Photo by Danny Fulgencio
Blondes vs. Brunettes is an annual powder-puff football fundraiser benefitting the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Dallas. This year’s game is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, at the Cotton Bowl. Tickets cost $25 at bvbdallas.org and include an after-party at the Cotton Bowl with pizza and beer. This year’s fundraising goal is $275,000, and 100 percent of donations and ticket sales go directly to the association. Two neighborhood residents are competing in the game, 29-year-old blonde Jenn Thompson, a real estate agent with game sponsor Ebby Halliday, and brunette Tori See, 25, who is in marketing for Multiview Inc. We asked these tough ladies a few questions about the fundraiser.
How did you get involved with Blondes vs. Brunettes?
See: I found out about it a couple of weeks before the 2010 game. My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when I was 12, and my uncle has early-onset, so I signed up for it the next year.
Thompson: Five years ago, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to play on a philanthropic flag football team. I had played powder-puff at TCU in my sorority, so I was like, “As long as I can play quarterback.” And that was the first year. I originally played for the sport, and I knew of Alzheimer’s disease, but I didn’t know much about it, or I didn’t think it affected people my age. Once I became involved, I immediately realized that people my age are experiencing Alzheimer’s because they’re caring for their parents who have it. People younger than me, whose parents are younger than mine, are experiencing this. So it blossomed into a greater awareness and passion for the cause.
Who is your favorite brunette/blonde?
See: Tina Fey.
Thompson: I have to say my golden retriever, Walter.
Who is your favorite football player and why?
See: Troy Polamalu. He uses his fame as a Pittsburgh Steeler to do a lot of good in the Pittsburgh community.
Thompson: Troy Aikman. He is a great leader, a great football player, and he’s a babe.
What is your team doing to prepare for the game?
See: Practice every week. Keep an eye on the ball. I don’t want to give away our strategy. But we’re really focused on the game and on fundraising. We won last year, and it really felt great, and we want to do it again.
Thompson: We practice once a week, and we run plays. The coaches are just as involved as the players. They have to raise as much money as the players ($1,000). That’s why it’s a great organization, because we have some playful competition, like, we want to beat the Brun’s, but at the end of the day, we come back to why we’re doing this.
What is the most challenging part of all this?
See: For me personally, it’s playing football. I’m not a major athlete. Luckily, I’m not expected to be great.
Thompson: That I can’t be Brett Favre forever. [laughs] My challenge now is that I’m 29. I’ve had a really good ride as quarterback, and taking myself out of that is hard to think about. I see the younger girls coming in who are like 22, 23, and I remember being there. I just want to squeeze their cheeks. But I’m proud that we’re leaving this legacy.
What about redheads?
See: My sister’s a ginger. Anybody who doesn’t fit that dynamic of blonde or brunette gets to kind of pick their team and have fun with it.
Thompson: That’s a very good question because redheads can go either way, but each team definitely has its own personality. So the redhead kind of skews where she fits in the best. It’s not so much about the hair color as it is about personality, for the most part.
