OK. I'll tell you about heartaches. I've spent 3 consecutive weeks watching the Cougars AND the Cardinals play bad football. BAD FOOTBALL.

There is some glimmering of hope for both but the hole is deep and they don't appear to have dropped the shovel yet.

Let the record show that I went out after my last HS football game and wrecked my Dad's pickup. Not only was I completely bummed by losing what I knew was my last football game (it turns out it wasn't, but that's an entirely different story) but I had mono that I'd refused to yield to in the last week of the season. I was barely ready for my senior year of baseball because of it...

Baseball/softball is a game of 'some days chicken, some days feathers'. Your niece will be just fine for the simple reason that she has been in the past. It would be in her best interest to get comfortable in the knowledge that hitting isn't the only way to help your team. I certainly worked harder when I wasn't hitting than when I was. For whatever that is worth.

I'm certain Sparty will hear his name called early in March, just as certain as I am the Zags will be there. Football is so bad for me that I am in 'Hurry Basketball' mode. And I mean real basketball, not that stuff the pros play.