Blondes vs. Brunettes is a powderpuff football game played in cities across the United States. [1] Proceeds from the event are donated to The Alzheimer's Association. Games have been held in more than 40 cities and have cumulatively raised more than $15 Million for the care, support and research efforts of the Association.
The annual contests were started by Sara Allen Abbott whose father, Texas State Representative Joseph Hugh Allen, died of Alzheimer's disease in 2008. Looking for a way to raise funds for the Alzheimer's Association, Abbott organized a powder puff football game in tribute to her father, a lifelong football fan. Abbott, who was working and residing in Washington, D.C. at the time, wanted a more hands-on fundraiser in comparison to the many charitable organizations which were raising money predominantly through formal black tie events. Alongside her sister, she thought a powder puff football game that leveraged pop culture's blonde vs. brunette rivalry would be more appealing to a younger set of donors with a $20 ticket price to provide a low cost way for attendees to support a good cause. [2]
In Fall 2005, the first blonde vs. brunette powder puff football game was played at Hains Point in Washington, D.C. and raised $10,000. Subsequently, the game searched for a more suitable home and moved around the Washington D.C area before settling in at George Washington University’s Mount Vernon Athletic Field in 2009. Since its inception, the game has received considerable publicity to include feature articles in The Washington Post and has raised over $500,000 in the Washington, D.C. alone. [3]
By 2012, Blondes vs. Brunettes Powderpuff Football was being played in cities across the United States and each city has a slightly different approach to the game. “In Washington, the rivalry is intense. If friends are on opposite teams, they usually don't talk the weekend of the games," Abbott shared. [2] Cities that host the game include: Albany, Amarillo, [4] Akron, Atlanta, Austin, [5] Bakersfield, CA, Baton Rouge, Boston, Buffalo, [6] Charlotte, Burlington, IA, Chicago, [7] Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbia, SC, Columbus, [8] Denver, [9] Evansville, [10] Houston, [11] [12] Hudson Valley (New Rochelle, NY), Indianapolis, [13] Jackson, [14] Kansas City, [15] Lexington, [16] Los Angeles [17] Louisville, [18] Lubbock, TX, Madison, WI, Minneapolis, [19] New York, [20] [21] North Alabama (Decatur, AL), Phoenix, Plainview, TX, Raleigh, North Carolina, [22] San Diego, [23] Santa Barbara, CA, San Francisco. [24] Tallahassee, FL, Washington, D.C. and Wichita, KS
Abbott has received national publicity and multiple awards for her efforts in raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Association. [25] [26] She hopes to expand the event to more cities and eventually establish a "Blondes vs. Brunettes Super Bowl". [2]
The game's increasing popularity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area resulted in the 2012 game moving to the Cotton Bowl to accommodate the larger crowds. [27]
Game rules do not require that hair color be natural and it is common for many of the girls on the blonde team to have dyed hair. [28]
An NBC Washington story cited participants changing their hair color in the weeks before the game and switching sides. [29] Other media stories have highlighted intense workouts, team meetings that feature inspirational films such as Remember the Titans , and participants practicing their trash-talking to include brunettes trying to think up ways to intimidate their blonde opponents. [30]
Blond or blonde, also referred to as fair hair, is a human hair color characterized by low levels of eumelanin, the dark pigment. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can be from the very pale blond to reddish "strawberry" blond or golden-brownish ("sandy") blond colors. Occasionally, the state of being blond, and specifically the occurrence of blond traits in a predominantly dark or colored population are referred to as blondism.
Brown hair, also referred to as brunette, is the second-most common human hair color, after black hair. It varies from light brown to dark hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment pheomelanin.
The Cotton Bowl is an outdoor stadium in Dallas, Texas, United States. Opened in 1930 as Fair Park Stadium, it is on the site of the State Fair of Texas, known as Fair Park.
Blonde stereotypes are stereotypes of blonde-haired people. Sub-types of this stereotype include the "blonde bombshell" and the "dumb blonde". Blondes have been stereotyped as less intelligent than brunettes. There are many blonde jokes made on these premises. However, research has shown that blonde women are not less intelligent than women with other hair colors.
In the United States and Canada, powderpuff are football games which include flag football or touch football games between girls from junior and senior classes or cross-town school rivals. Funds from ticket and concession sales typically go to charity, the senior class, or to a dance. The games are an annual tradition at many high schools and universities. The term originates from the powder puff, the soft material used for the application of cosmetic face powder. The games usually occur before homecoming.
Vintage base ball is baseball presented as if being played by rules and customs from an earlier period in the sport's history. Games are typically played using rules and uniforms from the 19th century. Vintage base ball is not only a competitive game, but also a reenactment of baseball life similar to American Civil War reenactment. Players dress in uniforms appropriate to the time period, and many teams appear to be direct copies of teams that existed in the late 19th century. The styles and speech of the 19th century are also used while playing vintage base ball.
In sports, shirts vs skins is a common form of denoting team affiliations in a pick-up game or in school; typically, when played by boys on a public court or field, such as in a city park or schoolyard, or during physical education class or intramural sports at school. The practice involves the members of one team wearing shirts while the ones of the other team go shirtless. This is used in the absence of uniforms.
A Thief in Paradise is a 1925 American silent drama film produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by George Fitzmaurice, and adapted by Frances Marion from Leonard Merrick's 1900 novel The Worldlings.
Road Hockey Rumble is a half-hour reality series produced by Paperny Entertainment and broadcast on OLN. The series uses a documentary format but crosses over into the genres of sports, travel, and comedy. It follows two Canadian hosts, Calum MacLeod and Mark McGuckin playing their way across Canada in a 13-game grudge match series of Road Hockey. From British Columbia to Newfoundland and all of the territories, they tap into the rivalries, legends and grit of Canada's most colourful and competitive towns. Friends in life but rivals in hockey, each host drafts their own team of locals to battle it out on the court.
Washington, D.C., has major league sports teams, popular college sports teams, and a variety of other team and individual sports. The Washington metropolitan area is also home to several major sports venues including Capital One Arena, RFK Stadium, Commanders Field, Audi Field, and Nationals Park.
Powder puffs are pieces of soft material used for the application of face powder. They may be shaped as balls or pads.
Prehistoric Women is a British fantasy adventure film directed by Michael Carreras, starring Martine Beswick and Michael Latimer. It was first released in the US in 1967, and released in the UK 18 months later under the title Slave Girls, where it was trimmed by 17 minutes and played as the supporting feature to The Devil Rides Out (1968).
Matthew Henry McClung Jr., sometimes referred to as Dibby McClung, was an American college football player, coach and official. Born into a powerful southern family, McClung was raised in Memphis, Tennessee until he was accepted into Lehigh University. Immediately establishing himself as a skilled sportsman, McClung participated on both the school's football and baseball teams. He served as captain of the former in 1892 and is credited with turning it into one of the school's best ever football squads. McClung graduated from Lehigh in 1893 with degrees in metallurgy and mining engineering.
The Howard Bison football team represents Howard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).
Michaele Ann Schon, formerly Michaele Salahi, is an American television personality and model. In 2010, she was a cast member on the reality show The Real Housewives of D.C. She and her then-husband, Tareq Salahi, gained national attention in November 2009 by breaching security to attend a White House state dinner in honor of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Blondes vs. Brunettes was an ABC TV special that was broadcast on May 14, 1984. The one-hour variety show, co-hosted by Joan Collins and Morgan Fairchild, was a humorous look at the personality and lifestyle differences between blonde and brunette women. Time magazine characterized the special as a "showdown" between Collins, "…TV’s brunette meanie and Morgan Fairchild, 34, a blond TV vixen." At the time of the release, Collins was starring in the popular nighttime soap opera Dynasty where she played a dark haired foil to the blonde Linda Evans.
The blonde versus brunette rivalry is a rivalry—whether real, imagined, or fictional—between women with blonde hair and those with brown (brunette) hair. In popular culture and everyday conversation, the words blonde and brunette are sometimes used as nouns to refer to women by these two hair colors. This supposed rivalry is a common fictional theme in books, magazine articles, film, and television. Some have argued that the spectacle of blonde and brunette women engaged in physical fights with each other has been a male fantasy for many years.
Les Gladiatrices: Blondes vs. Brunes is a 2004 DVD based in a French reality TV show that featured women wrestling each other. The women were divided into two teams, one blonde and the other brunette.
The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The Defenders compete in the United Football League (UFL). The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is owned and operated by Dwayne Johnson's Alpha Acquico and Fox Corporation. The Defenders play their home games at Audi Field. The Defenders have a regular season record of 12–3 (.800), the second-highest win percentage among UFL teams as of its 2024 season. They were also the top team in the 2023 XFL, boasting a 9–1 record and scoring 49 more points than the next closest team, the St. Louis Battlehawks.
Evan Narcisse is an American comic book writer, journalist, and video game narrative designer. Narcisse began his working career as a journalist who has reported on video games for several media outlets, such as The Atlantic, The New York Times, Time, Kotaku, io9, and Polygon. As a comic book writer, Narcisse has authored multiple titles which feature the Marvel Comics superhero, Black Panther. Since 2018, Narcisse has been involved with designing or consulting on the narrative elements of several video games, including Insomniac Games' Spider-Man video game series, Marvel's Avengers, and Redfall.