Category: football (Page 5 of 8)

Happy Sweet Sixteen, Super Bowl XXIX

29 January, 2011 / Kat

Scanning through Twitter this morning, I saw Sports Illustrated writer Peter King reminiscing about Super Bowl XXIX – aka, my most favorite Super Bowl of all time. After four straight years of seeing my favorite AFC and hometown team, the Buffalo Bills, lose the Super Bowl, it was wonderful to see a Super Bowl where my favorite NFC team, the San Francisco 49ers, totally dominated. I had just turned thirteen, as awkward as a blue-collar teenage girl could be, and was struggling though a difficult time with my family. My baby brother was sickly, my dad was about to lose his job, my grandfather was sick, our car broke down and we couldn’t replace it, and I was going to have to drop out of dance classes. Pile that all on to turning thirteen, and of course I was looking for escapism anywhere I could find it.

As I wrote in 2009, that Super Bowl also meant a lot to me because reading the Sports Illustrated covering that game inspired me to want to be a sportswriter. If you doubt how much that one issue impacted me, I present to you a photo taken this morning of the ragged original copy that has moved with me to college, to Boston and grad school and now to my place in the ‘burbs. It may be torn, it may be worth absolutely nothing – but to me, it’s worth everything.

There are days where I wonder why I down multiple cups of coffee a day and sit up all hours of the evening to write for anyone and everyone who asks, despite working a demanding full-time job. All I have to do is break this out and flip through a few pages. If I can chronicle some event as well as King and Rich Telander did in this issue, and inspire some awkward thirteen year old by doing so, then all the late nights will all be worth it.

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Surprisingly, I’ve only written two blog posts over the years on Super Bowl XXIX. Here they are:

Fourteen Years Later, I Experience My Super Bowl XXIX

On Excitement and Nervousness

If you want to see some of the other newspaper clippings thirteen year old me saved from that Super Bowl, I took pictures and posted them on Flickr. It’s from back when there were two newspapers (Democrat and Chronicle and Times Union) in Rochester, NY. Snapping shots of these this morning made me appreciate newspapers the tactile quality. Saving printed articles from online isn’t the same as trotting out my folder of newspaper clippings.

Bill Belichick Made The 2011 Buffalo Bills Calendar

31 December, 2010 / Kat

This morning, my husband took his annual mission to the mall’s calendar kiosk to pick up his “Star Trek: Ships of the Line” calendar for 50% off. While there, he found a Buffalo Bills calendar located in the depths of the “random team” pile, left lonely with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Panthers and Toronto Raptors calendars.

“Look what I found,” he said eagerly, handing me the calendar.

“The Buffalo Bills, a year in futility,” I smirked. “Sure, let’s get it.”

I didn’t look closely at the calendar until I got back to our apartment. I hold onto my mother’s old superstition that you are not to open a calendar until New Year’s Day, so I wasn’t about to tear off the plastic. Instead, I took a more careful look at the back, which previews every month’s cover athlete.

Hey, it’s Marshawn Lynch! And Bill Belichick’s favorite, Josh Reed! (In case you missed it, check out that link for Belichick’s Reed gaffe from last week.) There’s Shawn Nelson and Roscoe Parrish! Continue reading

Keeping The Faith: Why I Hold On To the Bills

3 December, 2010 / Kat

The glimmer of hope at the Bills-Pats game on September 26th. (Photo taken by Kat)

This is what being a Buffalo Bills fan in Boston is like.

It is going to work for sixteen Mondays every year and having your boss throw his hands in the air, sigh heavily and say, “Kat! Those Bills! So close!”

It’s your newest star wide receiver Tweeting his best Nancy Kerrigan impression (StarGames and Jerry Solomon, jump on that like a trampoline and sign him up.)

It’s your mother-in-law asking you for sixteen Sundays every year if your team lost again and asking you why you don’t root for that “Brady fella.” Continue reading

Four Questions With…Joey Westmoreland of GameDay Rugs

17 October, 2010 / Kat

Many of you have never had the pleasure of experiencing my football clad home. I have football plates, glasses, bowls, spreaders, toothpicks, platters, crock pots…it’s a little obsessive. I don’t think my husband necessarily likes it, because when we moved into our new apartment after we got married, he asked me if I was “really going to hang onto this stuff.” I told him that I collected these items in the event I ever get to hold a Buffalo Bills Super Bowl party, and I think he felt so much pity for me that he relented. (He did make me get rid of the football themed sofa throw pillows, but I agreed with him that their time had come.)

So when the folks at GameDay Rugs approached me last week and asked for a plug, of course I said yes. GameDay Rugs is a new online retailer selling team related rugs for both indoor and outdoor use. While they have started with some of the larger college football and basketball teams, they are working on expanding the line to include additional college teams and professional teams.

Clemson Football Rug

I interviewed GameDay Rugs Account Manager and die-hard Clemson football fan Joey Westmoreland about the company, his products, and Bills rookie CJ Spiller (yes, I had to go there.)

Kat: Why did you decide to get into the sports rug business?

Joey: Sports are my life, so I was very fortunate to have been brought into the business by a friend while GameDay Rugs was still in the concept stage. I had seen what the parent company had accomplished with Astroturf and knew, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, that I wanted to be part of this.

Kat: What is the most creative way you’ve seen one of your rugs used?

Joey: Actually, I was at the NC State v Boston College game this past weekend and walked right passed two little boys, they were maybe 3 or so, and were perched on one of our football field area rugs playing their own game right there on the concrete, moving small helmets around as if they were players. Also, I’ve seen a circle Alabama rug used as wall art, but the tailgating child’s play takes the cake as most creative use.

Kat: I have it on good authority that you are a Clemson fan. I’m a Buffalo Bills fan, and we’re hanging a lot of hope on Clemson grad CJ Spiller. Do you have any thoughts on him?

: GameDay Rugs NC State Field Rug

Joey: I think he’s a super guy who will represent the Bills with the integrity that he’s demonstrated to date. The fact that he came back as a Senior speaks volumes of who he is, how he represented Clemson and how he will represent the Bills organization. His record, being chosen Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, and the fact that his jersey is being retired are testaments of what he’s meant to Clemson football. In my opinion, your hopes are well placed, and you have nothing to worry about.

Kat: Your company has a good selection of football schools. Any plans to expand to other schools and or other sports teams?

Joey: Absolutely! We take daily steps toward expanding our line, and offer a way on our site to collect fan suggestions for additional teams, although it takes time to get new designs approved by the universities and the CLC (Collegiate Licensing Company). Keep checking back often as new designs are constantly being added and we have some great plans for future product lines.

GameDay Rugs has a free shipping promotion ongoing through October 31, 2010. Visit their site at GameDayRugs.com.

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Legal Note: I did not receive any compensation from GameDay Rugs or any affiliated party in exchange for this blog post.

Thoughts from a Train Without Wi-Fi

11 August, 2010 / Kat

I wrote the following Tuesday morning on the train, but didn’t have internet to post it until Wednesday.

The man in front of me has a Verizon Mi-Fi card. I have been staring at this card and his MacBook for three straight hours, as he command-1-2-3s from Gmail to TweetDeck to Excel, and my iPhone and Mac keeps telling me, “Hey, there’s internet right in front of you – but it’s password protected. Haha!”

Mean, Mi-Fi. Mean, mean, mean Mi-Fi.

I’ve written one article – a piece for the Brookline Patch about the birth of Skating magazine – because all of the sources were hard copy Skating magazines from two years ago, along with one email from Ben Wright (someone I never in my life ever thought would email wanna-be journalist me, but there it was, Sunday morning in my inbox…ask my husband, I fell over in my chair) that I was able to bring up on my phone.

But can I post this piece and assure my editor that it’s done? No, because Amtrak doesn’t offer internet. Greyhound, of all means of transportation, now offers internet, but Amtrak can’t. And because I’m too chicken to ask the man in front of me for access to his Mi-Fi in exchange for five bucks. (Yes, I’m willing to pay at this point.)

There he goes again. Command 1. Command 2. TweetDeck, Excel, GMail. Mean Mi-Fi.

So while he justly hogs his internet, here are some sports related thoughts: Continue reading