Tuesday, May 31, 2011

National Tennis Month: Ana Ivanovic, 2010

We end National Tennis Month with Ana Ivanovic.TRIVIA: Like fellow tennis player/swimsuit model Anna Kournikova, Ana has inspired a song. “Hurricane Ana” is the creation of Serbian rapper Filip Filipi (aka “Sin”).

Opening lyric:
“They should name a hurricane after her.”

Turns out, they’ve tried to do just that. Six times.

(The song doesn’t seem to have any tennis in it whatsoever, but it does reference Donatella Versace, Islam, stocks and bonds, pelican migration, the songs of Elvis Presley and Sade, and “The Lion King.”)

Monday, May 30, 2011

Dream Rotation

SI.com recently posted a photo gallery of “First Pitches by Models and Actresses.” The gallery features six SI swimsuit girls.Here we have Marisa Miller, Monika Schnarre, Kathy Ireland, Hilary Rhoda, Alicia Hall, and Anna Kournikova. (Though I have to say, listing Anna Kournikova as a “model,” especially in a Sports Illustrated photo gallery, seems a little disrespectful. And during National Tennis Month, too! For shame, SI.) Marisa is pitching at Wrigley Field, and Hilary is at U.S. Cellular. That’s one SI model per Chicago baseball team. Who will be the tiebreaker?Cubs win.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Happy Birthday, Fernanda and Ana

On this day in 1981, Brazil gave us the stunning Fernanda Motta.The world demanded an encore, so exactly one year later, Brazil gave us the sultry Ana Beatriz Barros.When SI assembled seven Brazilian models in 2007, the two birthday girls found their way into the same picture a few times.Parabéns, moças.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

National Tennis Month: Tatiana Golovin, 2009

The 2009 tennis trio wraps up with Russian Tatiana Golovin.Have they found a new career in swimsuit modeling? Probably not, according to this video:

OFF-CAMERA VOICE
Which would you rather be doing, modeling or playing tennis?

MARIA
I think playing tennis.

DANIELA
Playing tennis.

TATIANA
Of course, tennis.

Fair enough. We’ll make do with Maria von Hartz, Daniela Pestova, and… We’ll have to find another Tatiana. Thank you, ladies.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Some Love for Damaris Lewis

Poor rabid basketball fan Damaris Lewis.She had two teams she was rooting for eliminated from the playoffs in quick succession. So let’s cheer her up.

It’s safe to say that most people who find their way to this blog have probably seen this video of Kate Upton doing the Dougie.I am an old man, and I have no idea what the Dougie is. But Kate is adorable doing it, and if I had to make a prediction here and now, I’d say she’s the one to beat for the 2012 cover.

BUT: Damaris is unjustly overlooked. Her reactions in this video are visions of unfettered joy. The delight she exhibits at watching Kate is infectious, and it is a huge part of what makes the video so enjoyable, whether you realize it or not.

She’s a gorgeous girl with a fun personality (she gives good Twitter). So let us enjoy a luscious photo from each of the three years she’s been in SI.
2009

2010

2011

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

One-Piece Wednesday: Molly Sims, 2003

The one bad thing about featuring Molly Sims (38 today) on One-Piece Wednesday is you can't see her magnificent abs. Seriously, you could chop onions on her stomach.I'll have to feature that tummy another day. Happy birthday, Molly!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

National Tennis Month: Maria Kirilenko, 2009

Another 2009 "Volley of the Dolls" entry: Russian Maria Kirilenko.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

National Tennis Month: Daniela Hantuchova, 2009

Three pretty tennis players hit the pages in 2009. First up: Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.By the way, I guess she has a pretty intense rivalry with Patty Schnyder, and Patty's husband kicked over Daniela's water bottle after a controversial match.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

One-Piece Wednesday: Rebecca Romijn, 1996

I just realized how neglectful I've been of Rebecca! One of my all-time favorites.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

National Tennis Month: Maria Sharapova, 2006

I think Maria Sharapova looks the most like an honest-to-goodness SI swimsuit model of all the tennis players.And her hotness/skill intersect in this absolutely kickass Nike commercial:
And speaking of that trademark shriek, someone has taken it upon himself to edit together a two-and-a-half-minute sound file of Maria making that noise. It’s a little more horrifying than sexy, but the fact that someone felt compelled to create it speaks to her magnetism.

In any case, her body of swimsuit work is so impressive, maybe I should give her a second photo.

Friday, May 13, 2011

National Tennis Month: Venus Williams, 2005

The elder Williams sister shows off her powerful, tree-trunk legs.TRIVIA: The sisters have met head-to-head 23 times. Serena has the edge in those matches, 13-10.

Step it up, Venus.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

One-Piece Wednesday: Tyra Banks, 1993

This tweet from last Friday, by rookie-in-waiting Jessica Perez, takes up the cause of one-piece swimsuits. I don’t agree 100% with the assessment (it’s not so much what a one-piecer hides as what it clings to that I find alluring), but I appreciate the sentiment.

Jessica Perez has never in her life worn a one-piece, so I go straight to the source.

Monday, May 9, 2011

National Tennis Month: Serena Williams, 2004

And we’re back to athletic. Serena Williams showed off her powerful self in 2004.And if you’re not yet convinced of the allure of tennis players, take a look at this viral ad for a video game called Top Spin 4.Serena and some random model, both of them in postapocalyptic S&M outfits, volley against each other while a pulsing beat is punctuated with the sounds of a woman engaging in some kind of passionate, sweaty exertion, like tennis.

The commercial doesn’t seem to stick around for long before getting taken down, since apparently it was a spec ad, never meant to be released. I don’t buy that. I think it was part of the plan from the beginning to release a “too hot for TV” ad.

Nevertheless, I have to say it gets a little to explicit for my tastes. Sure, tennis players are sexy, but do you have to be do blatant about it?

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Birthday, Josie Maran

Josie was in three swimsuit issues: 2000, 2001, and 2002. But she seems like more of a mainstay than that.There’s something I find deeply erotic about her. She has that sweet/naughty thing going on that normally doesn’t do much for me, but here it really trips my trigger.Those brunette tendrils, those perpetually parted lips, those sensuously bared front teeth. She seems a little dangerous.Except now she's a well-scrubbed good girl with a line of environmentally friendly cosmetics:…so a bit of her badass chick quality has drained away.

Or has it? Did you know about her scar?

She got her appendix out when she was a kid. Through a combination of makeup, poses, camera angles, and retouching, it remains hidden from view in her SI photos. But you can catch glimpses of it in the making-of videos.When she posed for a bizarre Sisley fashion campaign back in 2001, she bared it proudly. (And drank milk directly from an udder.)Do not mess with Josie Maran.

Happy 33rd.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Random Notes

I did a double-take recently while walking past a New York & Company store. Was that Kenza Fourati in the window?I believe it was!
• • •
Some tantalizing tweets have already heralded 2012, but we're not allowed to see the face of the girl who's occupying the bikini:ilovesigirls thinks he's ID'd who she is. They look like Brooklyn's hips, but she just cut her hair. So he thought it must be Esti Ginzburg, but a deeper analysis of the waist-to-hip ratio led him to believe it's brand-new SI girl Jessica Perez.
• • •
Marc Jacobs has released several skin cancer-awareness t-shirts featuring various buck-naked celebrities, including SI models Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum, Marisa Miller, and (most recently) Irina Shayk.(I've heard a rumor that Carolyn Murphy has also posed, but I couldn't find an image...)

Here MJ Day and Darcie Baum show off their Shayk-shirts.
• • •
As you know, I love a good hot girls list. Models.com has ranked their Top 20 Sexiest Models, seven of whom are SI girls. Let's just enjoy them, shall we?

Thursday, May 5, 2011

National Tennis Month: Anna Kournikova, 2004

Here we have a pic that’s the opposite of Steffi Graf’s. Anna Kournikova lounges on the sand while the waves lap at her. She’s much softer looking, much more at home in a girlie magazine.If I didn’t know she was a tennis player, I would probably not have blinked at her presence in the swimsuit issue.

TRIVIA: The band Tin Hat Trio has a musical piece called “Anna Kournikova” on their album “Helium.” It’s a lilting, two-and-a-half-minute acoustic tango of guitar, accordion and violin. I have no idea why it's named after her.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

One-Piece Wednesday: Maria von Hartz, 1989

True fact: I dreamed last night that this suit was Kate Middleton's official swimsuit for the Royal Wedding, and they were selling replicas of it online.Ladies, snatch one up if you want to wear a piece of history.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

National Tennis Month: Steffi Graf, 1997

May is National Tennis Month. There’s something alluring about a tennis player, and the sport has provided more athletes to the swimsuit issue than all others combined.This is a pretty incredible picture. Look at that body—it’s not the body of a model, it’s the body of an athlete. The superhero pose, and thighs you could bounce a brick off of...

This was an early foray into featuring athletes in the swimsuit issue (Gabrielle Reece was also featured that year), and Steffi provides a stark contrast to the softer curves of the Niki Taylors and Naomi Campbells and Stacey Williamses.