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Heaven and Hell recently performed at Darien Lake I guess?

Click Here for the youtube

Jen and Daves excellant Birthday singing in celebration of Mike from you guessd it www.mikesauctions.com

Click Here for the youtube video

Visit the link to you tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLp1ku2f1qA

Paul Posluszny

Out indefinately with a broken arm in todays game.

PRO: Drafted by the Bills in the second round of the 2007 draft, 34th overall after trading for pick from Detroit… sixth Penn State linebacker to be drafted by Bills.

Boom Reeb
mikesauctions.com

NHRA driver Ashley Force gets nod over Tom Brady and Danica Patrick as the hottest athlete

By The Associated Press

September 19, 2007

Ashley Force has been named the winner of the first annual ``Hottest Athlete'' poll on AOL Sports.

The Web site's users voted on the best-looking men and women in sports over several weeks and National Hot Rod Association star Force beat out football hunk Tom Brady, as well as fellow motorsports competitor Danica Patrick for the honor.


Force, the daughter of longtime NHRA star John Force, spent two seasons in the entry-level Super Comp class and three more in the Top Alcohol Dragster class before becoming the 10th woman in NHRA history to earn a license to compete in the Funny Car division.

``While competing in Top Alcohol, she won five NHRA national events including the biggest event in the sport, the 2004 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Force and her father made racing history in April when they became the first father and daughter to race against each other.

Ashley won the race and advanced to the semifinals, where she tied for the highest ever Funny Car event finish for a female.

Sabres-Penguins outdoor game is a hot item with 42,000 tickets sold

September 18, 2007

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- It's a hot ticket for what could be a very cold hockey game.

It took less than 30 minutes Tuesday morning for fans to buy all 42,000 tickets made available for the NHL Winter Classic, an outdoor game between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins to be played at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Jan. 1.

"I don't know if anybody anticipated that," Sabres spokesman Michael Gilbert said, referring to the speed of ticket sales. "It's another indication of how special this market is toward hockey."

Gilbert said 32,000 tickets have been held back for Sabres season-ticket holders, who have the option to buy more tickets in addition to the ones they have. Tickets have also been reserved for the NHL, as well as both teams.

Tickets went on sale one day after the NHL announced it would hold its second outdoor game and first in the United States.

The stadium in Orchard Park is home to the NFL's Buffalo Bills and has a seating capacity of about 74,000.

Fans began lining up outside the stadium before midnight. Ticket buyers also jammed the Sabres phone lines for most of the day.

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Sport's Illustrated

Pittsburgh 26, Buffalo 3

By ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
September 16, 2007

AP - Sep 16, 5:53 pm EDT

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Buffalo Bills were desperate to honor injured teammate Kevin Everett by giving him an unexpected get-well present, a road victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Emotion, heart and enthusiasm took them only so far on a day their offense went nowhere.

Willie Parker ran for a touchdown and 126 yards and Ben Roethlisberger threw for a score as the Steelers controlled the clock and the tempo while pulling away from Buffalo for a 26-3 victory Sunday. It was the Bills' first game since Everett badly injured his spinal cord on a hit against Denver. He watched parts of the game from his hospital room.

The Bills, wearing Everett No. 85 T-shirts under their jerseys that will be sold for charity, stood up physically to the favored Steelers in a game reminiscent of the teams' tough matchups of the mid-1970s, when Hall of Fame running backs O.J. Simpson and Franco Harris matched difficult yards.

A quarter-century later, quarterback J.P. Losman couldn't generate any offense, as Buffalo was outgained 421-223 and Pittsburgh held the ball nearly 70 percent of the time. The Steelers, whose first four scores came on Jeff Reed field goals, finally took control with the only two touchdowns in the final quarter and a half.

"Everyone had their hearts filled with love for Kevin -- we just have to go out and play better than we did," safety Jim Leonhard said. "We played real hard that first half, we didn't give up touchdowns. But you have to get off the field on third downs or that starts to wear on you.


Parker, whose first career 100-yard game helped eliminate Buffalo from the playoffs to end the 2004 regular season, got the tough yards when the Steelers (2-0) couldn't throw effectively early. He has three consecutive 100-yard games dating to last season.

"Their defensive ends pass rush 100 percent all the time, so I knew it was going to leave a hole in the gap (to the outside), and that's where I ran," Parker said.

Mike Tomlin won his home opener as the Steelers' coach, just as Bill Cowher (1992) and Chuck Noll (1969) did. Tomlin also matched Cowher by winning his first two games. The Bills (0-2) lost their fourth in a row dating to last season.

It was an emotionally draining week for the Bills, who initially feared Everett might be paralyzed and then rejoiced as better news arrived each day. Everett was moving his legs, his hips and, by the end of the week, several fingers.

Still, it made for a difficult and distracting week of preparation to play a Steelers team that appears determined to make up for its post-Super Bowl 8-8 season of last year.

"I don't want to use it as an excuse," wide receiver Lee Evans said. "We didn't play very well, especially on the offensive side of the ball. It really didn't take a toll on us. We just didn't play well."

Pittsburgh outgained Buffalo 239-50 -- including 155-9 on passing yards -- in the first half. The Bills were without injured defensive regulars Ko Simpson, Coy Wire and Jason Webster. But the Steelers couldn't get into the end zone until late in the third quarter on Roethlisberger's second TD pass in as many games to rookie tight end Matt Spaeth. Roethlisberger was 21-of-34 for 242 yards and one interception.

"We kept putting 3s on the board, but at least we were doing that while we ran the clock off," guard Alan Faneca said. "We definitely would have liked to get in the end zone a couple of times. It stings a little bit when you're only putting 3s up."

Through two Steelers victories, Roethlisberger has five TD passes and an interception. A year ago, following a motorcycle crash and an appendectomy, he had five interceptions and no TD passes while losing his two starts.

Losman had only two completions for 5 yards until late in the third quarter. He finished 15-of-25 for 154 yards.

A week after Everett was hurt, the Steelers got a scare of their own when outside linebacker James Harrison lay motionless on the field with a neck injury for several minutes at halftime. But he was back on the sideline, walking freely, midway through the third quarter, and tests showed no serious problems.

"It made you a little nervous after what happened last week," defensive end Aaron Smith said.

Notes:

Pittsburgh has allowed 10 points in two games. The defense has 10 sacks. ... Of Roethlisberger's first 11 completions, nine were to different receivers. ... The Steelers wore throwback uniforms modeled after those worn in the 1950s and 1960s, with gold helmets and white pants. ... The Bills haven't won a regular season game in Pittsburgh since 1975, though they knocked Cowher's first team out of the playoffs in 1992. ... Buffalo has allowed 890 yards in two games. ... The Steelers won their 500th game, the most among AFC teams. They are 500-474-20 in 75 seasons.

By JOHN WAWROW, AP Sports Writer
September 13, 2007

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- Get ready for an NHL big chill on New Year's Day: Penguins at Sabres in an outdoor game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The league is set to announce next week that the Buffalo Sabres will host the Pittsburgh Penguins, a person familiar with the event told The Associated Press, in what would be the NHL's second outdoor game.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the NHL has not made the announcement official.

The NHL said Thursday it will "make a major announcement concerning a special event" at a news conference at the stadium Monday.

Several media outlets, including The Buffalo News, cited unidentified sources in reporting the planned outdoor game earlier this month.

The league's first outdoor game was at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 22, 2003, when 57,167 fans showed up to see the Canadiens beat the Oilers at 4-3.

Ralph Wilson Stadium is home to the Buffalo Bills and has a capacity of 73,967 seats for football games.

The game will cap a home-and-home series between the Eastern Conference rivals. Buffalo plays at Pittsburgh on Dec. 29.

Buffalo is considered an ideal location to host the game, and not only because of its reputation for cold, bitter winters. The Sabres' attendance has risen dramatically: last season's President's Trophy-winning team sold out all of its 41 regular-season games.

Buffalo also has the potential to draw many fans from the region, the city located just across the border from Ontario, and 90 minutes from Toronto. It's also an easy drive for Penguins fans, with Pittsburgh only a 3 1/2 drive south of Buffalo.

Sabres players, reporting for the start of training camp Thursday, were informed by the team not to comment about the nature of the NHL announcement.

Heavy harmony
Ronnie James Dio prefers to be known as a singer instead of a screamer
Jeff Miers: Sound Check
Updated: 09/14/07 9:08 AM

Ronnie James Dio performs with Heaven and Hell during this year’s tour.
If you caught the Tenacious D vehicle “The Pick of Destiny,” perhaps you recall a scene early on in the film, when the young Jack Black character sits dejected in his bedroom with only his grandiose rock ’n’ roll fantasies for company.

Suddenly, the poster on the back of his bedroom door comes to life, and Ronnie James Dio sings to the alienated adolescent, flashing his famous twofingered “devil horns” salute and urging our boy to hold on to his dreams. The scene is both hilarious, tongue-in-cheek kitsch and somehow poignant.

I too had a poster of Dio, during his days as vocalist with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, on my bedroom wall as a barely teen. Mine never came to life, although there were times when, with “Rainbow Rising” blasting through my headphones for hours on end, I could swear Dio’s eyes were following me around my room. Hey, I was just a kid.

The point is, there’s something about the former Ronald Padovana that speaks to the delusions of grandeur fostered by teens in the first throes of their love affair with rock music.

In a world peopled by shrill squealers, over-the-top screamers and, these days, Cookie Monster sound-alike shouters, Dio is a genuine singer, a man with a rich voice, a keen ear for melody and a vibrant imagination. In metal, Dio has always been, and remains today, an anomaly.

“That’s probably just because I love so many different types of music, though the darker, heavier stuff has always been my favorite,” says Dio, speaking by phone as Heaven & Hell — the name taken by the version of Black Sabbath that Dio fronted on and off for more

than a decade following the departure of Ozzy Osbourne in 1980 — prepared to hit the road for the second leg of its reunion tour. The band arrives at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, with guests Queensryche and Alice Cooper.

“I consider myself a singer, not a shouter. It’s always interesting to me when, over the years, fans have come up to me and said, ‘Man, nobody screams like you!’ I know they mean this as a compliment, and I understand, but inside I’m going, ‘I’m not a screamer — I’m a singer!’ It’s about a marriage of technique and feel, emotional content — not just screaming.”

This might sound somehow boastful, but Dio in conversation is funny, gracious, gentlemanly and fully engaging. His confidence, it seems, comes from knowing exactly who he is and where his talent lies.

It’s that readily apparent talent that made the Dio-led version of Black Sabbath — the band commonly credited with creating heavy metal back in 1970 — such a vibrant presence on the rock music scene back in 1981, when it released its first album. Few believed that Sabbath could, or should, survive without Ozzy. Imagine the shock when the band not only survived but, with Dio’s immense contributions, also improved vastly. On record, Dio elevated Sabbath at every turn.

After two brilliant studio albums and a live document, Dio split to form his first solo band, leaving Sabs Tony Iommi and Terry “Geezer” Butler to carry on with a succession of replacement singers over the next several years, none of whom held a torch to Dio. The Dio-fronted band reunited for the one-off “Dehumanizer” album in the early ’90s, and that album’s tour included a stop at Shea’s, where Sabbath proved it still had the goods. Then it split up again.

One felt reasonably safe assuming that that would be that. Dio went back to his solo career. Sabbath reunited intermittently with Ozzy, and even released a live album with their former singer. Fans of classic hard rock remembered the Dio days fondly, but they appeared to have been relegated to history’s dustbin.

“We originally got back together to record a few tracks for Rhino’s ‘Best of the Dio Years’ collection,” Dio says of the surprise reunion. “It was as if no time at all had passed. We just instantly fell back into it and ended up delivering three new songs [‘Shadow of the Wind,’ ’The Devil Cried’ and ‘Ear in the Wall’] to Rhino for the record. At that point, it just seemed natural to carry on.”

Amazingly, the band found its audience still out there in strong numbers. Anyone doubting the continued visceral wallop of this band need only check the recently released “Heaven & Hell Live at Radio City Music Hall” CD and DVD for proof. Dio’s voice remains remarkably undiminished in both power and range. And the new songs? They have no trouble standing next to the band’s classics.

“I’m proud of everything I’ve done,” says Dio. “But there is certainly something special about the work we’ve done together in this band. For me, the best music is timeless, is not only relevant in one given era. At our best, we’ve tapped into something timeless.”•