On Blogging

I was going to write something like this on this blog's birthday (January 29) but did not get around to it. However, in light of today's WaPo article on the growing number of Nationals blogs, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to write a bit on blogging.

I started this blog last winter in a fit of restlessness and longing for baseball. I had been blogging about another topic *coughpoliticscough* for quite awhile before that, but it was wearing on me, and I was looking to get into something else, something that did not cause controversy, did not give rise to anger, and did not run the risk of excessive trolling that had plagued me for so long.

I'd never been on a baseball forum or comment board or anything like that before. In fact, I hadn't visited more than a handful of baseball blogs, those being Red Reporter, Federal Baseball, Capitol Punishment, and maybe one or two others. Most of them I didn't know about until I did a Google search to find links to put up. I had also been to the Washington Baseball Club site quite often to see if there was any progress in bringing a team to DC (and I admit I was hoping this group would get the team - I am left to speculate about how the Nats might have a pitcher or two with another ownership group. But hey, at least we have an owner, and that Grand Reopening of RFK last year was great fun.)

The title popped into my head before I had even thought about starting this blog, and I knew I had to create it. It had to be something different, I knew, so I set up the links and began to study other baseball blogs so I wouldn't be repetitive. I knew I couldn't repeat news items, as Red Reporter, Redleg Nation, and District of Baseball do that and do it well, with insightful analysis and a vibrant and vocal readership. I knew that stats weren't my thing, and Basil and JinAZ, among others do that well. Distinguished Senators is dripping with well-played sarcasm and is always good for a laugh, which is all you can really do with a losing team, right? Red Hot Mama and Miss Chatter do an awesome job at talking about the players in a fun and intelligent manner. Each blog on my sidebars is great - go visit them!

What was left for me was to appeal to the emotional side of baseball fans, the spiritual side, which is what I think I like best about the game anyway.

Last year I admit that towards the middle of summer I began to write mostly about the Reds, but can you blame me? After five losing seasons, my Reds were making a playoff run while the Nats were running out pitchers no one's ever heard of. Does that make me a fair weather fan? I don't think so. I still went to as many games as I did before, which is more than you can say for most of DC, who apparently forgot that there was a baseball team in the city, judging from the attendance. It's just that my excitement about the Reds having a shot flooded my brain, and when I sat down to write about baseball, that excitement is what came out. How could it not? But this year I'm going to up the Nats posts a bit, especially since I have a season ticket plan. But the Reds posts will not decrease!

Anyway, I just wanted to say that writing about baseball is fun, I enjoy it immensely, and I really appreciate everyone stopping by. Thank you! Here's to a good 2007.
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