Kortney Yarbrough is getting married. I discovered this over the holiday weekend when I scrolled through my DVR list and came across a couple of forgotten episodes of TLC’s “Brides of Beverly Hills.”
First, I want to make it clear straight away that I do NOT watch this show. I love costumes and fancy dresses, and I will admit to watching every episode (and numerous repeats) of “Say Yes to the Dress.” But “Brides of Beverly Hills” isn’t my cup of tea. I set up a season pass for it, and I watched the first couple of episodes, but couldn’t take anymore after that. The show’s star, Renee Strauss, owner of Renee Strauss for the Bride in Beverly Hills is both two-faced (for talking smack about her clientele behind their backs) and a moron (for doing it on camera), and her friend Kevin Lee (an obvious alum of the Bobby Trendy School of Trying Way Too Hard) makes me cringe. Literally. Every time he says the word “FAB-uh-luss!” my shoulders go up, my back hunches over, and my face gets all scrunchy. He is SUCH a tool. And if this show lasts past this season, I will be very surprised. (Especially due to Renee Strauss’ recent financial issues, but you ain’t heard about that from me.)
Anywho, I was about to delete the show when the episode synopsis caught my eye. “Episode: 12 – Kourtney/Mariflor. A former professional football cheerleader comes in to Renee’s salon with her mom and friends in search of the perfect wedding dress.” I had no idea who this “former cheerleader” might be, so yeah, I sat down and watched it. I took one for the team.
I immediately recognized Kortney. How could I not? She’s a total knockout without even trying. Kortney, a cool chick, by all accounts, is an alum of the Long Beach Breaker Girls, Chivas USA ChivaGirls, San Diego Charger Girls, and AVP Dancers (in that order). I don’t know her directly, but I’ve got one degree of separation through several different people.
Kortney was a ChivaGirl for 2 seasons
Kortney was a Charger Girl for 1 season
Kortney was an AVP Dancer for 1 season
Depending on when the show was taped, Kortney is either engaged, or already married, to a pro surfer. This guy, whose name I can’t find anywhere:
Let me just say that I don’t blame Kortney for being on this awful show. This is the first season. She couldn’t have known. In any case, she found her way someway, somehow, to Renee Strauss’ bridal salon, mother and best friend in tow, and she tried on a few gowns, including the blue St. Pucchi creation in the clip below.
It’s a unique dress. It’s an expensive dress ($17,000!!) And I really hope Kortney didn’t buy it. I really hope she took her hard earned money and spent it somewhere else, but I’ll never know. (To date, I still haven’t made it all the way through an episode of this show.)
In any case, best of luck-slash-congratulations to Kortney and her fiancee. I’m sure either was, or will be, a beautiful bride, no matter what dress she chose.
by Airman 1st Class Michael Battles
51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Osan Air Base
12/21/2011
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea — The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders visited Osan Air Base to deliver holiday cheer Dec. 20 as part of their 73rd USO tour.
During their visit, the 12-member team visited with Airmen and some of their younger cheerleading fans, held a free performance, signed autographs and posed for pictures with Osan members.
“It’s a huge honor to come over here,” said Melissa Kellerman, Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. “I’m a military brat, so that’s my motivation for trying out for the show team and traveling with the USO.”
For more than three decades the DCC have spent their holidays with troops overseas rather than their own families.
“I miss being with my family during the holidays, but it’s a great opportunity being out here performing for the service members,” she said.
Kellerman, whose father was stationed at Osan as a pilot, is a fourth year DCC and is participating in her first USO tour.
Airman Logan Kreger, 51st Force Support Squadron food service specialist, said the performance was a definite morale boost and a great experience during the holidays.
Crystal Wood, an Osan spouse, said her daughter loved the experience of meeting the cheerleaders firsthand.
“It really gave the younger girls a closer look at what (the cheerleaders) do,” she said. “These cheerleaders are really showing that you can set a positive example and be a role model for today’s youth.”
“It was awesome to get their autographs,” said Ava Wood, age 6. “Now I can tell everyone back home I got a chance to meet the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.”
During their holiday tour of the Pacific, the DCC held six free performances and visited 21 installations.
“This is just a little thank you from us to you,” Kellerman said. “I know firsthand all the sacrifices service members and their families make serving our country.”
According to the official USO website, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders are the most travelled of the USO entertainers and have been supporting service members in countries such as Afghanistan, Bahrain, Belgium, Cuba, Germany, Iceland, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait and the United Kingdom since 1979.
For more information on tours hosted by the USO, visit http://www.uso.org.
These are some of the cutest holiday outfits I’ve ever seen on any team. Adorable! Click here for more photos if the Ice Girls during the Stars’ 12/22 face off against the Flyers.
2011 DCC Holiday Tour
The Cowboys Cheerleaders tour stopped off at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea on December 21, 2011. Click here for photos from their performance for the troops!
By Mellany Armstrong
WDEL.com
December 22, 2011
Some of the Flyers on the ice score points with shovels, not sticks.
20-year-old University of Delaware student Brittany Sullivan is an Ice Girl for the Philadelphia Flyers. She found out it’s not all glamour and flashy outfits.
“They were like, ok, here’s your shovel, and it was actually really heavy, and it was kind of hard to skate with at first. I was not used to it at all,” she says.
Ice Girls have to look good and do hard work in quick fashion.
“So, you’d be going out skating with a shovel, then you would do some turns, and then, you know, a nice smile to the crowd, and then go do your job, still within like ten seconds, it was nuts,” she says.
If it’s not done correctly, the team can be fined $10,000.
“I’ve gotten yelled at a few times. We all have, but we finally got it under control,” she says.
There are nice perks — Brittany gets to go to the Winter Classic.
“We’re going to be in our little uniforms out in the cold, so, hopefully we won’t freeze to death. But it will be fun. It will be exciting,” she says.
by Karina Henderson
Thunder.NBA.com
12/20/2011
If you didn’t hear the sound of jingling silver bells Wednesday afternoon at Sooner Elementary, then you probably could have used a ride on “The Polar Express.”
You would have had company on board the “train” when it left the school that afternoon: about 40 kids ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade (all dressed in their pajamas), a few fifth-grade “helper elves” and four Thunder Girls reading aloud the original Chris Van Allsburg book.
The Thunder Girls joined this magical journey as part of the Thunder’s Reading Timeout program, presented by American Fidelity Assurance Company.
“I walked in not really knowing what to expect, and it was incredible,” said Roy Bishop of American Fidelity. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
At the entrance to a classroom hall stood a locomotive and an overflowing toy car, with a fifth-grader stationed to punch each child’s ticket before they boarded for their journey.
Inside, school staff transformed the narrow hallway into a train bound for the North Pole, just like in the book. The lights were covered, and Christmas lights mimicked starlight on the night train. Each seat was covered in red felt with gingerbread men and Christmas trees sewn on the back.
Holiday music played softly, and train whistles blew quietly, as though in the distance. Frosted windows hung on the paper-wrapped walls with snowflakes and icicles and countryside views.
Once each child took their seat on the train, Thunder Girls Alexis, Kelsey, LaTeshia and Sheri began to read the book about a child’s journey to meet Santa Claus.
“This is just like the movie that we watched!” exclaimed one child after the story began.
Marybeth Gann, one of the teachers who set up the event, said this is the ninth year the school has created a “Polar Express” experience like this, but that they try to do a little more with it every year. This year’s biggest change was asking the Thunder Girls to take part.
“We have so many fans of the Thunder basketball team here (that) we thought (there’s) nobody better than to ask the Thunder Girls to come and read our ‘Polar Express’ story this year,” said Gann.
“The kids really, really look up to … anybody from Thunder Basketball. To get them to come out here – just the looks on (the kids’) faces, they were thrilled. It means so much, and I think we’ll be talking about this for the rest of the school year,” she added.
When the ladies finished the story, which focuses on a gift of a bell from Santa’s sleigh, they asked the children to jingle the silver bells each had been given with their train ticket.
The bells all jingled, and everyone heard their happy sounds – a sign, according to the book’s legend, that they still believed in Santa Claus.
“I still hear my bell, and I’m actually going to be ringing it all day ‘cause I believe,” laughed LaTeshia.
“The kids … are so excited about reading, which makes us excited to come out and read a book to them – and be a part of this awesome experience.”
She noted that the transformation of the school into a storybook train created a richer environment for the kids to engage their imaginations.
“I think they really thought they were on a train and they believed that they were going to the Polar Express, so it was really fun for us to see how engaged they were,” she added.
This week’s Sports Illustrated NFL Cheerleader gallery features teams from the Cardinals, Colts, CHiefs, Raiders, Eagles, Chargers, and Broncos. Click here to go there now.
