Florida Panthers Girl

FIU's Carroll wants a hair-raising 2011

MIAMI (AP) — New season, new look for Florida International quarterback Wesley Carroll .

And a new outlook on life — for someone else.

A year ago, Carroll's scruffy, scraggly hair stretched several inches below the base of his helmet and came to rest somewhere on his shoulder pads. Members of FIU's own coaching staff teased him mercilessly. Opposing players tried to pull those locks on more than one occasion. During a road game in Louisiana, fans seated a few feet from the sideline told him he looked like a girl.

"I could take the criticism," Carroll said. "I could take the 'Hey, Goldilocks.' I heard it all. Look, I didn't have anybody to impress."

Here's why he could take it all in stride: Carroll was growing his hair out in order to donate it to Locks of Love, a nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada suffering from long-term medical hair loss. His hair was finally cut on April 2, when someone flat-ironed his hair, then put it in a ponytail and cut it off, 11 inches in all.

Ultimate Cheerleaders » From Flight Crew to Charger Girl ...

8/29/2011

When the National Football League (NFL) lockout ended in July the period that followed saw a frenzied time with scores of athletes leaving their old teams for new squads. The free agent players weren’t the only ones changing teams – a cheerleader from Fair Lawn also decided it was time to make a move.

Christie Artinger, 26, a 2003 Fair Lawn High School graduate, has traded in the green and white of the New York Jets for the yellow lightning bolt of the San Diego Chargers. Artinger, a former member of the New York Jets Flight Crew, is now a San Diego Charger Girl.

“I was looking to do something adventurous,” said Artinger of her decision to move to the West Coast. “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine, even as a child, to move to San Diego.”

Last winter, Artinger sent in an application to become a Charger Girl, a squad with a rich tradition.

“San Diego (Charger Girls) are up there with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in terms of prestige,” she explained.

Even though sunny San Diego will never be confused with Exit 16W of the Turnpike and the often cold and dreary conditions at the New Meadowlands Stadium, the call to move to the sidelines of the Chargers was not a complete no-brainer.

“I second guessed it (decision),” she said. “To move from a town (Fair Lawn) I have lived in for 26 years was hard.”

Her cold feet eventually subsided and she booked a last-minute flight to the team’s tryouts in April. After a grueling audition process that included dancing, routines and countless interviews that lasted almost a week, Artinger was one of nine new cheerleaders picked out of 425 women who tried out for the squad.

“Wow! My life just changed forever,” said Artinger of becoming a Charger Girl.

After making the team, Artinger had to move 2,844 miles to begin a new life.

“I had to pack up my life and ship everything out here,” said Artinger, who also found a job working as a sales rep for a protein drink company.

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