NCAA Football Player of the Week: Johnthan Banks

Better late than never! Without further delay, I'd like to announce this week's NCAA Football Player of the Week: Mississippi State's Johnthan Banks.

Mississippi State played the Gators on Saturday afternoon. The Gators managed to escape with a win (thank goodness), but the game was not pretty -- at all. What was pretty (and I apologize for using the word "pretty" to describe a football play) was freshman Johnthan Banks' amazing interception (Tebow basically threw the ball to him) and subsequent run across the entire length of the football field to score a touchdown for the Bulldogs. It was an incredible play. So incredible, in fact, that even though my blood runs orange and blue, while watching the game I realized that despite my utter lack of objectivity, even I have to acknowledge an exhilarating athletic feat when I see one.

For executing a play so amazing that you forced me to cheer (if only for 3 seconds) against my beloved Florida Gators, this week's virtual trophy is for you, Johnthan Banks:

Well done.

NCAA Football Player of the Week: Caleb Sturgis

Picasa is making me a little angry at the moment. I've been trying -- unsuccessfully -- to upload my photos from last weekend's visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to my Web Albums for the past week, and it's still not working. I'm working my way through Picasa's list of "Troubleshooting Tips" now. Hmmph.

Never mind. It's time to name this week's Stilettos on the Gridiron NCAA Football Player of the Week!

This week's honoree is Florida Gators kicker Caleb Sturgis. I know, I know -- I'm a huge Gators fan, and for that reason this pick might seem biased (I refer anyone who is skeptical of my ability to be objective to the post about last week's honoree). Caleb is this week's honoree because, with 9 seconds left in the Arkansas game on Saturday, he kicked a game-winning field goal, delivering the Gators a victory in a game that really could have gone either way. To everyone's surprise (including the CBS commentators, who didn't even attempt to hide their surprise), the conference match-up between my beloved Gators and the Arkansas Razorbacks was a hard-fought battle. Truth be told, the Razorbacks easily could have won the game (there were tons of mistakes on both sides of the field), but the Razorbacks' kicker chose an amazingly inopportune time to miss a field goal in the fourth quarter. Fortunately for Gators fans, after missing a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter and then making a career-high 51-yard field goal early in the second half, Caleb Sturgis punctuated what had been an erratic performance with the field goal heard around the world (and by the world, I mean Gainesville).

Saturday's game wasn't perfectly executed (few of Florida's recent games have been). Nevertheless, the Gators pulled out a win -- something they would not have done had it not been for the cool action of Florida's sophomore kicker (so cool, in fact, that Sturgis had the sense of mind to encourage his teammates to take it down a notch when they clamored around him after he sent the football sailing between the goal posts at the end of the game, thus diffusing what may have become an "excessive celebration."

For not letting an early miss discourage him from going on to set a personal record and make an outcome-determinative field goal, Caleb Sturgis is this week's NCAA Football Player of the Week.

Caleb, this trophy's for you:
Congratulations. And on behalf of Gators fans everywhere, thank you.

NCAA Football Player of the Week: Colin Kaepernick

My brother is visiting me in NYC this weekend, and earlier this afternoon we traveled uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Today's trip confirmed that the Met just might be my favorite museum ever -- but more on that later. For now, it's time to name the Stilettos on the Gridiron NCAA Football Player of the Week.

Before I get to this week's honoree, I have to mention Tim Tebow -- Tim Tebow is not the player of the week this week, but he almost was. Yesterday's game at LSU was Tebow's first since suffering a concussion during a game against Kentucky two weeks ago, and he looked great. Tebow lead the team to a victory in Baton Rouge -- it wasn't a blowout, nor was it a perfectly executed game, but Tebow looked strong, and the Gators pulled out a win. It was a good week for Florida fans.

This week's college football player of the week is another quarterback: Nevada's Colin Kaepernick. I had never seen Kaepernick play before Friday night, but I was completely transfixed as the Wolf Pack defeated Louisiana Tech in Reno, 37 - 14. Nevada's entire team is unusually tall and lanky for a football squad -- at 6 ft 6 inches and 215 lbs, Colin Kaepernick is no exception. And, when he wasn't sprinting down the field with the football, Kaepernick was passing the football with uncanny speed. (The back story behind his arm? Apparently, Kaepernick is also a star baseball player who throws a 94 mph pitch and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2009. When he was looking at colleges, he turned down several baseball scholarships in favor of Nevada's offer, which, interestingly, was his only football offer.)

Colin, this (virtual) trophy is for you:


Congratulations. And thanks for giving me one more reason to watch college football this season.

Lonny Magazine, I Think I May Love You

Count me among the many shelter magazine aficionados who is still recovering from the loss of Domino. But Lonny just may ease the pain. Lonny is a new, online-only shelter mag, and its premiere issue is full of beautiful furnishings, rich colors and fun profiles of some of my favorite design experts. I was really surprised (pleasantly) by the abundance of wonderful ideas in the magazine, and I can't wait for the next issue.

Check out the first issue of Lonny magazine here.

I've Been Bad

I seriously dropped the blogging ball -- my last post was over a month ago! For shame.

My excuse? September was the busiest month I've had in recent memory. Work was unbelievably busy, I was traveling out of town to visit my family and for special events, and I simply didn't make the time to blog.

This bad behavior changes today. I'm back, and so is Stilettos on the Gridiron. Starting this week, I'll pick up with the remaining installments of the Girl's Guide to the 2009 College Football Season. And starting this weekend, I will name the first Stilettos on the Gridiron college football player of the week (better late than never). And, if the news cycle continues to turn out unbelievable stories at the rate it's been turning them over the past several weeks (David Letterman? Khloe and Lamar? Jon and Kate?), then I'll be filling in the gaps between the college football action with random musings about whatever happens next.

In the meantime, and in anticipation of my return to the blogosphere, I'll be catching up on some much-needed rest. That and congratulating Brett Favre -- it looks likes everyone's favorite "retired" quarterback may be having the last laugh. Go figure (and go Vikings?).