On Second Thought......

First, happy 9th birthday to my niece, Sommer!!! Yayyyy!!!!

Our softball team went 1-2 again today against tough competition. We were trailing 8-5 in the seventh (and last inning) prior to giving up 12 in the top of the 7th to lose 20-5 to a team a division level above us. The second game, also against a team a level above us, we held off to win 16-15, after going into the last inning with only a two run lead. They hit a homerun to pull within one but that was it. Our final game we lost 8-3 to a team at our level that we've beaten many times before. We went scoreless with the bases loaded two or three times that game though.

My personal highlight was hitting a curving line drive to right which the right fielder dove for and missed, allowing me to tally an inside-the-park homerun. As an aside, I've never hit a homerun at any level of baseball or softball that wasn't an inside-the-park homerun. Someday.....

Below is an email that I sent out to my Bears brethren on April 15. After reprinting the message, I'll comment on adjustments:

The schedule is out. Joe's early take:

At Indy Loss
At Carolina Win?? Make an argument either way
Tampa Win?? Make an argument either way
Philly Win
At Detroit Win
At Atlanta Win
Minnesota Loss
Bye eke out a victory
Detroit Win
Tennessee Win
At GB Win Though I wish this game was earlier in the season with Rodgers at QB.
At St. Louis Win
At Minn Loss yeah, they'll sweep us.
Jags Loss
Saints Loss
Packers Win otherwise the season would be lost!
At Texans Win for a playoff spot

So if we sweep GB, then we have 10 wins, provided I split the two early season questions with Carolina and Tampa. So anywhere from 9 to 11 wins is pretty reasonable and should be good enough for the playoffs. Imagine if we had a QB, RB or WR?????

Ok, now I have to make some changes. Our starting left tackle just had surgery and no answer at QB or WR seems to be forthcoming. Now I have to think the Philly game at home is probably a loss too and the game at Carolina doesn't look promising. If we can sweep the Packers with Favre (we gave them 2 of their 3 losses last year), we can beat them with Rodgers at QB. So now I think the range of possible outcomes is 7 to 9 wins. Vegas has the over/under of wins for the Bears at 8. If our defense stays healthy and we find a way to make the offensive line work, or pick someone up, we could get to 9 wins.