The REAL. BIG. Blog

Fathead and sister company Quicken Loans are elated to be celebrating and supporting Motown’s accomplishments over the past 50 years. This weekend as Berry Gordy and the rest of the Motown family return to the Motown’s birthplace of Detroit for two nights of parties celebrating the legendary record company’s 50th anniversary to benefit the Motown Historical Museum. Fathead has gone BIG for the weekend’s events and has produced the classic images of the many talented groups and individuals that captured our hearts and ears for years for fans to adorn and take pictures with while attending the events. The celebration takes place tonight at the Roostertail nightclub on the Detroit River — the scene of many a Motown performance and party during the 1960s and early ’70s — for a private alumni reception.

On Saturday, the museum hosts a Motown 50 Golden Gala fundraiser, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Kid Rock are slated to perform for an expected crowd of 500 at the ballroom in the GM Renaissance Center’s Marriott hotel. Comedian Sinbad hosts, with special honors given to early Motowners Smokey Robinson, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Janie Bradford and Raynoma Singleton.

The Partnership: Barrett-Jackson is to the world of collector cars what Fathead is to wall graphics – simply the best. To kick off the Barrett-Jackson Fathead partnership the folks at Barrett-Jackson picked out 12 spectacular automobiles for us to transform into giant 6 foot by 4  foot Fathead Murals. You can check them out here. The photography is exquisite. The effect in a room is, quite honestly, stunning.

Fathead Worthy Stuff: Fathead built the business on sports and particularly the greatest professional athletes captured in moments of extraordinary performance. It’s what we call “Fathead worthy”. When you see these cars you’ll understand why they compare to those athletes – and maybe it’s the other way around. It’s about the muscle, the quality, the beauty, the rarity.

About Barrett Jackson: Barrett-Jackson produces “The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions”. They are held in Scottsdale, Arizona; Palm Beach, Florida;  Las Vegas, Nevada; and Orange County, California. Established in 1971 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Barrett-Jackson specializes in providing products and services to classic and collector car owners, astute collectors and automotive enthusiasts around the world.

Dream Cars: Fathead operates out of metro Detroit so you know cars are in our blood here. Since we started our partnership with Barrett-Jackson and we first saw these photos we’ve all been talking about the cars we have, had or wish we had. We’ve got a couple of guys who write code by day and do some amazing car stuff at night and on the weekends. When I first met my wife she was driving a ‘67 Mustang – what a classic. She and her brother share great stories about all the work they did on his ’68 Camaro. Tell us your favorite classic car story or which car you would want to own if you could have any car in the world.

Third Nominee, courtesy of SportzFun.com:

Question:  Why did the soccer player bring string to the game?

Answer:  So he could tie the score.

My apologies if this made you laugh so loud at work that you got fired.

In my family, Central Michigan alumni run rampant. My parents, sister and uncle are all CMU grads and proudly support the Chippewas every football season. This is rarely a problem between me and my boyfriend, a MSU Spartan named Howie.

He is an AVID (putting it lightly) MSU fan and alum and is constantly talking “smack” about how MSU has a premier football program. Michigan State has had Top 25 seasons consistently throughout the last 10 years. CMU has been decent the last 4 or so (but the love runs deep J). Central doesn’t have the quantity of a student section that Spartan Stadium boasts, but the pride and quality is the same.

So being the wonderful Fathead employee that I am, I purchased a Spartan Helmet for Howie, in hopes of revitalizing the basement as well as making him happy on gameday. And being that Central is a small school and there wasn’t a Fathead for them yet I felt this was an appropriate alternative.

To continue the saga, the mighty CMU Chippewas visited Spartan Stadium to take on the Spartans this year. I was optimistic at best. Sure we were the underdogs, but in that stadium, with that student section, and that history, did we really stand a chance? Howie and I decided to make the 60 mile trek west to find out for ourselves.

Long story short…CMU was victorious (I’m still gloating) and I’m now awaiting the delivery of my own Central Michigan University Fathead. I think I’ll put it above the MSU one to show superiority…what do you think??

A little over 20 years ago a true Blockbuster event happened. Herschel Walker was traded from the Dallas Cowboys to the Minnesota Vikings. This deal was certainly groudbreaking… for the Cowboys. For those unfamiliar to what Minnesota gave up for the  All-Pro Running Back, heres the deal:

Minnesota Received:

Herschel Walker, Dallas’s 3rd (’90) round pick, San Diego’s 5th round pick (’90), Dallas’s 10th round pick(’90) and Dallas’s 3rd round pick in the ‘91 draft.

Cowboys Received:

LB Jesse Solomon, LB David Howard, CB Issiac Holt, RB Darrin Nelson (who was traded to San Diego), DE Alex Stewart, Minnesota’s 1st, 2nd, 6th round picks in the 1990 Draft, their 1st and 2nd round picks in the 1991 Draft, their 2nd and 3rd in the 1992 Draft and their 1st round pick in the 1993 Draft.

Yes, draft picks are only draft picks and there are countless big name busts, but to put this into perspective a little bit, with the first round pick in the ‘90 draft, the Cowboys picked Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. In the ‘92 draft, they picked Darren Woodson, NFL Hall-Of-Famer and one of the best safety’s to ever play the game. Those two players alone would have made the deal worth while.

Now why do I bring this up you ask?

There are rumors floating about that the Detroit Tigers are putting Curtis Granderson on the trading block. Granderson is young player in his prime, with gold-glove fielding capabilities and the potential to be a 30-30 man every year. Many teams have reported interest, including the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs, and the asking price is not cheap.

What will come of Curtis Granderson this offseason?

What NCAA football conference is the best in all the country?  The SEC?  The Big Ten?  The Big 12, Pac-10, or Big East?

There has always been a debate among college football fans about which conference has the best teams, best fans, best student sections, best coaches, most prestigious, etc. etc. 

 I say, why debate it? Play it! I am proposing that the NCAA create an all-star tournament that takes the best players from each conference and plays them against each other. Imagine a combination of March Madness and the Olympics. I even have the slogan, “Traditional rivals come together for love of their….conference.” It may be a stretch but it’s still football!

Second Nominee, courtesy of AhaJokes.com:

Q:  What’s a tennis player’s favorite city?
A:  Volley wood.

My apologies if all the laughing caused you to wet your drawers.

Being a former collegiate athlete, I still enjoy getting a great work out in at the gym. Thanks to Terry Crews and Eurobics, I have a new workout regimen. You won’t find a Eurobics DVD, so I decided to show  you what Euro Training is all about.

Click the link to see Video

Terry Crews in \”My Wife and Kids\” - Euro Training

I think this is hilarious!!!

First Nominee, courtesy of BasicJokes.com:

A guy took his girlfriend to her first football game. Afterward he asked her how she liked the game.

“I liked it, but I couldn’t understand why they were killing each other for 25 cents,” she said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, everyone kept yelling, ‘Get the quarter back!’”

My apologies if all the laughs hurt your gut.

Congratulations to the New York Yankees on winning their 27th World Series title. The exhausting MLB season has finally come to a close, along with the best time of the year for sports…

October and November are some of the most exciting months for sports fans. It is the only time of the year that all 4 major sports are on at the same time.

The MLB Playoffs are nearing the end, where every pitch, every catch and every move matters. This year in the playoff you had two of the more storied franchises in all of sports with the Yankees and Dodgers. Let’s not forget the Red Sox and Cardinals who have both won a World Series title in the past 3 years. And then there are the two most consistent teams in baseball: the Twins and Angels. Year after year, those two teams always seem to be near, or at the top of their respected divisions. After starting 19-28 and firing their head coach, the Rockies came back and made another impressive run to the postseason.

The NFL is in full swing with intriguing story lines, bone-crushing hits and highlight reel plays. There are always surprises with the NFL. Who would have thought that at age 40, Brett Favre would be playing as well as he is… who would have thought that in week 9 we would still have two undefeated teams (Indianapolis and New Orleans both 7-0)… Who would have thought that the Wildcat would make defensive coordinators cringe… From the Ram’s, Lion’s and Buccaneers to the Saints, Colts and Vikings, Sunday’s are days where you can always find excitement with any team.

The NBA season tips off. A clean slate for every team. The Clippers look to spring forward with Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry looks to show off his sweet shot at the professional level, and the rest of the NBA Rookies look to make their mark on the league. This is a league full of superstars. From LeBron and Kobe to Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade, each player brings a different dynamic to the court that can only be classified as incredible.

And finally, the puck drops in the NHL. After a come from behind win against the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Penguins are looking for the first repeat since the Red Wings went back to back in ‘97 and ‘98. With all the free agent moves and offseason trades, the tides may be turning for some teams in the NHL.

Of course, I cannot forget College football. Every sports fan has a favorite NCAA team. With tailgaiting, face painting, BCS discussions, conference title hopes, stadiums with 100,000+ people, and bowl games… College football definitely demonstrates the true passion of fans and athletes.

Ah yes, it really is a great time of year!