Lingerie footballers: Take us seriously

Skin and sex appeal is the selling point, but many of the Bliss players want to be taken seriously as pro athletes.

Playing in uniforms that resemble stuff from Victoria's Secret might make that difficult.
Amy Grogan has heard the doubters.

"I feel like we're not being taken seriously, a lot of people think it's just a skin show," said the 21-year-old Columbia College senior. "At first people are taken aback by the lingerie thing, and that's understandable, but once they sit down and realize you're playing a game and not just running around in underwear, they'll think twice."

Here's perhaps more fuel for critics: Few of the team members have had past football experience. Many of them have participated in other athletics, however.

"I've dated football players in high school and watched it on TV, so I know the general gist," said quarterback Katie Liberatore, 20, who doubles as a student at Joliet Junior College.

"I always wanted to play football growing up, but I was a little too skinny for the high school team," said Roosevelt University student Breanna Junea, 20, who longed to be part of the LFL ever since she watched the Lingerie Bowl last year.

To offset the team's lack of football knowledge, the players had to go through a rigorous training camp under the guidance of head coach Keith Hac, also a defensive coordinator with the Chicago Slaughter of the Continental Indoor Football League.

Football has become the team's life, according to Grogan.

"We sleep with our playbooks and are on the phone constantly talking about plays," she said. "We eat, breathe and sleep football right now."

On the last day of training camp July 31, some of the 20 players were nervous about making the final roster of 14 (which was later upped to 20)--especially after hearing LFL founder Mitchell Mortaza's speech.

"If you think you're on the bubble, you probably are," Mortaza told the Bliss. "If you slack today, you're not going to be there. Today, I want to see some cursing, and I want to see you get at it hard. Miami's ready for you."

The message resonated with Moinet, who put a devastating hit on running back hopeful Yanina Beccaria during the scrimmage--causing the running back to grasp her knee in pain.

"I'm excited to hit and get all my aggression out," Moinet later told RedEye.

Mandy Gasek, a Bliss athletic trainer, said the players run a high risk of injury.

"This is a high-risk, high-contact sport, and it doesn't matter if they're male or female, there will probably be lots of injuries," said Gasek, who predicted that the Bliss will see more bumps, bruises and turf burn than NFL players because of their skimpy uniforms.

The players aren't going to be complaining any time soon, though.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with being beautiful and powerful," Liberatore said. "People have their opinions, and there's always going to be someone who thinks this is exploiting us, but sex sells, it always has and it always will. I think pairing it with a sport that America loves, really you can't go wrong."

Ryan Smith is a RedEye special contributor.

These ladies know how to play the field

By Ryan Smith
For RedEye

The Lingerie Football League sounded like a joke to me at first--some harebrained scheme Vince McMahon would cook up late one night in Vegas. It didn't help that the teams have porn star names like Dallas Desire, Denver Dream and Tampa Breeze.

All it took was 15 minutes practicing with some of the ladies of the Chicago Bliss on their last day of training camp to stifle my snickers.

First, it's just short of shocking how little equipment they wear for a game of tackle football.
I was fitted with one of the player's hockey-styled helmets and a set of smallish shoulder pads.

The rest of the official LFL uniform consists of a bikini-like top and bottom--which exposes a lot of skin.

"You're a little overdressed. If you want to be like us, maybe you should take your shirt off," one of the ladies told me jokingly.

No thanks.

I started out playing middle linebacker, which I figured was simple considering how many times I pretended to be Iron Mike Singletary while playing back-yard football as a kid. Just look mean and tackle hard, right?

"What are you doing?" cried one of the players. "You're supposed to huddle us and relay the coach's call to us!"

Is this why Brian Urlacher gets paid so much? I should just play offense, maybe it's less complicated

Maybe not. Twenty-year old quarterback Katie Liberatore tells me in the huddle to run a "9" route.

"So I run around in the shape of the figure nine?" I asked.

"Just run 10 yards and slant to the left," she shot back with barely concealed exasperation.

The ball is hiked, and I follow the pattern, catch the pass and turn around to scamper downfield. Everything goes as planned for exactly five seconds. It ends with a thud when Amy Grogan, a 21-year-old journalism student whose previous athletic experience consists of figure skating, springs at me and dumps me to the ground.

"That tackle was just a 4 out of 10," Grogan bragged. "I didn't bury my shoulder, and I didn't drive my hips, otherwise I could have put you in the hospital."

OK, OK, ladies, I get it. You're tough. This isn't a giggly sorority house touch football game on the lawn.

Now let me pick up my teeth in peace.

Ryan Smith is a RedEye special contributor.