Queen of Sports

Michelle Obama And Roger Goodell In New Orleans!

We told you last week that First Lady Michelle Obama was teaming up with NFL commissioner and Tony Dungy to promote her “Let’s Move” campaign in New Orleans.

The picture above shows Michelle and Roger participating in some drills with kids from Brock Elementary School this afternoon.

The 2010 NFL season kicks off tomorrow night. The Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints will host the Minnesota Vikings.

Photo: Twitter

Female Tennis Legends Host Clinic For Kids

Female tennis legends Billie Jean King and Steffi Graf joined forces with Longines, a Swiss watchmaker, to host the Center Court For Kids tennis clinic for more than 50 children.

Benefitting Steffi’s Children for Tomorrow charity, the Center Court for Kids event led mainly by Steffi, who spent three hours on court tutoring and helping the children, offering tips and advice about their tennis games.

Last week, Longines, Steffi and Town&Country Magazine, hosted the “Women Who Make a Difference” awards dinner.

Photo: PR Newswire

“Huddle To Fight Hunger” Tailgate Event

Kraft Foods will be kicking off their national hunger relief effort with an event in NYC today with legendary quarterback Joe Montana, ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews and Food Network’s The Neelys.

There will be a special tailgate event to kick off “Huddle to Fight Hunger,” in Herald Square from 10am – 4pm. The event is open to everyone and those in attendance can participate in a series of fun, football activities, like a quarterback toss with a legend, or participate in an interview with Erin or a cooking demonstration from the Neelys.

Each activity is designed to allow participants to generate additional meals for local tri-state area Feeding America food banks.

Sounds like a fun event. Any of you New Yorkers planning on checking it out?

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Photo: Huddle To Fight Hunger

Happy Birthday Matt Barkley!

University of Southern California starting quarterback Matt Barkley is celebrating his 20th birthday today!

Fun Facts About Matt: He was born in Newport Beach, California and went to Mater Dei High School, the same high school that former USC star quarterback Matt Leinart attended.

Matt is a Christian and has been known to play acoustic guitar with his church youth group. His father Les, co-owns an insurance business with his brother in-law. While he was a student at Mater Dei, Matt’s parents started the Monarchs for Marines (M4M) campaign, where hundreds of Mater Dei students, coaches and parents volunteered to landscape and renovate youth areas on nearby Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Matt had a 3.77 GPA in high school and frequently speaks to young students about the importance of staying on top of school work.

During his Christmas holiday in 2008, Matt went with a group of friends and family to help run an orphanage in South Africa.

Matt’s cousin, Robbie Boyer, is a walk-on at USC. Matt has admitted to having a crush on country pop singer Taylor Swift. We think they would make such a cute couple!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Miami’s Homeless Don’t Want LeBron’s Old Cleveland Jerseys

It was big news in the wake of “The Decision” and LeBron’s heading to Miami that many Cleveland fans took to the streets to burn their LeBron James jerseys. However, some people have banded together to not waste important necessities like clothing. They gathered up unwanted LeBron James apparel to be donated to homeless shelters in Miami. The donation is being put on hold as an organization in Miami believes there are “a lot of politics” surrounding the donation. Politics? It’s only sports and people are only wishing to donate clothing not start some sort of anti-LeBron campaign aimed at the homeless in Miami. And the woman who is not accepting the clothing for now, Rita Clark of the Miami Coalition for the Homeless, is supposed to be the voice of the homeless, not LeBron James’ PR manager. Just take the clothes and move on from the LeBron debacle!

Tour de France Cyclists Participating in Patrick Dempsey Fundraiser

Patrick Dempsey, who plays Dr. Derek Shepherd on “Grey’s Anatomy”, is hosting the Dempsey Challenge to raise money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer, Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. The Challenge takes place October 2nd and 3rd and will feature non-competitive cycling, running, and walking events. Eight-time Tour de France competitor Levi Leipheimer has just signed on to take the challenge, along with this year’s top Tour de France finisher Chris Horner and five-time Olympian George Hincapie. Patrick Dempsey himself plans to cycle the 50-mile course, as well.

The Posada Family’s Insight Into Dealing With Son’s Illness

Jorge Posada has won five World Series with the Yankees, he married a successful lawyer from his native Puerto Rico, and the couple has two children together. It may seem from the outside they have the perfect life, but the couple have struggled with an issue money can’t fix and fame won’t heal. Their son, Jorge Posada Jr., who is now eleven years old, was diagnosed with the life-threatening illness craniosynostosis, which is a birth defect involving the bones in the skull prematurely closing. Posada Jr. has undergone multiple surgeries in an attempt to correct the condition, and the couple has struggled with dealing with the illness emotionally. Jorge Posada and Laura Posada created The Jorge Posada Foundation in 2000 in an effort to promote awareness and provide support for those affected by craniosynostosis. The couple also penned a memoir, “The Beauty of Love: A Memoir of Miracles, Hope and Healing”, which hit shelves August 31st.

Michael McCarthy from one of our favorite sports blogs, USAToday.com’s Game On!, spoke with the Posadas about the memoir and Posada Jr.’s condition. Jorge discussed how many of his Yankees teammates and coach Joe Torre helped them through the rough times such as when Posada Jr. underwent his first surgery, and how it’s affected Posada Jr., and the couple’s marriage. They gave advice to those in similar situations to reach out for help immediately even though it may be hard. To read the full interview, go here.

Photo: Anthony G. Moore / PR Photos

Football-Shaped Oreo Cookies!

Joining in the craze of football-shaped food products is Oreo! It was announced yesterday that a special edition football-shaped Oreo are available in stores nationally and they will be participating in Kraft’s “Huddle to Fight Hunger” program. Oreo will donate the monetary equivalent of 500,000 meals to Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger relief organization, to secure meals on behalf of local food banks.

“Football fans are among the most passionate of any sport so we’re excited to launch an Oreo product just for them,” said Eva Press, Director of Marketing for Oreo, Kraft Foods.  ”Moreover, we’re proud to support those in need and hope the Huddle to Fight Hunger campaign inspires our millions of fans to join us in this important fight.”

We can’t wait to get these new Oreo’s! They are going to be the perfect cookie for our tailgates!

MLS Teams Partner With Choco Milk

Choco Milk, a children’s premium ingredient nutritional milk supplement, has partnered with three Major League Soccer teams to co-present and fund free community and school-based soccer clinics.

The Los Angeles-based Chivas USA, Houston Dynamo and Chicago Fire are among the professional soccer clubs that Choco Milk will collaborate with and donate funds to during “The 2010 Choco Milk Cup Tour.”

“The 2010 Choco Milk Cup Tour” is a traveling tour staged like a free, miniature soccer clinic with the purpose of engaging children in a series of activities that teach nutrition awareness and physical fitness. Children will learn to strengthen their mind, body and spirit through consistent exercise and a balanced nutritional diet while using the skills necessary for soccer, such as heading, juggling and scoring.

“The 2010 Choco Milk Cup Challenge for Charity,” is a fundraising activity in which participants can choose to score a goal by kicking, throwing or heading a ball into an 8-foot-tall inflated Choco Milk Trophy Cup. For every goal scored, Choco Milk will donate $1 to the local professional soccer team’s youth clinic and academy programs. Overall, Choco Milk’s target is to tally 2,010 goals in each city it visits.

Photo: Choco Milk

Joakim Noah’s Golf Outfit

Chicago Bulls player Joakim Noah was wearing this spectacular outfit at the annual Chicago Bulls/Verison Wireless Charity Golf Outing earlier in the week.

In addition to Joakim, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Jay Williams, Will Perdue, Tom Boerwinkle, Dave Corzine, Bob Love, John Paxson, Gar Forman, Tom Thibodeau, Bill Wennington, Neil Funk, Chuck Swirsky, John Mengelt, Benny the Bull, and former Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee were all on hand to support CharitaBulls and Prevent Child Abuse America.

CharitaBulls is dedicated to enhancing the lives of Chicago’s youth by actively supporting educational, recreational and social programs to help make Chicagoland a better place to live. Prevent Child Abuse America engages communities through the important work of strengthening families and valuing children. For more than 30 years, Prevent Child Abuse America has been the leading national organization focused on preventing child maltreatment before it occurs.

On a side note, looks like the Bulls mascot, Benny the Bull was wreaking havoc on the course!

What do you think of Joakim’s outfit, hit or miss?

Photos: Chicago Bulls