It's Time for College Football (Fashion Edition)!!!!!

It's almost here!!!!!!!

It's the end of August, the weather is (hopefully) starting to cool down, the college kids are back in school, the leaves are turning....this can only mean one thing.....COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!!!!!

Most people in my neck of the woods (Midwest) are Big 10 (Ohio State, Michigan, etc.) or Big East (The Mighty Bearcats of UC, Pitt, UConn) and SEC (Vandy, UK, Tennessee (woof.)) - my allegiance lies with the SEC - as my Vanderbilt Commodores are ready to blow the roof off the conference!

For all my non-Vandy Facebook friends, you may have noticed that for the past week or so, I have been posting shared pictures of different Vanderbilt Football players with the phrase 'Anchor Down!' next to it. This is the new battle cry for Vandy, introduced by 2nd year Head Coach James Franklin - Cornelius Vanderbilt, who founded the University, was a Commodore (the Ship Captain, not a bird), so 'Anchor Down!' is an ode to Vanderbilt's roots. The 'Dores, as we lovingly call them, start their road to the BCS Bowl on NATIONAL TELEVISION Thursday against 'The OBC' (The Old Ball Coach) Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks of South Carolina. Many of my friends will be in attendance as this weekend is the wedding of a dear dear friend and fellow 'Dore in Nashville (Love you W.H and A.O.K!). Sidebar: did you or your guy friends in high school have the University baseball caps for South Carolina that said in big letters 'Cocks' on it? A number of my guy friends had them and it always made me snicker :)

FUN FACT: The quarterback for Vanderbilt, Jordan Rodgers, is the kid brother of none of other than the pride of Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers (quarterback for the Green Bay Packers). He's improving on the field and he's easy on the eyes if you know what I mean...

Now to the important stuff...FASHION. Now going to school in the SEC, for the most part we 'dress' for football games: meaning girls wear dresses and boys wear a shirt and tie (the ACC (Clemson, UVA, etc.) also does this). It was so nice in college because I always had an excuse to buy a new dress. To this day I will not step foot into an SEC football game without a dress and pearls on. In the early months of the season, you will see a smattering of Lily Pullitzer and fun colored dresses, but many of the ladies of the SEC and ACC faithful will incorporate their team colors into their ensembles in their dresses or accessories. I got lucky that Vandy is black and gold, so I have many a black dress and gold accessories, and sufficed to say, my Gold Jack Rogers sandals saw their fare share of wear. Below is a picture of how we keep our Vandy pride in the cooler months - i.e. slap on a sweaterdress, tights and boots with black and gold accents.

For conferences that do not 'dress' for gamdeay there are many ways to support your team while still remaining fashionable. If you are going to get a jersey, buy a more fitted jersey - kids sizes work great and they're usually cheaper than the adults (great buy!). Or if you're going to buy an adult size jersey, wear it as a tunic with leggings and maybe belt it in one of your school's colors. If you're not into jerseys. consider buying a tee to pair with skinny jeans or colored skinnies or leggings in your school colors. Victoria's Secret PINK Collection has a great selection of apparel for over 50 schools. If you just want to go the school colors route, try color -blocking with different accessories over a solid top and jeans. Accessories and shoes are a great way to show your school pride and complement an outfit!


Here are some links to some great sites to create your gameday wardrobe:

http://www.reddressboutique.com/
http://www.victoriassecret.com/pink/choose-your-school
http://store.americanapparel.net/
www.francescascollections.com/
http://pinterest.com/search/?q=gameday+dresses (for some Gameday getup inspiration!)

Here are some gametimes for my other Ohio Folk:

-The UC Bearcats have a bye this week and play the Pittsburgh Panthers next Thursday 9/6 at UC's Nippert Stadium at 8PM - this will be on ESPN :)
-The Buckeyes of Ohio State, under new coach Urban Meyer (formally of the Tebow era Florida Gators) will open their season Saturday against another Ohio school, Miami of Ohio (Big Ben Roethlisberger's Alma Mater) at 'The Horseshoe' (OSU's stadium) Saturday 9/1 at Noon.
-Aaaaaand the Kentucky Wildcats open their season away against their state nemesis the Louisville Cardinals, Sunday September 2nd at 3:30PM

What are you wearing on Gameday? Send me your pics and I will post them next week!

Happy Gameday y'all and ANCHOR DOWN!!!!!

xoxo

The Skinny

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack! 

Sorry for the extremely long hiatus folks! But I'm back and just couldn't resist all the amazing sports action going on in the Olympics! So heeeeere we go...

The London Olympics had a blockbuster opening weekend from the jaw-dropping opening ceremony (David Beckham driving a speedboat in a tux? Yes please!) to the action in the pool and at the Greenwich Arena. I'll spare everyone the commentary on how the US Teams uniforms for the Opening Ceremony, designed by the uber talented Godfather of American Sportswear, Ralph Lauren, were manufactured in China, and go straight to my favorite sport in the whole wide world...Gymnastics. 

I have loved gymnastics as long as I can remember, and spent most of my formative years in a gym, either competing or coaching. Though my dreams of actually becomming an olympian have passed, i always look forward to watching the Olympics.

This year is no different and both the US Men's and Women's teams are bursting with talent, as both teams are in first place going into the Team Finals. Unlike the qualifying rounds, where 4 compete on each event, and only 3 scores count towards the team total, the team final counts all scores, which means everyone has to be on their A-Game. The men compete this afternoon, but the event will be broadcast in the States on NBC this evening at 8PM. Lead by All-Arounders (they compete in all 6 events: Floor, Parallel Bars, High Bar, Rings, Vault and Pommel Horse) Danell Levya and Jon Orozco, this team is destined for greatness. They need to clean up a little bit on Pommel Horse (which many say is the Men's equivalent to the Women's Balance Beam), but I think they have a good chance of medaling (knock on wood). Google them and take a look at the team, they're not so bad to look at, especially Sam Mikulak :) 

The Women's Team final is tomorrow and they lead the pack not only as a team, but individually as well. In the qualifying round yesterday afternoon, the women dominated on the first three events (Vault, Uneven Bars, and Balance Beam), but faltered a bit on floor. That floor must have been incredibly springy, because three out of four US women (Gabby Douglas, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber) all jumped out of bounds in their routines. They still came out on top of Russia, China and Romania going into the team final.

Now, this is where I have a little rant. The rules for the Individual All Around (where a gymnast competes on all 4 events for an individual medal) is that the Top 24 All Around gymnasts from the qualifying round compete for the gold. BUT the flaw in the rule is that each team can only send their TWO top gymnasts, even if more than 2 of the gymnasts have a top 24 All-Around score. Thus, is the plight of Jordyn Wieber. For those of you who watched last night, you know what I'm talking about. Wieber, the reigning World Champion, was shut out of the All Around competition by teammates Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman (who KILLED it on floor). While I do think that Wieber was a bit of a poor sport in how she acted after finding out her fate (I'm sorry Jordyn, but save you tears for the locker room honey and be happy for your teammates), I think the this rule is ludicrous. Wieber had the 4th highest all around score out of ALL the gymnast competing last night, and just because her two teammates had the #1 and #2 highest scores, Wieber cannot defend her title as #1 in the world. This All Around competition will not be the Top 24 gymnasts in the world, and it is high time that the IOC and the International Gymnastics Federation need to sit down and rethink this rule. It is unfair that some of the best gymnasts are not being given the opportunity they so rightfully deserve, going for the gold, because of a stupid formality. Ok rant over.

Good luck to all the gymnasts over the next couple days - can't wait to watch what happens!

Fun Fashion Fact: Team Italy's leotards allegedly were designed by legendary Italian designer, Miuccia Prada.

Hot Olympic Athlete of the Day: While US gymnast Sam Mikulak holds a flame in my heart, I'm going to the pool for this one: Ryan Lochte, whose drive and determination catapulted him past Michael Phelps in the 400 IM, is one hot tamale! Check him out tonight in the 200m Freestyle - maybe he'll sneak his red, white and blue grill onto the podium this time!

Oh! And in completely unrelated news, my loves, the Cincinnati Reds have won 10 STRAIGHT and are tied with the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees for the best record in baseball!!! Their attempt to lengthen the streak begins tonight at home against the Padres. GO REDLEGS!!!

That's it for now kiddos, check back soon for more posts! I promise I won't leave y'all hanging for so long this time...

xoxo

The Sports Skinny