Announcing The insideSTL.com Halloween Party At Helen Fitzgerald's On Halloween Night

insideSTL.com is pleased to announce our first Halloween Party at Helen Fitzgerald's (3660 Lindbergh). The fun and games take place on Halloween night at 9 p.m. until close. We're giving away $1,000 for most creative costume...and then $1,000 for the sexiest costume. Joe Dirt will be playing at the First Annual Halloween Bash at Helen's, and you can get tickets in advance for $10 at Helen Fitzgerald's or at the door on the night of the event.


This should be one hell of a cocktail party. It's all Halloween Night at Helen Fitzgerald's, and it's all made possible by Monster Energy Drink , The Tan Company, Halloween Thrills, Eureka Butcher Haunted House,  and Red's Corn Maze Massacre.


Leading up to the event, we'll be displaying costumes from one of our sponsors, Halloween Thrills located at 14918 Manchester Road in Ballwin. You can give them a call at (636) 527-7131.


Each day, we'll be showing a couple of our Girls Next Door (Ashley and Britney) showcasing some costumes from Halloween Thrills...giving you an idea of what you can get at their store...and a reason to be creepy and come to this section of the site everyday between now and Halloween.

Once again, the party is Halloween night at Helen Fitzgerald's. Joe Dirt. $1,000 prize for most creative costume. $1,000 prize for sexiest costume. And, fun and games provided by insideSTL.com and Helen Fitzgerald's. Get your $10 tickets in advance at Helen's...or get them the night of. Come out and play.


The insideSTL.com Tournament of Hottest Women

The juvenile contest continues to the second round starting today. Voting for the second round will go through Wednesday, then we'll reconvene for the Sweet 16.


CLICK HERE to vote for the ladies in the second round.


We didn't have too many upsets in the first round. The biggest seeding upset was the 12 seed Erin Andrews beating 5 seed Anna Kournikova. You know what they say about the 5-12 match-ups.


How about the fact that almost all of my favorites got beaten in the first round? Nicole Scherzinger was rocked by Stacy Kiebler. Cassidey was murdered by Elisha Cuthbert. Janine was beat up by Blake Lively. And, Shakira lost to Keira Knightley. insideSTL.com writer Kayden Kross had a tough first round match-up with Megan Fox, and she came up short...leaving insideSTL.com without a representative in the Round of 32, unless Marisa Miller accepts my offer to blog on the Athletica next year.


The insideSTL.com Poker Tournament

All the details from yesterday's fun and games at Harrah's are HERE. As a deep tease to give you reason to click on the link that will take you to STL Poker, I can tell you I finished either first or last, a St. Louis sports media member finished in the top four...and that I had a lovely Saturday night.


The Football Abyss: Part I

Let's start with the Rams.


I don't know if I should feel guilty for this...but I really don't: when I watch the Rams play, I root against them. Now, I didn't do that in the first month of the season, but now that it's clearly another disaster, I want to see the team have the first overall pick in next year's draft.


Of course, this is how I've rooted the last few seasons...which is really sad, and it's not like the results of my rooting for failure once the season goes in the tank have been rewarded with any instant impact (see Chris Long and Jason Smith).


So, when they lost in overtime...I was happy. Does that make me a bad fan? A bad St. Louisan? Well...feel free to put whatever label on it you'd like. Nothing's happening this year. Something NEEDS to happen in the near future, and the better the draft pick...the better the chance is that it can start next year.


With that said...here are a couple of quick thoughts from yesterday's game:


- What the hell happened in the second half with Steven Jackson? He was a force in the first half with 75 total yards on 17 touches...and then got the ball in his hands 7 times in the second half?


- When Marc Bulger threw the ball out of bounds late in the second half and with the Rams deep in Jacksonville territory, there were at least 8 seconds left...maybe 9. Somehow, the clock keeper from Super Bowl XXXVI was on hand and let some extra time tick off.


- With that said, there were 7 seconds left, and the Rams had a timeout. On 3rd down and down by 3 with an 0-5 record, why not take one more shot in the endzone?


The Football Abyss: Part II

Tough to call a 4-2 team hosting a nationally televised game at 7 p.m. this Saturday part of the football abyss, but I'm so damn frustrated by Missouri's performance in Stillwater that I feel much worse about the Tigers' weekend than the Rams' season.


Why?


Because the Rams don't have enough talent to be doing anything special. Missouri actually does.


Now, just how much they could be doing is up for debate, and it's tough to handicap just what the hell would happen on a dry field against Nebraska...but the Big 12 North---which is more dreadful than normal in 2009---is there for the taking. And, for the first time, I feel like I got an idea of how good Missouri is in 2009: and, as odd as this may sound after they lost by 16 Saturday night at a depleted Oklahoma State: I think they're a good team.


Here are some problems from Saturday and/or for the team in 2009, in general:


1. Blaine Gabbert is not healthy. No shit, you say. But, he's so beat up, and he's so helpless at times. The fact that he's able to do what he's done on one leg is a credit to him...but man...what does it say about the Tigers' backup QB situation that a miserably hurt Gabbert is still out there looking like a 42 year-old 20 year NFL veteran? Outside of how it's damaged his play in the present, I hope that playing on the bad leg doesn't damage his future.


2. With Gabbert being as beat up as he is, may I ask why the hell he was in the backfield by himself on both 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 in the 4th Quarter? Gabbert looked as comfortable in the backfield by himself as Ron Howard did in Jamie Foxx's "Blame It" video. First off, why weren't they running the ball anyway...but secondly, you're doing your QB no favors in that spot...especially with one yard to gain. Inexplicable to me...and an illustration of the lack of an under center offense that's hurt Missouri in short yardage situations in the past (see the famous FG attempt on the first series at home against Oklahoma State last year). To their credit, they did run an under center play with success in the first half...but Gabbert in the backfield by himself blew me away.


3. I loathe Major League Baseball not having instant replay. And, I love the fact that the NFL and college football does. But, if you're going to have it...get the call right. The Tigers got banged twice Saturday night on bad replay reviews. Wow.


4. Much like Steven Jackson with the Rams in the second half, Missouri got away from getting the ball to Derrick Washington Saturday. He was picking up 5 yards per carry, but he was nowhere to be found in the second half...with a beat-up QB...and just a 7-point defecit to start the half.


Listen, I didn't expect much from Missouri in 2009. But, this team is actually good. They have a much improved defense and one hell of a quarterback...along with a real playmaker in Denario Alexander. Part of the reason for the problems versus Nebraska and Oklahoma State---a large part---is Gabbert's injury. But, despite that, they still could be doing damage on the ground. And, I just don't get why they leave Gabbert out there to be murdered and get away from the ground game. I'd love to see a healthy Gabbert take on Texas Saturday night...because I wouldn't rule out a big surprise in front of 70,000 on homecoming.



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