The Monday Poll

A little better. Poll participation last week, that is. Not the aftermath of the historic, or should that be histrionic, congressional brinkmanship that did nothing but dig the debt hole deeper. Since I'm in a foul mood a) I told y'all no default was imminent, b) the downgrade would occur anyway and c) the projections S&P are putting out after the downgrade are all laughably optimistic, including their worse case scenario by 2021. (Probably because they are likely based on the Pollyanna-ish fiction being disseminated by the CBO.) But then I'm just a paintball coach. On the good news front Scar Jo and Ryan Reynolds may be getting back together. Fingers crossed!
Fortunately for you lot I'm the new, kinder, gentler and chill-er Baca Loco and your abject failure to make a go of the latest poll is cool. No, really, it's okay. I know you're busy (yes, you) and the demands of the day can be a real burden so if you don't always get a chance to participate--I understand. Maybe next time. In the meantime enjoy VFTD pressure-free. That's my new policy.
This week's poll could have been one of those run-of-the-mill who is going to win in New Jersey but just the thought of that almost induced a bout of narcolepsy--which isn't good for timely posting here at VFTD. So instead this week I'm asking the (slightly snarky) question: How many teams will the NPPL's DC Open draw? I'll include ranges of numbers and we'll see how well you do at prognosticating the final tally. I was also tempted to ask what the over/under on the D1 finals match would be but that seemed even nastier somehow. Maybe because I was thinking 3. Maybe 4 points. Another good one would have been--Will teams shoot more or less paint than normal at Jersey? (The answer for most will be more, btw.) Given all the possibilities I went with my gut. There you have it. Vote. Don't vote. It's cool. Whatever works for you.

Monday Poll in Review
Last week's poll asked the evergreen question, Will the two major leagues finally make a merger happen? Or something quite like that. Voting was up around 20% so I thank those of you who participated. Those that didn't? You're missing out but it's cool. Live and let live, I say. By the narrowest of margins--one actual vote--the yeses captured the day. The difference was less than one percent. Among other things that means 50% of y'all aren't having any. You've been down this road before and all it brought was failure and heartbreak. Okay, that's probably overstating it a bit. But who can blame the naysayers? They have history on their side, after all. We've seemingly been here before only to have everything fall apart again and again. Why should this time be any different?
Although, truth be told I'm almost tempted to think a 50/50 split is actually a pretty positive result considering the number of past failures. Either a good sized chunk of the yes votes are unaware of the past or hope really does spring eternal. (Rumor has it everything remains on track to get this done before next season so I imagine we'll find out soon enough and in the meantime there's still paintball to be played.)