Rancho Santa Fe Sponsors Bulldogs Softball Club in 2007!

Well, it's official, Ray Bahaman and Rancho Santa Fe Mexican Restaurant are officially the primary sponsor of the Bulldogs Softball Club for the Summer of 2007.

Ray was eager to continue our relationship where we left off in 2006! He is excited to see what we will be able to do in 2007. The contributions from Rancho Santa Fe Mexican Restaurant have been an integral part in the operation of this team. With the support of Ray Bahaman and Rancho we have been able to not only afford to register to play softball, but have been able to outfit our players with jersey's and equipment.

We are glad to say that with the generous support of Ray Bahaman and Rancho Santa Fe, we will be able to continue to build upon the services that we are able to provide to each player on The Bulldogs.

Rancho Santa Fe Mexican Restaurant is located on Remington Blvd in Bolingbrook, IL. They are just northwest of the I-55 exit at Route 53.

For a map to Rancho Santa Fe, simply click here and be sure to mention you heard about Rancho through the Bulldogs Softball Club!

Tryouts Are Over & 2007 Rosters are Set!

Well it was a tough tryout for the Bulldogs this year. With players returning from Summer & Fall and having to take into consideration many factors, the decision was not easy but the preliminary roster for the Bulldogs Summer 2007 team is, as follows (no particular order):

• Ken Benson
• Sean Killham
• Tim Howe
• Jim Jano
• Mark Wambay
• Brandon Aiken
• Bill Channell
• John Kontek
• Milo Phelps
• Angel Cortes
• Jeff McMahon
• Nelson Rivera

Here's to the Bulldogs defending their 2007 Championship! We have a great group of guys for 2007 to make a run for League Champion, as well as Playoff Champions. We will miss the guys who will not be taking the field this season with us and we wish them all the best. Some of them have agreed to be put on the sub-list, so hopefully we'll get to see them sometime this season.

Go Bulldogs!

Dogs to Defend Friday Night Championship in 2007!

Well, the polls are now closed and the survey results are final. The Bulldogs will be back to defend their 2006 Friday night Playoff Championship!!

There was a 50/50 preference for Thursday/Friday nights and unfortunately we had to pick a night, which means that some guys who could only play one night or the other would not be able to play with us this season. It was a tough decision, but we elected to side with seniority as the deciding factor. However, after calling the park district to get availability, it didn't much matter. As it turns out, both leagues on Thursday night are already filled for 2007.

So, tomorrow I will be putting a deposit down and registering us in the Friday-B league. This is the same league that we won the playoff championship in 2006. If you need a reminder (cause I know I did), we ended the season with a 12-2 record tied with PB & J, but since PB &J had the tie breaker over us, they won the league championship.

Based on league rules, the "league champion" is required to move up to the next division in the following season. However, this does not apply to the "playoff champion" if they are not also the regular season champion, as well. Therefore, we will be able to re-enter the Friday B league.

Here are some important dates/deadlines that we have to meet, and we will appreciate everyone's cooperation in ensuring that we make these dates.

• Thursday, April 12: Captains meeting at 8pm. Some of us will be meeting for drinks, but everyone is welcome to join us.
  
• Friday, April 27:
• Remainder of league fee must be in.
• Initial roster is due.
• Friday, May 4: Final roster changes are due.
  
• Friday, May 11: Remainder of "non-resident" fees are due.

We are going to be meeting with Rancho Santa Fe to secure our primary sponsorship for the summer season, however we will need all of your help to make this season a success. The more money we are able to raise, the more things we are able to provide you guys to enhance your experience.

In order to raise funds we are going to be sending out "sponsorship" forms to local businesses. We have put together some packages for them and we'll see what kind of result we will get.

In addition, we are looking into a couple of fund raising ideas. Sean is working with an ex-Bulldog on a "golf card" that we could sell. In the past, when we looked at this, we would net $20/card sold. There's another fund raising option that we are looking at that would net the Dogs $15/account sold. Just by selling two to three cards/accounts you make up the majority of your cost of playing for the Dogs. If each player on the team were to sell 5 golf cards, that would net the team $1200. We will be finalizing the "wish list" and will let you know what our target will be. All of this money will be used to fund all of our activities, equipment, gear, possible tournaments (separate Bulldog Tourney team?) and increase our fun factor for both the summer and fall.

Kenny has been looking into a new jersey for this season. It would be thinner then the jersey we used last season (similar to Under Amour's Loose Gear). We also won't be held to the standard white/gray color shirts and can now mix and match colors. So we could get a navy based jersey with silver and red mixed in to the shirt.

Hats and visors will be available and Kenny has also purchased a jacket for the season. Kenny has also done some research on pants/shorts and shoe options for the team from Boombah. The more we purchase at one time, the more money we save.

We are looking for additional ideas for fund raising and sponsorship ideas. Please feel free to e-mail me with your ideas. Also, tell us what you'd like to see us provide. No "wish" is too big. If we don't know about it, we can't ever provide it. It's just a "wish list", don't be afraid to open your mind to what is possible.

Alright, that's enough from me for now. I'm looking forward to a successful 2007!

Go Bulldogs!

Dogs Hit Their Stride - Part II

Ok - it's been a while... Ok - a long while! Give me a break, you think this is what I do everyday?

Alright enough of that. That's in the past and the Dogs are looking forward to 2007. Already this year, we have a new Bulldog Softball Web site. The site is "under construction" (what else is new), but there's some cool features to the new site.

First, we're using Google's Apps for Your Domain service. This will allow us to create a "community" around the Bulldogs. Each and every member of the Dogs will have their own account established. Each account will be outfitted with the following features:

• Personalized Home Page
• Modify look/feel of the Personal Home page.
• Add various modules to the Home page (i.e. weather, news, etc)
• Allow us to better communicate news and updates to the team (i.e. rain outs, schedules, updated news, etc)
• E-mail Address (user@dogsoftball.com)
• Uses Google's powerful Gmail application
• Every account will have 2 GB of storage
• Google Chat (IM and Voice Chat with team members who are online)
• Google Calendar
• Allows you to create your own calendar with many powerful features (i.e. schedule meetings, invite guests, reminders via e-mail or cell phone, etc)
• Group Calendar will allow everyone to see the Bulldogs schedule and any changes.
• Blackberry / Cell phone integration

We'll be able to integrate some other features that Google offers separately to round out our community. Features such as Google Groups, which we can use for our forums.

Also, I'd like to announce that we have enlisted the help of a couple of other Bulldogs to help make this year a success. I would like to thank both Sean and Kenny for taking a big role in the Bulldogs operations this season. Tim and I will be grateful for the help.

These guys are right in line with my vision for the Bulldogs and have come up with some great ideas already. We'll be sharing those ideas with all of you, as we get closer from taking our ideas and making them reality.

Please make sure that you have access to our new site. Also, do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. Just send an e-mail from your Dog Softball mail system to my e-mail address. All address books will be pre-loaded with everyone else's e-mail address.

Thanks and Go Bulldogs!