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LAS VEGAS --?Jimmie Johnsons wife didnt accompany him for the initial days of his Las Vegas championship celebration week. Chani is living up to a prior commitment to work the booth for her gallery at the Art Basel convention in Miami.But Johnson didnt go to Las Vegas alone. He brought along his two daughters: Lydia, age 3, and Genevieve, 6. It was the first time he could truly celebrate with his kids, considering his last championship came in 2013.Before anyone gets the impression that Johnsons championship celebration -- his record-tying seventh -- will become more mature and less raucous than those of his past, Johnson shot down any idea of that possibility.He will be the doting dad and professionally handle his championship duties during the day, but he expects to wake up Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning with a head-pounding headache. The kids nor the media will have anything to do with it.The plans are not to be more mellow, Johnson said Wednesday about his celebration plans in Las Vegas. You dont know when these are going to happen. Obviously its such a special won with seven.As long as we dont have a golf cart around or anything, it should be a good time.Shortly after delivering that quip, Johnson (who once fell off the top of a golf cart while riding on the roof) spoke to a group of attendees at the SportsBusiness Journals Motorsports Marketing Forum, talking about his seventh championship and his brand.He plans to make sure the seventh title celebration is one he remembers; he has tied Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the number of titles. Each year, Johnson makes sure that the Wednesday night gathering with his crew is a special one.I make sure to catch the crew guys when they get in that first night -- that is when all the fun stories come from, the 41-year-old Johnson said. Well jump into some fun [Wednesday night] with them.Outside of that, its just managing no sleep. Im getting older and I dont recover so quickly.Johnson knows all the duties during the championship week. He knows his priorities, and its not speaking to a bunch of people in coats and ties or doing various media interviews. Hes gracious, as always, and honest and reflective and relaxed while trying to enjoy the moment.I insisted on having the kids come with me (before my wife came Wednesday night) -- I just wanted more opportunities to savor it and have fun, Johnson said. Im just trying to enjoy these days here because they go by so quickly and theyre framed in by some early mornings and a lot of stuff.Im trying to savor it. ... The girls are so excited to wear their pretty dresses. They wore some nice outfits today [for photos] and they were just dancing around excited about it.The girls wont stay for the entire ceremony Friday night.Hopefully their behavior is good enough they can come on stage briefly, Johnson said. They will be bribed with ice cream and candy to make it, of course.Johnson will be joined on stage by his team owner Rick Hendrick and crew chief Chad Knaus. While it will be nearly two weeks after earning the championship, Johnson admits he and Knaus havent really gone over their race-winning, title-clinching performance in the season finale Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.We havent discussed the end of 16 or 2017 [plans] at all, Johnson said. I have a couple of weeks before we head [on vacation], so I guess once we get back from here [well do it].I know its all still taking place. When I was at the shop for the victory bell (to ring it this week), everybodys wide-open running in all directions getting stuff done.But Johnson has shown some focus on starting the quest for an eighth title. He ran eight miles last Friday and posted the comment And so it begins on the map of his run on the fitness app he uses.Wouldnt it be easier for him to just run 8-minute miles instead of a pace of 7:24 and make that his way of focusing on an eighth title?My cruising pace has gotten down to 7:10, 7:15 [a mile], Johnson said proudly. Im so excited about that.As far as his training goes, Johnson had encouraged some friends to do a half-marathon Dec. 10 in North Carolina, but he doesnt think he has trained enough in the week since the championship.Apparently, running 13.1 miles for fun is not an option when there is a bib and a timing chip involved.Im too competitive, Johnson said. I probably can. I dont know. Well see. In my head, Im not going. But the buddies I talked into training, theyre like, Dude, you talked us into going. Youre going to come with us. Will they be able to dare Johnson into doing something against his grain, to run a race hes not totally prepared to run? It sounds like Johnson could be coaxed into it.Johnson doesnt typically need coaxing to go out on a limb. When he won his first Cup title in 2006, he climbed a light pole at the intersection of 48th Street and 1st Avenue in New York City -- much to the chagrin of his representatives, who were worried he might get in trouble.Looking to do the same last week in the city at the much busier corner of 48th and 7th, Johnson came up short -- he instead just took a selfie while standing at the corner.Johnson insists hes not mellowing with age.There was nowhere to climb, Johnson said. There was a bunch of construction going on. I think I tried and I couldnt get the selfie angle. ... It just didnt work out. There just was nothing to hang on to.Im still willing to do a lot of dumb things, for sure. I havent been able to grow up yet. Air Max 97 Mens Nz . -- Lou Brocks shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Bill Freehan during the 1968 World Series and Pete Roses bruising hit on Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like the dead-ball era. Nike Air Max Flair Nz ., for the next three years with the signings on Monday of Daryl Townsend and Michael Carter. http://www.airmaxnzwholeale.com/cheap-air-max-95-nz/max-95-mens.html . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. Nike Air Max NZ Online . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. Nike Air Max 90 Nz . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. The first time Ian Bell played in a Lords final he had his whole career in front of him. He was only 20 but he had long been tipped for greatness. And, as he caressed an unbeaten 65 - the only half-century of a match in which the players still wore whites - to win Warwickshire the 2002 Benson and Hedges Cup, it became clear to a wide audience that he was a special talent.He had been to the ground before. As an 11-year-old he ran on to the pitch - you could do that in those more innocent days - to celebrate Warwickshires 1993 NatWest final victory over Sussex. Asif Dins game. It was, Bell says now, the day I knew I wanted to play cricket. Not for England; for Warwickshire.He has been back to the ground many times. He is on the honours board four times (for Test centuries in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2013) and led Warwickshire to another trophy - both as captain and centurion - when he made 107 as his team defeated Somerset in the 2010 Clydesdale Bank 40. Nobody else in the side passed 30.Well leave it for another time to discuss whether he has achieved everything he promised in those early days. But surely all but the most churlish would agree that, after 118 Tests, 22 Test centuries, the Man of the Series award in the 2013 Ashes (as well as playing in four other winning Ashes teams) and 161 ODIs he can look back with pride on an excellent career. And, leaving the stats aside, how many England right-handers have timed the ball as sweetly? Bell has, at times, made batting look beautiful.But while much has changed - Do you remember when he had ginger hair? one of his team-mates jokes - his passion for representing Warwickshire has not. Other players might have fallen out of love with the county that gave them their first opportunity, but not Bell. He might well be the best cricketer this club has produced - he is almost certainly its most successful - but he admits he will take a moment on Saturday to look towards the grandstand where he sat with his family and remember how far he has come. It will not be an insignificant moment for him.He feels he has unfinished business, though. Not only does he hanker after an England recall (he would go to Bangladesh if asked), but he is desperate to revive the fortunes of a Warwickshire team that are, by their standards, enduring a pretty grim season.A grim season? Theyre in a Lords final!True. But they also failed to make the quarter-finals of the NatWest Blast and find themselves neck deep in the Championship relegation battle. For an experienced, well-resourced squad rated the best the club had ever had at the start of the season by their director of cricket, Dougie Brown, that is a bitter disappointment. Bell makes no attempt to hide it.Getting to Lords is a fantastic achievement, he says. But we have to take it on its own. It cant take away the need to improve. We cant paper over cracks. We need to talk very honestly. We need to sort a few things out.There are things that, without a shadow of a doubt, we have to address. There have been things going on that you cant talk about; things that were hopefully going to move forward with. Not getting through the group stages in T20 - especially having won five of our first six games; we then won one from six - was disappointing and it is the same in the Championship. At the halfway point, we were in the mix to win it. But we only have ourselves to blame for being in a relegation scrap now.Such disappointments will bring a review at the end of the season. The mumbles around Edgbaston somewhat harshly blame Brown - it is incredible how a spell as coach can ruin the reputation of a man viewed as a club legend a couple of years ago and it does appear his relationship with some senior players has soured - but Bell is having none of it.The players are the ones responsible, he says. Were a brilliant side on paper. I havent played in a Championship side this year when I would look at the opposition team and think were not a better team than them, but the problem is, you dont play on paper. Weve as good, if not a better, batting line-up than anyone in the country. But its not quite worked. And I count myself in that.You cross the line and you have to front up. The one thing we havent done this year is win key passages of play. I could make excuses about the weather: I could say we were four times in positions to win and the weather stopped us but I think that would be a cop-out. We havent been good enough.Are we doing the right things? Are we playing the right brand of cricket in four-day cricket? Are we talking the right language? Are we training hard enough and trying to get better? Those are the questions we have to ask ourselves and we have to do it straight away at the end of the season.Perhaps the biggest disappointment has been Bells own form. While he started the season with an innings of 174 at Hampshire, no further centuries followed. For one so gifted, his Championship average of 33.88 with only four scores over 50 is modest.There are some mitigating factors. Warwickshire have played on some pretty tricky batting surfaces in recent times - a score off 30 would have been good at times in the match against Yorkshire, Bell says - and there were games, earlier in the season, when rain thwarted them.dddddddddddd It also appears that Bell, desperate to revive the fortunes of the team he loves, has been drawn into working on areas of the club - the academy, recruitment, even a membership drive in the early months of the year - that are usually beyond the remit of a captain. He makes no excuses, but you wonder if the demands of leading an increasingly divided dressing room have taken their toll.He has, he says, held meetings with Andrew Strauss twice in the last three weeks, as well as James Whitaker and Trevor Bayliss. But he has not scored the runs to persuade England to pick him. He will look out for the squad announcement on Friday more in hope than expectation.So, has it been frustrating to see his England hopes slip away? Its more frustrating that weve lost a couple of games that we should have won, he says. Ive tried not to think too much about England. Im averaging mid-30s. Im trying bloody hard to average 50. But its not been the case.Its difficult to know why. Out in the middle it feels pretty good. Its been challenging. Youve got to look inside yourself.My batting actually feels in a pretty good place. But, from an individual point of view - if Im going to play for England again - we havent really played on wickets that allow you to go out and get a big hundred.He has not given up, though. And whatever happens this winter - he is currently scheduled to play for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash - he is not going to give up. It wont dim my desire to play at all, he says. At our medicals the other day [centrally contracted players - Bell still is one - have medicals, performance reviews and fitness tests each September] I said, if they dont take me this winter, I still want to play for England. Whether thats next summer or the following winter, I will keep going. Unless they tell me the door is closed, I will keep trying to do it for as long as I can. I still want to play.But I completely admit that I cant sit here and say Ive bashed the door down enough to say pick me. Id love to have five hundreds and an average of 65 and say pick me, but I cant.My desire, my will, my training, everything is all geared up to playing for England. I have been through the highs and lows of wearing that England shirt and I know how hard you have to work. The rewards are massive, but also you have some really tough days.Theyve been very clear that the door is never shut. If it is not to be this winter, I will be working hard to come back again a better player. If I start the season well again next year I hope to give myself a chance. Theres an Ashes tour in a year and a half. Experience will be valuable there, and if I am playing as well as I can, hopefully I will be on that trip.When I left Sharjah [on Englands tour of the UAE], it didnt feel like it would be my last game of cricket. And I didnt want it to be my last. I didnt feel in a particularly good place. I was pretty fatigued. But once I came out of that environment, I still believed I had the hunger to play some more.I know not everyone gets the opportunity to go out in the best way. So I am not sat here in dream world, thinking about being paraded around the SCG. I know there are massive challenges ahead. So if they dont take me now I am not going to give up. I will keep trying as hard as I can until I get told: Weve moved on.Warwickshire approach the game with some tricky selection decisions to make. William Porterfield, an experienced international opening batsman, is available but may miss out as the club maintain the successful partnership between Jonathan Trott (who has made three centuries and a half-century in the competition this season) and Sam Hain (the highest run-scorer in the competition this season).Equally, while their policy of playing three spinners has served them well on the road to Lords, they may decide to alter it in mind of the 10.30am start and what appears to be a well-grassed pitch. While the Lords square looks unusually dry, it seems the MCC plan to use the pitch from the final in next weeks Championship match between Middlesex and Yorkshire. Keith Barker, the leading wicket-taker among seamers in Division One, could therefore come into the side in place of Josh Poysden or Ateeq Javid.Either way, Bell is determined to savour the day. He wants to inspire a new generation of players and supporters as he was once inspired by his Warwickshire heroes. Now aged 34 he knows he might not pass this way again. These moments are precious. And so are talents like Bells. Catch him while you can.Ian Bell was speaking at the Coventry branch of Selco Builders Warehouse which hosted a special coaching event with pupils from Little Heath Primary School in Coventry. Selco is a leading builders merchant with 44 branches across the UK and are main shirt sponsors to Warwickshire CCC and Birmingham Bears ' ' '