Prepare for CHEESE...Christina's Ten Men of 2007!

1. Dave Gara (now referred to as "Tattooed Love God")

Okay, grab a chair now! Never thought that there would be someone other than Rachel or Joe in the top spot, but here we are! Honestly, I didn't think there could be anyone as good as Phil behind the drums for Skid Row now I'm glad to say I was so wrong!! Davee is an entertaining drummer and the most personable guy I've met (sorry Rach). Who knew a man sitting behind a wall of drums could get a crowd going that way! I asked for pics, autographs, show info, you name it and he obliged with a smile! Thanks D!!

2. Rachel Bolan

Mr. Bolan is great in every way! An all around awesome guy and still goin' strong with Skid Row....

3. Nikki Sixx

Nikki Sixx...always a hottie, but after reading Heroin Diaries, lovin' the inside too!

4. Joe Sakic

Where do I begin with him? If you know me, he is will always be "The Man" on and off the ice!

5. Orlando Bloom

Captain Will Turner...YUM! Girls go GA-GA over Capt. Jack....I'm a Will girl!!

6. John Michael Liles

Defenseman for the Colorado Avalanche - Sexy and talented, can you ask for anything more??

7. Nathan Fillion

Good ol' Captain Mal..this one I have Heather to thank for!!

8. Jim Sturgess

If you've seen Across The Universe, you know why he's here, if you haven't then go see it and find out why!
"Hey Jude"

9. Peter Forsberg

Love this guy (see previous post). Haven't heard much from him this year, so he slips to number 9 :(

10. James Marsden

This was the role that made me think he was adorable as Jack Bartlet in "Sugar and Spice" then there was Hairspray and Enchanted....SO cute and cheesey!!

Heather's Top 13 Men of 2007

13. Zachary Levi 

On the TV show Chuck he's a cute cute boy that you just want to protect and hug. A lot.

12. Brett Pirozzi

Lead singer for Las Vegas based band Kreep and Skid Row's guitar tech for my Snake, his personality makes him HOT! Gotta love a guy with tattoos! :D

11. Peyton Manning

Super Bowl MVP and all American hottie.


10. Seth Rogen

He is a funny motherfucker! And cute to boot!

9. Johnny Depp

'Nuff said.

8. Joe Anderson

This guy is SO hot as Max in Across The Universe...it's a must see movie just for him!

7. Gordon Ramsay

Next to Mario Batalli, Gordon is the only chef I've ever really liked. His attitude, his passion...and his leather coat! :D

6. Jay Cutler

I don't care what the Broncos record looks like, I love me some Jay Cutler!!

5. Scotti Hill

Love this man - - getting to see him play live after so long was awesome. He would have been ranked higher but for the whole Jezebel debacle!

4. Rupert Grint

I don't care that he's 19. He's a cutie!! And he's Ron Weasley. So there!

3. Adam Baldwin

YUMMY!!!! Jayne, Animal Mother and now John Casey on Chuck. All I can say is Yuuuumm!!!!

2. The Beatles

Sneaking up at the end of the year was The Bee-att-tulls. It started off with Ringo, moved to Paul and now has landed on John. Will George be next? Only time will tell.

1. Snake Sabo

My number one man is Snake from Skid Row. Watching him from the front row just hammered home how hot he is, even after all this time!!

***My honorable mentions went to:

Lee Pace, Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Frost!***

Because You're Mine...I Walk The Line

Being as Walk The Line is my new favorite movie, here's one reason why:

and another...

and maybe one more....


Yeah.

He's pretty.

......21 To Win

I have to be honest right off the bat on this one, I didn't always like Peter Forsberg. He seemed a little arrogant and egotistical to me. Not to mention he was constantly being compared to Joe Sakic. I could never deny that he is a great player, I just didn't think it necessary to say Joe should be more like Peter or vice versa. To me, they are two very different kind of players. Anyway, this is a story about the night that changed my mind about 'ol Foppa.



It was January 4th, 2002, Heather and I were outside of the Pepsi Center waiting for players to come out.....AGAIN. Most of these guys were great each and every time we met them and we just couldn't get enough. Back to my point, Peter came out and...SURPRISE SURPRISE, he was signing autographs. He intimidated me a bit since I always figured he just had perma-attitude. Heather asks, "Are you going to ask him for a picture?". I could feel myself staring at her like she had just spoke a different language, "No...there's no way he'll do it and I don't want to not like him even more". He was getting closer and I held out my program for him to sign. I'm not well under the circumstances of beautiful men all around me, so it started to become my thing not to remember what was happening before I met these guys. The next thing I know he was right in front of me and out it came, "Can I have a picture with you?". He smiled and kindly obliged! I turned to give my camera to Heather and put my stuff down somewhere. I turned to him to find him eye level to me with his famous grin, "You ready?" he asked as I fell into those ice blue eyes and groaned, it was all I could do. Heather snapped the picture and I was a changed person.



Reading this as I go, I feel a bit shallow for the reasons I changed my mind about Peter. It definitely is a "had to be there" situation. I had heard stories that he was shy or whatever and then came to believe these stories that night. He was VERY sweet then and each time I met him afterwards. I think I just might have jumped to conclusions too quickly with him.



I promise to not be stuck on the Avs stories. I was forced to change my opinion of Brendan Shanahan, Jeremy Roenick, and Trevor Kidd to name a few. I love all hockey players no matter what, but here's just one last image of #21.



Until next time.....enjoy all the "GUNH" material!!

The Captain, Part 2

Angels come in all different shapes and sizes; sometimes they're dogs that save you from a fire, sometimes they're a good samaritan who helps you out with a flat tire and sometimes, just sometimes, they take the form of a parking lot attendant named Lindy.

On January 15, 1998 Christina & I went up to see the Colorado Avalanche play and as our norm we got there crazy early to watch the players dirve in. Sometimes they even stopped and signed autographs, hence the reason we always got there hours early. Christina was always hoping that Joe Sakic, the captain of the Avs, would stop and he never did. He was (still is) her very very favorite player and every time we went to a game she left disappointed. Joe never seemed to have the time to stop before or after.

So that fateful day we were standing behind the barrier and got to talking to the parking attendant, Lindy. He was a friendly chap and soon Christina was telling him about Joe and how he was the only player she had yet to meet. Lindy picked up an orange cone and, using our sharpie, wrote "JOE PLEASE STOP" and set it by the player entrance. Joe drove in, passed the cone but didn't stop. It was a nice try and one that actually got him in trouble with the parking lot boss. Oops.

After the game we were milling around by the player parking lot and here came Mr. Joe Sakic. Everyone started hollering at him as he's stowing his gear into the back of his SUV. Lindy went wandering over to him, talked to him a bit and then damned if Joe didn't start walking over. Christina lost her mind! She couldn't believe it! Her hero was walking towards her!!! The other fans were grouping around getting autographs and asking for things like sticks and a skate (he said no) and a couple people asked for a picture. His response was "Sorry, no time." This whole time I'm zipping around like a stalkarazzi, snapping pictures left and right when suddenly I hear, "HEATHER I NEED YOUR HELP!!!" Joe had reached Christina and in her panic she had dropped all her hockey cards. She scrambled to pick them up and Joe stood by patiently as she did. He signed a Sakic card for her (an expensive one, to boot) and then she asked if she could have a picture. "Okay," he said. "But just one."

How cool is that? Everyone else was told no but for her, his number 1 fan, he totally had the time! As you saw in the shot below, she was terrified!! Sadly, I snapped the picture a split second too soon to get the beautiful smile that spread across his face. After she thanked him, he walked away then looked back over his shoulder and gave her a look that I can only describe as Approving. He just looked so happy that that girl was such a huge fan of his. The phrase has been immortalized now and is always capitalized: The Approving Look.

The only other thing I remember about that night is walking back to the car and Christina said, "I'm gonna scream! I'm gonna puke! I'm gonna pass out!!!" Halfway home it overtook her and she let out a scream. But she didn't puke and she didn't pass out. And she gained the greatest memory of her sports hero.

And the weird thing is - we never saw Lindy again! That's why we totally believe that he was an angel sent to make Christina's greatest dream come true!

The Captain

I feel bad because my first post should have been about this guy, but Rachel Bolan just does something to my mind! So, now we have #19...two time Stanley Cup Champion....Conn Smythe Trophy Winner in 1996....2001 NHLPA MVP and Lady Byng trophy winner for sportsmanship....2002 MVP for the Gold Medal Winning Canadian Olympic team....The Captain of the Colorado Avalanche...JOE SAKIC!!!!! He has been my hero since the Avs came to Colorado in 1995. The sad part is I didn't get to meet him until years later.



It was an interesting night...January 15th, 1998. I like the way Heather tells the story. I'll try the short version. We went up early for the game as we always do and ended up talking to a friendly parking lot attendant. He swears that he had nothing to do with Joe signing autographs but Heather and I know the truth. At the end of the game, we went out to the parking lot to get some autographs. After getting to meet players such as Mike Ricci, Stephane Yelle, and Adam Deadmarsh, we thought that was it. We continued to talk with the parking lot attendant anyway just in case. Pretty soon I saw Joe...I could spot that man from miles away. When I shouted to him, the nice man walked over to him and soon Joe was walking to the other side of the lot to sign. I was so excited that I ran and when I got there blanked out everything else that happened. I DO remember yelling "Heather...I need your help" as I had dropped all my trading cards on the ground. I remember feeling very embarrassed and looking up to see if Joe was watching me make a spectacle of myself. I saw him signing an autograph and looking back at me with a smile. Most of the people around were just being dumb saying things like "Can I have a stick" or "Joe, give me one of your skates". I was the last one he came to and I just asked for a picture....he kindly obliged. So the picture was taken and we laugh to this day about how terrified I look in the picture. I was completely in awe meeting this man..it's not just the looks (although he is BEAUTIFUL). He is a great person, father, husband, man, and an AMAZING player!
I've met him a few more times after that at luncheons, practice, after or before games and such. He's always very polite and appreciative. I had him sign a picture of my niece standing next to a post of him. I put the picture out for him and he smiled real big...it made me feel good.



I could go on for days about him, so I'll stop here...for now! Maybe just one more picture....



The one and ONLY #19-Joe Sakic...thanks for reading!!

The Introduction of Gunh

"Gunh" - pronounced just like it looks - is a word that came into existance about 9 years ago. Christina & I had gone to the Sheraton Hotel to watch Colorado Avalanche players, in town for training camp, walk to and fro. Our plan was not to talk to any of them or bother them at all; we just wanted to look. And we saw some beauties! Valeri Kamensky and Sandis Ozolinsh walked right by the bench we were sitting on talking to each other in Russian, Peter Forsberg sauntered by and Yuri Babenko wandered off into the night.

We had decided that maybe we were being too obvious and we should go inside the club and sit. Surely some Avs players would go in there, right? So we went to the front lobby and asked the clerk if you had to be hotel guests to go in. He said no, go right ahead so we turned to go and BOOM! Christina ran smack into Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote's massive chest. She looked up at him and all that game out when she saw who it was, was "Gunh!" He just laughed and said, "It's okay." The worst part was Joe Sakic, Christina's all time favorite man, was with him. But by the time she was able to see past Foote's chest, Joe was gone.

That moment provided us with a word to use whenever we saw a beautiful man that words just couldn't describe. For example:

Peter Forsberg definitely deserves a "Gunh!"

Or this....

Actually, I usually just sigh when I see Ewan McGregor...

But then there's this "Gunh"-nable fellow:

Awww...Peyton Manning....

But the reason I got to thinking about the word and the meaning of Gunh is last night I was surfing the web like I do when I'm bored at work and I found this picture that has to be the be-all end-all pictures of Snake Sabo. Sadly, here at work I can't post the actual picture so you have a do a little legwork and follow the link. To make up for it, here's a nice one of his buddy, Rachel:


We'll be posting more guys to go Gunh for soon! Stay tuned!

The Oldest Crush

We've all got crushes that we develop on famous people...but sometimes one just sticks with you over the years. Mine is Dave "Snake" Sabo, the guitarist from Skid Row.

Stop looking at Sebastian Bach!!! Look at Snake in the upper left corner! That's better. Anyway...somehow Snake has ended being the end-all, be-all of famous crushes for me. It started because I thought he was cute, had a great voice when he talked in interviews on MTV and had some awesome hair.

I was completely addicted to Skid Row's debut album - in fact when I was in Grand Junction, I went to the mall record store with my cousin. Between us we had enough to buy the tape and we listened to it over and over in her brother's car because they didn't have a stereo inside their house. Then, even though she paid the bigger half, I took the tape home with me! When Slave To The Grind came out I was a giant pile of excitement. "Monkey Business" was the hottest song I had ever heard at the time. And "Get The Fuck Out" completely appealed to my little rebellious side.

Then, sadly, somehow I moved away from listening to them. I bought B-Sides Ourselves and Subhuman Race when they came out but never listened to them. When, in 2000, Christina asked if I wanted to go see the Kiss Farewell Tour with them at Fiddler's Green I of course said yes. When I found out Skid Row was opening I was all the more excited. I had never seen them live in their heyday and even though the lineup was a tad different (new singer and new drummer) I was jazzed to see Snake, Rachel & Scotti.

Christina's sister Tish is the biggest Kiss fan you will ever meet and Paul Stanely is her ultimate famous crush. So we went up to Denver early early and drove around the venue to see if we could spot her man. Throughout the afternoon Christina's brother Tony was constantly picking out the grungiest, yuckiest dudes and saying they were my boyfriend. I played along until we were in the parking lot of Long's Drugs. We were stopped behind a white van and these three guys were getting out. The one on my side had longish lanky hair dyed a fire engine red on top. I was just thinking he was kinda cute when Tony said, "THERE'S your boyfriend, Heather." "Actually he's kinda....HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!! That's Snake from Skid Row!!" I screamed it and my window was all the way down. He had to have heard me...I think he might have looked over but I don't quite remember.

The other 2 with him were the new singer Johnny Solinger and Christina's soon-to-be ultimate man, bassist Rachel Bolan. I was losing my mind about here - we were at Long's Drugs for crying out loud and these rock stars were just wandering in!! We ran in and found Rachel & Johnny, had a picture taken with them. You will never see that picture because I am 200 pounds of sunburned goo in it! (The day before I had seen Badfinger in concert outside at the AFA - another story for another time.) I never saw Snake in there - I was too freaked out to go look for him. But their set at Fiddler's that night was amazing! Johnny blew my mind and Snake was SO hot!



That started a Skid Row kick of epic proportions for Christina & I. We watched their home videos over & over again, listened only to their CD's, including the 2 I had never listened to before. Subhuman Race quickly became my favorite. 2 years later we heard they were touring with The Rock Never Stops Tour. They would be stopping twice in Colorado: the first show in Denver and 2 weeks later at the State Fair in Pueblo. We bought tickets they day they went on sale then started a huge diet! I wasn't about to be the "fat groupie named Heather" that Henry Rollins was talking about...

August finally rolled around. The Denver show...blew my mind. We were front row center and Skid Row just rocked the house. I got a pick from Snake and Christina & I got winks from Johnny while we were singing along to their new song "Thick Is The Skin." There was a lady behind us who kept hitting Christina in the back of the head with her pumping fist so I elbowed her in the chest...she tried to get us thrown out but it didn't work! Skid Row did a Meet & Greet afterwards and Snake was the first guy in the line. God, he was so sweet!! I got a hug and a cute picture of him with drummer Phil Varone. Christina suggested that our song for that night be "Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford because of the line, "Didn't get laid, got in a fight..."

The State Fair show was the deal-sealer, however. Like Christina mentioned in her post below, the tour buses were fair game . We got to go over and meet the guys...Snake's birthday was coming up the next month so I got him a card and gave it to him and got a picture with him.

I love this picture!! After a smokin' set, they did another Meet & Greet. This time we were in a line that wound around - when we came around the corner where we could see the guys, Snake was first. He caught sight of me and smiled & waved....LOVED the fact that everyone turned to see who he seemed to know! I had bought an 8x10 of the group that he signed, "Heather, thanks for the birthday card. Snake." Then he signed my stuffed snake that I won that afternoon "Fuckin' right," his what you might call motto. Then...I got all brave and asked him for a kiss. Damned if he didn't comply! Made my night! I could die a happy, happy woman!

I have never met any famous person who was sweeter than Snake Sabo. A complete doll and a killer musician. If you're interested in their new stuff, go get Thickskin and Revolutions Per Minute. And check out Snake's MySpace!!