Eight members of the Tennessee Titans Cheerleading Squad are in Mexico City this week to help kick off the 2009 NFL season. Veterans Ally, Shauna, Julia, Tonia, Alyson, and Kristin along with rookies Brianne and Danielle will promote the NFL's efforts to bring the game of American Football to our neighbors to the south. Check back each day to hear from one of the ladies and receive an update on the adventure!
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Monday, Sept. 15 (Tonia)The Return Home**I can't believe Sunday arrived so quickly, after enjoying the luxury of a late morning start, we communed in the lobby of the Hotel Presidente around 10:30 am after breakfast and last minute goodbyes to hotel staff. We loaded ourselves into our vehicles and set out for our drive to the airport taking all of Mexico City in one last time. We arrived at the airport, grabbed our bags and belongings, and headed for flight check in. Once we dotted our T's and crossed our I's it was time to say our last goodbyes to our security officers that had taken such good care of us. Talk about bitter sweet, meeting new friends, saying goodbye and returning home to old friends.......Sigh!!! We were able to take some time, do some last minute souvenir shopping and enjoyed a final group sit down together in a cozy restaurant, chatting about our recent experiences and activities while clips of the US Open and Sunday football played in the background. When it was time to board the airplane, we found our seats, still full of energy from our recent events, but not for long; soon all that was left was the engine of the airplane safely bringing us back to Nashville by way of Houston Texas, how appropriate being that the Titans and the Texans go head to head this Sunday at LP Field.
Once the buzz goes around the airport that "the Tennessee Titans are in the building," we have the opportunity to have a little football talk and make our predictions of the upcoming meeting of Titans vs. Texans after passing through the security check point. Of course, we let all the fans know: Go Titans!!
Finally, our last step: boarding our flight that brought us to Nashville. We scurried onto the airplane, still light hearted and full of memories while chanting memorable jokes and cheers from Mexico. We laughed and enjoyed the energy of the Titans fans on board until once again, all that is left is the engine of the plane until we finally touch down in Nashville. We gathered our things and briskly walked to baggage claim excited to retrieve our bags and set out for our final destination of home. One by one we were met by our perspective friends, family and loved ones until all that is left is me. As I waited for my family I look back in retrospect at this amazing opportunity and think how great it's all been and how grateful I am to have been able to experience it with such an astounding group of women (friends for life). Then my family arrived and I said goodbye to the airport, time to open another chapter to an already wonderful football season.
To the NFL, NFL Mexico and the Tennessee Titans, muchas gracias, many thanks and GO TITANS!!!!!!!!
-Tonia
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?Buenos d?as! Today is our last day in Mexico City. We all had a chance to sleep in this morning since we didn't have to start our day until 11:00am. Today, we had appearances at three different "Suburbia's" throughout the city, Suburbia Tepeyac, Lindavista, and Sat?lite. Suburbia is comparable to our Macy's, in which they sell NFL merchandise. We started at Suburbia Tepeyac; as soon as we walked in the door, we heard an on-going message announcing..."Las Porristas de los Titanes est?n aqu?..." (The Titans Cheerleaders are here) at first there was a very small crowd but after 10 minutes the crowd grew!
At all of our appearances today, the MC, Chevo introduced us, we performed twice for the crowd, signed autographs, and had LOTS of crowd participation. Chevo, had some Mexican children come on stage as we were signing and show us some typical mexican dances, in which Julia and I had the opportunity to perform with the children. Brianne, Tonia, and Danielle showed the girls a simple routine, which they gleefully did with the girls, Brianne graced the stage by singing a country song, and I asked some more trivia questions in Spanish. At our last location I asked a man to name TEN Titans players, and to my surprise he rattled them off like they where second nature! What a surprise that we have such loyal fans in Mexico! Over the past five days we all learned, including myself, that the NFL has an excellent fan base in Mexico. We had a wonderful time at each location.
We were hosted by NFL Mexico at a restaurant named Gino's for lunch. It was interesting to see everyone order from menus that were in Spanish without asking me what each word meant. I was proud of how adaptable we as a team became to our surroundings. We were even acknowledging each other in Spanish. We went back to the hotel to change and get ready for an authentic mexican meal at Villa Maria restaurant. At the restaurant, we were served their "world renowned" Tamarind flavor frozen margaritas and mini tacos and empanadas for an appetizer. We dined as a team and took lots of pictures and discussed some fun and interesting things that occurred during the day. En route to the hotel we all had an opportunity to reflect on the day and the past week and cherish our last night in Mexico City...
-Shauna **
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Friday, Sept. 11 (Alyson)*
It was another fun day here in Mexico City! At 8:15am we were already on our way to our first appearance! We spent the morning in a photoshoot and getting interviewed for the newspaper *El Economista. The most exciting part is that an article and pictures of us will be in tomorrow's paper! After finishing up with El Economista, we went to another newspaper called The Record. This appearance was so much fun because we had a photo shoot promoting Reebok's new shoes that aren't even out on the market yet! They even let us keep the shoes!
After a busy morning, we had a two hour lunch break where we enjoyed a delicious italian meal at Italianni's. Our break was very nice; we were able to relax and talk about our great experiences in Mexico.
Immediately after lunch, we walked to a high school nearby to take more photos for the newspaper T
he Record*. It was great seeing all the kids greeting us and wanting to take our picture. After leaving the school, we drove down the street to a shopping center called Suburbia Universidad. Here we signed many autographs, took pictures with fans, and performed routines on the stage. The fans liked our dances so much that they would chant for us to perform another routine! We all felt like superstars!
A few hours later, we were on our way to another appearance at Suburbia, but instead, this one was in the Villacoapa shopping area. Both of these events were very entertaining because many contests were held for fans to win prizes. There was even a dance off which included some of our cheerleaders!
After all of our appearances were finished for the day, we arrived back at our hotel around 8:30pm just in time for dinner. Today was such a fun day filled with photo shoots and fans! I can't believe tomorrow is already our last day of events! Be sure to check back to see what great things will come tomorrow! Adi?s!
-Alyson
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Thursday, Sept. 10 (Danielle)**
It was another eventful day in Mexico City, Mexico. I am proud to announce that we are featured in photos and videos on http://www.nflatino.com/tennessee-titans/2080362porristas-de-los-titans-visitaron-mexico.html. You can also find photos on www.miradadiez.com.
Our start time for the day was at 8:15 am where we headed off to a photoshoot with ESPN Magazine. We love doing photoshoots, so it was an honor to have the opportunity to do one for ESPN Magazine. This photoshoot had a clever theme to it as well! It was as if the Titans Cheerleaders were the new staff of ESPN. We were placed in front of computers, talking on phones, reading a magazines, and acting as if we had taken over the office. We were also given the opportunity to do television promotions for ESPN and ESPN Dos.
At 10:30 am we headed back to the "Mitla" room at the Intercontinental Hotel where we did interviews and television promotions for Fox Sports. We were asked questions about the process of being a Titans Cheerleader as well as our expectations for the kickoff game against the Pittsburgh, Steelers. After the interviews, Brianne was asked if she would be willing to sing two songs during the kick-off game later that night! She agreed!
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After our interviews with Fox Sports, we were taken to the office of SKY Mexico. This is a lifestyle/sports show that is aired on Fox Sports in Mexico. SKY Mexico requested only four Titans Cheerleaders to do this interview. Veterans; Julia, Kristin, Tonia, and Shauna were the lucky women chosen! They each were able to get their hair and makeup done by professionals before the show aired. Ally (second-year veteran) and Brianne and I (rookies) were able to watch the entire interview on a television in the next room!
After we were done with our interviews at SKY Mexico and were off to the hotel for our break in the day. We were able to get some practice time in and made sure that each routine was on point for the night?s events. After practice, we had the next couple of hours to ourselves to do whatever we thought was necessary. It was a great time for visiting gift shops, eating lunch, calling loved ones, and resting.
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That evening, were taken to Lunario for the NFL Mexico kick off cocktail party (Titans vs Steelers). The cinemax was decorated perfectly with Titans and Steelers helmets and life size cut-outs of various football players while the game was aired on a movie screen. While at the cocktail party, we did four dances at various times during the game. Brianne also did an amazing job owning the stage while singing "Gunpowder and Lead" by Miranda Lambert and ?Don?t Do Me No Good? by Gretchen Wilson while we danced behind her. In the midst of performances, we were able to watch the game and support the Titans while posing for pictures with fans and signing autographs. After the game was over, we performed once more and the crowd enjoyed our performance so much that they chanted "More, more." We were so pleased with the reaction and danced again for the crowd!
After the NFL Mexico cocktail party, we headed back to the Intercontinental Hotel for dinner and to get rest for the next days events. Today was a successful day full of amazing opportunities and cameras full of memories! We can?t wait for what tomorrow brings!
-Danielle
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Wednesday, Sept. 9 (Brianne)**
We had a very early start this morning, down here in beautiful Mexico. Our pick up time to head on out to the city of Queretaro was 6:45am. Queretaro is the oldest city in Mexico. I am proud to report that the Titan Cheerleaders are the very first NFL cheerleaders to visit this city, and to be in any publications in the city as well. We were first taken to the set of a very popular talk show called "Bienvenidos". This is a show that is very similar to "The View" in the states, and is seen by millions of Latinos around the country. It airs on a cable network called Cablecom, which is one of our sponsors for this NFL Latino tour. Once on the set, the other cheerleaders and I were each interviewed on live television. We were asked questions about our occupations (other than Titans cheerleading), etc. Since I am a musician, they asked me to sing. Even though they caught me off guard with this request, I gave them my best Shania Twain cover song, and they seemed to enjoy the results. Talk about being prepared for anything! After the interviews concluded, all 8 of us performed one of our hot dance routines. The guest appearance on "Bienvenidos" was a tremendous success and a lot of fun!
Next we were off to a press conference, also hosted by Cablecom, with 15 journalists and 32 flag football players at Fiesta Americana Queretaro Hotel. There, we gave photo opportunities to the journalists and signed autographs for the flag football members. Once again, we gave one of our very best dance performances. After the conference, we joined Jorge, the marketing director for NFL Mexico for a refreshing breakfast of frutas. Jorge graced us with stories of the history of Queretaro, as well as other fabulous places in Mexico that we simply must visit in our lifetime.
For our lunch break, we traveled to Porto Buzios restaurant where we joined contest winners from Cablecom for lunch and mingling. This is where we learned that in Latino culture, lunch is the most important meal of the day. We enjoyed a 4 course meal and had great time breaking through the language barrier with our guests by using practical Spanish and gestures. Of course Shauna is our leading lady of Spanish, so if we needed any translations, she was there to help.
After lunch we drove a few short minutes to Plaza Del Parque Mall, where we were greeted by hundreds upon hundreds of fans! They were all eagerly waiting for us to perform and sign autographs. When brought on the stage, we were immediately interviewed by Cablecom hosts, again being asked questions about the NFL, cheerleading, and our occupations. So you guessed it, I was asked to sing again! I rocked it out in front of a very energetic and encouraging crowd. After our dance performance, we signed as many autographs as we could and took many pictures with crowd members. The locals were all incredibly kind and big Tennessee Titans fans! Shauna was asked to do a live radio interview using her Spanish skills and continued to impress the media. We are all so proud of her!
Our last appearance of the day was at Cinemax, hosted by Cinemax. Once again, there were several hundred fans eagerly waiting for us as we entered the building. Some of the fans even included young football players in their uniforms and junior cheerleaders. The young cheerleaders performed a cheer for us after we performed for the crowd. It was so incredible to see Latinos enjoying and grasping such a huge part of the United States' past time: football and cheerleading. After dancing two more times, signing hundreds of more autographs, and taking photos with the crowd, it was time to call it a night. Our car ride back to the hotel was about two and a half hours. This gave us time to reminisce about the entire day. We all agreed that today was a blast and one that we will never forget. The people here are so anxious to meet us and watch us dance. What a tremendous honor it is to be here representing the United States' finest football team, by bringing Mexico a glimpse of what Tennessee is able to experience every football season.
There are a lot more fun adventures ahead of this Titans Cheerleading team in the days to come. Be sure to check back tomorrow to hear about our appearance for the Titans Vs. Steelers kick off party. I can't wait to cheer on our Titans with the loyal Latino Titans fans, all the way from Mexico City!
God Bless!
-Brianne
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Tuesday, Sept. 8 (Julia)**
Mexico gets more exciting by the minute!
The day started really early for me with a 6 am workout. We all met for breakfast and got an hour of practice in before we had to depart for the day. I thought our first outing was going to be a simple tour of Mexico City on a double-decker bus. Much to my surprise, we pulled up to the largest entertainment space in Mexico with about 30 journalists taking pictures and shooting video of us as we pulled up in our cars. Thank goodness Shauna was in our car, because the first two interviews were done through the car window in Spanish, and she is the only one that is fluent.
We got on the double-decker bus that had a huge NFL banner on the side. I never knew what a huge fan base we had across the world, but the people on the streets knew exactly who we were as we passed by. It was very surreal spending the entire two hours with cameras flashing and interviews going on left and right. They took us by several of Mexico City's landmarks and I had to sit back a few times and take everything in, how amazing is it to experience my first trip to Mexico like this.
We got to enjoy a quick lunch at our hotel before we headed to our next event with the United Way of Mexico. We performed for 50 girls and taught eight of them a routine. It was impressive that even though we spoke two different languages the girls were able to understand what we were teaching them and they seemed to be having fun. A journalist for Mexico's largest newspaper was interviewing Shauna about the event and she got choked up before she got out "there aren't words to describe it," and that summed it up.
Next was a performance and signing at the Cinemex, where the Monday Night Football games are played, and Mitsubishi Motors San Angel, a major sponsor for NFL Mexico. They both went very well and we commented on how many people were there. We were told that was nothing compared to what was to come on Tuesday and Wednesday. So I leave you with HASTA MANA?A...until tomorrow.
-Julia
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The morning started very early for us. We first arrived at the Nashville airport at 7:20 A.M., anxiously awaiting our departure to Mexico! This was my first time on a plane in seventeen years! Luckily I had seven other wonderful cheerleaders to help me out! Our first flight landed in Houston and over the intercom we were announced as Tennessee Titans Cheerleaders! The staff was amazing and we were escorted everywhere! Once we arrived in Mexico, we had to go through customs and we didn't even have to wait in line! Danielle was the chosen one to get her bags inspected! We had dinner with the public relations director to discuss plans for the entire week! It is going to be such an exciting week! The hotel is beautiful and the staff is amazing! Once we checked in we were able to relax for a couple hours before starting practice! Then we all had dinner at the hotel and it was great! Now we are off to bed! We have a busy day ahead of us! Check back each day to see our progress!
-Ally
