Fans Tell All
Hot Men? We Ladies Know How to Pick ‘Em!
By Kelly Bichkoff When drafting a fantasy football team in an all-ladies league, one way to pick players is to pick them based on hotness (think Tony Romo or Tom Brady…sigh). Another way is to pick them by how cool or interesting their name sounds, such as T.J. Houshmandzadeh or Chad Ochocinco. Side note: Chad Ochocinco used to be Chad Johnson until everyone started calling him “ochocinco”, which is 85, his number, in Spanish. Can you believe the man actually CHANGED his real last name to his football nickname?? Crazy! In my last article I gave a general description of fantasy football and... Read More...
A Mizzou Tiger Hostess tells us about her experience
Betsy, A Mizzou Tigers Football Recruiter and Football Fan FB101: When did you become a football fan? I have been a football fan for as long as I can remember. My parents were huge Missouri football fans. We always had season tickets. We even traveled to bowl games in the 80's when Missouri was in bowl games. I am a loyal Mizzou fan. I love to watch NFL but Missouri is my college team. My favorite NFL team is the Chicago Bears. I grew up during the days of the Super Bowl Shuffle...Refrigerator Perry and Walter Payton, Jim McMahon and Mike... Read More...Fans Tell All: Kelly Bichkoff – Photographer, Mother of three, and Fantasy Football Aficionado!
Once upon a time, Kelly was a dancer for the Chicago Rush Arena Football Team, a coach for a state winning high school poms team, and a middle school teacher. She has since hung up her dancing shoes and is now a children and family photographer while at home with her three daughters, Elizabeth (4 ½), Caroline (23 months), and Allison (2 months).
And now, for football season 2010-2011, she is going to share tips, updates and more about fantasy football with all of us!
You still have a little time to start your own league! Watch for Kelly’s first article this weekend to learn all about the basics of fantasy football, and stay tuned for more insight from her as the season unfolds.
Read More...Part 3: “I do” to 100+ Games
It became a routine to organize our lives and annual commitments around the Penn State football schedule.
Why do we continue to do it? Simply put, it’s much more engaging to watch a game in person than it is to watch it on TV. It gets back to the experience of being there. And the fact that you miss a lot of action on the field when you rely on the TV monitors and sports-casters to tell you what’s happening.
Plus, there are the bragging rights of having been there, both for frustrating losses and for incredible turn-around wins. During freak October snowstorms or torrential New Year’s day rain.
Last year, as I was approaching my 100th game in a row, I decided that perhaps it was time to write a blog about the fan experience of following Penn State football.
Follow me this fall by visiting my blog at www.viewfromstands.blogspot.com.
Or look for occasional guest columns on Football101Women as we prepare for and enjoy the coming football season.
I will enjoy getting to know you and learning about your passion for football.
Read More...Part 2: “I do” to 100+ Football Games
For the first ten years of our marriage, we lived in Easton, PA. I worked as a marketing director for a high-technology firm in central New Jersey.
That’s where I learned the value of following sports and being knowledgeable about sports. It helped me professionally in terms of being considered “one of the guys” as a female in a male-dominated high-tech workplace. As we all know, in the workplace, easy-going informal relationships can lead to formal work opportunities. And they did.
Every Monday morning, there would be a string of co-workers in my office, mostly male, to talk about Saturday’s college football games. There were a number of co-workers who loved Penn State, including some alumni. But there were also Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern, Rutgers, USC, and Notre Dame fans.
Our common bond was football. The banter was constant about who would win each week. It was a great deal of fun to be in the center of all this discussion.
My co-workers were clearly admiring of the fact that I actually attended Penn State games. They were quite envious of me as I traveled to watch Penn State play.
While others watched games on TV, I had the bragging rights of having been in the stands.
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Part 1: “I do” to 100+ Football Games
By Carolyn Todd
In football, X’s and O’s refer to specific plays that are used in executing an overall offensive and defensive strategy for a game. Males often learn the X and O game tactics through their own youth play experience, formal or informal, whether in backyard games, in junior high or high school, or beyond. For many men, knowing football X’s and O’s is a part of growing up, a decidedly male thing in an overwhelmingly male sport.
For most women growing up, X’s and O’s are more associated with affectionate symbols for kisses and hugs sent on letters to friends as teenagers. X’s and O’s as football game strategy is more often an alien concept than something that is truly understood.
Over time I began to understand my own attraction to the game. There are four aspects of the game that appeal to me:
the customer experience of being physically present at a game,
the chance to watch young players evolve over 4-5 years,
the game itself with its complex strategic elements, and
bragging rights with co-workers or friends.
Carolyn Todd: From “I do” to 100+ Football Games in a Row!
It’s that time again. Football season! Ugh, you think. Here we go again. If only I could truly understand the game and look forward to watching it as much as my friends and colleagues. Could I really learn to love football? Well, we at Football 101 Women think the answer is yes!
Just ask Carolyn Todd. She wasn’t always a Penn State football fan. Growing up in Boston, her interest in sports was confined to social situations, like many of us out there. Until, that is, she met her husband Terry and he shared his passion for Penn State football. The rest is history….
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Fans Tell All: Meg Pucino, football coach and lover
MEG PUCINO introduced me to Friday night lights! When did you become a football fan? When I was a little girl. I grew up in a NY Giants watching household. What are some of your favorite football traditions? I loved to go to my brother's high school football games. I wanted to be a sports writer at a young age, so my sophmore year, I got a job for the local newspaper, the Branford Review (CT) covering the high school football games. I did that until I graduated. I also loved to watch game after game on Sundays with my dad and my... Read More...
