Fan of the Week

So, we've established that each Wednesday the "Third and Long" blog will feature a Cheerleader of the Week. Naming a fan of the week also would make a great feature, but I'm sure I could not come up with enough fan photos to maintain such a feature. However, I do have this photo, which was taken in early August when my buddy, Jon, and I attended the Cincinnati Bengals training camp in Georgetown, Ky. This cutie, who also sat across from us in Wendy's after the Bengals mock game that day, is definitely worthy of Fan of the Week honors, even if the event was more than two months ago.

Cheerleader of the Week

Hey, I just realized last night that if I'm going to be committed to writing a football blog, I need to include one of the many elements essential to the game: Cheerleaders. So, today I give the first installment of my Cheerleader of the Week. This week's honoree is Kayla Drawdy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There's no bio for Kayla on the Bucs Web site, so the photo will have to do. That's ok with you, right? As for cheerleaders being an essential part of the game: Some NFL teams, as you know, do not share that sentiment. One of those teams is the New York Giants. Why? Well, here's what the organization has to say about cheerleaders on the G-Men's Web site: "The Giants do not have a cheerleading squad. We have always felt that the game should be the focus of the day of game presentation." Ok. So as part of that game presentation, how about showing us some defense?

Speaking of cheerleaders, Anthlon Sports is now having its annual "Sideline Spirit" contest, allowing visitors to its Web site to vote for the hottest college cheerleader in the nation. (My vote goes to either the cutie from Missouri or the cutie from West Virginia.) The competition already is in round two, but still it's worth logging on and casting your vote. The great thing about voting for hot cheerleaders online: No Hanging Chads!