The Dog Bowl

Hussman Brawlers are the next team to have forfeited out of the league. I personally had spoken with a couple of guys from Hussman Brawlers at our scheduled game against them on June 8. Apparently all of the guys on the team (or majority) are all carpenters who work for Hussman Builders. The night of our game against them only two players showed up and the rest were working.

In case you didn’t know, Hussman Brawlers were in the Friday B League last summer and they went by the team name Hussman Stickmen. This is obviously not a case of “negligence” on their part, as work takes precedence. These guys all work in an industry in which when work comes along, it has to take priority. These guys are putting food on the table for their families and work is definitely not steady in that industry.

However, I am a bit concerned that Chris Corbett has elected to simply allow the remainder of their schedule to go on as forfeits. Earlier this season, in an unprecedented move, Chris replaced the Lincoln Mutual team with a team from the Sunday Men’s league called the Closers. I wish that Chris would have at least looked at the option of replacing the remaining games on the Hussman Brawlers schedule with additional games against the remaining teams in our league. I feel this would have been the best decision, which keeps in line with his desire to limit the number of forfeits, which prompted him to replace Lincoln Mutual.

I will be addressing the Lincoln Mutual/Closers issue along with the Hussman Brawlers issue in e-mails to Chris Corbett. I’ll be sure to let you all know what transpires.

I know that I speak for everyone on the Bulldogs in wishing the players and the families of the Hussman Brawlers the best of luck and hope that we will be able to see them in future leagues under better circumstances.

It appears that the commissioner of the Bolingbrook Park District softball leagues has replaced Lincoln Mutual in our league with another team.

As you may remember, on June 10, I put out a blog update stating that Lincoln Mutual was out of the league. Per this e-mail that I received at 10:22am this morning, it appears that the remainder of Lincoln Mutual’s schedule will be played by a new team.

FYI

Team Lincoln Mutual has left the Friday night league (could not field a team anymore).

However, Team Closers that plays on Sundays (current record 3-7 captain Andy Christensen) has entered the Friday night league to take over the void left by Lincoln Mutual If you are scheduled to play Lincoln Mutual for the remainder of the season, please still show up at your scheduled game time(s). A team will show up to play!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Chris

Christopher Corbett
Athletic Supervisor

I have many concerns about this ruling, as I’m sure that some of you do as well. As you can tell from this e-mail, it appears that the decision is final. I will be addressing this with some of the guys on the team later today and we will draft a note to Chris about this issue.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to shoot me an e-mail. In the meantime, I’ll need to know, ASAP, who will not be able to make the Friday, July 6th game.

Lincoln Mutual dropped their 3rd forfeit on the year on Friday, June 8, effectively eliminating themselves from the league.

Based on the Bolingbrook Park District league rules, under section “House Rules” item #5:

5. Any team that forfeits three (3) games will be dropped from the league with no refunds. Future league consideration will be evaluated. Teams will lose returning team status as well.

This essentially means that all remaining games on the schedule for Lincoln Mutual will also render a forfeit. Unfortunately, this also means, that Lincoln Mutual will be hard pressed to re-enter any future leagues, though this is at the discretion of our league commissioner.

Here’s the updated schedule with results. We’re currently 3-1 with 74 runs scored vs 49 runs scored by our opponents.

Our next games are tonight against Ball Slappers and Hussman Brawlers.

1. 4/27/07 at 7:30 pm: at Southside Hitmen (Central Park) - Rained Out
2. 5/4/07 at 6:30 pm: at Cardinals (Central Park) - Won (17-16)
3. 5/11/07 at 8:30 pm: vs Tailgaters (Central Park) - Won (20-19)
4. 5/18/07 at 8:30 pm: vs Lincoln Mutual (Central Park) - Won (28-4)
5. 5/25/07: No Games - Memorial Day
6. 6/1/07 at 9:30 pm: vs Southside Hitmen (Remington West) - Loss (10-9)
7. 6/8/07 at 6:30 pm: at Ball Slappers (Remington West)
8. 6/8/07 at 6:30 pm: at Hussman Brawlers (Remington West)
9. 6/15/07 at 8:30 pm: vs Ronin Risk (Central Park)
10. 6/22/07 at 6:30 pm: vs Dasbach (Central Park)
11. 6/29/07 at 7:30 pm: at Ronin Risk (Remington West)
12. 7/6/07 at 6:30 pm: at Lincoln Mutual (Remington West)
13. 7/13/07 at 8:30 pm: vs Sojourners (Remington West)
14. 7/20/07 at 8:30 pm: at Fury (Central Park)
15. 7/27/07 at 7:30 pm: at Cardinals (Central Park)
16. 7/27/07 at 8:30 pm: vs Misfits (Central Park)

Opening day was supposed to be on Friday, April 27, but a late winter lead to a late spring and the weather postponed the start of the regular season by a week.

However, come the following Friday the Bulldogs Softball team came ready to play. The Bulldogs were victorious in their opener against Team Cardinals. However, the game wasn’t as smooth sailing as they had hoped.

The Dogs took an early lead in the top of the 2nd inning after putting up 8 runs, to bring the score to 10-2. Adding another 4 runs in the third and fourth innings, the Bulldogs had a healthy 14-2 lead. The Dogs were able to maintain their lead until the bottom of the 4th inning, when the Cardinals bats came alive to score 5 runs.

The Bulldogs looked frazzled in the fifth and sixth innings, as they were only able to add three more runs to their total. Fortunately, this proved to be just enough to hold off the Cardinals onslaught late in the game. The Cardinals put up another 4 runs in the 5th and a final 4 in the 6th, but with the tying run on 2nd base, the Cardinals were unable to capitalize.

The Bulldogs get set to take on Tailgaters this coming Friday at 8:30 pm at Central Park.

Notable Stats:

• Players with 3 or more hits: Tim Williams, Bill Channell, Tim Howe and Jeff McMahon
• Homeruns: Tim Williams and Tim Howe (both inside park)
• Batters 1-3 combined for 10 hits out of the teams 24.
• 9 of 17 runs scored were by the 1-3 batters.
• ESPN Highlight Play sends Nelson Rivera packing as the only player to not get a hit.
• Game winning hit goes to Ken Benson with a Triple to score Tim Howe in the top of 6th.

To discuss this or any other game, please visit the Bulldogs Softball Forums today!

I’ve had several inquiries into where the fields are located. Below are links to Google Maps of the two parks. If you need directions, just click on the links below and then click get directions once you are at Google Maps.

Central Park:

Located behind the Annerino Community Center

201 Recreation Drive
Bolingbrook, IL 60440
Click here for map.

Remington Lakes Sports Complex:

Located at Remington Blvd. & Comm. Ed Lines
Click here for map.

I have a few things to talk about, so let me just get straight to it. Make sure you read the whole thing. I don’t want to hear from anyone that they “didnt’ know”.

Friday’s Game:

Friday nights game is at 6:30pm. I need to know who is not going to be there this Friday. Also, please send me any dates now that you will not make this season. I need to hear from everyone by end of day tomorrow regarding this Friday’s game.

Money:

Everyone’s known that the cost of playing this summer is $60. I need to start getting your money ASAP. If you have not paid, please send me a check or bring it on Friday. If you know you won’t be there on Friday, please send me a check in the mail. There is a fund raiser that has been doing real well, that we will talk to the rest of the team about on Friday and the upcoming weeks.

For information on where to send the check, please send me an e-mail.

Jerseys:

The jersey’s are finally on order. It’s been one hell of a process getting this done, but I think all of you will be happy with the final product. We’re going through Shirts and Logos again this season. We really like the work these guys are doing and they are the only people I have found who do not have a ton of hidden fees. They aren’t even charging us for “setup” fees! Just a straight cost per jersey.

I’m not going to spoil the surprise, but I will tell you some things that might make you happy.

1. The “flames” are gone! I heard you loud and clear. I wasn’t fond of the flames either, but it wasn’t our design. It came with the generic logo.
2. No “shirtsandlogos.com” or “Dirt10Designs” in our logo! It’s our logo, that’s one of the things we’ve been working hard on. We’re branding on this new logo and you’ll see something (cool) soon on the Bulldog Softball Club Web site.
3. Sleeveless! We have sleeveless jerseys (See below for more info on this)
4. No more “white”. The base color of the jersey will be Navy with a nice touch from a couple of other colors. It looks great!

That’s it. That’s all you get from me, right now on the jerseys. I don’t have an ETA for the jerseys, but more then likely they will not be here by Friday. S&L has worked some magic in the past, but I’m playing devils advocate. I would say next week might be the earliest and it’s possible it could slip a week. We’ll do everything we can to get them here and on the field. In the meantime, if you have a jersey from last season, that’s what we’ll use in the meantime. If not, a navy or red shirt will do.

Regarding point #3 above. These jerseys are “sleeveless”. There was a lot of debate about which way to go here. We’re going to try this out and see how it works. Everyone is to wear a “red” undershirt. No exceptions (ok - one exception, keep reading)! I don’t want to see a variety of colors on the field. You are responsible for your own undershirt (I am working with S&L to get some pricing on undershirts for you). A couple of us have already made our trip to Dick Sports and purchased some Under Armour shirts. I have asked S&L to provide me with some pricing on undershirts for you guys. They have a relationship with WickID (www.wickidgear.com) and can get them to us for less then retail. I’ll fill you in when I get the details.

There is only one caveat that I will allow. For those of you who feel you have the goods to flaunt the guns, I will allow you to wear it as a muscle shirt on one condition. You must still acquire a red muscle shirt to wear underneath the jersey. Preferably an Under Armour or WickID style muscle-shirt. Either compression or loose fit. That’s it, no exceptions.

Hats & Visors:

We have a design for a hat, as well, and will be taking orders for hats and visors. These were fairly cheap and many of the guys did purchase them last summer. These hats will, more then likely, be on a white or grey background if we go with the custom dye. However, there may be an outside chance that we will pay to setup our logo for “screen printing” or “embroidery”. I don’t have the pricing on that setup, but once it’s setup, we can screen print and embroider on any garment. In other words, we can do jackets, knit caps (for fall), colored baseball hats and visors, etc.

Kenny already has purchased a jacket from S&L that is really nice. It is navy in color, but doesn’t have a logo on it. If we pay for the “screen printing” or “embroidery” setup, he may send it back to have the logo put on. If anyone is interested in these types of things, let me know.

Pants, Shorts and Shoes:

Kenny has been working on putting together some combinations for softball pants and shoes from Boombah (no, not the clown pants). He’s got a couple of good options that will work real nice with the new jersey. If we can get 10 orders (the magic number) we can save $5 per item. If you’re in the market for some new shoes, pants or shorts for the season, I encourage you to look at what Kenny has put together. Boombah, believe it or not, is outstanding “professional” style quality but not with the Dick Sports pricing.