2BS Blog - This is it.

Here are some photos from our #1 Club trip to Cedar Point yesterday
Image Gallery click here

This brings a new meaning to the phrase ‘losing it’. Watch as Asheville manager completely loses it.

I beat Josh 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2

It was a really good match and we are really evenly skilled so I’m sure we’ll rematch at some point. I am freakin tired though, that’s for sure.

Finally got another tennis time setup for this morning with Josh.. He’s going down. I’m pretty excited to play actually.. I haven’t played in forever. Eventually soon, I’ll get out to and golf sometime this summer.

What up kids

Ghana has just beat the United States 2 goals to 1 to advance out of group play of the World Cup. The United States just played too lackadaisical, too indifferent, too soft. Bruce Arena failed to push his team forward aggressively attacking the Ghana defense who were often found pushing their line too far forward. 3 mistakes equalled three goals. Reyna lost the ball to the Ghana player and he beat Keller far post to score the first goal. Ghana failed to clear their ball and Beasley crossed to Dempsey who nailed the US’s only goal of the tournament. Right before the end of the first half the United States Oguchi Onyewu was called for a foul inside the box on a tough battle for the ball which resulted in a penalty kick goal by Ghana captain Stephen Appiah. Both teams were held scoreless in the second half. Arena made his substitutions too late and even after a late push, the National team just couldn’t execute.
It’s over again for us in the World Cup. We still haven’t won a World Cup game in Europe. We still have yet to prove ourselves to the world. We just could not do it here, again, this year. It’s not like we failed to come through today, we failed to come through all tournament.

And he made good on his promise.
It only took him 2 years to do it and yes he had a lot of help from D WADE

Shaq on verge of fulfilling promise of championship

June 3, 2006
By Ethan Skolnick
Special to CBS SportsLine.com

MIAMI—Upon his 1995 introduction on the deck of Micky Arison’s Carnival Imagination, Pat Riley said he envisioned a championship parade, but one unfortunate event after another killed plans for such a party.

So the celebration on July 21, 2004, was the closest South Florida had come. That’s when Shaquille O’Neal hopped out of an 18-wheel diesel truck featuring his giant mug, armed with a Super Soaker, a goofy smile and a vow to belatedly fulfill Riley’s vision.

Shaquille O’Neal has 28 points and 16 rebounds in Miami’s victory. (Getty Images)

“Remember this,” O’Neal announced that day. “I’m going to bring a championship to Miami. I promise!”

He told the “beautiful” people that he would add more energy to the city, and that it would have no regrets: “Get your tickets now. Buy cable now. Get your jerseys now. Pull your boats up to the docking stations now. Bring your Sea-Doos now. If you can’t afford a Sea-Doo, get a raft. If you can’t afford a raft, go to Wal-Mart and get the blow-up raft like I got at my house.”

Friday, Miami finally got to see that he was serious. Friday, Miami got a glimpse of the O’Neal of old, instead of an old O’Neal. Friday, behind a once-again dominant center, the Miami Heat finally got past the Detroit Pistons 95-78 and Miami got within four NBA Finals wins of that parade.

In the clinching Game 6, O’Neal got to fulfill several promises.

“I promised my kids I wouldn’t lose today,” O’Neal said in the postgame locker room.

He promised his father he would go stronger.

He made promises to his teammates, too.

Dwyane Wade had spent the morning at the hospital, rehydrating, recuperating, sipping tea and applying vapor rub.

“He just told me to come in and pace myself,” Wade said. “He said the guys are ready today so you ain’t got to do it all today—just pace yourself.”

Jason Williams, Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem had spent much of the series struggling. Heat fans had spent the past 44 hours worrying, wondering if this would be just another cruel disappointment.

Nothing to stress about, as it turned out.

O’Neal: 28 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks, countless shot changes and tireless effort.

One clinching victory.

Four wins to go.

“The job is not done,” O’Neal said.

Only the Pistons are, because of O’Neal’s job exceptionally well done. They had eliminated him in two successive postseasons, but Friday they had no answer. He had a block before Detroit had a basket. He had a consistent presence in the defensive lane, enough to keep making Chauncey Billups think twice and pull back.

“Shaq took away a lot of easy shots,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said, after watching his team play chuck and chase, with Billups missing 11 of 14 and Rasheed Wallace clanking on 8 of 12.

And O’Neal got a lot of easy ones himself, either on hooks or dunks after getting deep position, or on putbacks. He had 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting by halftime, and consequently the Heat had an 11-point lead, energizing the crowd and his teammates while calming everyone’s fears.

Then he had one spectacular final sequence to send the Pistons griping into the offseason.

He had just committed a turnover. A 20-point lead had shrunk to 13. Richard Hamilton had finally gotten loose, scoring 12 straight Piston points. Then Hamilton had a steal, and a chance to cut the lead back to 11 with six minutes left.

Hamilton drove.

O’Neal pinned his layup by the basket, then recovered the rebound, then rumbled down the floor, snatched a Williams pass and dunked.

Rally killed.

Heat alive.

“Without him, we probably wouldn’t be there tonight,” Riley said.

Because of him, and Williams’ signature game in a Heat uniform (hitting his first 10 shots), they will be in Dallas or Phoenix on Thursday.

Either opponent will present problems for O’Neal, because of styles that tend to take him out of the action. Each was 2-0 against Miami this season. But that’s another day’s worry.

“I just told the guys that they can come to me, whenever they need a bucket just come to me,” O’Neal said. “For the first five or six minutes I actually didn’t touch the ball and I got a little worried, but everyone else was playing so well, I just became a role player until they came to me.”

He didn’t come toward the Eastern Conference trophy after the game was over, just as he has refused to come speak at the podium until he reached the NBA Finals. That wasn’t all he promised, after all, and it isn’t how he will stamp his legacy. He wants a fourth championship, which would be one more than contemporary superstar Tim Duncan, and now he has his shot.

Miami has its shot.

He is 34.

Who knows when each will get another?

“He’s in a great flow right now,” said Alonzo Mourning, the former rival turned friend, taken one spot behind O’Neal in the 1992 draft. “His timing is there. He’s in great health. We’re gonna ride his shoulders all the way to the top.”

No need. Even after the city’s climbed on, there’s still plenty of room on that raft.

Okay, so I must have died and woke up in bizzarro world because as much as this is fact it is still hard to believe.

National League East W L Pct GB Home Road East Cent West Streak L10 NY Mets 44 26 .629—21-14 23-12 21-10 7-6 13-7 Won 1 7-3 Philadelphia 35 36 .493 9.5 18-22 17-14 14-14 5-10 13-7 Lost 1 3-7 Florida 30 37 .448 12.5 15-17 15-20 9-15 8-10 9-9 Won 9 9-1 Washington 32 41 .438 13.5 15-19 17-22 14-17 12-15 2-5 Lost 2 3-7 Atlanta 30 41 .423 14.5 14-18 16-23 15-17 4-6 11-14 Lost 8 1-9

The Mets are having a great season. Florida got hot recently and the Braves have lost the last 17 out of 21 games including 8 straight. It doesn’t get any easier in the schedule either. After the Blue Jays series it goes: @Tampa, @Yankees, then home vs Baltimore, St Louis, and then Cincinnati. This will mark the All Star break. The Braves need to win 60 percent of these games. It doesn’t look good. But I live in Michigan so according to Darren, I am supposed to root, live, and die by the results from the home team. At least in this case, this year, that’s the Tigers who are actually playing pretty good. Like I still say, It’s early yet.

Best goals of the World Cup so far…
and there were some pretty freakin cool ones

Lots of good movies on and games etc..

5:00-630am A Fine Mess ENCORE 320
6:00-800am Being John Malkovich IFC 318
6:30-815am K-9 ENCORE 320
6:00-830am The Rookie TNT 33
6:00-900am Live from US Open Golf 66
7:00-900am Universal Soldier: The Return FX 67
8:15-1030am Big AMC 34
8:30-11am Space Cowboys TNT 33
9:00-1130am Die Hard 2 FX 67
9:00-1130am World Cup Soccer Croatia vs Japan ABC 13
10:00-2pm Apocalypse Now Redux BRAVO 54
10:30-1220pm The Village ENCORE 320
11:00-130 pm Lethal Weapon 2 TNT 33
11:30-200 pm Dark Blue FX 67
11:30-200pm World Cup Soccer Australia vs. Brazil ABC 13
12:20-205pm Under Siege ENCORE 320
12:30-315pm Jurassic Park AMC 34
12:30-330pm CFL Football Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Toronto Argonauts SNY 77
12:30-700pm U.S. Open Championship, Final Round From Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. NBC 10
1:00-500PM Nextel Cup: 3M Performance 400 From Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich. FOX 7
1:00-33pm Baltimore Orioles at New York Mets WB 16
1:00-330 New York Yankees at Washington Nationals YES 47
1:00-300pm Kindergarten Cop USA 32
1:30-4pm The Mummy TNT 33
2:00-530pm Detroit Tigers at Chicago Cubs WGN 3
2:00-430pm Bad Company FX 67
2:05-405pm Con Air ENCORE 320
2:30-500pm World Cup Soccer France vs. Korea ABC 13
3:00-500pm National Lampoon’s European Vacation USA 32
3:30-600pm Champ Car World Series Racing G.I. Joe’s Grand Prix of Portland CBS 8
4:00-6pm Jumanji TNT 33
4:00-630pm Top Gun SPIKE 27
4:05-605pm Navy SEALs ENCORE 320
5:00-700pm Meet the Parents USA 32
5:00-800pm Toledo Mud Hens at Rochester Red Wings WBGTCA 18
5:30-8pm Ronin AMC 34
6:00-8pm Jurassic Park III TNT 33
6:05-800pm Predator ENCORE 320
6:30-900pm Blade SPIKE 27
7:00-900pm Bruce Almighty USA 32
7:00-10pm Live from the US Open Golf Channel 66
8:00-10pm Cheaper by the Dozen TBS 6
8:00-1015pm Signs TNT 33
8:00-1030pm The Scout ESPN Classic 204
8:00-1100 GLIFL: NY/NJ Revolution at Rochester Raiders WBGTCA 18
8:00-1115pm The Last Samurai AMC 34
8:00-1130pm Boston Red Sox vs Atlanta Braves ESPN 24
8:31-908pm NBA Nation ABC 13
9:08-1159pm NBA Basketball Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat Game 5 ABC 13

It’s Mr Met 15 years ago

Had to be done. Even got new clippers to do the job. They really worked well.

Everything is gonna be okay.

Okay so I just realized that now I have a grand total of 64 Fantasy Baseball Teams. All on Yahoo. Recently midseason leagues have been forming and I signed up for a lot of those. Yahoo allows you to have 4 teams per yahoo id for each fantasy sport of the year. I play all the big ones. (shakin head in a sideways-swivel motion). I am the Big One.. Anyway.. Before the midseason drafts which started a few weeks ago I had only 24 teams on 6 ids. Well, I got caught up in the midseason drafts cause I love drafting, and I just love having super sick teams of players who are just heating up right now. I had several big big targets and several key drafts that should enable all of those teams to succeed well. It’s not like I just pick the teams and them leave them. (although i did forget about 4 of my basketball teams last season, only did 12, got bored, forgot).. Anyway. most of my original 24 are doing pretty well, many of them are leading their leagues or very close. I do have a few sticky teams that I am trying to finangle because my guy I took in the draft either isn’t performing or hasn’t yet. I’m expecting a big second half for many key players.. Okay so anyway, I drafted 40 more teams and now have 64 teams.. Here are a few of my key targets and many of the players I have on my fantasy teams..

In the drafts this would have been my top 5 regardless of what position I had.
1. Alfonso Soriano, Washington Nationals, 2B-LF-OF
2. Alex Rodriquez, NY Yankees, 3B
3 .Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles Angels, RF-OF
4. Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox, LF-OF
5. Jason Bay, Pittsburgh Pirates, LF-CF-OF

A typical team of mine looks like this.
C Joe Mauer / Brian McCann / Johnny Estrada
1B Ryan Howard / Paul Konerko
2B Alfonso Soriano / Chase Utley
3B Nomar Garciaparra / Chipper Jones
SS Miguel Tejada / Edgar Renteria / Hanley Ramirez
OF Grady Sizemore / Carl Crawford / Carlos Lee
OF Vlad Guerrero / Andruw Jones / Manny Ramirez
OF Jermaine Dye / Corey Patterson / Eric Byrnes / Scott Posednik / Jeff Francouer / Johnny Damon / Alex Rios
Util David Ortiz / Jose Castillo /Jose Reyes / Travis Hafner / Dan Uggla / Felipe Lopez / Chone Figgins / Jimmy Rollins / etc
SP Carlos Zambrano / Pedro Martinez / Mike Mussina / Roger Clemens / CC Sabathia / Bartolo Colon / Francisco Liriano / Jerad Weaver / John Smoltz / Tim Hudson
RP Jonathon Papelbon / Mariano Rivera / BJ Ryan / Bobby Jenks / Akinori Otsuka

two goals for austrailia in the last 5 minutes

that second goal was sick, it bounced off both posts practically, breathtaking

From another site,

Season Three Info/Spoilers…
Current mood: excited

Lost Spoilers
Lost airs on ABC on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST. The series was renewed for a 3rd season. It will return in September for 6 episodes and then go in hiatus for 12 weeks and come back for 17 straight episodes.

There are currently no Lost episodic spoilers.

General Season 3 spoilers:

*Next season, we will understand the real ramifications of Desmond activating the failsafe and what that did. The central issue of season three will be what did happen. It sounds like Desmond’s coming back. They said they want him back, we want to know why he was in prison, we want to know what happened when he turned that key that affected the entire island. That will become very important. The island was visible but only for an instant. It was also visible for an instant on 9/22/04 when the plane crashed. The foot statue represents the history and archeology of the island. Season three will explore what happened on the island before Dharma arrived in the late 70’s and who was there. The smoke monster will definitely be back in Season three. There is a good chance we saw the monster this year and didn’t realize we were looking at it. By the end of next year we will realize what it was and when we saw it. Why did the Others take Jack, Kate and Sawyer? Where is their home? That will be the story told over the first six episodes. Season 3 will also be about the main characters and their relationships. They want to service the relationships next year more than the mythology. How Locke got in the wheelchair, how Jack got his tattoos will be revealed in Season three.

*I just received some exclusive intel on the new characters joining Lost. In addition to the two female roles, the show is also adding a new hunk. Descriptions are: Female, 30s, with leadership qualities. Female, early 20s, very attractive. Male, Latino, early 20s, handsome, mysterious quality. My guess? These are some of the “background” survivors that Carlton Cuse told me would emerge next season.

*Next season will be about the Others, as led by the oblique Henry Gale (played by Michael Emerson, who will join the regular cast). Mr. Cuse listed what viewers will learn about the Others by this time next year: “Who are these people? How many of them are there? What is their history? What are they trying to accomplish?”

*Producers of ABC’s hit series Lost [...] told SCI FI Wire that it sets up the upcoming third season, which will focus more on romanceâand on the mysterious Others. “The Others are an important part of season three, and there’s a lot of mysteries and a lot of questions about the Others that the audience is going to be curious about going into season three,” said executive producer Carlton Cuse in an interview. “And those are the things we’re going to explore.” Cuse added: “There will definitely be some new characters on the show next year… Obviously, Michael Emerson, who plays Henry Gale, he’s someone who’s going to be very prominent in the show next year.” Fans were also introduced to a new character who promises to figure in next season’s storylines: Penelope Widmore, played by Sonya Walger. [...] “I’m excited about love in season three,” said executive producer Bryan Burk, adding: “Don’t forget now the people have been on the island for 60-plus days. They’re now obviously more familiar with each other. ... The concept of love is there, and… it weaves its way through all of our characters. It’s going to be much more prevalent in season three.”

*I will say that the next season is a lot about the Others. There’s a lot of mysteries about the Others that we’ll be getting into next year. [We will see more of Alex next season.]

*ABC’s Lost is on the hunt for two new actresses to join the cast for Season 3, now that the show’s distaff ranks have been quickly depleted by the twin killings of Michelle Rodriguez’s Ana Lucia and Cynthia Watros’ Libby.

*[Chances to see Ana-Lucia in flashbacks are] slim to none, “Never say never, but we feel like we told her story,” he reveals. “Her arc had a beginning, middle and an end.” “You will [eventually] find out what happened to Cindy,”

*Harold Perrineau is not a regular for next season. He could be back as a guest star (Ã la Walt this season) but not as a regular cast member.

*Michael Emerson (Henry Gale) [...] is returning next season as a series regular.

*[In Season 3,] there will be new locations and new characters (one rumor has Desmond joining the cast full-time, but producers won’t comment). The season’s big theme sounds timely, twisty, and terrifying. Hints Lindelof: “’Us versus Them.’ But who’s the ‘us,’ and who’s the ‘them’?”

*Libby’s got this mysterious backstory, of which we’ve only given you the tip of the iceberg. We know she’s spent some time in the mental institution with Hurley, and the idea of killing her before she had an opportunity to explain how she got there… we have a master plan for how we’re going to tell that story, but it’s all posthumous. You’ll start to learn Libby’s moves through flashbacks over the course of the next season. So we’re not done with Cynthia, but Libby is dead.

*The growth of Malcolm David Kelly (Walt) will be addressed in the 3rd season. You can expect to see more of Rousseau next year, but the story of the wrecked research vessel, it will be coming at some point but we can’t guarantee it’ll be in Season 3. We’ll be introducing new characters in Season 3, so you’ll be getting fresh flashbacks. You’ll probably see fewer flashbacks of our original characters as we begin to move toward certain inevitabilities. You will learn more about some of the other survivors next year. Also, where the new characters come from in Season 3 is going be part of the fun and anticipation over the summer, and hopefully by the end of the finale you’ll be getting some sense of who those characters might be. We are going to produce the next 22 hours of Lost in Season 3.

*I’ve heard that a few actors will no longer be contracted as series regulars [next season]—but that doesn’t mean we won’t see them again.

*Writer/Supervising producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach reveals (note that this is a summary of the spoilerish things he revealed): You have not seen the last of Dharma, but it’s going to be a little while before you find out a little bit more. The Dharma Initiative was a communal research facility on the island. A lot of scientists and free-thinkers got together to do a lot of different kinds of research: psychiatry, zoology – and remember that with the zoology of the film you saw some polar bears. It’s possible there were some animal aggression studies going on there, as well as human psychology experiments and a whole variety of other things. The Dharma Initiative was founded by two peacenik Grad students who were trying to get to the bottom of a lot of mysteries about human behavior. There are six bunkers on the island, and they were devoted to a lot of different kinds of research. That’s going to open up a lot of different avenues for us to tease you with what the kind of research was, and how it’s evolved now that the Dharma Initiative seems to have fallen into disrepair. A lot has happened on the island and the Dharma Initiative is just the tip of the iceberg…

*There is going to be a flashback story that fully explains the significance of all [Jack’s] tattoos and puts it into the framework of what was happening in his life when he got them.

Not all that good a day but not all that bad a day either. Actually I’ve had a pretty good day so far and it’s going to get even better soon. Granted I did work from 11 something til 4 and I did get stiffed maybe ten times today which sucked, but it’s nice outside, I am still breathing, things are good. Sara will actually be here tonight, she’s in town now. But she’s at the lab now, which is why she came to town. After that, It will be time to eat something and that will be good. I don’t know yet what we should eat, I kinda wanna go get something cause I don’t have shit for food here and I’m lazy but even acquiring food still requires some activity. I also got to wash some dishes at work today. It was pretty cool. Didn’t have any standout customers today, okay I guess except for the fat teenage girls who wanted to tell me it was their sisters birthday. Sure, I’ll get right on that. I didn’t sing but I gave her a balloon. I am done giving out free birthday songs. She’s 16 now. Yeah. I actually did get two dollars and change from that table (5 people) so at least I got something out of the deal. Speaking of which I only got a dollar and 4 quarters (5 business dudes) at the same time. Okay, u know what fucking sucks. Yeah we get our share of total freakin scum people who come into Pondo and we just know not to really expect a tip. Sometimes we are surprised by a few bucks, but generally speaking I’m not as upset if I am already not expecting much. However, this business looking-upper class persona that eats at Ponderosa, who obviously all have jobs and probably pretty good paying jobs. They never fucking tip good at all. Like I said I got 2 bucks for 5 guys today and that even suprised me. If I didn’t walk past them as they got up from the table saying “Alright Guys HAVE A GOOD DAY” I don’t think I would have even seen a dollar. Man.. I just don’t get it sometimes. Fucking pisses me right off. But anyway. I’m going to go now, I have tomorrow off and Sara will probably be back sooner or later so I gotta go catch the end of PTI.

The Diesel was in full effect tonight.
28 points. 16 rebounds. 5 blocks.

Shaquille O’Neal #32 of the Miami Heat dunks over Ben Wallace #3 of the Detroit Pistons. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter)

Oh yeah, and Wade is just Awesome.

Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat drives against Richard Hamilton #32 of the Detroit Pistons. (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant)

I really don’t see the Mavs or the Suns stopping them.

That means in 5 days it will be time for the 6-6-6 PARTY!

Everyone is invited.