Stiletto Sports!
10. Hottie of the Day: Mark Sanchez 4,000 views Do I really have to give an explanation on why this is one of my most popular posts? Have you seen how yummy the newest New York Jet is? Y-U-M-M-Y!
11. What to Wear to the Kentucky Derby 3,800 views The Kentucky Derby is all about the hats and pretty party dresses! Everytime I think about it, I think of the scene in Pretty Woman where she goes to the polo game in the gorgeous polka dot dress and little white gloves.
12. Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts for Sports Loving Moms: 3,700 Originally published for Mother’s Day, this guide became a huge help for those looking for the perfect gift ideas for the sports loving women in their lives.
13. A Girl’s Guide to Surviving the World Series of Boredom, er, Baseball 2,700 This is one of the old classics of Stiletto Sports! It’s actually one of the first 5 articles of the Girl’s Guide to Baseball that launched Stiletto Sports. It makes me very happy that it’s popularity has continued through the year.
14. Totally Terrific Tuesday: 90s SuperBowl Commercials 2,833 views Remember the Budweiser frogs? Revisit them and all your old friends from the best Super Bowl commercials from the early 90s!
15. 10 reasons why College Basketball is so “Awesome Baby” 2500 views Dick Vitale, college basketball sportscaster extraordinaire, thinks the game is “awesome, baby!” and here are 10 reasons why I agree and why March Madness is my favorite time of year!

Check back tomorrow to see MY personal favorite posts, the best guides of ‘09 and of course, my favorite Hotties of 2009!

Stiletto Sports 2009 Recap: 15 Fan Favorite Posts is a post from: Stiletto Sports

All the  Top Deals, Steals and Scores from around the sporting world and more!

-Rachel Alexandra became the first filly (aka female horse) to win the Preakness, one of the most prestigious horse races in the world. The Preakness is also the second leg of the coveted Triple Crown. Rachel Alexandra did not race in the first leg–the Kentucky Derby but she did run in the filly version of the race and totally blew away the competition. She is scheduled to run in the Belmont, the final leg of the Crown.
Mine that Bird, the winner of the Kentucky Derby came in second in the Preakness.

–The Boston Celtics, the defending NBA Champs, will not be defending their title any longer this year. They fell to the Orlando Magic in Game 7, 101-82.

-The Yankees had three walk-off home runs in a row. It means that they scored in the ninth or extra innings to win and were able to walk off the field without playing the whole game. Or something. This, apparently, is a very big deal.

-Dancing with The Stars begins their finale Monday night! Gilles Marini, Melissa Rycroft and Shawn Johnson are the three stars that made it to the final dance-off for the coveted mirror-ball trophy.

First Filly Wins Preakness, NBA Defending Champs Fall is a post from: Stiletto Sports

Going to make this really fast because there is  a lot to cover! This is one of the busiest weeks in sports!

Here’s the recap of all the things you need to know:

NCAA:

National Championship Title Game  is between Michigan State and UNC

The Road to the Final Four is over and Tip off is at 9:21 p.m. Monday, April 6 2009**

• No. 2 Michigan State defeated No. 1 UConn 82-73 to earn their spot
• No. 1 UNC beat No. 3 Villanoa
• The Final Four & Title Game are hosted at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, which is about an hour and a half away from Michigan State giving them a HUGE home court advantage. My on-scene correspondent has reported that there were about 70,000 Mich State fans packed into Ford on Saturday night and only about 7,000 “other guys.” And there were three other teams playing that night.
• The Final Four games boasted the largest attendance ever in NCAA tourney history.

Key notes on the NCAA Tourney to date:

• The Elite 8 was: Mich State, Louisville, UConn, Missouri, Villanova, Pittsburgh, UNC, Oklahoma
• The Sweet 16 was: The same as Elite 8 PLUS… Memphis, Arizona, Kansas, Duke, Gonzaga, Xavier, Syracuse and Purdue.

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MLB

It’s Opening Day 2009!

Baseball fans have been eagerly awaiting this day for months! Sure, they had spring training and the World Baseball Classic to pacify them for a little bit but really, does anyone care about those?

Important things:

• New Yankee Stadium
• New Mets Stadium and swell new arm patch/logo!
• Very expensive NY Yankee team. The paid a lot for their players and they ain’t too proud to tell ya all about it. All eyes are on them to see what happens in the new stadium—and if their money was well spent, or the worst financial disaster since well, our economy.
• The Philadelphia Phillies: They won the World Series last year, how will their opening week of the 2009 season be?
• The Tampa Bay Rays: The Cinderella Story of 2008. Will they keep the momentum in ‘09?
• The Chicago Cubs: Um, it’s been 101 years since they won the World Series. What are the chances they can do it now
• Team to watch: The Oakland A’s

Player stuff:

• Whatever you do, just don’t mention A-Rod anymore.
• Ken Griffey, Jr is back with the Seattle Mariners! Maybe it will shoot some life into his old bones
• Randy Johnson is the San Fransisco Treat. He takes over as the Giants’ pitcher and only need five wins to reach 300 in his career.
• Gary Sheffield is a NY Met now. Everyone is hoping he hits the first homerun in the new stadium because that would send him into the 500 Home Run Club.

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NBA

Regular Season Ends April 15!

The regular season ends on Tax Day. Who will make the cut?

Ya know, they really should consider moving the NBA playoffs so they don’t come immediately after March Madness. It’s a bit anti-climatic without the Selection Sunday drama, and the single round elimination. I mean, the playoffs are going to last until June. It’s freaking the second week of April. That’s a lot of  “important games.”

A lot will be decided this week. Who has best record in the leagues? Who are the “bubble teams” so to speak of the NBA.

• The LA  Lakers are 1 game back from the Cleveland Caveliers for the best record in the NBA and home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
• Chicago, Detroit and Charlotte are duking it out for the 7th and 8th playoffs spots in the East.

Michael Jordan, John Stockton and David Robinson were inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame

Personally, I think it’s crap that Stockton and Robinson were inducted with Jordan. There should be a Michael Jordan Day and celebration in his honor. Now if it was an induction to MLB or PGA, then sure, other people are totally welcome to be be co-honorees!

Others, however, do not agree with me on that. I was told: “If they made this year just for him, I think it would kind of suck to tell two all-time great players, “sorry you have to wait til next year, we want Mike to have his day.”

True. But they could have TWO induction ceremonies this year!

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NASCAR

Cars went in circles. Someone came in first.

Actually, it was pretty exciting. Okay, well I didn’t actually watch it, I mean, there was an ANTM marathon on. But I heard about it!

Jeff Gordan won the Texas 500! Gordan went winless last season, much to the dismay of this fans. But he’s back now! His teammate Jimmy Johnson came in second.

While we are on this topic of cars going fast, does anyone else not understand how “Fast and Furious” is different from “The Fast and The Furious?” I mean, I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider “The” as part of the title when alphabetically organizing my movies. “The Notebook” comes after “Maid in Manhattan,” not between “The Italian Job” and  “The Princess Diaries”

Why didn’t they just call it “The Fast And the Furious V,” or whatever number they are up to?

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PGA

It’s Opening Day of The Masters Tournament!

Okay, first, I swear, golf is not as boring as it appears. Sometimes I even rank it higher on the fun scale than watching baseball on TV. Definitely higher than Bowling and Billiards—all of which my father forced me to watch while growing up.

I like The Masters. It’s classy and they get those snazzy green jackets when they win. Hot!

• The Masters are played at Augusta, National which is one of the most exclusive and coveted greens in the country.
• Trevor Immelman: He got his green coat last year and is hoping for another.
• Tiger Woods. Do I really need to say anything about him?

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NHL

The Regular Season Ends April 12

A lot will be decided this week. Who has best record in the leagues? Who are the “bubble teams” so to speak of the NBA. Er…. I mean, the NHL.

Yup, hockey’s gearing up for their postseason too. Unfortunately, my hockey correspondent just had a new baby and is a little bit busy helping Mommy and the babies so I don’t have any insider info into hockey yet. Hopefully by the end of the week I can paint you a picture!

I do know that the Montreal Canadians are battling for their spot in Stanley Cup race.

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DWTS

It’s Week 5! Nine dancers remain and this week they take on The Paso Doble or the Viennese Waltz–two of my favorite don-ces!

**And, to my great delight, the show ends at 9:32 tonight so it doesn’t conflict with the NCAA tournament! Oh, and just for reference, One Tree Hill is not new tonight so there is no DVR conflict! Yay!

Top Deals, Steals & Scores: Final Four, MLB Opening Day, The Masters…. is a post from: Stiletto Sports

Sure, the World Baseball Classic is still going on, Tiger played golf and stuff happened in hockey, but really, all people are talking about this week is March Madness!  Yesterday was Selection Sunday and the 65 NCAA basketball teams headed to the tournament were revealed. Meaning: the only thing on everyone’s mind today is their brackets!

Here’s what you need to know to survive the March Madness Dominated Water-Cooler conversations this week:

1. What is March Madness

If you don’t know the answer, you better start with the Stiletto Sports Getting Ready for the Big Dance Guide before jumping into what teams made the cut. The Guide answers all the burning questions: What is March Madness and Selection Sunday, What the heck is a bracket and of course, Why are all the boys talking about Cinderella?

And just in case you (or your significant other) need to be convinced to watch the tourney, here are Elite 8 Reasons to Watch March Madness.

2. The Sassy 64

Fine, it’s not really called the Sassy 64, but it should be! This week, especially today, is going to be filled with chatter about the bracket: who made it, who didn’t, who should have been ranked #1, who will be the Cinderellas and who will go all the way.

First you need to know who made the cut. CBS Sports has a complete quick reference list also. Here is a quick list in order of rank per region.

East

• #1 Pittsbugh
• #2 Duke
• #3 Villanova
• #4 xavier
• #5 FSU (Florida State)
• #6 UCLA
• #7 Texas
• #8 Oklahoma State
• #9 Tennessee
• #10 Minnesota
• #11 VCU (Virginia Commonwealth)
• #12 Wisconsin
• #13 Portland State
• #14 American
• #15 Binghamton
• #16 ETSU (East Tennessee State)

West

• #1 UConn
• #2 Memphis
• #3 Missouri
• #4 Washington
• #5 Purdue
• #6 Marquette
• #7 California
• #8 BYU (Brigham Young)
• #9 Texas A&M
• #10 Maryland
• #11 Utah State
• #12 North Iowa State
• #13 Mississippi State
• #14 Cornell
• #15 Cal State Northridge
• #16 Chattanooga

Midwest

• #1 Louisville : They are also ranked the #1 team of the whole conference
• #2 Michigan State
• #3 Kansas
• #4 Wake Forest
• #5 Utah
• #6 West Virginia
• #7 Boston College
• #8 Ohio State
• #9 Siena
• #10 USC
• #11 Dayton
• #12 Arizona
• #13 Cleveland State
• #14 North Dakota State
• #15 Robert Morris
• #16 either Alabama State or Morehead State (teams play in Wild Card Game Tuesday night)

South

• #1 UNC
• #2 Oklahoma
• #3 Syracuse
• #4 Gonzaga
• #5 Illinois
• #6 Arizona State
• #7 Clemson
• #8 LSU
• #9 Butler
• #10 Michigan
• #11 Temple
• #12 Western Kentucky
• #13 Akron
• #14 Stephen F. Austin
• #15 Morgan State
• #16 Radford

3. Bracketology

I give you, the Girl’s Guide to Bracketology. Everything you need to know to make a kick-ass bracket and have fun doing it!

• Bracketology 101: the “rules” to filling out the bracket

The breakdowns of each region. Teams are arranged by First Round Matchups to make it easy to compare. Key information like team record, coaching, players, school colors, mascot, and fun random facts to help you make the perfect choices on your bracket!

• East Region
• West Region
• Midwest Region
• South Region

4. Who You Need to Know:

I’ll definitely go more in-depth later this week when I present the NCAA hotties, coaches and one’s to watch. I also have some guides that I created in January about college players that you should know, but probably don’t—and some of those players will be heading to the Big Dance. But for now, here is just a quick reference lists of names that you will be hearing A LOT.

Players:

• Tyler Hansborough & Ty Lawson: UNC,
• Gerald Henderson & Kyle Singler: Duke
• Blake & Taylor Griffen: Oklahoma

Coaches

• Rick Pitino: Louisville, the #1 seed in the whole tournament
• Coach K: #2 Duke
• Jim Boehiem: #3 Syracuse
• John Calipari: #2 Memphis
• Roy Williams: #1 UNC
• Tom Izzo: #2 Michigan State
• Jim Calhoun: #1 seed UConn

Announcers:

• Dick Vitale: If you don’t know, I suggest you find out immediately. He is Mr. NCAA and he is downright crazy!
• Digger Phelps
• Clark Kellogg
• Jim Nantz

Stay tuned for more great March Madness coverage!

Enjoy my opinions? Let me know! Leave me a comment or for the full Stiletto Sports experience, follow me on Twitter at StilettoSportsJ

Top Deals, Steals & Scores: March Madness Week 1 is a post from: Stiletto Sports

Happy President’s Day to all of you who don’t have to work today….

Here is what you would need to know if you did go to work today! Just use it tomorrow!

NBA-All Star Weekend Recap

The West beat the East 146-119. Yes, it was as bad as it sounds. The East led at the beginning but then the West took over and see ya! The East could never fight back. I tell ya, it’s the shoes. The West’s shoes totally dominated the Easts….

How The West Won: Outrebounded 51-38, Out Assisted 37-21,  and Out Stole 13-9 over the East.

• • W Kobe: 27 points
  • W Shaq: 17 points
  • W Amare Stoudemire: 19 points
  • W Tony Parker, Brandon Roy, Pau Gasol and Chris Paul all had 14 points. Paul also had 14 assists!
  • E LeBron James: 20 points
  • E Kevin Garnett: 12 points
  • E Paul Pierce & D.Wade 18 points

• Co-MVPs: Shaquille O’Neal & Kobe Bryant. Co? Yeah, they wanted to pack as much drama and marketing potential into the moment as possible. Like naming Naomi and Annie Co-Homecoming Queens together on 90210.

• Slam Dunk Contest: Nate Robinson, aka KryptoNate, took down the Superman Dwight Howard to become this years champ. His shoes will be talked about for months and everyone is begging Nike to release them to the public

• Three-point Contest: Daequan Cook, Miami Heat beat Rashard Lewis in a tiebreaker

• Skills Challenge: Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls, was 4.4 seconds faster than  Devin Harris, New Jersey Nets

• H-O-R-S-E: Kevin Durant, Oklahoma Thunder, over Joe Johnson and O.J. Mayo

• Rookie-Sophomore Game:  Sophomores won 122-116. The Sophs have won seven times in a row (hmmm could this game be a little unbalanced??)

• • MVP: Kevin Durant & his bright orange kicks. He scored a Rookie Challenge record, 46 points in the game.
• The Sneaker Preview: For complete rundown of the hot shoes:  The East, The West and The Best of the Rest

Matt Kenseth won The Daytona 500

Officially kicked off the NASCAR season Sunday afternoon! Matt Kenseth, who didn’t win at all during the 2008 season, raced to the finish and took home the, hmmm…. took home whatever you take home when you win a NASCAR event. Car Air Freshener? Everyone loves those!  (Hey, I just began my journey into NASCAR country yesterday. Gimme some time!)

The race was called early due to rain. The cars only drove in circles for 152 laps instead of 200. Like I Twittered yesterday, they should have had the Sarasota 500 because it didn’t rain at my house on the Sun Coast of Florida yesterday (that’s why they call it the Sun Coast…)

On winning, Matt said:
“Man, I don’t know. Winning the Daytona 500 is definitely a dream moment. It’s just an unbelievable feeling.” ~ESPN.com

College Basketball Recap

The Tall Ass Guy on UConn, aka Hasheem Thabeet

When informed that this was a big Saturday in the world of NCAA b’ball I got a little testy. I may have snapped something like “every freaking week is an important week. I am painfully reminded why I do not watch college basketball until March. It’s demanding, time consuming and does not matter until March!” I had not had my coffee yet.

However, I thought it best to enlist my Special NCAA Men’s Basketball Correspondent for the official rundown of the weekend. He said:

“Jodie Meeks scored 45pts for Kentucky, Blake Griffin had 40pts and 23 rebs for Oklahoma and that tall ass dude on UConn had 23pts, 20rebs and 9 blocks”

Top Deals, Steals & Scores: NBA All-Star Game and the Super Bowl of NASCAR is a post from: Stiletto Sports

So much going on! So much to talk about today! My quick recap of the last few days in sports news and….stuff. The key events: The Pro Bowl, DWTS, The Grammys, and some other sporting news!

1. The NFC won the Pro Bowl 30-21

• The “series” is now NFC 20 AFC 19 since 1971
• The NFC has won 3 out of the last 4 Pro Bowls
• Larry Fitzgerald was name MVP for his outstanding plays and 2 TDs (and is also my SportsMan of Style)

2. Pat Summit had her 1,000th win

This was last week’s news but was one of the pieces I was writing when I was invited to see He’s Just Not That Into You so…..sorry Pat!

Who is she and why do we care?

She is the head coach for the Tennessee women’s basketball team and has been since 1974. She is one of the most recognizable female coaches in the world.

And 1,000 wins is really impressive!  She is the first Division I coach—male or female—to have 1,000 wins. NBA coach Phil Jackson just reached his 1,000 win about two months ago and he has been the coach of the LA Lakers and the Chicago Bulls during their huge championship years with the elite players. It’s rare.

3. A-Rod = A-Fraud

Oh so many things to say. So many jokes. Except I love him and his tushy and I even have a lot of his rookie cards. So this gets :05 of my time right now: Alex Rodriguez was caught doing steroids. Confidential tests from 2003 were leaked and there is big bruh-ha-ha over the shock and the scandal.

Here, go read more: Guest Column

4. NBA Sunday Showdown Recap

Big battles in the NBA yesterday. The best in the West meeting the best in the East! Like I said yesterday, I don’t really recap when my teams lose, something important always happens to come up. I need a haircut. Sorry!

• The Lakers give the Cavaliers their first home loss despite the Cavs jumping out to a 23-0 lead to start the game
• The Lakers finished their long road trip 6-0. Final score: 101-91
• And they basically did it without Kobe because he was vomiting and all shakey from the flu. Ew.

Part II:

• The Celtics lose their second in a row at home—which they have not done since LY—in their second down-to-the-wire game this week.
• The Spurs scored 11 straight points in the final 45 seconds to go from being down one, to winning by six.
• The last :45 seconds lasted almost 20 minutes…..

And other games happened too.

5. Gearing up for March Madness, NCAA Style

It’s right around the corner! Time to start paying attention to NCAA basketball again. Things are heating up and teams are making final runs for their invitations to the ball! Er, dance. Whatever. There is a lot of shuffling going on–#1 seems to change every week. I can’t really keep up. I say, start looking it up now! There are A LOT of teams! Go get yours!

Right now, I’m all about the Florida State Seminoles. They totally rocked out against Big Name UNC this weekend. They didn’t win but they put in a huge fight. Really should have gone to the game. Only 4 hours from my house. I know because I drove it roundtrip in one day to see Chris Daughtry play. Twice.

Recommended Reading: Weekly Watch by Andy Katz. Creates his own team every week with his best players and picks the team of the week. This week, oh yeah, FSU baby!

6. The Real March Madness! DWTS is Finally Revealed!

Apparently ABC had an all day name-drop event. That just freaks me out. I’m pretty die hard about the show but even I don’t care that much. Show begins March 9th!

Anyway, here are your hotties, notties and has-beens!

Females:

• Denise Richards: Needs no intro, she is the Brooke Burke of this season, aka really hot!
• Lil Kim: I will watch just for this alone because she is vulgar and known to wear pasties on her boobs at regular events, who knows what will happen with these costumes!
• Belinda Carlisle: Do you think she will sing Heaven is a Place on Earth???
• Jewel: Oooh! Yay! She can sing lots!
• Shawn Johnson: Gymnasist
• Nancy O’Dell: Access Hollywood lady. Also been in lots of movies and tv shows but not as the star or anything. B-lister.

Males:

• Steve-O : aka Jackass. No, really
• Chuck Wicks: Don’t care what he does, he is HOT. Fine. He’s a country singer. It does not take away from his hotness.
• Gilles Marini: OH. MY. GOD. It’s Samantha’s naked neighbor from S&TC movie! WOW!
• Steve Wozniak: Co-founder of Apple. The big teddy bear of the competition
• David Alan Grier:
• Ty Murray: Yeeeee Haw! Rodeo Athelete AND….Jewel’s hubby! How cool is that@
• Lawrence Taylor: LT! The football guest in this seasons DWTS. He is pretty much regarded as the best defensive player ever in the NFL.

I’ll def be doing a post about all of this ASAP but the key news is that Julianne Hough IS returning and…..she is dancing with the hottie Chuck Wicks! Yay!

7. The Grammys

Um. Chris Daughtry didn’t have a new album to win with so I don’t care! Hmm, somehow I don’t think that’s the answer people were looking for.

Okay so here is a very quick lil rundown (oooooh that should be my rapper name! Lil Rundown! I don’t think Lil Miss Pink Bubble World Princess was booking me any gigs…)

• Album of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss; Raising Sand. (Yeah, I know, I didn’t know it either. It’s Led Zepplin dude)
• Best Pop Vocal: John Mayer,” Say.” I LOVE this song! And Kristi & Mark did a great rumba to it last year on DWTS
• Song of the Year: Coldplay, “Viva La Vida.” This means they retire it right? Because it definitely means more Overplayed song of 2008.
• Best R&B Album: Jennifer Hudson
• Best R&B Song and Best R&B Vocal Performance: Ne-Yo; “Miss Independent.” (There is just something about…how this song makes you dance in your chair)
• Best New Artist: Adele (no idea…)
• Best Rap Sung/Collaboration: Estelle, feat Kanye West “american boy.”  I just think its so funny to see this is as a category now! The evolution of music!
• Best Female Country: Carrie Underwood
• Best Country Album: George Straitt
• Best Male Country: Brad Paisley

And I’m officially bored of this game. For the total list of winners, head to E! Online Grammy Winners

And……

8. FYI Valentine’s Day is in less than a week!

Do you have your fabulous outfit picked out? What about a gift? If not, I’m here to help! Gift guides will be front and center later today. If you need help right this second, you can find them by looking at the top of my page under “Fabulous Gifts!” As for the outfits, gimme some time to look and I’m sure I’ll have something fabulous picked! For now you can check out Shoe Smitten. Love her and her ideas!

Top Deals, Steals & Scores: Pro Bowl, DWTS, Grammys & More Sports Stuff is a post from: Stiletto Sports

It’s pretty impressive that something managed to penetrate the Super Bowl saturated sports news of the day.

Ah….the news of the day…..

Olympic God, swimming sensation, world phenom Michael Phelps was caught! Not cheating or taking steroids but (pause for dramatic effect) for smoking the ganja! *Gasp*

People are freaking out over this. This is why people should not be put on pedestals. When they fall off, everyone is devastated. For a moment, I too, was just absolutely horrified. Appalled! How could he smoke the marijuana! I thought about revoking his title as SportsMan of Style of 2008.

Then I realized, I don’t give a sh*t.

Seriously, more props to the guy if he is a stoner and can go out there and be all motivated to swim and win gold medals. And somehow not get the munchies cuz there is not an ounce of fat on that hot swimmer’s body. I have a lot of friends who partake in the pot and I’ve watched them barely have the motivation to get up and make their munchies.

Phelps made an official apology to the public for his actions:

“I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgement,I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”

It brings up the issue about public figures being held to a higher standard and code than the rest of us mere mortals. If it was any of us that got caught–well, no one would give a pahtootey. But if they did, we’d just have to answer to the law.

Michael Phelps has to answer to all of us because he is packaged and branded as the perfect role model. Someone the kids look up to. Someone that will make billions of dollars on his image. Yeah, well, look at Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Kids worship them. The MVP of the Super Bowl used to sell drugs on street corners!

Is all of this right? Is it fair?

Have I totally lost interest in this already and hate that I will be stuck hearing about for weeks….

Anyway.

Stiletto Sports still stands behind Michael Phelps (and not just to look at his fine tushy). Don’t care if inhaled, didn’t inhale, got smashing drunk, hit on the ladies, or anything else they say he did. The guy won 8 gold medals and lives the life of a monk for years at a time while training. He deserves a party every now and again.

He is still my SportsMan of Style for 2008.

BTW, Ashton Kutcher stood up for him too. Funny story!

Stiletto Sports Stands Behind Michael Phelps! is a post from: Stiletto Sports

There really is only one thing you need to know:

1. The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl.
But don’t worry, I’m still going to give you 9 things you need to know about the game to make it through the conversations today. You can’t get by just knowing the teams, the score and the commercials!

• They beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23
• The final 5:00 of the game were as thrilling as a NCAA March Madness game
• This is the Steelers sixth Super Bowl win: 1974, 1974, 1978, 1979, 2005, 2008
• They are the first team in NFL history to win more than five!
• Head Coach Mike Tomlin is the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl—he is the second African-American coach to win.

2. Santonio Holmes

You will be hearing this name all day today and for a looooong time coming. Memorize it now!

• He had 131 yards in 9 receptions
• Oh, and did I mention that catch #9 was the game winning touchdown?

• With :35 remaining in the game, the Steelers were down 20-23. On second down, Santonion reached up out of the very back corner of the end zone–inches from being out of  bounds– and pulled down the pass from Ben Roethlisberger. Steelers 27-23.
• He became the Super Bowl MVP

3. The longest play in Super Bowl history

• In the final seconds of the first half, Steelers up 10-7, the Cardinals were 1st and goal and looked like they were going to finally take the lead–or at least tie– the game.
• Enter Steelers James Harrison.
• He picked off the pass from Cardinals QB Kurt Warner in the end zone and took off running.
• 100 yards later, he was finally tackled as he came down just inside his own endzone bringing the score to 17-7 going into halftime.
• The 100 yard TD is the longest play in Super Bowl history.
• The previous longest play was Desmond Howard’s 99-yard kickoff return for Green Bay in 1997.

4. The Cardinals late-game comeback

The Cards were shut down almost the whole game. They were not playing to win. And then all of a sudden in the fourth quarter, someone lit a fire under their hot tushies. It was kinda like 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 (I’ll talk about this later when the coffee kicks in)
• With under 3:00 remaining in the game, they took their first lead of the game!

5. The Penalties

This was definitely a huge story of the game. And I find it really funny because right before the game I did a piece about Footbal Rules and Penalties. I barely got it up before the game started—but I wanted a reference guide because I am always lost when they start talking fouls and penalties.

I didn’t have time to cover them all (seriously, who would? There are like a thousand and each one has all sorts of crazy intricacies….). So I just picked like 10 or so of the most common. I looked at things like “Safety” and “chop block” but they are so rare that we decided not to focus on those for this game. Ha! Guess what? In Super Bowl XLIII there was a safety and a chop block!

There was also: unneccessary roughness, face mask,  roughing the passer, and a question of intentional grounding.

• There were a total of 18 penalited that resulted in over 162 yards.
• Arizona was called for 11 penalties: 106 yards.
• In one drive, they were called for three fouls! Gave the Steelers 35 yards and 3 automatic first downs!

Don’t worry, I’m doing a whole piece about this later. You know how I feel about silly NFL rules!

6. Kurt Warner wins NFL Man of the Year

He had already won my football man of the year! I heart him! Right before the game Kurt was awarded the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year trophy. The award recognizes excellence in football but more importantly, excellence off the field. It honors those players who go above and beyond to help give back to others. No one exemplifies this more than Kurt Warner.

“I am humbled the Lord has given me such an amazing life to impact others,” Warner said in a statement released by the NFL. “Of all the awards given to NFL athletes, the Walter Payton Man of the Year is the one that stands out above the rest to me because of what it represents.” ~Kurt Warner

7. Super Bowl XLII (aka last years Super Bowl)

Why am I mentioning this? The last :35 of that game were shockingly similar to this one. It seemed written in stone before the game that the New England Patriots would be the Champs and become the first team in NFL history to have a perfect season.

But….with :35 on the clock NY Giants Plaxico Burress caught the perfect pass from Eli Manning in the end zone (sound familiar?) and brought the score to 14-7, Giants.
8. the Super Bowl commercials!
I did (or am in the process of doing….) a whole post about the commercials. But what do you need to know right now: They sucked. They just really were not good AT ALL. Not like the commercials from back in the day. I will give props to e-trade and Cheetos. I liked those! More about the commercials

9. The NFL Pro Bowl (aka all-star game) & The NBA All-star game: but I’ll get into those at another time. Just letting you know they are out there!

Pro-Bowl is Sunday, February 8. All-Star Game/Weekend is Valentine’s Day Weekend.

Top Deals, Steals & Scores: Pittsburgh Steelers Win Super Bowl XLIII is a post from: Stiletto Sports

You know you are going to be hurting for sports news for the week when Sportscenter is featuring the Winter Leagues in baseball. There really isn’t a lot going on this week because the world (or at least America) is waiting for the Super Bowl next Sunday and I’m sure that’s all we are going to hear about ALL WEEK LONG. (This is Reason #2 why I’m not leaving the house till the weekend festivities kick off. Reason #1 is because I live in Florida–the snowbird season has officially kicked off and there are seriously old people every where. And it’s just hazardous to drive anywhere.)

Ok back to the point.

1. The Super Bowl is next Sunday. Get prepared now!

Just in case you didn’t read my blog last week and you block out football talk until right before the game, I just wanted to remention that the teams are the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Remember, we are trying to know what’s going on this year and not just be there for the party!

Pittsburgh seems to be heavily favored. I think this is crap. Feel free to quote me on that when people ask you what your opinion is. If further question on why that sucks just say, “Um, hello, the Cards have Kurt and Fitzy.” You don’t have to know what I’m talking about. Just say that and it could score you some major points.

Hmm, unless you are talking to die-hard Steeler fans. Then say the Cardinal line but also throw in “but that poofy haired guy on Pitts is good too!” Trust me, you don’t want to attempt to say his name unless you already know how to say it. Polamalu. Pa-la-mah-loo. I may like this name almost as much as I like Tony Dungy (Dungy!!)

Anyway. My Girl’s Guide to the Super Bowl; the football and the parties, will be up starting later this afternoon .

2. NHL All-Star Game

Haven’t really covered hockey yet but I am looking forward to it. I used to watch our team club, in college and loved it. Unfortunately, that was many years ago and I don’t remember a lot of what I learned then. And a lot happened in this game that I really don’t understand. So, can’t really give you much of a recap!  But here’s what I do know:

• The East beat the West in a SHOOTOUT 12-11
• I don’t know what this shootout thing is but it appears to happen after an overtime so that games don’t go on for days.
• It was the second highest scoring in an All-Star Game (The first highest was 14-12)

• Alex Ovechkin scored the winning goal in the third round of the mysterious shootout thingy.
• On the East there was Alex Ovechkin, Alexei Kovalev and Andrei Markov. Say that five times fast.

I’m not even going to try and pretend I know more than that!  Check out The NHL on The Bleacher Report or ESPN.com for more information on this game!

3. The NBA All-Star Game Starters Announced

FYI NBA All-Star Weekend is Valentine’s Weekend. Seriously, who the hell was on their planning committee cuz they ain’t so bright! Then again, Confessions of a Shopaholic and He’s Just Not That Into You are released then too so I’m sensing a great trade-off! “Sure I’ll watch the NBA Dunk Contest thingy. If you come with me to Shopaholic!”

The starting five for the East and the West were announced last week. I feel it’s almost pointless to even write who is going because even if you don’t watch basketball I’m sure you can guess.  Four of the players have been to the game more than ten times. So the results are not exactly shocking!  Sorry. I have no coffee in my house, I’m a tad cranky today. The point of the all-star game is to showcase the best of the best so realistically, you should already know the starters before they are announced.

The East:

• LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
• Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics
• Dwighty Howard, Orlando Magic
• Allen Iverson, Detroit Pistons
• Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat

The West

• Yao Ming, Houston Rockets
• Amar’e Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns
• Tim Duncan, San Antonia Spurs
• Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers (shocking, I know.)
• Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets

I’ll be doing a full out profile and analysis of this at a later date when the football madness dies down.

4. The Life and Loss of the Inspiring Kay Yow

I know Phil Jackson. I know John Calipari. I know Coach K. Actually, I know the names of a lot of college and NBA coaches. But I am very sad to say I had never heard of Kay Yow—a lot of people hadn’t–until she passed away on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

• Kay was the head coach of the women’s basketball team for North Carolina State for 34 years.
• She was a coach in total for over 38 years!
• She won over 700 games!
• She won four conference titles, was the coach of the 1988 winning Olympic team, and is in the Naismith and the Women’s Basketball Halls of Fame.
• More importantly, she won the battle against breat cancer for over 20 years.

For more, please see my Profiles in Courage: Kay Yow

~Photos from ESPN.com & NBA.com

Top Deals, Steals and Scores: All-star updates! is a post from: Stiletto Sports