just a little bit more ... to quote the acceptable but thankfully very short lived career of Gina G....

The Bulldogs (Woof! ) brimming with confidence despite the absence of Star pitcher Calvin came to the rescheduled game... on Primrose hill to find no umpire , no kit... and an opposition stunned by our new amazing t-shirts (which are a tiny bit tight around the neck).

However with No umpire slated to look after the game , and none of the opposition being ready to call a game it fell to yours truly to put of his impartial hat and become Switzerland (without the Swiss Army knives , the guarding of the Pope (no I didn't wear one of the suits said to be designed by Michelangelo, apochryphally ) or the banks ), and umpire both sides of the game.

Surely we should be getting extra points for that alone...

The game started with pitcher Matt H throwing well getting a number of induced swings, however having pitched and fielded with composure the middle the third were to be the undoing of BD.. Adam a , came in for relief and initially struggled to get a good line and length and conceded a number of runs, which were alter to prove critical.

down 9 -4
going into the top of the fifth inning , Geronimo suddenly mentioned that the game should only be 5 inning as we had changed the day (despite agreeing this well in advance)

giving up one run on a walk set up the play of the game ..

Ian W having had a reasonably busy time in the out field , was called upon again, when a long hanging fly ball was hit.. tracking it down he made a great snatch out of the air, and proceeded to bask in the glory by indulging in some well executed keepie-uppies.. however one of the opposition players had gone to early expecting a fumble, and was having to retreat.. not having tagged up...

suddenly the realisation dawned that a double play might be on, Ian , plucked the ball out the air , and fired in an absolute rocket , straight in to the glove of Rob Swainson at 2nd

coming into the final inning we scored lots of runs and put immense pressure on the opposition

we lost by a single run...we had a lot of moral victory , but they feel more Pyrrhic. we need to play a little bit more consistently...

Player of the game: the opposition pitcher who like a gold fish with a bad memory kept trying to turn a safe single into a double , and kept getting tagged out each and every time.. surely he should have learned , he just kept giving us easy outs..
Super Honorable mentions to Adam A and Matt H who pitched heroically to keep us in the game long enough to make it almost possible for our bats to win the game

Play of the Game: the Woodley shuffle, great catch , great keepie ups, great throw, and a brilliant hold by Rob to cap it off
Super Honorable mention to Rob Sw for great hitting , and keeping his head despite a dubious call because everyone was not paying attention

The Kissoff :
We lost breaking the bubble.
nuff said.. the batting is still getting better and we are getting contributions from everybody.. now we just need to sort of the rules , on base running , and be a bit sharper in the field... oh what a a great thing hind sight is .. this was so about to bite us in the next game...

First it was Wednesday... but Euros called Caroline (trooper) and asked for us to reschedule..

EEK!!!!
We were always going to be tight on players due to the clash with the ISP tournament... (still huge major props to all the brasil boys...now to finish it!)

We were missing
Antonio - Holiday, getting stung by Jellyfish according to his Facebook
Jacki - Holiday
Dee - Holiday
Debs - Holiday
The intimidator - brasil
Collins - brasil
Jess P - not brasil but the ISP Tournament, and the having a life thing
Clarke - brasil

The reschedule to Thursady then didn't help , and despite a full workload , and coursework Caroline wrangled a team.. despite additional drop outs from the girls , due to work and prior commitments(Stef and Louisa and yes damn it Jacki was still on Holiday). yes it was going to be debatable becuase we had more boys than strictly allowed

but major thanks to everyone Alex G, Dan C,Rob Sellers, Rob Swainson, Callum, Seb, Calvin, Adam Azor, Ian Woodley and Ben G...

Having just confirmed a 10th person, got everyone suited in the spiffing new T-Shirts (YAY! Debs).

GAME OFF...
takes deep breath...BOOOOO!!!!!!
because Euros lost 2 players at the last minute beside the fact they were the ones to reschedule...

RUBBISH

We get more points and depending on fixtures else where we might have even moved up a place , though the 10 runs scored I think sells our batting short...

Play of the week :the last minute cancellation for a walk over...
Player of the Week: Caroline Page.. Sooper Trooper (okay I couldn't find a really appropriate link becuase Super trooper is a really bad film..rogue trooper on the other hand is much cooler) for getting a Team together despite all the obstacles in her path.. work , coursework, and people having lives...

Okay big game next week .. no football clash..we have a lot more people back..
We can do it.. so lets go for promotion... especially considering the team we just beat is top of the Table ,and the other teams above us are close on points and we have already played.. so

Let's go Bulldogs(Woof!)

Pos.	Team Name	P	W	L	Drawn	For	Against	Diff.	Points
1	Euro RSCG - Eurotrash	7	5	0	1	145	60	85	34
2	BlowUp Media	6	4	1	1	121	80	41	27
3	Three Blind Mice	6	3	2	0	85	65	20	26
4	BD BullDogs (Woof!))	7	2	3	0	67	82	-15	24
5	Betgenius	6	3	3	0	113	133	-20	24
6	London Raiders	6	1	3	1	94	75	19	23
7	The Think Tank	5	2	1	1	78	74	4	22
8	Metrica	6	1	4	0	56	77	-21	22
9	Geronimo	6	1	2	1	66	73	-7	19
10	Latitude	6	2	2	1	73	85	-12	19
11	London 2012	1	2	1	75	108	-33	13
12	Litelogic	6	0	2	1	24	93	-69	7

or No Alla Violenza (see New Order World In Motion mixes)

in part 1 of a 2 part special.. major props to BD Brasil.... Heroes despite Stroudley naming his boots.. picture soon

in all games BD Brasil only allowed one goal (through Strouds), via the shoes/knees of Strouds.... so be good to the the following Inaugural champions of the ISP 5 a side tourney..
so clear a space on reception,

Please please please
and can we get one more BD Brasil shirt so the players can sign and frame it .. for posterity..or at least next week!!!!

The Team
Gary - The Guv'nor /the Intimidator Bonsels
James - the ginger Prince and The overall golden/ginger boot Gillingham or should that be Green
Kel 'look at that Dragback' Okerechi
Nick 'the face' Collins
Dermot Deever (sorry no nick name yet mate)
Nick "Own Goal - Strouds" Stroudley - sorry mate (He was genuinely good otherwise grin)
Warren "Hero" Dawes for the penalty and the eventual winning goal in the semis
Dan "Take no Prisoners" Shone
Chris " Rossi" Ross playing through the cramp..

Special Mention ND won everything .. ginger/golden boot (James G), and the trophy good luck to anyone trying to get it off him...this includes you Ghill...!!!
Here's a news story for the web site Rob...


Special mention to the support
Chris Clarke (also BD Brasil)
Adam Azor (also BD Brasil)
Tim Dalton (Broken Wrist)

and the other bloke with the T-Shirt
Clear a space we have a trophy....

Ladies and gentlemen I give you BD Brasil..check out Facebook.. for a one set of photos.. more to come, BD football blog, and more pictures.. including some adobe potato-shopped ones of the ones I took in really bad light with my 7 year old camera...

BD won. Be proud!!

Roughly on time, in the darkest depth of regents park!!! Pitch 8 so far it some where near Northwick park ....

a pretty rag bag but battle hardened bunch despite our jeans and casual appearance we were ready behind the motivator Azor , who I am pretty sure never stopped talking apart form when he dropped that catch...

We were missing the combined talents of:
Chris C (No Nickname yet!!)
The intimidator..nuff said (exams)
Nick 'the face' Collins / or Nick 'The bunny hop' Collins
and Antonio "the slider" Lulic ,
however we bit the bullet and carried on and the usual suspects started ip

we started the game a man.. or should I say woman down but after heroics and commitment to the cause, got our full complement from Jacki No Hands M(Sorry!!)

Metrica were game for a laugh, and were about as serious as we were, regardless of the the lack of the Intimidator, and "I really need to win" Azor...

As the home team we started fielding but our typical slow start saw us conceding 3 runs mostly with induced ground balls being misfielded.. this is our best first inning in the field..

BD 0 Metrica 3

Then we went to work and after to quick outs from our leadoff men richard and Adam, we continued to bat right down the order scoring 5
and a good strong performane with the bats was again highlighted by a strong first inning where we scored 5 runs

which could have been more had Adam "second chance" A ran clean by second and got tagged on the way back... booger.!!! and we also left Dee and steph on base...

To quote Wil ... RUBBISH (in joke alert), however something which is not in the slightest bit rubbish are the domino state

BD 5 Metrica 3

we then got blanked... gutted.. with Don Bradman .. err...Richard Wood s getting struck out on low cricket shot balls..even if he has the smoothest swing apart from "slo mo" Horobin...

remember Richard by the ankles is a shot to leave!!!

the top of the 3rd saw metrica catch up and the tension ratcheted.. well just a bit, okay not in the slightest, apart from the bit where I couldn't find a bottle opener.. that was quite tense

BD 5 Metrica 5
A good next half inning in the field saw us only give up 2 runs but were were behind

BD 5 Metrica 7
No problems
bottom of the fouth and we showed our class, and everything we had learnt (including Staying on bases)

our late arriving aussie (Jacki..yay!)/ Stef combined to provided a platform to score more, despite steph's (I hate the ball) of the ball to score more runs.. on the back of louisa still not being able to run, (Major props to stef and the Jacki, for doing Louisa running)

Bd 9 - metrica 7

we then traded zeroes and we were then reinforced by our cheerleader... yay! sheila!!! Is sheila our Lucky charm possibly??...you decide dear readers

Then Calvin shone despite a couple of plays where he slipped.. he shone by dominating like Josh Beckett, or Johan Santana without the promise of a Cy Young or a gold glove.. a clever tag out on one guy who ran to third and didn't hit the bases properly...and then 2 sharp catchs off the bat put an end to the Metrica revival..

We ended up putting one more run in the top of the fifth. Dee being brought home by good base hitting... Dee in action

BD 10 Metrica 7

While one of the previous innings was all about Calvin, the rest of the team were well in to it even Steph ,who despite her protestations ("I hate that ball!!!") seemed to attract a lot of the ball especially at second base...

Adam A then proceeded to give the opposition hope by dropping a simple fly ball at shortstop by not calling. (We are a communications agency .. talk to each other people!!), however redemption was soon at hand when he caught a much tougher catch.

and this along with a VERY sharp catch and throw by Ian W to our cap'n fantastic Caroline got us out of one inning and put up another zero with runners on base,

Caroline was also involved in some good catches and a clever force play...

With our confidence brimming, we entered the top of the 7th and Final inning leading by 3 runs..

good pitching sensible fielding and bosh.. BD won

....AGAIN


Notes: We can still play better, we are learning to back up, we are learning the talk and to talk to each other and oh and did I mention,we are winning. More of that please

Play of the game: Ian W to Caroline.. this was a pivotal moment , we were just up and between Ian's great catch sans "Bunny Hop" (take notes Nick C, making "the face" is all well and good, but you need to complete..grin)... and a good throw to Caroline who watched the ball all the way to her glove....

honorable mention : Adam dropped the longest and easiest catch ever , and then making a much tougher one , 1 batter later

Rookie of the Week .Stef.. went 1 for 4 but ran for lousia and played great in her first game.

props to Adam A who was still intense but hit each time at bat..rather than trying to hard like glory hound motha

Player of the week: Caroline P for improving and playing a good turn at the hot corner even in one case with a camera....
Super Honorable mention for Jacki, who turned up .. hero

Calvin S for quality hitting and pitching , plus a 5th inning where he made all the outs with a tag .. and 2 catches from sharply it pitches...

Props to our cheerleader.. Sheila..who has promised to wear a cheaeerleader outfit if we win 5 games.. right only 2 more needed lads!!!

Commitment to the Cause award: Jacki M

special Softball mention to the man with one hand.. Tim "he got a broken wrist but still played on, okay he didn't realise it was broken but it was worth it for BD brasil" Dalton.. or TIMMEH! listen to him here .

The kiss - off
The Bulldogs (woof!) 10 - 7 Metrica
Our record w in 3 lost 3 pecentage 0.500 we were 5th last week and we are certain to go up... at least one place

The team

Rich "Bradman" Woods
Adam A
Louisa "Drama" H
Jacki M
Caroline P
Dee A
Stef D
Calvin
Ian W
Ravi "Statto/or Coach" M
Look No Hands

Oh and there are tryouts for the Allstar team with a trip to the US of A .. we are told this by our umpire who tapped up both Calvin and Jacki..

For more photos check out BD softball on Facebook

Tuesday: email is sent by team captain announcing 16 , yes count them people are up for the wednesday game.. despite the loss of 2 key players to injuury and work(is boston work??? grin).

Wednesday: slight chance of rain. then BOOM, we win our Opponents Litelogic revolutions contacted us and said they couldn't raise a team..

Victory BD..

Our new record
Played 5
Won 2
Lost 3
Percentage 0.400

technically we have only played four but whose looking at that!!

As a result of the rain and cancellation. a number of people decided to continue with work or skip the game /practice.. (whispered in an accusatory tone)) you know who you are...( end of whispering).

10 intrepid or reckless sould (depending on your opinion) ventured out to keep in touch and practice an in some cases to play for the first time..

while searching for our pitch we came across a a team of mostly guys who were just "playing" for fun...

Fortunately despite the dropouts we had a team of ten, and these included Ian W and Adam A

The full team was

Calvin S
Ian W
Adam A
Rob Swainson (or Rob S as opposed to Sellers)
Louisa H
Caroline P
Matt H
Ravi
Jacki M
The intimidator Bonsels

The match started of with us pitching first and we only let in one run. a BD first the fewest runs we have conceded in the first innings ever..

As the game progressed the conditions worsened and turned what was quite a hard pitch into something of a slick surface.. something of which was going to play a part in 2 completely different plays.

The Bulldogs (Woof!) were not able to capitalise on this despite some very good batting and scored no runs

The second inning was also something of a poor showing in the field, something we had improved in the last couple of games ,possibly due to overexuberance on some of the aggresive throwing and occasionally slow running in the outfield , you know who you are Matt..(having said that considered what was to follow maybe he was on to something)

Our batting and particualrly at the plate has brought it own rewards, a couple of walks and we were well into the game, and looking to break back..a sharp slap hit propelled Ravi from first to second and a short fumble allowed him to go on to third , unfortunately what should have been an easy 2 bases was complicated by lack of appropriate footwear on the greasy surface.

As he was approaching third his lacking grip left started to slid, then it gripped and that started the patented Degville-Hayes roll. which ended up with him almost collided at taking out the third baseman (good footwork by him).

at this point we were 5 - 5 and something of a brouhaha erupted when Bulldogs (Woof!) were accused of taking this scratch game to seriously, and something of a delay took place , before apologies were excahnged and the game continued

The opposition however played a little more intensely and a couple of misfields (including a poor throw by myself contributed to the opposition scoring and a high flyball that hung in the air forever possibly confusing the intimidator who was expecting someone to try and push him over..but was ultimately dropped.) a couple of sharp plays later we were back in at bat , and behind the sluggers we started to wear the opposition down, our patience at the plate got runners on base for people like Calvin, The Intimidator, Rob S and Ian W to swing the bat with authority and and put the ball deep and in play so we can advance runners and score.

we eventually ran out winners by attrition with everyone getting on base at some point and good Slugging..

Play of the game : for apparently super high comedy:
Ravi for his ninja combat roll that nearly took out the 3rd baseman

Honorable Mentions: Rob S for his Home Run where the opposition almost willed him home (despite him slipping at nearly every base)..by throwing the ball behind him almost the entire time.

The INTIMIDATOR for that drop...
Caroline for discovering her field style is studdied nonchalance...

Player of the Game: Louisa for taking a lot of unnecessary flak,and still playing the catcher's role..

Rookie of the Game: Ian W for having a swing almostr as violent as Calvins, and which makes me want to wince eac h time , as I am sure someone is going to pull a muscle

Opposition play of the game: having the grace to apologise once they realised it was really a bit silly..never mind..

Honorable mentions: Matt H.. that's twice in 2 weeks.. Matt has apparently come up with a big hit with his stylish swing, that was robbed by a great catch..

Jacki M fo rhaving a solid game at second base despite some wayward throws from both the infield and outfield

The We thought Gary and Chris C were competitive but.. award goes to Adam A. take a moment nreath , and save it the dge for a game that counts

The Kissoff:

we won The Bulldogs (Woof!) 16 - 15 the scratch 11
(at this point the game was declared over, though considering the way we were batting it could have gone on)..

Notes:
Must field better..this means not trying to throw home too much, as this will just get us into trouble...and also calling for the ball and backing up..

When we bat, remember you don't have to try and hit everything , and you don't have to hit the skin off the ball... but it helps

Oh and I think for at least have an umpire for the next few games, as it will stop arguments.. until we and everyone else is a lot better with the rules..

after numerous arguments, countless emails, and a lot of perspiration and in Antonio's case a lot of inspiration we finally have a name.. and I am pretty sure it was one that was suggested very early on

Early contenders were ....
STBD - Don't get caught out....
BD woot!!!
bd softies apart from Bonsels the intimidator??
BD blues
Just BD
Beer Drinkers ( the acronym is BD)
everybd

We are:
The BD Bulldogs...WOOF WOOF
and we are in good company, check it... The Georgetown Hoyas

But that's not all dear readers...to complement the new name, we have a new uniform...designed by our very own Debs F.. major props there!!!

It will mean that we have no excuses fo rnot being able to find the other members of the team when we arrive in dribs and drabs.. let's face it.. it's the way we work... so without further delay.. here it is!!!



Thansk to Event Merch for the T-Shirts...

Bigger,brighter,bolder....well more visible at least...

and while I am at it, check out the all new singing and dancing simplicity that is the new BD website...