Just like in the movies...

photo by: TOM McCARTHY/Special to The Sun
contributed by: Chris Brew

[Saturday] Ben played in the final home game for GHS. He was allowed to start in what was going to be a ceremonial nod for him and his struggle. He didn't think he'd last more than a few minutes, but ended up playing about 15 minutes. He played real well I thought, didn't look like he had missed much since his last game almost two years ago. But then he came out to a huge ovation. At half time there was a little ceremony on the field for all of the seniors and their parents. It was a beautiful day, bright sun and a bunch of people came out to cheer Ben on. TV20 was there doing a story on him as well as the Gainesville Sun.

We all thought Ben was done for the day when he ended up going back in for the last seven minutes or so of the game. And . ...BEN SCORES..... Yes, it was unbelievable!! They made a good run up the side, Ben drifted towards the front of the goal, someone crossed it to him and he smacked it, bounced it off a defender and into the back of the net. The place erupted. They were down 3-1 at that point so it turned into a respectable game.
It was a glorious end to a glorious day for Ben!

Read the Gainesville Sun story here

CONGRATULATIONS BEN!

GATORS 41 OSU 14
'nuf said

D-Day!

Tonight is the night where the Gators will honor 100 years of football at the University of Florida by winning it's second National Championship in football.

5count's prediction:
The Buckeyes can't knock the rust off quick enough to stop the healthy and rested Gators from going up by two scores early. Ohio will regain their composure in the second half, but the damage will have already been done...
Gators hold on down the stretch to win 27-24.

More photos from the Italy trip...

In an earlier post I gave you all a link for a slideshow that contained a plethra of photos from my trip to Italy this past summer. Missing from that slideshow were shots taken on my rides up Alp D'Huez and the Passo di Stelvio. I've just recently gotten some missing photos from my travel/cycling companion, Rodrigo, and figured I'd show a few of them to you here...enjoy!


This was taken at the top of Alp D'Huez in front of the actual finish line from the Alp D'Huez stage of this past years Tour de France.


Here I am pausing for a photo during the decent of Alp D'Huez. The little town in the background is Bourge d'Oisans, where the climb starts.


Rodrigo and I were excited about our Alp D'Huez accomplishment as shown by our poop-eating grins. We left immediately after this photo on a marathon trek all the way back to Bellagio, Italy where we ended up sleeping in the van due to our late arrival at our bed & breakfast.


This is the highest passable point in all of Europe, the Passo di Stelvio at 2,758 meters above sea level. It was about 70 degrees farenheit and sunny at the bottom...here at the top (which is the border between Italy and Switzerland) is was in the 20's and snowing.


Here I am during the decent of the Passo di Stelvio.


This is a view looking down on one section of the route to the top of the Stelvio. There were parts that kicked up to 14% on this section.

Christmas Gift Idea...

Back in Black...

The Discovery channel pro cycling team just put out there kit design for the 2007 season. You can check it out at ThePaceline.com.

Making Room for Baby...

As you may or may not know, my beautiful wife and I are expecting our first child. As a result, we've been cleaning out closets and guest rooms and last weekend we tackled the garage...all in an attempt to make room for baby!

We were able to throw away a ton of junk as well as take a load of stuff over to Goodwill. The things that were left were consolidated, organized and put back in an orderly fashion. We now have a clean, uncluttered garage so that I can set up my cycling workshop/training center... with just one minor obstruction...

...a 6ft long practice bar from my days as a competitive flair bartender (cough, cough, 5th place at the 2003 world Bartending Championships, cough, cough).

I need to find a good home for this georgous piece of American craftsmanship so that I can move forward with my garage makeover. By going to www.5count.com/bar, you'll be able to find out all the pertinent information regarding the bar. I'm throwing in a few extras to get you started with your dream of being a bartender. Perfect for home parties, flair bartending practice or just to setting your TV on, this bar is a steal!

***click on image for larger view

Ben Brew follow-up

Some of you may remember a couple of posts here on 5count pertaining to Joe Brew's little brother, Ben. (if not, you can check 'em out here) Well, the Gainesville Sun ran a story on Ben today on the front page of the sports section.

Ben is now in remission of his T-cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia that he was diagnosed with on September 8th of 2005. Ben has regained a lot of strength (and hair) and is now getting himself ready to rejoin his varsity soccer team at GHS. You can read the Sun's article here, and you can see Ben in action at Citizens Field on January 20th, as GHS takes on Tallahassee Leon for the teams "Senior Night".

It was just a matter of time though, wasn't it?

2006 SEC Champions!!!

Look out OSU...

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!
...from the staff at 5count

Christmas shopping through 5count!

Need a Christmas gift idea for your favorite cycling friend? Order a 5count original. Go to the 5count apparel store and get the "Big Trunk" T-shirt in one of 3 different styles. If you like the design, but don't see it on a type of shirt you want, let us know and we'll try to accomodate your request. No minimum order required, act now supplies are limited!!!

Paging Anthony Musalo

Moose, all the email addresses I have for you are bunk. If you see this, email me! If anyone else reading this has a current and valid email for the Moose, let me know what it is.

How bout that HFH t-shirt???

For those of you that opted to purchase the Horse Farm Hundred t-shirt at this past weekends "Gainesville Cycling Festival", I hope you are enjoying my t-shirt contest's winning entry. Thats right, the horsey/bike chain logo came from your's truly. If you are in need of a design for your next event, drop me a line...Daddy needs a new bike ($$$)!

Italy trip

Thanks to the urging of the 5count masses (all 3 of you) I have finally assembled some photos from my trip to Italy. With the help of my "web-guru" Brent Ferraro, there is now a slick little slide show available on 5count.com. I have broken the trip into ten folders, each one containing photos from a specific part of Italy. The ten folders result in over 300 images for your veiwing pleasure, so take your time and peruse them at your leisure.

Below is a screen shot of what you'll find when you arrive at 5count.com.



Here is a quick idiots guide to navigating the slide show:

(1) Click on a rectangle to take yourself to the corresponding folder.
(2) There are eight locations on screen one and two more on screen two. Click "next screen" to navigate to screen two.
(3) Once in a folder, the automated slide show starts automaticly (thus the term - automated). To pause the automation and go through the images at your own speed, click the pause button in the lower-right hand corner of the window. To restart the slide show, simply click on the play button that appeared in the same location.
(4) To scroll through the images on your own, click the "+" or the "-" buttons at either end of the thumbnails at the bottom of the window.
(5) To only view the images that interest you, and skip the ones that don't, you're able to view a slightly larger thumbnail simply by hovering your cursor over one of the thumbnails at the bottom. Click on the disired thumb and go directly to that image. * by doing this, the automation of the slidshow will be automaticly paused if it hadn't been paused already.
(5) While an image is displayed in the main window, a caption of the image is available by hovering your cursor over the image (no clicking required). Many hours of research were finding the names of the things I photographed, so hover over those images and you might learn something.
(6) To return to the main menu click on the little box icon located at the lower-left corner of the window

For those of you itching to see photos of Alp D'Huez or my summit of the Passo di Stelvio, you'll have to wait a bit longer, my travel companion still has the cycling-related images in his posesssion...I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime enjoy the pics, let me know what you think, stay tuned!

5count