I’m Scooterist, Moto&Go, and the Copa del Rey

Just as we left for Paris, Dawson from Hell’s Fairies came back from Barcelona and told us about a great scooter t-shirts shop there, I´m Scooterist. Then a couple days later, Moto&Go in Madrid emailed to offer their rental services. If you do ever rent a scooter in Madrid, look out for Real’s bus, it’s a menace. Coming soon: Barça will crush Real in the Champions’ League, and I’ll eventually post a bazillion scooter photos from Paris.

Rok Bagoros, Slovenian Stunt Rider

As if Americans need further proof that scootering is far more evolved in Europe, stunt riding has been growing in popularity across the Continent. Originally featured in exhibitions at other motorsports events, stunt riding apparently has its own competitions now, and one of the leading stars is Rok Bagoros, a 21-year-old Slovene who grew up idolizing German sportbike stunter Chris Pfieffer and has been practicing since he turned 15. Rok performs astounding stunts, all on his customized automatic Yamaha Aerox. He’s got sponsors, a flashy website, autographed photos, magazine features, and a growing fan base. We’ve all seen our share of ill-advised scooter jackassery, but wouldn’t it be great to see Americans take stunt scootering (and racing, and customization) to such a professional level?

World Cup Semis!

Well, a few upsets later, our brackets got a serious shakeup but “tnpsc1” stays in first for now. Argentina and Brazil’s losses bombed most of us, and all the Holland fans I made fun of when this started are looking good now. I’m no math wizard, and the scoring of this contest frankly makes little sense to me, but I *think* as it stands now, if Spain wins the tournament, “tnpsc” (whom we suspect is Patrick from P-Town) wins it. If the Netherlands beats Spain in the final, Kevin “Brazil Sucks” Slater wins. If the Netherlands beat Germany in the final, Matt “m5matty1” DeVries wins, and if Germany wins, it’ll be “Mythdraug,” who’s been posting comments for years on 2SB and lives in Chicago, so it’s about time that I admit I’m not really sure who “Mythdraug” is. But don’t quote me on any of that (the winners or the players). Note that I haven’t bothered to say what happens if Uruguay wins. If they actually beat Holland in a couple hours here, I’ll try to figure it out. Note that I fell to “second to last.” so I’m way out of the running. The only World Cup match I’ve ever seen in person was Germany/Spain in Chicago 1994 (a 1-1 draw), so there’s that. I guess I’d pick Germany over Spain, they’re on a roll and I like the team better. On the other side, I’d love to see L’orange win a Cup finally, but it’s also be neat to see underdogs Uruguay pull it off. In any case, I’m cheering for the NED-URU side of the bracket in the final.

2SB World Cup Brackets Heat Up

Two exciting weeks of football are behind us, and the group stage of the World Cup is almost over. How are the 18 contenders in our 2SB World Cup Bracket doing?

France and Italy’s early exits really hurt just about everyone. In fact, with all the upsets so far, not one of the million-or-so entrants in ESPN’s Bracket Predictor has full points. We had a lot of Serbia fans that are dissapointed, too. Right now, first place is a three-way-tie with Jason Rossi, Matt Langenberg, and my 8-month-old son Pudge in a three-way tie for first. Of those three, only Langenberg has all four predicted Semifinalists left in the tournament, so he’s looking very good right now.

But even in the lower ranks, there’s hope. Three of the bottom six have all four semifinalist choices still active. Tomorrow is the last day of group play, and Brazil and Portugal are virtually locked in unless Ivory Coast beats Dear Leader by 8, but Spain could tank and pull an Italy tomorrow, and shake everything up again. We’ll see.

In any case, we’re certainly proud of the U.S.A.’s performance so far, and can’t wait for the Ghana match on Saturday. Ghana beat us 2-1 in group play in 2006, and has cooler jerseys than us, can we pull it off this time? What do our bracket-makers think?

  • 17/18 picked the U.S. to succeed in the group stage (boooo, Becky!)
  • 11/18 thought the U.S. would win their second-round match (most of the naysayers expected to meet Germany there)
  • 5/18 were optimistic to see the Yanks through to the Semifinals
  • 1/18 (Matt Langenberg) had the U.S. in the Final, losing to Holland.

I hope they prove us all wrong!

2SB World Cup Contest

Update: ESPN’s entry deadline is a bit unclear, but it could be sometime today (Thursday), so ENTER NOW!

We sort of dropped the (Official Adidas Jabulani) World Cup ball this year, since we’ve been so hyped up on the Blackhawks, (see below).

But World Cup season is always a big deal here on 2strokebuzz. If you want to get mixed up in our Quadrennial gentleman’s wager, just sign up for ESPN Soccernet’s World Cup Bracket Predictor then make your picks and join the 2strokebuzz.com group Whoever has the most points at the end of the tournament wins… something. Something good.
Continue reading “2SB World Cup Contest”

Adidas/Vespa parties in 5 cities

vespadidas
After teasing America with mostly unobtainable European tidbits, the Adidas Originals/Vespa clothing and shoe line is hitting the U.S. in full force with five launch parties at U.S. Adidas Original stores over the next week:
Berkeley, CA July 23 6-8 PM
Chicago, IL July 23 6-8 PM
Georgetown, DC July 23 6-8 PM
Miami, FL July 23 6-8 PM
Portland, OR July 24 6-8 PM
(Click on the city for the specific invitation)
These “Private Shopping Events” include a 20% discount and a gift with an $80+ purchase (I’m told anything that’s sold out or unavailable in-store can be ordered online at the event with the discount). Visitors can enter to win a customized Adidas Originals Vespa S-50.

¡Barça!

Haven’t had a soccer post in a while, and this one involves soccer, booze, and a ridiculously large Chupa Chup, so it’s got 2SB written all over it. We’re not big Barcelona fans or anything, though we love their jerseys for various reasons. We also generally dislike Argentinean soccer stars. But hey, this Messi character scored the second Champions’ League final goal against stupid Man United and tried to copulate with a lollipop, so he’s allright.

(Thanks for the link, Alfredo! Angry comments coming from Berwyn in 3… 2… 1…)

Merciless Tigers FTW!

Merciless Tigers FCAfter several seasons in multiple leagues (summer, winter, indoor, outdoor, mens, co-ed, over-40m etc.) and sometimes several games a week, our beloved Cincinnati Merciless Tigers have finally won the highest honor of the Soccer City Men’s Open Blue Division, top of the table after a 7-1-0 season. They’re also holding steady at .500 (1-1-3) in their current outdoor league. Congratulations to our men in black, Soccer City Men’s Open Blue Division Champions!

TEAM W L D G PF (AVG) PA (AVG) DIFF
Merciless Tigers 7 1 0 8 3(6.63) 27(3.38) +26

“Swimsuit Issue” is just a Sonic Youth song

Most of us stopped “reading” Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue in about 6th grade, when we finally tracked down some real porn. But there will always be 6th-graders, so SI keeps publishing it, and comically pretending it’s a guide for women shopping for swimwear. Their portfolio now includes athletes’ wives, tennis stars, cheerleaders, bodypainted nudes, Danica Patrick (you’re killing us, Danica) and the usual fashion models, but, strangely still no men (don’t men need swimsuit shopping advice?). It’s always beautifully-shot, and always edging just close enough to pornography to create a stir and sell magazines. To anyone with a connection to the Internet, the Swimsuit Issue (and even the Swimsuit Issue website) seems as anachronistic as the Sears catalog lingerie section, but as a public service, Michael dutifully searched through the sprawling site to find these photos of Daniella Sarahyba blocking our view of a vintage Vespa 50 Special in Naples, Italy. As fans of imperfection, charm, and natural beauty, we find the scooter much more appealing than the model. Is there something wrong with us if our eyes are immediately drawn to that aftermarket fenderlight, rather than Daniella’s headlights?