If anyone happens to come across any players or other assorted members of the Carolina Panthers, would you please let them know I am solely responsible for their outstanding record this year?

Yep. I just said that. ME. They owe it all to ME. I wrote a post a while back called No Pants Sunday, where I talked about game superstitions. Namely, the need for me to be pants-less on Panther’s game day.

Carolina NEEDS me. This season, we’ve lost three games and each one of them had me either in pants (for shame!) or unable to focus due to illness or injury. Yesterday, we’re watching the game against Green Bay and I realized in the second quarter that I had pants on. I flipped out.

I’m currently suffering from an Upper Respiratory Infection and Laryngitis. I’ve been sick on and off for weeks and just finally made it to the doctor today for some antibiotics. Needless to say, I haven’t been on my game (no pun intended). I’ve been moody, distracted and exhausted, but that’s no excuse. When I sat down to watch the game yesterday, I simply wasn’t thinking.

When I noticed we weren’t winning, I started to panic. Looking down I exclaimed, “Oh, no! My pants are on!’ and frantically ripped them off. After hearing a ‘That’s more like it’ from my husband, I sat back down and was able to really focus on the game. The end result? A big, fat W. That’s right, we won.

So you’re welcome, Carolina Panthers. Not only does taking my pants off help me make babies (I named my first born after Carolina QB Jake Delhomme), it also helps you win games. Viva No Pants Sunday!

On another note, the regular season of Fantasy Football is coming to a close. One more week following this one and us girls hit the playoffs. This has been my beta team, so I’ve learned a lot about what I need to do to help train in the future.

These girls are kicking ass. I did my best to answer any questions that came my way, and think the concept during the regular season is fairly self-explanatory once you get the first few weeks out of the way. I’ve had team members tell me this has brought them closer to their husbands and gave them a new understanding of America’s love for the game.

Coming into the finals I plan on sending out weekly tips and strategies until seasons end. The league winner is gets a $30 gift certificate of their choice and I can tell you that winner will not be me. In a league of ten women, I’m in fourth place!

I’ve got a nice waiting list for next year’s leagues and I already mentioned that I’m planning on begging ESPN to host it for me on their site Nationwide. I’ll have more details on that as next season approaches but if anyone else would like to get on the waiting list, please email me at julie@Momspective.com. For more info on what I’m doing, just take a look at my Must Love Sports section of this site.

Oh, hey, there’s a contest going on over at ESPN (look ESPN, I’m promoting you! Work with me!) called Mascot Movers. ESPN partnered with Chick-fi- A (YUM) to bring us all a contest where every week someone is picked to win a VIP trip to the 2008 Chick-fil-A bowl and free food for a year. To participate people can just visit – this site – pick which mascot they think is in the Mascot Movers box and enter their name to win the package.