Friday Night Lights is making me heterosexual

OK, not really. Let me be clear here: I am what we lesbians call a gold star. But I swear to god, I have two man crushes on Friday Night Lights characters (I won't say actors, necessarily, because I do think the crush is tied up in the character to a great extent). Number one: Tim Riggins (actor Taylor Kitsch, at right). Put simply, Riggins rocks my world. He wanders around fictional Dillon, Texas, brooding and looking hot and being charming and generally awesome. No one can resist his half-smile and puppy-dog eyes. No one! Number two: Dillon Panthers Head Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler, the dude from Early Edition -- remember?). He's a good man who does right by the people he loves. He's also adorable. Sometimes you get to see these little-boy glimpses in him, and it's so great. In last week's episode he and Riggins played ping-pong in their boxer shorts at 5 a.m. (that is not a euphimism, I swear), and it was ridiculous cute.

But just when I fear that these guys are rewiring my lesbo circuits, I remember that all the women on the show are even sexier. I've already gone on and on about Connie Britton, so suffice it to say my love for her has not waned. But I did not mention Adrianne Palicki, who plays the troubled Tyra Collette. I knew a few girls in my Texas high school like Tyra -- self-assured, too grown-up for their age, sharp mind, sharper tongue, questionable home life -- and while they scared the hell out of me, I secretly wished we were friends. Because that girl? She will have your back. But that girl also doesn't have a lot of female friends. Or if she does, she doesn't let them in. Tyra has a lot of walls up, and you can't really blame her. Her life is rough. No dad, depressed mom who goes through all kinds of wrong men, stripper sister, bad boyfriends, sexual assault ... it's not pretty. But it makes for great TV. (Well, mostly. One of her storylines this season was so over-the-top, I'm pretending it didn't happen.) Adrianne Palicki is really something in this role. And oh my god, is she a stone cold fox. See for yourself: