With only two races left, the Sony 'Zipperhead' 500 at California Speedway and the Chevy 'CSA' 400 in Richmond, the field for the Chase has all but been determined. At 540 points back from Martin, Kasey Kahne's chances are looking pretty slim. On a seperate note, with drivers' wanting to 'play it safe', the race to the Chase has completely wussified the Bristol Sharpie 500 night race.

WEEK 1

Thoughts?

IT'S FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!!!

Farewell, Vail

"Well this life that Ive lead has took me everywhere
There aint no place I aint never gone
But its kind of like the saying that you heard so many times
Well there just aint no place like home...
Did you ever see the beauty of the hills of carolina
Or the sweetness of the grass in tennessee...
Well you can take a boy out of ol dixieland
But youll never take ol dixie from a boy"

Holy Smokes!
Are you kidding me with this? Who would've thought that a month after Roland Garros we would have the treat of seeing a Federer-Nadal rematch in the final of Wimbledon? The same finalists haven't met back to back at the French and Wimbledon since 1952.
All the pieces are in place to make this an epic match. Should Federer win it will be his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title in a row and he will be one closer to tieing Borg's record of five. He will prove that, although Nadal has a winning record over him, he truly is the king of grass.
On the other hand, a Nadal victory would turn the tennis world upside down. It's been thirty years since a Spanish player has won Wimbledon and over twenty years since Borg won the French Open and Wimbledon back to back. Rafa's transition to grass in so short a time and relentless pursuit for #1 is nothing short of unbelievable. A month ago, the talk of the town was that if Federer won the French he may just be the best ever. Now, a month later, Rafa has a chance to take over the top spot.
Ever since Federer showed up on the radar in 2001 by ending Sampras' streak at Wimbledon, I've been a fan of his flawless style of classic tennis...but I can't help but pull for Nadal. Perhaps it's because he's considered the "underdog" (despite owning Roger so far) or perhaps its because it would cement these two champions into true rivalry status. Either way, "Vamos, Rafa!"

The End of an Era Vs. The Beginning of a New One
"The Punisher" Vs. "The Raging Bull"
Agassi Vs. Nadal

With this being Andre's last Wimbledon and Rafa striving to break free from being known only as a dirt baller, tomorrow morning's match should be nothing short of epic. In order for Andre to stand a chance, he needs to close the match out early. If it turns into a 4 to 5 setter, Agassi will have a hell of a time physically and mentally, as it seems Rafa's intensity usually goes into overdrive during late sets. Rafael was the victor in their only previous meeting.

Wimbledon: June 26 - July 9
With the 120th Championships at Wimbledon only a couple weeks away, I'm happy to see that the All England Lawn and Tennis Club (AELTC) has announced it will be providing free audio feeds of live action from three different courts. In addition, it appears wimbledon.org will also be carrying live video coverage throughout the tournament as a subscription service. This is great news because if NBC's coverage of Wimbledon is anything like their coverage of Roland Garros, it'll be crap.
Where to begin? Let me start by saying I thought ESPN2's coverage of the French Open was excellent and to go from ESPN during the week to NBC on weekends was gut-wrenching. First off, NBC only has a narrow time slot for their coverage which, for a good deal of the time, over-lapped with live coverage. Why then, would anybody want to watch a replay of a Federer/Nalbandian when Nadal is playing Ljubicic live? Show the live action first, then if there's time, come back to the replay. What does NBC do? They switch to the Nadal match eventually (not live) and then cut away for 'Day's Of Our Lives.' Reeediculous. Their selection of matches to replay during down times was horrible and I don't even want to get started on Mary Carillo as I'm off-topic enough as it is. The only good thing NBC has going for them is John McEnroe.
Oh yeah, James Blake moved up a spot in the rankings to #7.

Rafa rolls through Roland Garros
Federer's hopes of a Grand Slam were once again dashed within the walls of Roland Garros by none other than Rafael Nadal. Nadal won the French Open title in the fourth set at 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4). On paper it would seem Nadal's victory came fairly easily, however there were several key instances during the match where the momentum stood on razor's edge. After splitting sets, Nadal's first test came at 2-1 in the third set. Down 0-40 and facing triple break-point, Nadal showed incredible fortitude by battling back to level the set at 2 all. After winning out the 3rd, Nadal's second test came after Federer broke the young 20 year old's serve to even the fourth set at 5-5. The crowd was chanting "Roger, Roger" and it seemed Federer had found the window he was searching for to push this thing into a fifth...but Rafa wasn't having it. Both players held serve forcing the set into a tie-breaker and as quickly as Federer's window had appeared, Nadal slammed it shut. The Raging Bull has come a long way since last year and I think this shows that not only is he talented enough, but he has the mental toughness to start winning major tournaments on other surfaces.

Roland Garros
As we're nearing the semifinals it appears there could be a meeting of all top four seeds which hasn't happened since 1985. Federer (1), Nadal (2), and Nalbandian (3) are already in. Currently Ljubicic (4) is up a double-break, 5-2, in the first set and appears to be rolling.

Alex Honks Kate's Hooters

Arctic Jack?
The credits say otherwise, but it sure as hell looks like Jack.

EDIT: In the post-finale Official Lost Podcast, Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse put this one to rest...but he still could be kin to Jack. I doubt it though.

Live Together Die Alone:> Biggest Reveal - The world still exists outside of the island
> Desmond's boat - "The Elizabeth" named after Libby by her late husband, David
> Fake Henry obviously pushed the button, but why try and convince Locke otherwise?
> How does Des know the "hostiles." Has he had a run-in before?
> There appeared to be at least 100 letters from Des to Penny in the box Widmore had. If Desmond wrote 1 letter a week, that's roughly two years in prison.
> The Incident - there was a leak and now the charge builds up & the button needs to be pushed in order to discharge it before it gets too big
> Whispers - "Elizabeth"
> High-Tech Stun Darts - Zeke & Company are still connected to outside world to have such state of the art weapons
> "You've killed us. You've killed us all". -Desmond
"No, I just saved us all". -Locke
Is this an allusion to Penelope being able to pinpoint the Island's location as a result of the magnetic pulse?
> Fake Henry tells Michael to follow the compass bearing, 325, or NNW. Is this the way out from the island? Or, if he travels in this direction will he reach the ferry mentioned in the Pearl Orientation video?
Or, maybe it's just a reference to one of J.J. Abram's favorite movies, "North by Northwest".

The Teva Mountain Games return to Vail next week for it's 5th anniversary.
With the incredible snowpack this year river's are up, fishing is down, but the kayaking ought to be spectacular.

http://www.letyourcompassguideyou.com/
The same code from the Swan station Dharma food stores (DI 9FFTR751), appears in the S.E. corner of the compass face.

EDIT: The code on the Dharma food is DI 9FFTR731.

Fishin' the Blue
Fished on the Blue yesterday below Dillon Dam. I started around 7:30 behind a subdivision called The Ponds and worked my way downstream for about 5 hours. I got completely shutout throwin' Hairs Ears, Copper Johns and various midges. I'm gonna try and head back to Summit County next week, possibly below the Green Mtn Reservoir, armed with Prince Nymphs and Mysis Shrimp and there's going to be a slaying.

Kentucky Derby Party Weekend
Another weekend of debauchery in the mountains. From kicking off at the derby to late night pool hopping and an early morning exit, we crushed it. For some the weekend didn't stop there, but carried the party right on up to the Ritz for Sunday Funday. More pics here

"From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity."
-Alvar Hanso, Address to the U.N., 1967

"You know, somebody a whole lot smarter than anybody here once said: 'Since the dawn of our species man's been blessed with curiosity.' You know the other one about curiosity don't you, Jack?" -Zeke, S2E11: "The Hunting Party"

East Vail BC with Bro - 3/26/06

"It was the type of day worth an entire season, maybe more. Just when you think skiing is about to loosen its obsessive grip on your life, a day like that sneaks up and seduces you again so completely". -Stephen Drake

Easter Weekend w/ the Folks

Possible relation of the graph from ERI page of the Hanso site
to the Blast Door Map