FFF (the Future is Female Follow-up)

If you weren't already nodding off during the incredibly boring Super Bowl, you may have missed a couple of very significant "Female Firsts" during the #NFL100 commercial: 

Samantha "Sam" Gordon, appeared in the NFL's 100th Season Superbowl LIII commercial.  Sam was one of three women in the commercial and the only one without a direct tie to the league.  And if you blinked, you may have missed Official Sarah Thomas and announcer Beth Mowins. 

So why is Sam Gordon's appearance in the #NFL100 commercial so significant?  Sam, the only female player featured among the NFL greats passing around a golden football during Sunday night's Super Bowl commercial, is the winner of the league’s inaugural Game Changer award.  Let that sink in for a minute.  A 15-year old girl from Salt Lake City is the recipient of the National Football League's Game Changer award. 

Gordon, who turns 16 this month, made history in 2015 when she and her father launched the Utah Girls Tackle Football League – the first of its kind – spurring the creation of similar all-girls leagues in Indiana, Georgia and Canada. 

“I was going to a middle school to give a speech about working hard and I asked the question ‘how many girls here would like to play tackle football?’ And it seemed like almost every hand in the room went up,” Gordon said in a video released by the NFL this past weekend featuring her story. “There’s this many girls at this one middle school, how many are there in Utah? In the entire nation? And the world? And next spring, we had a league up and growing."

The first 50 spots for players is said to have filled up in less than a day, and the league has since grown to include nearly 400 female athletes.

“Sam is a game changer because she is shining a light on football so that girls can feel that ‘I’ve been wrong, I have a seat at the table and I was born with that right,'” her father, Brent, says in the video.

Gordon is now trying to start an all-girls football team at her high school.

Sam (born February 21, 2003) is a running back from the Salt Lake City area whose abilities as a football player gained her acclaim when she was just nine years old.

In 2012, while regularly playing against all-male teams (competing with some players who were up to twice her weight), Gordon compiled 25 touchdowns and 10 extra point conversions on 232 carries for 1,911 rushing yards in a single season, averaging 8.2 yards per carry.  In addition, Gordon recorded 65 tackles for the season while playing defense.    2012 was her first year playing football.

On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, Gordon's father uploaded a highlight video to YouTube that by Thursday of that week had generated nearly 5 million views.  His recording of her football prowess has garnered attention from various news outlets, as well as the National Football League.

Gordon has stated that she will continue playing football for one or two more years, then switch over to soccer, where her passion for athletic competition really lies. In the meantime, she has appeared on Good Morning America, tackled Marshall Faulk on the set of the NFL Network, huddled up with the San Francisco 49ers at practice, and gained the attention and praise of U.S. soccer stars Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm. 49ers running back LaMichael James and former NFL player, Super Bowl MVP, and Heisman winner Desmond Howard both jokingly stated that she should win the Heisman Trophy. She was featured on a Wheaties cereal box, the company stating that she was chosen because she is an inspiration to young girls. She is the first female football player to appear on a Wheaties box.  Let that sink in for a minute too. 

Gordon was invited to attend Super Bowl XLVII by the NFL as the guest of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. During the Super Bowl weekend, Gordon was a guest blogger for espnW, performed a skit during the NFL Honors award show with Alec Baldwin, attended the Commissioner's press conference and media day, and watched the game in the Commissioner's suite with high ranking political figures and well-known football personalities. Gordon was also featured in an NFL Evolution commercial that aired during the game.

Following the Super Bowl, Gordon attended the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards show during which she won a Game trophy for Most Viral Player.

Sam's football story and the experiences she had following the posting of her YouTube highlight video were the inspiration for the NFL's Together We Make Football contest.
Gordon was featured in an NFL commercial that kicked off the contest by asking football fans to share their football stories with the NFL.

With the help of her neighbor, Gordon wrote a book, Sweet Feet: Samantha Gordon's Winning Season, about her football season and the experiences she had following the season, appearing on Conan and Fox and Friends to promote the book.

In 2015, the first known all-girls tackle football league in America, the Utah Girls Tackle Football League, was formed; Gordon was a founding member.

In June 2017, Sam and her father joined together with five other Utah Girls Football League players to sue three different school districts in the Salt Lake City area and force them to offer female American football as a varsity sport. The Title IX-based lawsuit was filed June 23.

Super Duper

Super Bowls are usually overrated, horribly boring games.  I have to say, last night's game was much, much better than I had anticipated.  Yes, we still hate Tom Brady in our house.  That's never going to change but honestly, the Pats played smart and deserved the win.  I can NOT believe the Seahawks didn't just hand it off and run it in.  What in the Hell was Pete Carroll thinking???

I honestly did not watch one single commercial so I can't comment on any of those but I did think Katy Perry's half-time show was great!  I'm not a big Katy Perry fan (I don't think she's that great of a singer.  Entertainer, yes.  Singer, not so much) but I was pleasantly surprised and think she'd be great to see in concert (I remember a couple of years ago T saw her at the Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil in B'ham and said she was fun).  I loved her costumes and thought the first one was a little Hunger Games-ish but when she came in on that Tiger??  Wow!  And that gown she wore as she floated over the stadium???  Amaze-balls!  Looked straight out of Miss America!  I was most looking forward to Lenny Kravitz and was terribly disappointed in his playing time.  IMHO, Lenny Kravitz is a rock God and could have handled the half-time show on his own.  The biggest, best surprise to me was Missy Elliott.  She looked great, sounded great and totally stole the show.
http://kfor.com/2015/02/01/missy-elliot-steals-super-bowl-halftime-show-from-katy-perry/   While Perry did a great job when she was on stage solor, she looked like an awkward white sorority girl trying to keep up with Elliott during their shared stage time. And I hated the whole hair flinging thing with Kravitz.

KJ said her favorite half-time show wasn't Katy Perry or Beyonce but Madonna from 2012:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmqiP3OXC74

Meanwhile, Coach said this particularly year (1991???) was his own personal favorite:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSJ8T2wlISo

Soupa Bowl

I read somewhere that a bottle of beer at tonight's Super Bowl was $12, mac and cheese was $8, hot chocolate cost $11 and a souvenir mug of soup was $20.  Who goes to the Super Bowl and orders soup??  I guess they were preparing for Polar Vortex weather


We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend and still managed to get a few things done!  KJ had a friend over Friday night, I booked my flights to visit T the end of this month, did a bunch of laundry, Cosmo and KJ worked on their flights for DALC, KJ and I did some shopping on Sunday and I totally re-organized my closet.  When I we moved, I just unpacked and put stuff in the my closet with no rhyme or reason.  This weekend I pretty much emptied my entire closet and started over.  Everything is nice and neat and I now have tons of room . . . summer clothes are all together, work-out clothes are in one spot, sweaters have been re-folded and shoes are in pretty plastic boxes.  I live in Old Navy and Gap t-shirts and they are now organized by short sleeve and long sleeve and by color.  I threw away some stuff and dropped a bag off at a donation center. 


I can't believe KJ's last year of middle school is quickly coming to an end.  She has selected her classes for freshman year (WTH???) and I had to sign off on everything.  She was recommended for honors English, Science and Social Studies and made the honor roll again this semester.  She has done so incredibly well transitioning to a new school and I am super proud of her.  She really, really loves her new school and her teachers.  And I am so thankful!!


Have to brag on Daughter #1 for a bit, too.  She auditioned to be a DJ on Rebel Radio and has been given a slot.  We didn't even know she was auditioning!  So if you're in Oxford, MS anytime soon, tune in!!

Lax, Football & Some Girl Power

Had a quick, but still great, visit in Oxford this weekend.  The mens & women's teams hosted a tournament in honor of their teammates, John & Sarah Wheat who were both killed in a car accident last fall.  It was cold and rainy and at one point it was even hailing but everyone played on.  T scored a goal in the GA Tech game, didn't score in the FL game.  The girls lost both games, not sure how the boys did.  The girls definately have some work to do and it seems not everyone is on the same page.  Some are very dedicated and others don't always show up to practice.  Kelly, the girl who stepped up and offered to play goalie in honor of her friend, had never picked up a stick before in her life.  When Coach is in Memphis, he tries to attend practice so he can work with her.  He doesn't want to step on anyone's toes but the girl definately needs some goalie-specific coaching. 

So, in between games we took T to lunch and did some shopping at Rebel Rags.  After the loss to FL we went back to T's room for a bit and visited w/ BB.  Friday was her 19th b-day so her family was in town, too.  Poor Cosmo!  Being in an all-girls dorm makes him horribly uncomfortable.  He's afraid someone is going to walk down the hall naked or something. 

Sunday KJ had some friends over to watch the Super Bowl.  Seriously, my girls love any excuse to have friends over.  Full Moon?  Let's have a party!  Daytona 500?  Party!  Gemini is in Mars Retrograde?  Duh!  Party!  T always had kids at the house and it looks like KJ is following in her footsteps.  The kids played a little pre-game cornhole while it was still light out and then watched the game.  Cosmo took the TV out of our room and put it in the living room in case they wanted to play the Wii while they were watching the game but I don't think they ever turned it on. 

After the black-out I kind of lost interest in the game and went upstairs and read my Nook.  Several parents started to pick up their kids at that time so it wasn't a terribly late night.  My favorite commercial was the old folks / Taco Bell commercial.  I always love the e-trade baby and I thought the Doritos goat commercial and the dad's dressing up ones were funny too.  Hate, hate, hate GoDaddy.  So demeaning to women.  I also liked Amy Poehler in Best Buy and I thought the kid getting punched at the Prom was good.


Even though it was a football game, there was a lot of girl power going on last night!  I thought it was awesome to see 9 year-old Sam Gordon sitting with the NFL Commissioner and Jennifer Hudson and the Newtown Choir was beautiful.  Not really a fan of Alicia Keyes and I didn't really care for her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.  Just sing the damn song. 

And now on to the half-time show.  I think Beyonce put on a helluva show but it was just that.  A show.  A performance.  Don't get me wrong.  She looked incredible and can move like no body's business.  I just didn't think there was a whole lotta singing going on.  She definately had some kind of pre-recorded track playing and my favorite part was when the two other girls from Destiny's Child pop up out of nowhere!
Beyonce Halftime Show Read more celebrity gossip at: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/videos/beyonce-halftime-show/#ixzz2JwiSD3U0