Oh No!

The Gators lost to Ole Miss today. The final score was 31-30. I'm too sad to blog about this now, so I'll post more on the game later. My cable went out this afternoon, so I was actually out shopping for housewares for my new apartment while the game was on. My dad delivered the bad news to me over the phone. In retrospect, I'm glad my cable went out. Watching that game would have been so depressing.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Last night was an incredible night for college football fans like me. I actually almost missed the USC-Oregon State game--I was too busy watching the final season premiere of ER. (As an aside, the 35 minutes that I spent watching ER were a total waste. What happened to that show? ER used to be the most amazing hour of dramatic television. Today, it stinks. The acting doesn't seem authentic anymore.) Anyway, I managed to get my act together in time to catch the top-ranked USC Trojans fall to Oregon State! An unranked Oregon State. I was, and still am, so excited about Oregon State's win that my memory of the second half of the game remains fuzzy. As I recall, it went something like this: USC was down 21-0 at the begining of the third quarter. Then they scored one touchdown. 21-7. Then they scored another. 21-14. Then they stopped scoring. Then, late in the 4th quarter, Oregon State scored a touchdown. 28-14. At that point, Pete Carroll's face fell. The game was over, and he knew it. Then the game ended for real. Oregon State's coach teared up. Mark Sanchez threw his helmet (I think it was his helmet?). Then I went to bed with a huge smile on my face. Go Beavers!

Some Things Changed. Some Things Stayed the Same.

I'm back! Here's what changed:

1. I moved! (Back to NYC, which is where I've lived for five years now. So I didn't really "move." But I did travel from Florida, where I vacationed with my family for several weeks, to Manhattan, where I moved into a brand new apartment, started a brand new job, and started a brand new chapter in my life. )

2. I started furnishing said brand new apartment. This particularly exciting because now I can put all that design blog browsing (and my subscription to Domino Magazine) to good use. And as much as I would love for my apartment to be instantly beautiful and worthy of being featured on a design blog or in a design magazine, I quickly realized that transforming my apartment into a home is going to be an evolutionary process...but more on that later.

Here's what didn't change:

1. Florida football remains amazing. The Gators handed Tennessee a sound defeat in Knoxville on Friday (Final score: 30-6. Tennessee scored those 6 points in the 4th quarter. Florida scored 17 points in the 1st quarter). Florida is now 3-0, and remains at the #4 position in the AP Top 25. Of the 25 top teams, 18 of them remain undefeated (including BYU, Boise State, and TCU). It's going to be an interesting season.

Family Photos

I love looking at family photos. Over the past several days, I've been sorting through my parents' old photo albums, searching for photos to copy in black and white and to hang on the walls of my new apartment. The photo above is one of my absolute favorites. It was taken at my paternal grandparents' home outside of Charleston, South Carolina in 1982. From left to right: my maternal great-grandmother, my maternal grandmother, my paternal grandmother, and my great aunt. The happy lady in the back is my mom. And that's me in her lap (in the very fashionable pink ensemble).

Oh, and the Blog Received a Makeover

About 2 weeks ago, the name of this blog changed. And I neglected to discuss the change! I know; I can hardly believe it myself. I was so excited to get the new site up and running that once I did, I didn't explain my little blog's face lift. So here's the official announcement: The blog formerly known as The Fashion Obsessed Sports Fan is now Stilettos on the Gridiron. The entire blog, including archived posts, have moved to, well, exactly where you are right now. Why the change? Because my Florida stay-cation afforded me a lot of time to think about my blog-in-progress, and I decided that Stilettos on the Gridiron is a little more intriguing. I love intrigue. But...while the blog's name has changed, its mission has not. The blog is still dedicated to celebrating a girl's right to love college football, Manolo Blahnik sample sales, BCS Championship Game parties, glossy design magazines, and anything else her heart desires.

End Notes on NFL Action:

1. Tom Brady's definitely out. In an email to his teammates, he assured them that "everything will be okay" (or something to that effect...).
2. Oakland didn't score during its opening game against the Denver Broncos. Not at all. Not even a field goal. Ooops.

Mike + Mike, Plus Mike and Monday Night Football?

Mike and Mike of ESPN's Mike & Mike in the Morning are calling the Monday Night Football game between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders (Yep; I'm watching another NFL game. I'm still not sure how that happened.) Oh, and Mike Ditka is there, too. A small confession before I continue: I've listened to Mike & Mike in the Morning maybe once, so I don't really know that much about them. What I do know is that Mike & Mike and Monday Night Football on ESPN make for very strange bedfellows. It's hard to follow their banter and the game at the same time. Plus, I'm distracted by their radio voices. Is this an experiment, or will Mike and Mike be doing this on a regular basis? I should look into that. (For what it's worth, Mike & Mike's commentary isn't bad. It's just different...I'm pretty sure I just caught a Forrest Gump reference.)

Back to Reality. Plus, NFL: The Soap Opera

The past few weeks have been great--I've been relaxing with my family in Florida and enjoying the sunshine and the slow pace that the central Florida coastal town that I call home has to offer. But, my job awaits, and on Wednesday I'll be returning to New York to get settled before work begins next Monday. Thankfully, my parents and my brother will be coming up to New York this weekend to help me get settled in my new apartment. I spent most of the morning confirming travel reservations and move-in dates and shipping items to my new apartment (including the fabulous new quilt and LeCreuset tea kettle that I found at unbelievable bargain prices at Tuesday Morning over the weekend). I still have some more errands to run and much more packing to do, but I wanted to take a break from all of that to talk about the NFL. That's right, professional football. College football is the game that gets me going; professional football usually doesn't pique my interest unless something other than the game itself is going on (case in point: Kim Kardashian cheering on Reggie Bush at the Saints game yesterday). But yesterday's quarterback drama has captured my attention. What drama, you ask?

1. Oh my goodness, Tom Brady might be out for the season? That's not good. I'm not even a Patriots fan, and I still think that the whole Tom Brady/Bridget Moynihan thing was just terrible. (Don't get me wrong, Gisele seems lovely, and if Tom and Bridget's relationship wasn't working out, there was no sense in continuing it, I guess. But Bridget was pregnant!). Even so, there's still something about Tom Brady that I find likeable. And, if he's out with a season-ending knee injury, well that's really too bad. Get better soon, Tom!

2. Okay, I still think that Brett Favre is a bit of a whiner after that whole faux-retirement thing. (Sorry Brett, you also seem like a great guy, and I remember being left with a very favorable impression of your wife after seeing her with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America.) But he sure did deliver for the Jets yesterday (194 yards, 2 touchdowns). The man has gray hair and he turns 39 next month! I can't be mad at you, Brett.

College Football Rankings: Week 2

Fresh rankings were just released. For the complete list of how the top-performing teams will enter the third week of play, click here. Or, read below for highlights:

1. USC (The bye week didn't cost the Trojans their number one spot. I guess that makes sense?)

2. Georgia (A win over Georgia Southern was enough for the Bulldogs to hold onto the #2 spot.)

4. Florida (The Gators moved up one spot after last weekend's win over Miami.)

14. East Carolina (Wow! Congratulations to the Pirates for a well-deserved entry into the Top 25.)

19. South Florida (A win in a close game against UCF resulted in a 2-spot slip for the Bulls.)

25. West Virginia (The Mountaineers managed to snag the final spot after a loss to East Carolina.)

Life Is Precious

On Sunday, the NY Times ran this story about Stephanie Nielson, a wife, mother, and blogger who was very badly injured in an airplane accident last month. Her husband was also badly injured, and the pilot lost his life in the accident. The outpouring of support from those who read her blog has been tremendous. My thoughts and prayers are with Stephanie and her family.

College Football Bonanza

Week 2 of the college football season has wrapped! Shame on me--I was conspicuously absent from my blog during the opening week of play--with the Conventions (I watched both the Democrats and the Republicans--I'm a political junkie), the nail-biting hurricane watches, and my determination to start furnishing my brand new Manhattan apartment from the comfort of my own laptop (complicated by the fact that both my laptop and I have spent the past several weeks in Florida), I wasn't able to post as often as I wanted. But enough of the excuses. Here goes!

College Football Round-up

1. East Carolina has emerged as the Cinderella story of the early weeks of college play. East Carolina was not supposed to be 2-0 after facing Virginia Tech during week one and West Virginia during week two. Forget what the team was supposed to do...East Carolina beat both teams. How exciting! Thank you, East Carolina, for making this season interesting so soon.

2. This weekend was a great one for football fans from the state of Florida. First, my beloved Florida Gators beat a young, upstart Miami team, 26-3. The Hurricanes are re-building their program, and I'm confident and hopeful that in the future, the 'Canes will be a formidable opponent. But for now, I'm just relieved that Tim Tebow and the Gators won last night's game. (The Gators and the Hurricanes don't meet again until the 2013 season. ) And second, Saturday night's game between South Florida and Central Florida was much closer than many fans predicted. UCF wasn't supposed to stand a chance against USF, but the Golden Knights rallied from 14 points behind to force the game into overtime...only to make a handful of mistakes that afforded USF their second win of the season. For UCF fans, it was a heartbreaking loss, but for a program that is less than 10 years old, UCF is doing just fine.

In other college football news, after beating Virginia, 52-7, the USC Trojans held the top spot at the beginning of week two. The top spot belonged to the Georgia Bulldogs at the beginning of the season, but apparently a 45-21 win over Georgia Southern to open the season wasn't enough to keep Georgia there. The Trojans had a bye week this week, and the Bulldogs beat Central Michigan 56-17 on Saturday, so it'll be interesting to see what happens at the top of the AP Top 25 this week.