Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

For those who may not have watched Jacoby Jones rock the dance floor (according to fans; Len was particularly bitchy), here's a link:

While his "foot work & posture" need improving apparently, his hips don't lie; that man can DANCE! It was the sexiest dance of the night, and I'm saying that as someone with lady parts and NOT as a Ravens fan. I also thought that the pair integrated the Squirrel Dance seamlessly into their routine. The crowd went absolutely bonkers. The show wisely put Jacoby on last; they knew that Ravens Nation in particular and NFL fans in general would only want to watch him dance and then would probably turn the show off. I'd LOVE to see the dancer-by-dancer ratings for Dancing with the Stars; I bet the numbers went through the roof when he came on!

I can't wait to see how far our boy can get during this season of Dancing with the Stars; I hope it's far enough to win him his second trophy of the year!

The Most Important Purple Friday of Them All

This is it. The final Purple Friday of the season. Two more sleeps (as T-Sizzle says) until the big game. Two more sleeps until the Ravens fans take over Choppers Sports Bar in Denver and make the walls shake with our cheers. And how are we celebrating? With the best damn Purple Friday around!

First up, my parents:

Here's Mom, rocking her traditional Purple Friday/Game Day outfit.

She's even got her nails all Raven'd up

My daddy just had a full hip replacement and was in the hospital today. Doesn't mean that Mom and I would let him get away with not rockin' the purple! <3

My first office job in Baltimore was at a spring factory in the county. Here are my former coworkers, rockin' the purple! (Front row: Darrell and Steve; from L to R: Tracey, Kelle, Wendy, Kim, Linda, Maria, Mary Ann, and Bonnie)

My co-hostess with the co-mostess for Sunday, Caroline, caw-cawing it up at her office in Denver

College friend Andrew has gone crazy and dyed his hair purple. (The "fu manchu" is left over from last year's playoffs.) He's in enemy territory - SAN FRANCISCO - so he obviously needs to show his pride!

Gordon in Scotland is ready for the big game on Sunday! CAW CAW

I went to get a burrito today from Big City Burrito on campus, and the cashier was a Ravens fan! Stoked I'm not the only one at Anschutz to rock the Ravens!

I posted this at the beginning of the play-offs, before we stomped all over the two best quarterbacks in the league. Looks like MY hope for 2013 came true! (Other hopes: sleep, a clue, money, an early spring, more jigsaw puzzles for the office.)

Should anyone else reading this want to get in on the Purple Friday love, just email me your picture, and I'll add it here. :D

My Mom is Adorable

You all may recall that my mom is a big Ravens fan. She works for a health care billing company, and to boost company morale, they always have special events like picnics, costume contests for Halloween, and Purple Fridays and Mondays during football season.

For the days leading up to the Ravens-Patriots game, her office decorated their cubicle areas by department and had a "contest" of sorts as to who had the best decorations. Here is the winning department, and some pictures of my mom and her friends.

How awesome is this?! Not pictured: a chunk of turf, like Ray picks up during his entrance out of the tunnel

"Me and my Twin" (Mom and her work friend Terri)

Mom, I don't think you're fully prepared to block for Joe Flacco in that position!

View from my mom's cubicle

Choppers Sports Grill Representin'

Amy is our usual bartender at Choppers. She's loved us, and we've loved her since week one. Today she's reppin' the Ravens, like any good friend would.

 

 There are many reasons why we love Amy. ;)

 Chris, seen here attempting to photobomb my picture inappropriately, is my "bar boyfriend"

Pre-PRE-gaming - Broncos Edition

I came to work in my Haloti Ngata jersey today so as to keep up my half of a pinkie-promise that Finance Guy Marshall and I had made last night. Guess who DIDN'T show up in his Broncos jersey?! You NEVER break a pinkie-promise, am I right? I also brought an extra, "professional" purple-and-black outfit to wear in case my Broncos fan boss didn't like my choice of attire; she ended up not caring! So I've been walking the halls and manning the front desk of work rockin' #92. Good day.

I haven't gotten as much crap from coworkers as I thought I would. Many of them ARE members of the Broncos loyal fan base, but we all understand that it's just a football game. My view going into the game: if we win: LOLOLOLOL PEYTON MANNING OH EM GEE WE MIGHT HAVE A SHOT AT THE SUPER BOWL AGAIN YOU GUYS. If we lose: I got to see Ray Lewis's last game in the NFL; that's a special moment.

Here's how my Broncos coworkers dressed up today, and here's the week's final retirement party picture.

Breaker of the pinkie-promise

Kristie, our Facilities lady, bleeds orange

I kept my Purple Power towel (waved at M&T Bank Stadium last season when we swept the Steelers) and Lyndsey's Broncos towels (waved at Mile High this year when they beat the Steelers) at my front desk for most of the morning. Shenanigans ensued.

I later decided to tape them to Shawn's wall. See, it's a subtle put-down of the Steelers.

Shawn's...special

Transcript:

Troy: "Broncos v Ravens? What's it going to come down to? A Ray Rice miracle play? A rookie kicker? A Peyton TD pass at the last minute?"

Ray: "CHINCHILLAS! WE'RE GONNA THROW THEM AT PEYTON! THEIR FUZZINESS WILL DISTRACT HIM, FORCING MISTAKES!"

The Madness of a Mother-Daughter Duo

As my Christmas present, my mom and dad bought two tickets to see the Ravens take on the Giants at M&T Bank Stadium. Steve was not invited. It was a "girls day" that Mom and I cherished.

We started the day by pregaming at Mother's Purple Patio in Federal Hill, an historic neighborhood a couple of blocks away from the stadium. The place was jam-packed with drunks and Ravens fans of all ages (21+ anyway), and the DJ was playing Baltimore remixes of classic tunes like "Baba O'Reilly" and Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" (the definitive Christmas song, in my opinion). We were able to meet up with Steve, who'd spent the night at a mutual friend's house, and Bill, a guy from our Ravens group who coincidentally was on the same flight back to Baltimore as I was. Fun times.

(L to R) Steve, me, Bill

My adorable mother, cheesin' in front of Ray-Ray's lucky number

I'm told that there's something of a family resemblance between us. Can you see it? ;)

Mom and I went to our AWESOME seats and immediately started hootin' and hollerin'. This was something of a challenge for me, as there was a little kid (8ish) in front of me, but I think I only cursed twice, and only one of those was an F-bomb. REALLY great for a person with a dirty mouth.

In the throes of Purple Passion

The game ended with a spectacular Ravens victory, a Steelers loss, and a Cowboys victory, thus allowing the home team to secure its second AFC North championship title in a row. As you can imagine, there was a great deal of pandemonium.

Not drunk, just elated and VERY, VERY COLD

I had an awesome time with my mom and enjoyed the tingling anticipation of being able to make fun of Shawn when we had both returned from our respective holiday breaks. Ray is already talking smack on Shawn's door, ready for his and Troy's response on Wednesday.

Happy SAFE New Year everyone!!!

Speaking of Bumblebees...

Fan of the blog Kelsey sent in this picture of Big Ben REALLY rockin' the "Sexy Bumblebee" look:

She found the image on Reddit (of course), so I can't credit the Photoshop wizard who made this delightful, sexy picture, but if s/he finds this post, please know that you have made me very happy. Thank you.

UPDATE: The source of the photo is a Ravens sub-Reddit poster named LadyRavenEye. Muchas gracias!

Personally, I Prefer Strawberry

Transcript:

Troy: "Mr. Lewis. Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla and who do you think is going to win the AFC?"

Ray: "TROY! I LIKE MY ICE CREAM LIKE I LIKE MY WOMEN: CHOCOLATE AND A LITTLE NUTTY! THAT'S WHY I LIKE ROCKY ROAD! IT'S LIKE MY LIFE, TROY: A DELICIOUS ROCKY ROAD TO SUCCESS!"

James: "JAMES WIN AFC!"

I like how Ray skirted the question about who would win the AFC this year by over describing his love of chocolate ice cream. Slick like a politician.

Troy Respects Women

I think this is the angriest we've ever seen Troy. It's nice that he believes in respecting women (they ARE our mothers, daughters, lovers, and bearers of our children, after all), but I have to agree with Ray-Ray on this one. Faith Hill in her little black dress looked VERY good on Sunday night.

However, I AM frustrated by all of the crass product placement of Verizon Wireless and its NFL Mobile app in the ad, as well as having the "hosts" (?) of NBC's program The Voice making a cameo. But, as they say, that's show business.