Sit back, buckle up, and get ready to enjoy this whirlwind week with me! That’s right Colts fans it’s Super Bowl week in Indianapolis and I’m your cheerleader of the week Megan M. I’m a two year veteran and co-captain of the self named “Diva Shorty Squad”. Did you know that the Colts Cheerleaders were among the 8,000 Super Bowl volunteers? We provided entertainment and worked at numerous events throughout the week. I am thrilled to be able to blog this week and share with you what was the most amazing week of my life.
Prior to my official “Cheerleader of the Week” blogging duties began, I had my first taste of Super Bowl Village Friday when I met some of my fellow teammates at the Verizon main stage and we enjoyed the Bret Michaels’ concert and the kick-off to Super Bowl XLVI. My first appearance was signing autographs at the NFL Experience Saturday alongside 11 time Pro Bowler Derrick Brooks of Tampa Bay. One day of the Super Bowl Village was not enough, so after Derrick and I swapped autographs, I met my little sister Kelsey and her friend Kristin to explore the downtown scene. We took pictures by the Super Indy 500 cars (Tebowing by the Denver Bronco’s car of course), the XLVI numerals at Monument Circle, the JW Marriot, and Lucas Oil Stadium! We had a ball exploring downtown and all of its Super Bowl glory!
Sunday January 29th, 2012
I woke up early morning to head to work while my guests were asleep. I was determined not to use too much vacation time for the Super Bowl because I had a feeling that I would probably need a real vacation after the week was over! I work at a senior healthcare community in a suburb of Indianapolis as an Occupational Therapist. I rehabilitate our greatest generation after they suffer from cardiac, neurological, or orthopedic conditions. I help them to be able to perform their daily living skills such as bathing, dressing, grooming, and feeding independently, so they can safely return home and to their prior level of function. It is such a fulfilling “Big Girl Job”. I love my residents and they love having a therapist that is a Colts Cheerleader, especially on Blue Friday! After working 8 hours I got ready for my next appearance and headed to the Colts Complex to meet the rest of the girls and car pool downtown!
Once we arrived downtown to the Convention Center we met the greatest ESG Security Team (shout-out to Jerry and Wendell) and headed to the holding room to do touch ups, go over formations, and change out of our skirt uniform and into out velour pants/jackets. It was much too cold to dance in our skirts this night! ESG then walked us through the Convention Center and Circle Centre mall to the Pepsi Meridian stage for our first performance of the day. We were to do our Hip/Pop set for the crowd! We realized that the stage was too small for all of us to dance on, so we cleared out a section on the street for our show. It was so exciting and you could feel the energy from the crowd. After our show went back to the holding room and relaxed before show number two. This show was broadcast on the huge monitors all over Super Bowl Village. It was so much fun and made me even more excited for the week ahead! Once I got home, I turned on my DVR to watch our own Pro Bowl Cheerleader Kim T. perform in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl! She was one of six Pro Bowl cheerleaders selected to dance on stage with Hot Chelle Rae during the pregame show. I was much too sleepy to watch the whole game. So after I saw Kim perform I shut off the TV, got ready for bed, and hit the sack!
Monday January 30th, 2012
My day started by dropping my car off at the body shop to get fixed. I was rear ended after the Steelers game this season and finally got everything squared away for my car’s bumper to be fixed. Once I got my rental car I headed to work. After a full day of work I was able to do the normal everyday things I knew I wouldn’t have time for once the week got going. You know…laundry, grocery shopping (which included buying Pink Rock Stars, false eyelashes, and Hot Hands of course!), getting a spray tan at our sponsor Sun Tan City, and taking a quick run at the gym! I was too beat from the weekend and work to pack my bag for the next day and hit the hay at 8 pm. I know I’m lame but I was so tired!
Tuesday January 31st, 2012
The alarm went off at 5 a.m. and it was time to get ready for the long exciting day ahead! After my hair and makeup was “game day ready”, I put on my cheer vest and chaps and headed to the Colts complex. I must say, it was really awkward to walk to my car in my uniform and try to be inconspicuous. Let’s face it, rhinestone and fringe stand out in a crowd! Once we were all at the complex, we stuffed into a van and headed to the stadium for Media Day! Indianapolis is the first host city to open Media Day up to the fans and I was excited to interact with all of them today! When we arrived at Lucas Oil Stadium we headed down to our locker room but not our usual locker room, it was being used by MADONNA! We snuck a peak, they had it decked out with gray curtains and swanky white couches. Do you think she will leave those things for us next season? After dropping our stuff off, we went upstairs to hang with the fans, take pictures, and sign autographs. It was crazy! The fans we so excited to see us! Thankfully, Jerry (from EGS) and our cheer coordinator Theresa were great at keeping everything organized so we could meet as many fans as possible. I asked all the fans who they wanted to win the Big Game and the consensus was the Giants! My favorite response was the Colts! Hey, a true Blue fan can dream! After our session was up, we headed back downstairs. While we walked to the locker room we passed Kurt Warner, I was so excited! The organizers really thought of everything! They even gave us a nice boxed lunch that we devoured on our ride back to the complex.
After Media Day, I headed to work a half day and let’s just say my “look” was not well received by some of the residents. I NEVER wear makeup to work and ALWAYS have my hair in a ponytail. Some of my patients didn’t even know it was me and one of my patients HATED my false eyelashes. She said, “You don’t even look like your natural self.” I agreed with her but once I told her why I had on stage makeup, she understood. After work, I was heading to meet up with some of my teammates and other Hoosiers who were recruited for a secret project.
After meeting at the complex, (do you see a trend?) we headed to the Convention Center early to meet half of our group that was already downtown. We watched them perform on the Super Bowl Village football field and then we walked through the Village to the Hilbert Circle Theatre for our secret project. I felt bad because so many people asked to take pictures with us or for our autograph but we had a schedule to keep. I hate to turn down fans because I want them to know we appreciate them so much. Thankfully, our security detail was the bad guys and told people we couldn’t stop.
Once at the Hilbert Circle Theatre we met two more girls and helped each other, get ready VERY FAST for our secret project. We were taping part of the opening segment for LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON’S LIVE SUPER BOWL SPECIAL! We waited in the green room for direction and met some of the other cast members including a group of Butler University students and cheerleaders, members of the Ball State University marching band, and mascots from every Indiana college (except my school UINDY…where was the Greyhound Jimmy?). Soon we were called to begin shooting. The first shot was all of us running from Starbucks on the circle to the theater. We practiced a couple of times running and being very excited and then HE came out! Jimmy Fallon was so genuinely sweet and funny! This cute little boy was in Starbucks and wrote, “I love you Jimmy” and “How do I get a Cheerleader autograph?” on a napkin and held it in the window. Jimmy went up and said hi to him! It was adorable.
After sprinting down the street in our chaps, we went back in the theater to learn a short dance from Danielle, the shows choreographer. She also does choreography for SNL! After learning the dance, we went back outside for another shot. This time we were joined by Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard who got a chest bump from Jimmy. Next, we taped a shot of us running with excitement through the theater’s front entrance. Next we were able to put our dancing skills to good use on the steps of Monument Circle. Our dance included “The Heisman”, “The Touchdown signal”, the “Football run”, and of course “Tebowing.” At the end of the dance we split down the center, Jimmy ran up the stairs, and we followed. We taped this a couple times but the most memorable was when my fellow teammate, Ann, bit the dust-falling flat on her face while running up the stairs! Don’t worry Ann was okay (except her bruised ego) and Jimmy got a kick out of us yelling “Cheerleader Down”. We wrapped up filming around midnight and just as it started to rain.
Wednesday February 1st, 2012
Normally on Wednesday mornings, I would get up early and head to our amazing sponsor Core Pilates and Fitness for an early morning TRX or Reformer class. I go to Core Pilates 3 to 6 times a week for amazing workouts to make sure I’m in tiptop shape, but today I was too exhausted. I knew with my crazy schedule Super Bowl week sleep was my number one priority so I could fulfill the demands of this busy week. Luckily, I work in a very flexible environment and was able to go to work a little late. All of the residents were very excited to hear about my previous day and said they would try to stay up to watch Late Night on Sunday but when you are over 70 it gets exponentially harder to stay up until 12:30. Work went smoothly then I headed to the body shop to pick up my car. It was nicely fixed including a shiny new bumper. Once I was home, I cleaned up around my apartment, packed my bag for the next day, and called my boyfriend to say good night!
Thursday Febuary 2nd, 2012
Rise and shine! Today Super Bowl Village is honoring our men and women in uniform and our show followed that theme. The NFL and the Colts LOVE our American heroes. Again, we all met at the complex to avoid each of us driving in heavy Super Bowl traffic and ran through our show with our group. Once at the holding room in the Convention Center I changed into my Air Force jumpsuit, put on my aviator sunglasses, and headed to the Pepsi Meridian stage. Again, we had to clear a space on the street to make room for our show. I sang in this show, and because of the acoustics set up on the stage, we had to think fast on our feet to make the necessary modifications. It actually went pretty well except that I missed the entrance to backstage and had to jump a barricade in the middle of the show! One thing being a Colts Cheerleader has taught me is to always be flexible. After the show, we changed into our street clothes and went to St. Elmo’s for lunch. (the shrimp cocktail was all I hoped it to be!) We had heard the rumors of the many celebrity sightings there and we wanted to catch a glimpse of Taylor Lautner, Bradley Cooper, Drake, or Ryan Gosling! Unfortunately, we didn’t see any celebrities. Since we were a little disappointed about the lack of famous faces at the restaurant, we decided to take to twitter and trick our fellow squad mates into thinking we had met the men mentioned above. They finally realized it was all a joke when we said Ryan Gosling asked us to sign his abs! After dinner, we headed to the Monument Circle to get some daytime pictures of us with the XLVI numerals then headed to the zip line. While we were waiting in line for the zip line, a worker approached us and he asked us if we were Colts Cheerleaders? I guess the big hair, Pink Victoria’s Secret Colts Gear, matching earrings, and false eyelashes gave us away. He brought us up to the front of the line which was very nice since we had two more shows to get ready for. I am very much a thrill seeker and was so excited for this experience but some of the girls were terrified to say the least (there might have been some tears shed). I must admit walking up the scaffolding was pretty scary but looking out across the city and seeing Lucas Oil Stadium from above was thrilling! We went in groups of 4 and our dance captain Natalie counted us down in true dancer style with a 5,6,7,8 instead of 1,2,3! I went with the last group and even went upside down! After the zip line adventure, we headed into the NFL Experience for some pictures and to the NFL Shop to get some great gear! After an afternoon on the town, we went back to our room to get ready for our two remaining shows at Super Bowl Village. Both shows were a “Super” success and I slept very well that night after my fun filled day!
Friday February 3rd, 2012
During football season I wear my Colts scrubs on Fridays, but today was national Wear Red for Women day. I lost my grandmother to heart disease when she was still very young so I wear red every year in memory of her! I wish she could see what I am doing with my life. I’m sure she would be very proud of me, my mother, and my little sister. After putting on my red, I grabbed a coffee and threw two pink Rock Stars into my bag for the day. I headed to work and the residents were so happy that I was able to ride the zip line since I had been talking about it nonstop all week! After a half day at work, I drove to the complex where I met up with the girls to head to the NFL Experience where they were signing autographs. I wasn’t signing autographs today though. I was asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner on the Pepsi Meridian stage to kick-off Super Bowl weekend! I was so honored and excited. I changed into my game day skirt (yes the weather was so nice I could wear my skirt) and headed to the stage with Wendell from ESG! My dad and other family members were in the front row of the sea of people and I must say that I started to get nervous! I have sung the National Anthem at events since I was in 6th grade and at many venues including at Lucas Oil Stadium last year during the Cowboys game, but I have not been this nervous in a very long time. I actually got concerned that I was going to forget the words during the song, so I stared at the flag to regain my focus. I have sung our nation’s song more than any other song and never messed up the words so I was not going to start off Super Bowl weekend like that! After I sang, Wendell and I headed back to the holding room and I learned he had previously travelled with a national gospel choir! We’ll have to sing a duet sometime! After hanging out in the holding room for a while the other girls arrived. We went through the formations for our country themed show, and then headed down to the Super Bowl Village football field! My family was in the front row again and I was excited to sing again. This time I was able to do some harmony with fellow cheerleader Ali and I think we sounded pretty great together if I do say so myself! We sang “Here for the Party” and “Boots”. After the performance, we signed autographs for the fans then headed back to the complex. We all rushed to get ready and head to the ESPN Next Party! We had a blast with our fellow squad members and it was pretty cool to be at the same event as Drake, Shaq, Jerry Rice, Tim Tebow, and Kurt Warner to name a few!
Saturday February 4th, 2012
If you ask anyone they would say I am super organized (I couldn’t keep up with this schedule if I wasn’t) but today after a very smooth week a wrench was thrown into my plans. I got up to go in for another half-day of work and another event however, when I went to start my car nothing happened. I called my amazing boyfriend, Nick, and he came to jump my car however, it wouldn’t start. After calling a tow truck and having my car checked out I learned that it needed a new starter. The mechanic was so amazing and fixed it quickly, once I told him I had to get to an event to meet Miss America! My work was also very understanding that I couldn’t make it in…did I say I love them?! With my car back in working order, I headed to Gleaner’s Food Bank for the Taste of the NFL event! This event is a fundraiser for food banks in every NFL city. One chef from every NFL city comes to the event and cooks a themed dish from their area for the guests to sample. They also had the most amazing silent auction I had ever seen, plus the Cake Boss had made a beautiful cake with a life size Vince Lombardi trophy on top. We got our directions on what we would be doing at the event. Our job was to sell raffle tickets for a chance to win two 3rd row 30 yard line tickets to the Super Bowl plus a blue and white diamond necklace. Tickets were $100 and for each ticket sold 300 meals would be provided to people across the nation! Twelve of us assisted with this event and we were paired in groups of two. Each group was asked to sell 20 tickets. My partner Natalie and I are pretty competitive and our goal was to sell the most tickets that evening. We sold 43 out of the 300 plus we sold the winning ticket! The event was so much fun and next time the Super Bowl is in town, I will be attending! What a rewarding time. For me the most exciting part of the event was that I got to meet the new Miss America, Laura Kaeppeler! I have a special affection for the Miss America organization and was thrilled to meet her at one of the first events of her reign. I thought Laura did an amazing job at the event; she is very down to earth and very beautiful! After the event, some of the girls headed back to my apartment to get ready for the Maxim party! We had a great time at the event and got to see Ludacris perform and also snapped a picture of us dressed as super heroes and villains. My teammate Nicole T. spent the night for tomorrow was the “big day” and she had to be at the complex at 7am! I was lucky and only had to get there at 11:30 am.
Sunday February 5th, 2012
Okay, I know my blog was suppose to end on the 4th but how could I not write about one of the greatest days in Indiana history and my life! So please humor me because this one is good! Those of us that filmed on Tuesday evening, packed into the van to head downtown to rehearse for the LIVE Jimmy Fallon Super Bowl Special! We got to the Monument Circle pretty early. We thought we would have to get through game day traffic but surprisingly traffic was great! Officers with the IPD were kind enough to move some barricades so we could get to the circle, even if we couldn’t get them free tickets to the big game like they jokingly asked for. Once we were able to place our things in the dance studio at the Hilbert Theatre, we went back to the circle for some Starbucks (my second of the day). It was so thrilling to be downtown amongst all the fans. This is the type of experience I had envisioned when I was thinking about trying out to be a Colts Cheerleader! After walking around a bit we headed back upstairs for our choreography session for the LIVE show. Danielle was there again. Did you know she used to dance for the New York Knicks? She made up some very sassy choreography and even asked for our input on the dance. Once we learned the dance, we ran through it and cleaned the choreography with each other. When we were satisfied we had our choreography down, we took a break while Danielle taught the rest of the group their parts. We also got to see Seth again. We had hung out with him a lot during the Tuesday shoot. He performs in the preshow and gets the audience pumped up before Jimmy goes on stage. His character in the shoot was a man in tighty whities, a headband, and a poofy vest. We dubbed him Captain Underwear. He was so funny and we had such a great time with him we decided to give him a gift of rhinestoned tighty whities, signed by the group. He thought it was hilarious and in true Jimmy Fallon style! After our break, we headed to the stage to do a run through. We met the members of The Roots, Jimmy’s house band. What an honor to perform with them and we were able to watch Flo Rida rehearse his hit song “Good Feeling.” Once we did our blocking rehearsal a couple times Jimmy joined us and they set off the pyrotechnics. We all screamed like girls when they went off the first time but then got use to it. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and got ready for on stage dress rehearsal. This took place at 7:30 so we missed a big chunk of the beginning of the game but we only had one shot at dress rehearsal and it went well. I’m happy to report that there were no wardrobe malfunctions. We headed to the holding room where they had some Super Bowl snacks for us and we were able to catch Madonna’s halftime show. We all loved it! We also loved the game! It was so close and suspenseful right down to the last play. I was thrilled with the Giants win! A Manning did it in the house a Manning built! After the game was over, we went downstairs to our place on stage with Tariq from The Roots for the start of the live show! We were all so nervous the show was LIVE. We prayed backstage and gave each other a pep talk. We had one shot and I think we nailed it! Go to www.LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com and search for the “Jimmy Fallon Super Bowl Special Opening Number (2/5/12)” video and see for yourself! After we were done with the opening sequence, we rushed off stage and ran into three members of the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, and congratulated them on their big win! We then went to watch the live show on the monitors backstage. Towards the end of the show, we lined up for the final good-bye. Once we were in line Flo Rida walked up and congratulated us on the opening of the show! We all loved his tennis shoes with the rhinestones! As we danced backstage to his song, a couple people walked by us and said hi. Have you heard of Adam Sandler, Andy Sandberg, Peter Dante, Will Forte, Vanilla Ice, or Ciara? Stephanie on the squad LOVES Andy Sandburg and brought her “Hotrod” DVD and we asked him to sign it. She was so happy she cried! At the end of the show, we all went back on stage and Jimmy got a bucket of Gatorade dumped on him! The show was a great success with 6.2 million viewers and an amazing way to end my second year as a Colts Cheerleader! Thank you Jimmy Fallon and all of the Late Night cast and crew for allowing us to be a part of this amazing show. Also thank you to the Super Bowl Committee, the City of Indianapolis, the staff of the Indianapolis Colts, and the 8,000 volunteers for putting on one heck of a Super Bowl event! I think I speak for all of the Colts Cheerleaders in saying we were honored to be a part of this history-making event. I can’t wait until the Super Bowl comes back to Indianapolis and I will get to go to that game (I need to start saving up for a ticket now)…I’m crossing my fingers that next year when the Super Bowl is in New Orleans I will be cheering on the sidelines! Go Colts!
