[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Leading Europe, but the lead is small...
After a mishmash of stellar road victories and a couple of mindboggling losses at home, we've placed ourselves at the top of the division with a 4-3 record.

With 5 road games already in the books and most of the tough opponents behind us, we thought we were in go mode for a 12-4 kind of season. Not so much, we stumbled over the previously winless Snapfinger Jazz, in Oranje Haven no less, meaning the next home game against the Bordeaux Vineyards will put the division lead at mid-season on the line after all.

Theo had a bit of an off-day against the Jazz, which didn't help, while the defensive line has been Merchantmen unworthy in generating pass rush pressure. It's tempting to throw the game plan overboard and act like we had a bad plan. We're probably about 66% to 75% effective, but I have no clue what works and what doesn't.

Does it mean I'm holding us back? Probably, this team feels like it could have been 6-1 and had no business choking our only two home games. But sometimes, football can see that oddly shaped ball bounce into the wrong direction and make your team lose a game it should have won and a game it should have won by two scores.

European Division:
1. Maassluis 4-3
2. Paris 3-4
3. Bordeaux 3-4
4. Gothenburg 1-5-1

Ok, the lead is just a game, but on paper, we're really a game or two ahead of the division. We steamrolled the Musketeers in Paris and should have never let the Giants come back to within 3 points at Gothenburg. We lost two winnable home games by a score and had smooth victories at our 2085 playoffs opponents from Augusta and North Plainfield. The loss at Hanalei was only logical.

Sure, the rest of the season won't be a cup cake schedule, we're no Asstoria Heroes, but we've got every reason to be optimistic, bar injuries to key players.

We'll curse the player agent of Bart Guthrie after the last game of the season, aside from this one right now: what a lunatic for telling his player to not take a better offer than he requested. *rant*

We'll have to keep faith in our pass rush, keep throwing it to Theo, but not overdoing it. And with a little bit of luck on the right side, we're still in the running for doing better than last season.

We can do this, Merchantmen! We can do this.