When Pope sat down for his weekly radio show, the weight of the moment was obvious. Yet, his comments might be construed in three ways: Delusional, naive, or, if you are the eternal optimist, exactly the kind of belief this fragile team needs right now. "I do believe that this team is going to get better and better and better, despite the diminishing roster. "They’ve shown us we’ve taken some hits, but these guys have shown a resilience and a commitment to each other. If Pope can't sell this optimism to his locker room by the weekend, this season goes from "bad" to "over."