Styles

Yeah, I agree. Let's not dwell on this beyond it's worth...

further than anyone could have imagined???? It was very imaginable, hell Steve kerr picked the frickin Wizards... Were you dropped on your head as a child? No one was picking the Wizards as a playoff team at the beginning of the season...

No one's begging. They're earning it. We have nothing to lose. If we lose against the Heat, that was supposed to happen anyway and the team can feel happy knowing they came farther then anyone could have imagined. If they pull off the upset it would be insane...

HEH...well congrats to The Wizards. I just heard Eddie Jordan's' comments in the press conference, and what an arrogant asshole. " We just want the respect we deserve!" Every analyst picked them to win this series!! Take that garbage home,you won the series, be happy, and prepare for a MASSIVE reality check come next week. What are you talking about? Arrogant? First of all most "experts" were pretty split at the beginning on who was going to win the series. I know ESPN was favoring the Bulls. After Game 2, even those who were picking the Wizards had given up on them. When EJ says "respect we deserve" he means as a team and as a franchise. The franchise has been a joke for the better part of a quarter of a century, and no one picked the Wizards to be a playoff team at the beginning of the year, let alone having 2 (realistically 3 if not for injury) all stars on their team. This is the first time many in the national media are recognizing the team (how often did we have nationally televised games this year? Get segments on Sportcenter, etc.?) and it feels good to not play under the scope anymore.

Now, now. Don't speak for Washington fans. Most DC fans have a mixed feeling towards "The Jordan Years". For Chicago fans there's no question, he was in his prime the greatest player of all time and brought you 6 championships. With DC, it was AWESOME to see him playing live (surreal in fact in a Washington uniform). I saw him score a seaseon high 43 points and it was amazing. But, the perception from the start was he wasn't there for US, he was there for HIM. He wanted one last moment of glory and using us as his vessel to stick it to Chicago ownership. He traded away Hamilton to bring in Stackhouse which at the time looked like a good move, but obviously backfired. As much as he tried, MJ's knees couldn't hold out either year and we were under .500 both years. His personality and the way he dealt with losing was not conducive to the development and success of a young franchise (although I'll let him off the hook for the treatment of Kwame...then again he did draft him). So, when it was announced that Abe Polin fired Jordan, there was largely outrage in the DC community. I couldn't believe it how for the past 2 years he brought so much attention and revenue to DC and now we're just going to take him out back and shoot him? It was ugly. And the next season was ugly, but with Arenas signed, Eddie Jordan installed as coach, there was at least a light at the end of the tunnel, and this year it's come to fruition. As amazing a player Jordan was, him alone and his "mules" as he called the people he brought to the organization to surround himself with, couldn't make us a winning team. Now, without him, we've built it on our own. So that's sort of my feeling on the whole deal. It was a wonderful diversion and an immense honor to watch him play for the Wiz, but ultimately it was the right move for the future of the franchise to cut him loose.

Ditto.

Both teams have that strange Michael Jordan shadow hovering deal in common...

THE HELL YOU SAY? BLASPHEME!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry. Oh don't apologise. The Bulls and Wizards are both underdogs, they killed each other all series long, both would be heavy underdogs against the Heat. What's the fun in cheering for them?

Turn on ESPN they're talking about the round 2 t-shirts and how special this is for Washington...

Oh, and props to Chicago's fans. Your team was tough and it takes 2 to tango and both teams made this an incredibly entertaining series, especially for a first round...

This team has been a perennial loser for about 25 years. Just getting to the playoffs for the first time in a decade was a big, just winning a playoff game is unheard of and actually advancing in the playoffs is amazing. only Wizards fans understand, like Vyce said, this is surreal...

ROUND 2 BEAT THE HEAT!!!!!!! AHHHHH AWESOME! I'M FREAKIN OUT. THIS IS NUTS!

BRING ON SHAQ BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY OH MY OH MY!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

Oh man, this is nuts. It's like both teams can't hit and as a result, it's incredibly close. Strangely, last game I believe it was about 40 seconds left when the Bulls shot off 10 points. Hopefully that doesn't happen this time...

The Phone Booth is rockin! I wish I was there!

Uggg....that 3rd quarter was ugly. Arenas needs to just stop shooting and start looking to make plays for others, I'm loving the hard play inside and the rebounds by Ruffin and Thomas, but our shooters need to shoot better!

Great first half, both teams have really turned it on. I want to see the Wizards win today of course, but it's almost like the series deserves another game...

For reals... Miami was in the playoffs last year, how do you figure they don't make the play-offs this year with the same team? Maybe I was overstating it. It's just with Shaq they are the most dominant team in the East and are on the fast track to the finals. Without Shaq they're a marginal playoff team (they were only 2 games over .500 last year and were 4th seed, this year with the emergence of the Wizards and Bulls, the East is more competitive and they would be tied for the 8th seed). I realise the amazing turnaround the Suns had from last year but think this year with the all star play of Amare and Marion they'd still be ok. Anyway, like I said Nash is deserving but I think Shaq means more to his team. They should have seperate league awards like baseball...

Larry Hughes with 2 beautiful steals in a row. Tyson Chandler with a shoulderblock for a flagrant. Bill Walton is disgusted. Well, he always is.

Can we get this game on TNT so Charles Barkley can yell at the Wizatds again for their lack of passing and poor shot selection? God, Arenas, Dixon and Jamison are just firing away and Chicago has really stepped up it's defense this game which doesn't help...

Deserving, but Shaq should have taken it. Without Nash, the Suns might not be a playoff team but they'd still win. Without Shaq the Heat probably aren't even a winning team. Anyway, why doesn't the NBA do like baseball and give awards for both leagues? That would solve so many controversies. Shaq would be the East MVP, Nash the West MVP.

UFC can't even afford to pay their top fighters (well they can, they just choose not to), so why should they blow their money (when they still haven't made a profit) on a bunch of rappers who have no cross over appeal to the sport?

The Bank Shot: TNA News and Views On Tuesday afternoon, a contingent of TNA staff and wrestlers returned to Nashville after attending services for Chris Candido in New Jersey. Everyone I’ve spoken with who attended said it was a touching tribute. TNA President Dixie Carter presented Candido’s family with one of the NWA World Tag Team Title belts during the Tuesday service, which was draped across the casket in honor of Chris. On a personal note, I was extremely touched by Impact this past week, which featured Candido assisting The Naturals over AMW in the main event. You can’t help but feel that something else was at work with the way Impact ended. I can’t explain it better than that. A lot of others I’ve spoken to feel the same way. The wrestling world has taken this loss particularly hard, as Candido touched a lot of people over his career. If you’d like information on how you can donate to a scholarship set up in Candido’s name at his high school, PLEASE CLICK HERE: http://www.tnawrestling.com/news/2005/4/29/newscandido.html Despite the sadness over the lose of Candido, TNA did receive some good news on Monday night as we learned AJ Styles and his wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy, their first. Everyone at TNA would like to congratulate “The Phenomenal One” on becoming a daddy. Speaking of AJ, look for a special video package featuring The Phenomenal One that will air on Impact the week of the Hard Justice Pay-Per-View. TNA’s creative video madman David Sahadi spent a day with Styles in the Chattanooga mountains, filming various scenes with AJ training for his upcoming NWA World Heavyweight Title match at Hard Justice against Jeff Jarrett. The AJ video package will also feature comments on Styles from the likes of Jerry Lynn, Jimmy Hart, Terry Taylor, Mike Tenay and others. TNA also announced last week the signing of former UFC champion Tito Oritz, who will serve as special referee for the Jarrett vs. Styles bout at the Pay-Per-View. TNA cameras traveled to Los Angeles to film an interview with Ortiz about his upcoming job at Hard Justice. I got an opportunity to watch the raw footage of Ortiz that Jeremy Borash brought back, and I will say it’s obvious Ortiz is a big fan of wrestling and has been following it for some time. In the upcoming interview, set to air on Impact the week of Hard Justice, Ortiz talks about Hard Justice, Styles, Jarrett, as well as comments on the UFC. Don’t forget to catch Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles and Abyss this Thursday night on the WB’s “Blue Collar TV”. Part 1 of the 2-part skit aired last week, with cameos by TNA announcers Don West and Jeremy Borash. This week’s episode will be highlighted by the arrival of Jarrett, Styles and Abyss. This Friday on Impact, we’ll be a little more than a week away from the Sunday, May 15 “Hard Justice”. On Impact, you’ll see Shocker take on Sonjay Dutt, Abyss vs. Cassidy Reilly, Konnan vs. The Outlaw and Michael Shane vs. Chris Sabin. In addition, there will be a one-on-one sitdown interview with Jeff Jarrett and AJ Styles conducted by “The Professor” Mike Tenay. TNA continues to roll out new DVD titles, with the Raven and Final Resolution DVDs recently debuting on the website. Destination X and The Best of Jeff Hardy are up next, and should be available for order by early June. After overcoming some early obstacles with our ShopTNA.com store, we’re happy to now guarantee that all in-stock orders will ship within three business days! Last week in Orlando, I had the opportunity to preview some of the future TNA talent who are training with Scott D’Amore at his wrestling school in Canada. Kudos to D’Amore, who has done an outstanding job teaching these prospects. We’ll be posting more information on the TNA trainees as they continue their learning process in the hopes of one day making it to TNA television. If you check out the online Impact area, take a moment to vote in the current poll which asks “If TNA were to introduce a new title, it should be…” Thus far, voting has been almost neck-and-neck between a Hardcore or Television Title. Representatives from the French sports network RDS were in attendance at the Impact tapings in Orlando last week. The relationship between RDS and TNA has resulted in major success and continues to grow on a weekly basis. RDS representatives taped over a dozen interviews with TNA superstars that will air over the coming weeks on the network during Impact. Last but certainly not least, plans for our big three-year Slammiversary Pay-Per-View are coming together, with some major announcements on the horizon in the coming weeks. Artwork for the big anniversary Pay-Per-View event is being finalized, which we hope to debut on the website next week sometime. We’ll also be announcing upcoming names and dates for future TNA Pay-Per-Views in the next few weeks. That’s it for this week’s TNA news and notes – enjoy Impact on Friday on Fox Sports Net! Bill Banks

Isn't that exactly what WCW watsed their money on with the same intentions?