Reported By Lauren Murphy
WKRN
Dec 12, 2011

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –
Sunday’s halftime show was one a Titans cheerleader will likely never forget.

While going through their halftime routine during Sunday’s Titans-Saints game at LP Field, the cheerleaders, wearing Christmas outfits and Titans blue Santa hats, were approached by a man dressed as Santa Claus.

Santa walked up to one of the girls, ripped off his beard and hat and got down on one knee and proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend, Janae Kram.

She, of course, said yes.

Watch the video

Kram’s fiance is Ben Graham, a baseball player for the Hagerstown Suns minor league team, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

“We both grew up in Missouri in tiny towns right next to each other,” Kram told Nashville’s News 2, adding, “The athletes in surrounding towns tend to know each other and we grew up as nothing but casual friends.”

The couple began dating during Graham’s senior year of college, shortly before he signed with the Washington Nationals.

Kram became a Titans cheerleader that same year.

“We are both living our dreams,” she said.

Reporter Lauren Murphy will interview Kram live on Nashville’s News 2 at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.

The Saints on Sunday went on to defeat the Titans 22-17.

During yesterday’s Panthers/Falcons game, the Panthers announced their 2011 TopCat of the Year. The TopCat of the Year is chosen by the TopCats themselves, and this year the honor goes to Laura R. Laura, a 4 year veteran, was selected because of her kind spirit, caring leadership, and dedication to the team. In addition to TopCat of the Year honors, she will also represent the Carolina Panthers Cheerleaders at the 2012 Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Congratulations, Laura!

Group hug!

(Thank you Tara for the news and the photos!)

Jason Brudereck
Reading Eagle
December 9, 2011

Danielle Hettinger’s family has a strong military background, so she’s thrilled to be on a 13-hour flight to Kuwait today to entertain U.S. servicemen and women.

The Ruscombmanor Township resident is one of six Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders embarking on the seven-day goodwill tour.

“I think it will be life-changing,” said Hettinger, 24.

She believes the trip will deepen her appreciation for those in the military, including both of her grandfathers who fought in World War II, her grandmother who was in the U.S. Navy’s WAVES division, her brother in ROTC and her mother, Patti Rodgers, also a Ruscombmanor resident and a retired colonel in the Army Reserve.

The cheerleaders will stay in barracks during their tour and meet with soldiers on bases, in hospitals and during their 45-minute performance.

They interact with the audience during their performance. Soldiers will be asked to participate in games and a push-up contest, said Hettinger, a third-grade teacher at Muhlenberg Elementary Center.

Many of the soldiers the cheerleaders will meet have been overseas for more than a year, and many are on their way back from Iraq, Hettinger said.

“The level of duty, honor and loyalty humbles me, and I am looking forward to this opportunity to personally thank them for their sacrifices,” Hettinger said.

She said she hopes to meet soldiers in units from Pennsylvania.

“I think this will really bring meaning to me to just experience what the life of a soldier is really like,” said the 2005 Holy Name High School and 2009 Kutztown University graduate.

Hettinger also received a master’s degree as a reading specialist at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia in 2010.

She said her family and her husband, Scott, are supportive of the trip.

“They are completely behind me,” she said.

Though it’s the third time in four years that Eagles cheerleaders have gone to the Middle East to visit soldiers, Hettinger has never been on a tour like this.

But she said she isn’t nervous.

“I’m just excited,” she said.

Click here to check out the San Diego Union Tribune’s photos of the Charger Girls on the field today.

Sports Illustrated’s first Ice Girl gallery of the season features the ladies from Dallas. Click here to check it out.

By Hollie McKay
FoxNews.com
December 09, 2011

Move over, Erin Andrews – there’s another smart, sassy sportscaster talking touchdowns and Triple Crowns. And when Bonnie-Jill Laflin isn’t hosting ESPN2’s “SpeedWorld” or chiming in on ESPN’s morning show “Cold Pizza,” the first and only female scout for the NBA and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader alumnus is engaging in another passion – visiting troops stationed overseas.

Laflin has traveled to Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries on 17 Goodwill and USO tours, and recently returned from her seventh Goodwill tour in Iraq, while also being featured on the cover of the 2011 “Battlefield Babes Calendar” with proceeds going to the Wounded Warriors Project.

“I’m leaving for my 18th tour to Iraq and the Middle East, Kuwait, and we’re going to Afghanistan, all over the whole Middle East for Christmas to boost morale and entertain the troops. Obviously the holidays is when the guys really need it the most,” Laflin told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “I actually feel like I get more out of it than them sometimes. I grew up in a military family. Both my grandfathers served in World War II. One was a Silver Star recipient and the other one was a Purple Heart. My uncle was a Clear Marine who served in Vietnam, and my father is a policeman. so my whole family has been in the military or law enforcement so it’s always been something very close to my heart. They (the troops) love to see that there are people in Hollywood that actually support them, because sometimes there is that image that celebrities are against war and against them.”

Laflin isn’t afraid to give her two cents to stars who don’t show the same passion for supporting soldiers overseas.

“First of all, I understand they’re nervous or there’s security issues about going, especially to a country where there’s a war going on, so I understand that. But then there’s a ton of people who you can tell, it’s not a priority,” she continued. “For me, it should be a priority. The reason we have the freedom that we have today and the reason you’re able to be successful at anything you do, is because of what our military has done for us.”

As an avowed conservative, Laflin admitted she has become pretty accustomed to butting heads with industry types who oppose her political point of view.

“I’m all about people having their own opinion, but just be educated on that opinion and don’t bash me because of what I believe in,” Laflin said.

Being a woman in a male-dominated arena hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the sports aficionado, either. She’s determined to shed more light on what the industry is really like by creating a reality show on the hot button issue.

“It happens all the time, where people basically think because you’re an attractive woman that you don’t have brains, or you’re just there because you’re maybe trying to meet a husband. People question or doubt my knowledge in sports and all of a sudden, real quick, they stop,” Laflin added. “There’s been many times when someone will say, ‘Oh, you’re a scout for the cheerleaders?’ making fun, like there’s no way she’s scouting basketball players. Then they start seeing my championship rings on, and start hearing me talk the game, and suddenly hush up because they’re like, ‘Wait, this girl knows more than me.’”

Fox Sports Southwest: The Dallas Stars Ice Girls celebrated the release of their 2012 calendar on Friday, Nov. 19, 2011. Check out the action from the party. To find out how you can order a calendar, visit dallasstars.com.

I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news. Which one do you want first?

The good news: The Bengals have finally updated their cheerleader pages with new uniform shots for this year’s team. WOOHOO!
The bad news: They’re headshots. Speaking as a person who loves the sparkle and shine of a good costume, I’m a wee bit disappointed that you can’t see the uniform at all. However, I understand that stuff happens, and I’m sure there’s a reason why they went this direction. Maybe they’ll have more later.

And, as they say, better late than never, for never is too late! Click here.

By Jennifer Armstrong
Kirkland Patch
December 7, 2011

SEQUOIA LEOPOLD, owner of Kirkland’s My Flawless Tan and Makeup, knows tanning.

An avid tanning bed user since high school, Leopold loved the look of a tan. As a Seattle Seagal professional cheerleader for four years, it was part of her job to maintain her tan year-round. Her first year on the squad, she found herself using tanning beds four or five times a week.

She was shaken when a fellow Seagal was diagnosed with skin cancer and had to have surgery to remove it.

“I was shocked that you could still die of skin cancer,” she said of the experience. “Skin cancer is a big deal. The surgery was significant and the scars are pretty intense. It’s like taking an ice cream scoop to your skin.”

In 2002, she discovered airbrush tanning, a safe process of essentially painting natural looking color onto the skin. She bought an airbrush and began using it on herself and her friends. With the small, non-commercial equipment, the process was slow and messy. But she and her friends loved the results. Little did she know, this would one day lead to a whole new career.

In 2007, after leaving the Seagals, Leopold was looking for inspiration. “All my friends had these careers they loved and were good at,” she recalls. “I was thinking, ‘What could I do that I love, that I’m good at and that people will pay me for?’ and I thought of this. I thought I could make a business of it.”

Turns out she was right. That summer, she opened My Flawless Tan and Makeup in a rented room of her stylist’s salon in Seattle. However, she lived in Kirkland and had a large client base here, so three or four times each week, she’d pack all of her equipment into her car and bring it to Kirkland.

In 2009, she got the push she needed when the salon closed. She moved the equipment into her home and worked from there for three months, saving money. She opened that year in Lake Street Mall and hung on for two years, in spite of the recession, until about a year ago when the business started to take off.

“Kirkland is the perfect market for this business because it’s got enough people who stay here and do their stuff locally, and it’s right on the freeway and easy to get to,” she said. “The business owners in Kirkland are magnificent. They are helpful and kind and synergistic.”

EARLIER THIS YEAR, she moved into her current location at 123 Lake Street, where she now has two airbrush tanning rooms, two airbrush makeup stations and an aesthetics room for threading, a hair removal process. One of the airbrush tanning systems is portable, allowing her to do parties, from charity and sorority events, to private, in-home functions.

Clients include residents of all ages, shapes and sizes, as well as many of the current Seattle Seagals, the Avalanche’s Bombshell dance team and other local notables.

Airbrush tanning sessions last 15 to 20 minutes and an application will last five to seven days. She tells clients that tans look best on the second or third day, so to plan accordingly when tanning for a special event. One application is all that is needed; technicians can apply tanning solution as light or dark as a client wants.

Sessions cost $40 and are safe and effective to people of all ages and body types. “All of our tanning products are organic,” Leopold said of her product line from Scentual Tan and Norvell. “Essentially, when I look at a label, I need to know what all of the ingredients are and how to pronounce them. All of our products are vegetable and fruit-based,” she said. “Our intention is to make all of our clients comfortable. Everyone has a bad sun-less tanning story, but we try to dispel those stories and give our clients the natural looking tan they are looking for.”

Leopold has not forgotten her lesson about the dangers of tanning in beds or outdoors. “I am very excited about our teen program,” she said. “I offer anyone under twenty the same session for only twenty dollars as a way to encourage them to stay out of the beds and to wear sunscreen. I have a form online where they can make that pledge, with airbrush tanning being a safe option if they want to tan.”

In her quest to keep teens from repeating the dangerous tanning habit she once had, she has even shared her own troubles combatting skin damage caused by those years in the tanning beds. “It’s mostly vanity,” she said. “But I had those brown spots all over my legs and I just hated them. I recently had them removed, which was a very painful process. I blogged about it to help teens understand that tanning not only causes cancer, but it is painful to remove the sun damage and it looks bad.”

What’s next? Leopold plans to open two new storefronts of her own on the Eastside in the next 18 months. Currently, there is also a franchised My Flawless Tan and Makeup in Seattle.

For now, though, Leopold will continue to serve her clients with a sunny smile and a sun-free glow at her shop in downtown Kirkland.

To learn more about My Flawless Tan and Makeup, receive discounts on future services and products and enjoy some treats and champagne, Leopold invites readers to an Open House Spa Party on Sunday Dec. 11, 12-4 p.m.

Click here to check out some photos of the Dolphins, 49ers, Vikings, Redskins, Texans, Saints and Bucs Cheerleaders on WUSA!