On a cool fall like evening Roll'em took on the two first place teams needing a sweep to keep our slim tournament hopes alive.
In the first game we took on ex super sub Fred and Holly Ballz Batman.  Led by Roberto who was throwing the best he has all season we jumped out to a 4-0 lead when I made a tactical error.  I should have asked for a measurement but didn't and my last throw was off.  When it was measured they were in, if I'd have known I would have tried a harder throw off the wall to try and hit them.  We got a couple more points to lead 6-1 when we stalled and they worked their way back to a 7-7 tie.  I thought that the one non-measurement was going to end up costing us but Ted came through with two points and we got the win 9-7.
In the second game we played Bocce-zilla on the new court.  Once again we jumped out to a 4-0 lead.  We played even for  few frames and we once again hit a stall on seven and they worked their way to 7-6.  We finally got a point but they followed with a point of their own and a 8-7 Roll'em lead.  The killer came when Bocce-zilla's Denise, who hadn't thrown a ball within five feet of the pallino put her first throw an inch away.  We couldn't get anything very close and then she put her second throw even closer and Roll'em lost 9-8 for our first split of the season.  All four of us had distance problems on the new court and couldn't make the proper adjustments.
The loss really hurt our playoff chances and we'll probably have to sweep the four remaining games to get in.

Yesterday The Glue and I took her brother back to the airport after a two week visit.  We left early and took him to the Blue Room in New Minden, they don't have places like that in California.  We then stopped at TGIF Fridays in Fairview Heights for a beer before heading to the airport.  I don't think I've ever been to one and am in no hurry to go back.  The boneless wings didn't have much flavor but they did have Alaskan Amber on draft.
After dropping Mike off at the airport we got the heck out of St. Louis and decided to stop in Mascoutah for something to eat.  I decided on the Mascoutah Steak House which I'd heard was good.  They were still on their lunch menu which was ok since I didn't want a big meal.  I went with a rueben and the Glue went with the French dip.  The rueben was decent but nothing special and the slaw was just ok but I doubt I get it again if we ever go back.  The Glues French dip was good as were her fries but neither were outstanding.  It didn't live up to the hype I'd heard about it but I guess we should have got a steak which is what they are known for.  Overall Jacks has a much better reuben and French dip.

For the first time this season I got to play without much pain in my back and leg.  We had to take twin 1 and twin 2 to the games yesterday since Bailey had parent-teacher conferences and Shad had a ball game.  Luckily we played late and Bailey showed up just as we were getting ready to play so we didn't have to throw and watch them at the same time.
We played Boccelicious in the first game and got off to a typical Roll'em start falling behind 3-0.  We managed to fight our way back into but once again got stuck on five points and lost 9-5.  We didn't play that bad but they had a lot of first shots that were real close.  If we got a close one they would hit it and get the point.  We also lost every measurement and there were a lot but the key was they were on fire.
In the second game we moved from the new court to the court by the alley and played long time nemesis Squatchy Bocce.  Once again we got off to a Roll'em start but this time we couldn't even score a point and went down to a 9-0 defeat.  They too were on fire and beat all our best throws.  Ugly game.
This puts a big blow on our playoff hopes and we'll have to go on a big time run to make them.

The Packers opened their 100th season with an unbelievable win against their arch rivals, the chicago bears.  In the first half the Packers were dominated on both sides of the ball.  The defense looked like it was still being ran by Capers, once again getting no pressure and leaving wide open receivers.  Offensively McCarthy refused to give help to Bulaga who was coming off a knee injury and was facing the bears newly acquired Mack who may be the best pass rusher in the game. 
Bad went to disastrous when Rodgers went down under a heavy rush and didn't get back up.  He finally limped off the field and ended up riding in a cart to get checked out.  It looked like an acl injury and the Packers season would effectively be over.
On comes Kizer and after a really good start he rolls right into the waiting arms of Mack who just takes the ball away from him.  The Packers got the ball back with time running out in the first half only trailing 10-0 after having been thoroughly out played.  Deep in their own territory facing a second and nineteen with only fifty seconds left and your young backup quarterback in the game seems like a good time to run out the clock.  Nope, let's try a screen pass which wasn't a bad call but couldn't have turned out worse.  Kizer threw it right into the hands of Mack who returned it for a touchdown, 17-0 bears.
Things were looking awfully grim when Rodgers comes limping out of the tunnel to start the second half.  The bears took the second half kickoff and marched down the field but had to settle for a field goal and a 20-0 lead. 
Remarkably Rodgers takes the field and marches the Packers down the field but they have to settle for a field goal too,  Somehow things start changing, the defense starts getting stops and the offense finally goes to shorter throws to protect Rodgers. 
The fourth quarter starts with the Packers down 17 points.  Rodgers makes an absolutely perfect throw to Allison in the end zone cutting the score to 20-10, game on.  Another stop and Rodgers marches the Packers down and Adams caps it off with a catch and fights his way into the end zone.  20-17, hmmm. 
The bears answer and march down the field as time starts running down.  On third down they run a dump pass and the runner gets all the way inside the five and a first down but McCarthy challenges.  The runner stepped out of bounds earlier so the bears get moved back and most importantly some time goes back on the clock.  A touchdown here seals the game but the Packers defense manages to hold them to a field goal.
With just under three minutes to go there's plenty of time for Rodgers to move down field.  With the ball on their own 25 yard line Adams slips on his route and Rodgers throws it right into the hands of Fuller, the bears db but he drops it.  The Packers face a third and ten when Rodgers buys a little time and finds Cobb over the middle for what would be a first down but when he turns around there is no bears defenders.  The bears pursuit can't tackle him and the Packers take the lead 24-23 but there's just over two minutes left. 
Still plenty of time for the bears to get into field goal position, something us Packer fans have seen way too often in the past.  The Packers force the bears into a fourth down and the pass is incomplete but there's a flag down.  Roughing the passer on Mathews, dumb dumb dumb dumb.  The bears move down the field some but the Packers force another fourth down.  Pass is once again incomplete and there's no flags.  Packers win.
Unbelievable

After struggling for two of the three weeks this season Captain Fuzzy decided to change things up and throw with the Glue while Roberto moved to the other end to throw with Ted.
In the first game we took on Empty Nesters featuring our neighbors from across the street.  We got off to a typical Roll'em start falling behind 2-0 after one frame.  We answered with one and three point frames to take the lead.  After an exchange of points the score moved to 5-3 when Roberto made a good throw to cause them to use all their balls without getting the point.  Roberto got his second throw in and with a chance to close it out with two more points Ted shorted his first throw but got his second in for a 8-3 lead.  I had a bad feeling when we didn't capitalize with the chance to win and needless to say disaster struck once again.  The Glue threw the pallino on the right wall and we they got one close on their second shot.  Neither me or the Glue could get anything very close and our neighbor Garrett capitalized with his two throws to cut the lead to 8-6.  They chose to go long with the pallino putting close to the wall.  The strategy backfired when Roberto put his ball about a foot away.  After a couple razor thin misses we managed to walk away with a 9-6 win. 
In the second game we took on Feeder of the Pack with my old buddy Everett but with our new alignment he was throwing on the other end of the court.  We started out much better, getting one and then two point frames.  On our next frame I threw the pallino deeper than I'd intended but the Glue bailed us out with a great throw a few inches away from it.  They exhausted their balls but had a decent throw about two feet away but the Glues next throw was once again on the money which took all the pressure off and we ended up with four pints and a 7-0 lead.  Roberto and Ted finished it off and we had a 9-0 win to move our record back to .500.
I have to say that games have been going a lot quicker than I anticipated after what happened the first week.  A lot of teams are skipping their practice throws for their second game plus just throwing a couple balls without worry about who's in.

This past Friday we met our Packer friend Schmuck at Quatros to discuss the Packers and generally catch up.  Yesterday was cut down day in the NFL so initial rosters are set but most likely will change in the coming days after the waiver period expires.
Some random Packer thoughts from the offseason:
Trading Darius Randle for Deshone Kizer and flopping some draft choice was a good deal.  Apparently Randle was not very popular in the clubhouse and was going to be released anyway.
Trading Brett Hundley was also a good trade.  Hundley's fate was sealed when the Packers made the Kizer trade.  Hundley is in the last year of his contract while Kizer has two more after this season.
Aaron Rodgers deal needed to get done and it appears there was some give and take on both sides.  Overall a pretty good deal for both sides and probably means Rodgers will retire as a Packer.
Not getting Kahil Mack was not surprising in the least but him going to the bears was disappointing.  The Packers couldn't afford to shell out that much money to two players a couple days apart.
The Packers initial 53 player roster contained some big surprises.  Eight wr's and only two rb's is a little perplexing especially since no fb's were kept.  Gutenkunst showed some balls by moving on from some high draft picks from the past few drafts (Randle, Rollins, Biegal) and some others picks that had played a lot (Murphy, Hundley, Ripkowski).  Thompson didn't do a very good job with his last several drafts which has created what appears to be a thin roster.