The year 2000 is now over. It ended for our team without the much needed win that our team has been desperately searching for.

In the last game, we played the London Towers who are arguably the best team in the league.

We played pretty well for the most part and had a chance to win.

With three minutes left we were on a roll and tied the game. As has been the case in the last three games, when it was time to win the game, we failed to do what was needed.

Well, hopefully, the new year bring us a victory in our first game against the Thames Valley Tigers. I am sure that once we get our first win, we will begin to get a run going.

Everyone on our team still believes that we have a chance to make the play-offs.

There are still 20 games left and if we are able to get on a roll we could find ourselves in the place we want to be.

In the past two weeks we have played against some of the top teams and held our own. All we need to do is get to the point where those good perform-ances equal wins rather than close losses.

Having said all this, the reality is that we have lost way too many games in a row.

Everyone involved with the team is incredibly frustrated. As a result of this frustration, some fans have expressed their disappointment with the team.

This has led to a heated debate on the Bears website. Some people feel that the fans should keep their negative thoughts to themselves, while others feel that they have every right to express their views.

I have been asked to share my thoughts on this issue, so I have decided to discuss them here.

I believe that it is better to have fans that are disappointed in you than ones that do not care at all. As long as you come to the games, I appreciate you because I like having as many people as possible at the games.

I also believe that people respond to effort almost as much as results.

After the games where we have played with a high level of effort and enthusiasm, there have rarely been negative comments on the message board.

My final thought has to do with the specific negative comments that are directed towards individuals.

Personally, I wish the comments were not directed at individuals as all of us including the coach are working together and, therefore, should be judged together.

However, given that these comments have been made, I believe that people who are in the public eye get into trouble when they take the negative opinions of strangers more seriously than the positive thoughts they hear every day from the people around them.

If this sounds a little too wise, it is because I stole it from a woman on the Oprah Winfrey show who was giving Oprah advice on dealing with negative comments on her website.

Well, those are my thoughts, I look forward to hearing any criticism or even any praise on the Bears website.

Happy New Year everyone.