Winning Means Being Quiet?

This post is kind of personal. It shows a thin skin on my part and I am probably an idiot for writing. But writing has always been my outlet. I spent much of my adult life being the adult in the room...the steady rock that guides through the storm. Sports is where I can show my full passion whether it is ecstasy or being crushed. And I write about that because I have never pretended that I was a journalist. I write from a fan's perspective. Just look at the name of this place, for Pete's sake. Lately, I have been criticized on Twitter because I have expressed frustration with the Yankees. Apparently, the common thread is that right now, as a fan of that team, I should be basking in only good vibes because my team is going to win and not ever complain. Bull-ticky.

Most of these posts are by friends I have had on Twitter for years. I can accept those. They have earned the right to tell me what they think. Others have come from fans on terrible teams. I understand where they are coming from. But their teams have not always been terrible and might not be terrible forever.

You get it worse when you are are a Yankee fan and I get that too--or a Patriot fan for that matter. In both cases, my fandom began before their successes. Well, to correct that statement, I became a Yankee fan as a boy in the mid-1960s. I missed the glory years and started loving the Horace Clarke, Roger Repoz, Tom Tresh Yankees. I have been a fan of the Patriots since the Steve Grogan days. So I am not just a coattail guy.

I have been watching the Yankees for over fifty years. They and the Beatles are stitched into my life just as much as losing my dad young and living an--at times--stressful teen years. I think I have a right to express things about what I am watching after fifty years. Am I wrong? I am not dumb when it comes to baseball. I am not an analytical maven, but I understand them just enough to see and enjoy their benefit. So I would like to think that after all these years, my criticism is fair. I can admit to being wrong unlike the other William who writes about the Yankees always from the perspective that Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner are terrible and should have their impaled heads hanging on the Yankee Stadium gates.. I would say that I am negative maybe half the time. The other William is 100%. That's not me.

How different am I than fans of the Red Sox this year? The Red Sox have won it all four times since 2004 and had a magical season for the ages last year. Despite that success, when this year's Red Sox team became a clunker, the team and leadership were lambasted by their own fan base. Am I worse than that?

I've always tried to be magnanimous. When the Red Sox won, I congratulated the Red Sox fans and told them to enjoy it. I meant it. I have meant it when congratulating other successful teams and their fan bases. A team cannot win it every year. Not any more anyway. I know how good these fans of other teams feel. I have been there at every level. Of course I want them to bask in the glow of success. Who understands being a fan and begrudges that!?

There is a window for these team opportunities. The Astros might lose Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander might actually age some day. They have a window. The Red Sox had a window and took advantage of it. Now the Red Sox have questions going forward. That is how it works. The Yankees have not won it all after 2009. They have not even won the division most of the time. The team has a unique window. And in New York and for its fans, it is all or nothing on those windows!

So if I see things that can trip the team up and cause them not to take advantage of this window, I'm going to say so. Yeah, they are going to win over 100 games. But having home field through the post season is still up for grabs. The Yankees need that if perhaps they face the Astros for the ALCS. One extra home game could make a difference there or in the World Series. Shouldn't that be more important than resting players that have had plenty of rest on the DL or with natural days off? Shouldn't that be more important than resting a bullpen and letting three games get away from them in Detroit and Toronto? I think the home field advantage is more important than ANYTHING!

The Yankees lost the first game in Detroit as Aaron Judge and DJ LeMaheu sat. Perhaps the game would have been 13-12 instead of 12-11 if both those players had played. Perhaps they would have won if Nestor Cortez Jr had not become this year's version of Hector Noesi. The pitching lineup that day was just awful.

And, yes, I am going to spout off about the Yankees' medical and training staff when so many of these injuries have been muscular. Yes, the Yankees have thrived despite the injuries, but at no time this year has the team had all of its best players on the field at the same time. Employment is based on success. When I managed my customer service team, I had fifteen measurable stats. They were posted every week. Everyone knew where they stood. Lack of success meant stepping aside for someone who succeeded. The Yankees' medical staff and trainers have failed. They need to step aside. That is how I see it and I will say it out loud or on Twitter.

I will complain when umpires fail doing their jobs. I am not a conspiracy theorist and looking for evil plots around every corner for the Yankees as a team. I am talking about calling the strike zone. The "Framing" stat is so bogus because it shows the catcher fooling an umpire after a bad call. We should be feting these catchers or fighting the poor umpiring? I think the latter. To have SO many of these frame possibilities to create a statistic is pathetic.

I will continue to call out Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge for looking at strikes down the middle of the plate and then swinging and striking out on pitches that are not strikes. They can do better. They should be more aggressive. When they are, they are both terrific. The announcers always say that Gardner can ambush a pitcher at times. At times? How about all those other times when Strike One and usually Strike Two are right down the pipe? Hey, that is what I see. I'm not allowed to express it when the Yankees win 100 games? I guess not.

The resting thing is what I get hit the hardest about when questioning the Yankees' sanity. Has rest helped the team this year when it comes to injuries? Uh no. I can see trying to limit a position player to 150 games. Personally, I do not see any statistic that guarantees that doing such a thing works. But if a guy has missed 70 games due to injuries, does he need regular rest? How absurd.

To me, what makes the Patriots the most successful is that they do not lessen the value of any game. They are all important. I have watched far too many games this season when the best team the Yankees could field were not on the field and the feeling seemed to be, "Maybe we can somehow win this while giving guys some rest." Yes, tell us that when the Yankees' season ends in the seventh game in Houston's ballpark. Oh right, the odds of a series going the full seven games are a long shot. I forgot.

Maybe some thought has gone into this. I can admit that I like a series against the Twins a lot better than a series against the Oakland Athletics. The A's can actually beat the Astros and then the Yankees would have to face them anyway (if they beat the Twins, which is a crapshoot too).

Frankly, I am petrified about the post season. This team has been smoke and mirrors all season. Aaron Boone should get Manager Of The Year. He really should. I think the Yankees will have a better team next season. But I want desperately for them to win this season because of that window thing. And, of course, because I am a big fan. So yeah, if you think I should be happy-go-lucky due to the team's success, oh well. That's not going to happen.

Cardinals fan meme questioned

The New York Yankees just finished a three game series in St. Louis against the Cardinals. The Yankees took two of the three game and thus had a successful series. The two fan bases are fun to compare. You cannot deny that the Cardinals have something special in St. Louis. The sea of red is everywhere and no city supports their team better. But they also, with a few rational exceptions, do not like their team questioned in any way. Yankee fan, on the other hand, love to argue and usually do so against each other!

Last night on Twitter was a typical example. I wasn't picking on the Cardinals, which is the funny thing. It was actually a compliment to the Yankees for the series. I tweeted:

Yankees faced the talented Wacha, Lynn & Miller, had pitchers hitting and only struck out 11 times in 118 PAs in the series. 9.8%.
— William Tasker (@FlagrantFan) May 29, 2014

In my mind, that is not saying anything bad against the Cardinals. The current MLB strikeout rate is 20.2%. So 9.8% for a series is a nice bit of information. It was one of the few things nice you can say about the Yankees' inconsistent offense thus far this season. In the last seven days, the Yankees' strikeout rate has been 13.5% and it is only 17.8% for the month of May, nicely below league average. But a Cardinal fan took exception to the tweet and fired back:

@FlagrantFan @JayCaruso you know the Cardinals pitch for ground balls vs the K, right?
— Ron Fauss (@ronfauss) May 29, 2014

I thought that was interesting. So I decided to see if that was indeed a "thing." A couple of articles I did find seem to indicate that it was indeed a "thing" during the Tony La Russa / Dave Duncan days. But now pitching coach Derek Lilliquist states that the current philosophy is more of a hybrid.

In other words, the current power pitchers the team has make it conducive to pitch up in the zone and get their share of strikeouts. That was anecdotal evidence that this fan's meme was perhaps dated. What do the statistics say?

The statistic show that the Cardinals are fifth in baseball as a pitching staff in strikeout percentage of 22.0%. It was higher before the series with the Yankees. Since we've already said that the league average is 20.2%, the Cardinals are decidedly better at striking people out than most of the league.

If the Cardinals are still pitching to contact, they aren't doing it very well. The pitching staff is currently 20th out of thirty teams in contact percentage against. But have no fear, that is a good number, not a bad one. Missing bats is a good thing.

If you are pitching to contact, it would be preferable to have a staff that features ground balls. In fact, from the articles I culled for this piece, the Duncan philosophy was to pitch down in the zone to get ground balls. But the current Cardinals are nineteenth out of thirty teams in causing ground balls and they are eighteenth in ground ball to fly ball percentage.

Sometimes fans aren't as informed as they could be. But that is understandable. The only problem with not being current in what a team is really doing is the risk of blindly defending a meme that is no longer defensible.  And to get back to my original point, the Yankees did do a great job of frustrating the Cardinals current strategy by actually getting the bat on the ball quite often.

Yu Darvish and the Twitter phenomenon

I follow 1,067 people on Twitter. Probably a thousand of them are baseball people making me pretty much a one-trick pony. I follow beat writers, baseball analysts, writers and fans. Following them all is hugely entertaining. Last night was a typical night on my timeline. Some were following the baseball games in their area, but it was a short schedule with only seven games on tap. Others were watching basketball and hockey. And then someone mentioned that Yu Darvish was perfect through six innings against the Astros. The next hour and a half was pretty close to Twitter nirvana.

Yu Darvish is still the Number Two trending topic on Twitter today. And I thought that Sunday night's first game of the season where the Rangers opened against the Astros in the latter team's American League debut was as pretty close to perfect as Twitter could get. After all, most of us were watching the same game and it was like all of us were in this same vortex all around the country. But as good as that was, nothing was like last night.

For an hour and a half, my timeline was full of corny "Yu" jokes, jokes at the expense of the Astros, jokes about Ron Washington's managerial style. You name it, it was said as we all flipped to the game to see if history would be made. After all, there have only been 21 perfect games in the history of Major League Baseball.

And Darvish has been a focus of attention ever since he went in the bidding zone before the 2012 season after some very flashy years pitching in Japan. Many picked him as the instant Rookie of the Year and possible Cy Young Award winner. But his 2012 was uneven and some struggles occurred along with some flashes of brilliance. Needless to say, he is an interesting player.

So when he finished six innings of perfect baseball, he instantly got everyone's attention. Darvish had never thrown a no-hitter in Japan and in this country, he had never even thrown a game where he did not walk anyone. So all of this was doubly interesting.

Then he finished the seventh without a blemish. Everyone was hanging on every pitch.

In the top of the eighth, the Rangers, already up, 3-0, rallied for a couple of runs. It was excruciating and people were rooting for the Rangers to make outs. The Astros made a mid-inning pitching change. Arrgh! Hurry up already!

Darvish started the eighth inning with a 3-2 count against Chris Carter. Uh oh. Don't walk him! Carter fouled off two hanging sliders. Whew! But then Carter swung at ball four on a tight slider just off the outside corner for the first out. Rick Ankiel looked like meat as he struck out meekly for the second out. It was Yu Davish's fourteenth and of the evening. His pitch count was climbing. But Justin Maxwell's silver hammer was silenced for the third out and my Twitter feed went nuts. Darvish was perfect through eight.

The Rangers rallied again in the top of the ninth! "Stop hitting!" I tweeted. Several people retweeted me. Rangers' fans and writers were imploring their team to make outs. We wanted to watch history.

Eventually, in what seemed like an eternity, the Rangers finally made their third out and we were three outs away. Houston's first batter, Jason Castro, grounded out to short. It was hit hard, but Elvis Andrus scooped it up easily and threw Castro out.  Two outs away.

On the next pitch (or so it seemed), Carlos Corporan grounded out to Ian Kinsler at second. This was perfect as Darvish did not have to use a lot of pitches to get the first two outs. We were now one out away from perfection and history.

And then Marwin Gonzalez stepped to the plate. Gonzalez is the only "Marwin" who has ever played Major League Baseball. Someone--I forget who--actually called it in the eighth inning that Gonzalez would break up the perfect game. I wish I could shoot that Nostradamus. Because sure enough, Darvish left a fastball a little up and out over the plate and Gonzalez hit the ball through Darvish's legs and past a diving Andrus and into center field.

My tweet, "Crap," said it all. All through the stands in Houston, fans had their hands over their heads in shock and disappointment. Some of those in my timeline exploded in anger--some in anguish. Some were happy.

For an hour an a half, we were all in this event together. That is the magic of this Twitter phenomenon. Fans and writers all over the country were tuned into the same event and shared it in real time through pixels on our screens. We live in a day an age where we can watch baseball, report on it and talk about it all at the same time. It is all mind-boggling.

Then, of course, we all abuzz after for some time to come. My lame tweet joke was, "It's pretty safe to say that none of us got our Darwish." Hey, it doesn't matter. We were all doing the same thing. We all had a collective blast. In the end, we were disappointed. But it was an evening we won't forget for a while.

One Fan's favorite Twitter Follows

As a public service to you readers here at the FanDome, it felt appropriate to give you a list of this Fan's favorite Twitter follows. Naturally, the best Twitter follows are those that also follow you back. After all, it is hard to have a one way conversation.  There are others worth following like baseball beat reporters and players if you like that sort of thing. But they never follow anyone besides themselves. So you can go find those on your own.

Many of this list are smart, passionate baseball fans. Some write for other sites and some are just fans. But everyone on this list has been a joy to converse with, clown around with and just generally great to hang out with from time to time on Twitter. Some may be sarcastic and snarky. Others are always classy. But each is worth you following them too. So here is the list not in any order of preference. Enjoy.

• @NavinVaswani_  - Navin was the first baseball writer who ever followed back. He is a terrific writer and writes occasionally for NotGraphs. Loves hockey and baseball and all things sports in Toronto.
• @m_weber  - Michael Weber is a multi-media journalist who used to write about the Rays. He currently produces the five o'clock news at WTSP in St. Pete.
• @BryanMcwilliam - Bryan is a sports journalist and personal trainer. He is another early hookup made on Twitter.
• @sgwell - Stephen Greenwell is a reporter and blogger in Rhode Island.
• @C70 - "The Godfather" of St. Louis Cardinals bloggers. Daniel Shoptaw is the founder and first president of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and United Cardinal Bloggers. He has become a good friend and a real nice guy.
• @baseballjourney - Eric Bynum is a baseball fan and writer who teaches English in SK.
• @DJAubain - Daniel Aubain wrote about fantasy sports. Has hung up his writing hat for a while. Great guy. Better husband and father.
• @jasonbaseball - Jason Hunt writes for @FakeTeams. He is a fan of the A's who is married to a Cubs fan. That must be interesting.
• @AaronJSomers - Aaron is the Editorial Director of Fansided's baseball side of things. Used to write for his own site. Great friend and persistent encouraging presence for this Fan.
• @TDReport - John Saban is the writer for The Diamond Report and runs a great site there.
• @AaronMcGallegos - Aaron was transplanted to the Toronto area and though he is not a sports tweeter, is a great guy who has been enjoyed on Twitter.
• @MnkysThrwngDrts - MJ Loyd is exceptionally hilarious and is the editor of Halos Hangout and Off Base Percentage. Based in New Orleans.
• @GoldenSombrero - Mike Rosenbaum is the MLB Prospects lead writer for The Bleacher Report. The moniker was the name of his original site. Great writer and even better and supporting his friends. Honored now to be his colleague on Big Leagues Monthly.
• @_LeftField - Dan is like a brother and a true friend. He writes on his own Left Field blog as well as for High Heat Stats. He is a craft beer enthusiast and has eclectic musical tastes. Love this guy.
• @Figure Filbert - This Fan's other brother on Twitter. Jonathan Mitchell is a co-founder of MLBDirt.com and writes for Draysbay. Love this guy too.
• @mspici - Michael Spiciarich is the CEO of The Sports Banter. 
• @ThomasPope - One of the favorite offbeat follows. Always has something interesting to say. White Sox fan.
• @kranepool - Stephen Keane is a credited Mets blogger with a terrific podcast. Crusty. But crusty can be very tasty.
• @subwaysquawkers - Run by a Yankees fan and a Mets fan and they love to argue. Highly entertaining.
• @TrueGrich - James is one of the very best of the Angels bloggers and also writes elsewhere for general baseball topics. Terrific.
• @RJsFro - How can you not like a Twitter account that celebrates the afro of the red-headed Randy Jones?
• @grahamdude - Graham Womack is a terrific writers who founded his site, Baseball Past and Present and now writes (and gets paid even) by the San Francisco Chronicle. Super guy.
• @whitesoxski - Rob Warmowski is a passionate fan of the White Sox.
• @DiamondHoggers - A very good friend who runs a great podcast with MJ Loyd. General baseball blogger but partial to the Reds.
• @lenNYYankees - Len Neslin is a Yankees fan and blogger who is currently an intern for the Boston Globe. Rooting for him.
• @KramericaSports - One of the best fantasy baseball sites and also a faithful supporter and #FF er.
• @poisonwilliam - Bill Ivie is the founder of Ivie League Productions. And just married the amazing:
• @Cardschic - Angela is a school teacher and St Louis Cardinals fan.
• @Raindog63 - Bill Miller is a terrific baseball writer and a good friend.
• @Salty_cod - Passionate fan of the Toronto Blue Jays.
• @proseandivy - Ryan Maloney has one of the favorite monikers on Twitter. Published baseball writer currently covering one of the Tigers' minor league clubs.
• @BoSoxInjection - Covers the Red Sox for the Fan Sided Network.
• @500LevelFan - Jeremy Gibson can usually be found in the upper deck of a Toronto Blue Jays home game. Writes for those kinds of fans. Terrific.
• @SiscoKid027 - Francisco Hilario writes about baseball and NYC history. Fascinating combination. He is also a bouncer so don't mess with him.
• @danielday - A wonderful friend who works at Princeton. Cool, eh? He is also a baseball blogger and unicyclist. 
• @WalkoffWoodward - Doc Worn writes a terrific Tigers blog which has been picked up as part of the ESPN Sweet Spot Network. Great writer.
• @CardinalTales - Bob Netherton is another great friend and Cardinals fan and historian. His Twitter Tales are famous. Terrific guy.
• @HOVG - Runs one of the most eclectic and fun baseball sites on the web.
• @RuleBookGuru - The guy this Fan turns to on all things related to the rules of baseball.
• @gr33nazn - Baseball blogger, Cardinals fan and one of the funniest accounts on Twitter.
• @MerrillFraz - Merrill Frazier is a passionate fan of sports in the Tampa region.
• @PeerlessSports - Writes about all sports. Calvin Edwards is also a really nice guy.
• @Brian_Mahler - Passionate sports fan and a real all around guy with lots of fascinating interests.
• @tribescribe - A freelance writer and copyeditor. Loves the Indians, obviously.
• @JaymesL - Covers the Brewers at the Dsiciples of Uecker. Favorite Brewers writer and tweeter.
• @BaseballBetty - A lovely baseball account from a very gracious lady.
• @whyilikebb - Cecilia Tan is a real pioneer and has been blogging baseball since 1999.
• @firstbasewizard - John Bloomfield believes that good fielding first basemen are highly underrated. Could not agree more.
• @beardofanclub - These are the guys that got Eric Bruntlett fired. Isn't that enough?
• @KyLRhones - Simply and enjoyable person to talk to.
• @BbalRelections - Peter Schiller is the founder of BaseballReflections.com. One of the good guys.
• @baseballindex - Adam Bernacchio is a very good baseball writer who, in addition to his own site, writes for MLB Daily Dish.
• @mysteryball58 - Jeff Polman is truly a favorite and you have to read his season long baseball fiction.
• @MLBReports - Easily one of the best quality baseball sites out there. A must follow.
• @realpetermag - Opinionated and tortured fan of the Seattle Mariners.
• @Harrison_Crow - Very good writer and sort of a Mariners' fan.
• @Bill_TPA - Bill is the co-founder of The Platoon Advantage but can be found all over the web at SBNation, Baseball Prospectus and Getting Blanked. Famous for his @Saberman shtick. Love this guy.
• @commnman - Mike Bates is @Bill_TPA's partner in crime, though they never agree on anything. Strong opinions but a great guy. Hope to meet these two someday.
• @TroyRenck - Beat writer for the Rockies for the Denver Post. Cool that he follows the Fan.
• @KCRoyalman - Troy Olsen was a super fan who has had to tame himself to write about his favorite teams. Great guy.
• @Brandon_Warne - Writes for Fangraphs and at many other places. Hard working writer and not nearly as scary as he looks. He is married to
• @MandiWarne - Who is easily the better looking of the two. {ducking}
• @deckacards - Kevin Reynolds writes about Cardinals baseball.
• @siri3113 - Peter Ace is a HUGE baseball fan. Can get carried away at times. But no harm there.
• @alskor - Al Skorupa writes about baseball and prospects for Bullpen Banter. One of the best there is.
• @grogg - Greg Layton is the only guy this Fan ever fought with on Twitter. But that was just one blip in what has become a very good friendship. Prolific tweeter and all around good guy.
• @kingkube - Chris Cochran is a Mariners fan and one of the funniest guys around.
• @BSLChrisStoner - Chris has been heard on many big time radio stations talking baseball. 
• @TaoofStieb - One of this Fan's favorite baseball writers. Writes for his own site plus for Sportsnet.ca
• @jabberred - Brent is a big baseball fan whose favorites are the Cards and the Rays. Nice guy.
• @dmbfan81 - Dave isn't as dumb as he looks. Loves his Cardinals.
• @Brien_IIATMS - Brien Jackson does not have mild opinions. Editor and lead writer for IIATMS and a colleague.
• @RoyallySpeaking - Jeff Parker blogs on his Royals. Very good at what he does.
• @cmcbrien - Chris McBrien is a baseball writer and podcaster for Dear Mr. Fantasy and simply one of this writer's favorite people on Twitter.
• @freehan11 - John Sharp is a blogger for Detroit sports. Very enjoyable.
• @LastAngryFan - Jeff Greenwell is not really that angry. In fact, not only is he a great blogger but a really great guy.
• @Erika4stlcards - Erika is just about the sweetest lady of all time. Blogs and loves her Cardinals.
• @churchofbasebal - Loves the Reds and Nationals. Hates the Cardinals. Don't get her sometimes, but always interesting to follow.
• @azsportsguy - Scott Allen obviously loves his Arizona sports. Editor of raisingzona.com.
• @Fantasybking - If you do fantasy baseball, Brian G. Smith is your guy.
• @fryban - Brian Fee is easily one of this Fan's favorite follows on Twitter.
• @SteveMichaelsII - Steve writes for soxanddawgs.com and covers the Patriots. Great recapper and pregame analysis.
• @ryanillini - Ryan Moran loves all things sports in Illinois.
• @Dave_Doyle - Dave writes for MetsReport.com
• @johnsouth33 - John Southee is simply an all around interesting dude.
• @dougiejays - Simon Broder is just an interesting guy to follow.
• @PhllyBert33 - Philip Ebert writes about and pitched for the University of West Florida.
• @eutawhooligans - Kevin Lomax is a professional heckler.
• @jmerzie - Who says her tweets are nonsense. Heh. How can you not like that?
• @shanemiller33 - Shane interviews minor league players and does baseball podcasts. Heck of a nice guy.
• @blackandgold12 - Alan Guidry Jr. is a major sports fan.
• @LadyBatting - Bernadette Pasley writes about the Yankees on her own blog and is a colleague on Big Leagues Monthly.
• @Rickinator555 - Ricky Keeler writes about the Patriots and also writes about the Yankees for yanksgoyard.com.
• @MCB_johnverburg - Don't tout John Verburg as much as he deserves but his moniker is so hard to remember!  :)
• @FDbytheword - Frank Delaney. Yeah. The novelist. And yeah, he is a follower. How cool is that?
• @Andrew_Vig - Andrew Vigliotti is a real up-and-comer and covers baseball and football for Bleacher Reports, among other things.
• @Dathan7 - Dathan covers the Cardinals. Excellent podcaster and yard sale extraordinaire.
• @FantasyNomad - Michael Pichan is an accomplished writer on fantasy sports.
• @NYLivinCAMind - One of the most sought after fantasy experts and is also a most fascinating person in real life.
• @ThePantau - Mike is a buddy and an attorney with strong political and baseball opinions. Don't hold those against him.
• @RangersExpress - Nicholi is a thinking-man's fan of the Texas Rangers. A must follow.
• @maury_morris - Maury is a fantasy sports nut and often tries to help the Fan with his golf game...to no avail.
• @MikeFrohwirth - He is a Philly fan and travelling bard. Love it.
• @FantasyTrade411 - Trader X is a legend.
• @thebaseballfish - Wally Fish is the senior director of data services for the FanSided Network and a aspiring baseball writer. Loves the Twins and Royals.
• @ajgmets - Andy Gustavson is a Mets fan, obviously and one of the most faithful #FFer there is.
• @mgkasper6 - Mike Kasper is the founder of CardsDropping.com.
• @DJ_McClure - Dustin is a Cardinals fan and a really nice guy.
• @dbaxblogger - Chris Jackson is a very funny guy despite his grammar-nazi tendencies. 
• @historianAndrew - Andrew Martin is a terrific writer who does the best interviews of minor league players. Has his own site and is a colleague on MLB Dirt.
• @Gandhi_and-Pie - Mark was a terrific writer for the TPA before following his dream with an internship with the Braves organization. Funny, funny guy.
• @JWilberg - Jamal is a featured columnist on Bleacher Report.
• @documof - The code junkie that made MLB Dirt work so well. Big baseball fan too. Great guy.
• @BoldandBrash - Matt Sydor is a baseball analyst and good conversationalist.
• @BrandonOSports - Brandon Ogden is a sports writer who is enjoyable to follow.
• @BaseballChurch - Run by "Pastor" Paul. Odd but fun to follow.
• @steveslow - Steve Slowinski is one of this Fan's favorite baseball writers. He manages DRaysBay.com and writes for Fangraphs. Very gracious guy.
• @KentStock - Motivational speaker who is kind enough to respond to this Fan's odd baseball tweets.
• @soxanddawgs - Ian created this site and it is one of the best.
• @batandball21 - Harvey Carpenter breathes baseball.
• @Clarkbar213 - Robbie is a big baseball fan and a lawyer. Funny how many baseball writers are lawyers. Twitter completely changed this opinion of said profession.
• @Plinksburgh - Tracy keeps rooting for those Pirates. That is a true fan.
• @JLGreenberg81 - Jordan is the Executive Producer of MLB Network Radio. Very cool.
• @Jared_Thatcher - Jared is a fantasy baseball guru and a colleague at Big Leagues Monthly.
• @goldmedalmel - Mel Stewart. Yes, an Olympic medalists follows the Fan. Life is so cool.
• garrettkc - Garrett Craig is a FanSided writer and on staff of Motor City Bengals.
• @1967Astros - One of the coolest Twitter ideas. Follows the season of the 1967 Astros through one of their old players, John Bateman. Love this account.
• @TWEETSfromNANA - How can you not love a baseball grandma?
• @JacobsonSports - Bruce Jacobs is a sports radio personality.
• @CColeman802 - Baseball writer for the wonderfully named, "Aaron Miles Fastball." And a great nice person too.
• @BaseballRanking - Tim Goehlert is the proprietor there.
• @ecwiscott - Scott Scott loves Wisconsin sports. Enjoyable.
• @MrAniki - Loves the Fan's daily Game Picks posts. Tweets the most interesting articles he finds around the world.
• @DKulich44 - Mariners and Eagles fan. All around great guy and an optometrist. Follow him despite the latter fact.
• @CharlieSaponara - Charlie writes for The Outside Corner, but he is a real all around guy who is very interesting.
• @SportsPlum71 - Jeremy Plumley is a Texas sports fan extraordinaire. Tweets a lot. But never boring.
• @MonkeysWithaHalo - Garrett Wilson is at the top of the heap of Angels' bloggers.
• @uniformcritic - Probably the Fan's favorite Twitter account. Always posts great old pictures of baseball.
• @Chip_Buck - A must read for this writer, Chip is hysterical and writes for Firebrand and TPA among many others. Love this guy.
• @clairbearattack - Michael Clair runs the most fun baseball site on the web at Old Time Family Baseball. Now contributes to TPA as well.
• @WIUScott - Scott loves baseball, but that is just a part of what makes him interesting.
• @Tomahawk_Take - Bob Horton runs this FanSided Braves blog. Enjoy following him despite how much this Fan hates that tomahawk thing.
• @jlwoj - Jason Wojciechowski's name is easier to remember if you say it fast. Great writer. Smart as all heck. A guy whose opinion on things is greatly valued. Funny too.
• @tonyframpton - Tony was one of this Fan's favorite bloggers. Now he is just a favorite Twitter follow and that's okay.
• @MnTwinkie - A Twins blog. Obviously. But fun to follow.
• @Tasso_SPORTS - Ian Tasso is an up and coming play by play guy that this Fan roots for.
• @29Sonski - Pete Sonski hosts a Blog Talk Radio show among his many other sports pursuits. Very good to talk to.
• @aBROCKalypse - Brock is just insane. And that is always entertaining.
• @bigmarinersfan - Brian is a fan. And he is also great to talk to.
• @yoshiki89 - Stevo-sama is a talented baseball writer who does the best baseball recaps anywhere. A colleague at Big Leagues Monthly.

Gosh this is taking forever. Hope you appreciate this!

• @cuppingmaster - Alan covers the A's and is a really great person. Love talking to him.
• @oakfaninva - Found Dave the same time as Alan above. Enjoy them both immensely. 
• @BaseballUnrated - A fellow BBA generalist.
• @ChuckKnoblaugh - Yeah, the former player. He's a follower. Cool.
• @larrybenrendt - Larry is a fellow Yankees writer and all around talented guy.
• @RedSox_Thoughts - Matt Collins is a terrific writer and we enjoy each other's company. Writes at Over the Monster and has a new gig too that is pretty exciting.
• @The5_5Hole - Justin Hunter is a baseball writer that is enjoyable to read and talk to.
• @MWLtraveler - Craig Wieczorkiewicz has easily the hardest last name to spell in history. He's also writing a book about visiting all sixteen parks in the Midwest League. Very gracious guy.
• @BlaineBlontz - Blaine is everywhere. A colleague at Big Leagues Monthly, a founder of MLB Injury News and a contributor at MLB Daily Dish.
• @SportsCenterMe - Greg Eloge wants to work for ESPN. Rooting for him.
• @RieMix - Rie Bahadur has many interests. Baseball is just one of them.
• @Chris_Carelli - Chris is a super talented guy. He's the executive editor at Big Leagues Monthly and a senior editor at Yankees Go Yard, a FanSided network site.
• @AMirch729 - Adam is just unique. How else is there to describe him?
• @chestnuthell - Janice is good at inducing smiles and is a Red Sox fan.
• @danduquette - Yes, Dan Duquette follows the Fan. Is there a problem?
• @AATH_baseball - Ryan Sendek is a talented writer. Hasn't been around much lately. Worried about him.
• @BruceSpitzer1 - Author of Extra Innings, a novel.
• @birdbrained - Chris Reed blogs about his favorite team, the Cardinals.
• @RobbSaul - Editor of Redbird Rants.
• @Ourlads_Shonka - Dan Shonka is a former NFL scout now moved on to other cool things.
• @ChickenFriars - Robert and Kevin have a great blog on the Padres.
• @LarryBaseball - Larry Cicchiello has a passion for teaching baseball. Very faithful #FFer for the Fan. Appreciated greatly.
• @MHealeySports - Mark Healey is a writer, editor and host on SiriusXFFantasy. His opinions take no prisoners.
• @NathanConley - A radio producer in Charlotte for a big station there. Cool guy.
• @davidwiers - David is a terrific writer whose work is everywhere. A colleague at Big Leagues Monthly.
• @Bluedudesports - AJ Harris is just cool, that's all.
• @AshMarshallMLB  - Ash is a writer for MLB.com.
• @condiaFF - Big contributor to @RotoWar.
• @M_Holloway - Michael is a fellow BBA generalist.
• @john_pielli - John hosts the Passed Ball Show.
• @Prospect_corner - Bryce Kucko is a contributor at mlbdepthcharts.com
• @Jason_IIATMS - Jason Rosenberg. Was a fan of his for a long time. Now his colleague. Life is grand.
• @TheRaysRanter - Yossi Feins is the founder of The Rays Rant and chief editor at TheRaysWay.com and writes for The Bleacher Report.
• @MyRangersNotes - Nate is a good follow for Rangers fans.
• @lau56 - Larry Underwood is a published nonfiction writer and Cardinals fan.
• @DickYoungsGhost - One fake or novelty account that is enjoyable.
• @bdobbs23 - a seamhead by his own admission.
• @BarnabasPiper - Loves Minnesota sports. Writes about them too among other things.
• @AdamDunagan - Adam is a passionate fan of baseball and its history.
• @MRJManiac - Michael Jong is one terrific baseball writer who has his hands full since the Marlins are his team of coverage.
• @mighty_flynn - TJ Flynn understands that it is a long season. Highly entertaining to talk to.
• @sethlvgolf - Seth Kolbrenner loves to talk sports.
• @Gobroks - Josh Gaab is an intern with the Houston Astros.
• @Justinjabs - Journalism major. Baseball obsession. Fellow BBA generalist.
• @BaseballbyTom - Tom Froemming writes for MLBDailyDish on the SB Nation Network. Name reminds the Fan of an old umpire, Bruce.
• @redfawn - Runner and fantasy baseball addict. Roots for the Blue Jays.
• @wezen_ball - Larry Granillo is flat out terrific and writes for Baseball Prospectus.
• @soozeonsports - Susan Lulgjuraz writes about baseball. Does it well.
• @BABIP_Roberts - Steven Nichols has the best moniker on Twitter. Big Red Sox fan.
• @jeterian - Tamar is a colleague at IIATMS and sometimes my confessor. Wonderful person.
• @Dave_Gershman - Dave used to write for ESPN. Been missing a while since a major Twitter blowup.
• @KC_Nihilist - Jacob Hurley typifies the angst of being a Royals fan.
• @KCPopFlyBoy - Jeremy Sickels is the co-founder of the Pop Fly Boys website.
• @MikeGianella - Mike is a most respected fantasy expert and all around great guy.
• @Jomeara555 - Jeff O'Meara is an illustrator / writer. Loves baseball.
• @GreenLineoutfit - John Leary loves him some Red Sox.
• @MikeChernow - Mike is a clubhouse attendant for the Phillies. How cool is that?
• @BoltingVultures - William...like that name...is a unique baseball personality and that is a good thing.
• @jasonjpevans - Jason Evans is everywhere. Writes for rantssports as a Yankees blogger, writes for Through the Fence Baseball and also Halos Hangout.
• @TheRotoCommish - Must follow for fantasy sports.
• @BaseballParkEGuides - Kurt Smith does a cool thing and you can have your own PDF version of one of his ballpark guides for a reasonable price.
• @blogredmachine - Fansided Reds site.
• @stoltz_baseball - Nathaniel Stoltz is a great guy who writes for Beyond the Box Score and is a colleague on Big Leagues Monthly.
• @Rotoinfo_com - Another good fantasy resource. Gosh. A lot of people must do that sort of playing.
• @Lana - Lana Berry is a baseball fan. But her account is most fun watching guys act stupid trying to impress her.
• @mickey_baseball - Mickey Brignall. Who can't like a guy named Mickey?
• @veritas7 - Monty Taylor loves the Nationals and MLB.
• @KirbysLeftEye - Myjah is hugely entertaining and belongs to TwinkieTown.com.
• @HunterFelt - Hunter writes for The Guardian. Offbeat to the hilt. And again, that is a good thing.
• @CobraDave - David Fung is one of those guys that can make a computer do anything.
• @lesabotage - The better half a Larry Granillo. And nearly as good a writer. Be warned - changes name often!
• @brokenbatsingle - Nate Scott covers the Royals.
• @unexpectedbass - Brendan writes for OvertheMonster.com. Lovely guy. Enjoy him a lot.
• @Theghostofrocky - Started as a parody account, but a big, passionate fan of the Tigers.
• @russwight - Russ is a baseball fan and blogger. Nice guy.
• @BrettKaplan - Brett works for MTV. You know...that station that used to have videos.  :)
• @raschatz - Allen Schats is a fiction writer who combines mystery and baseball in his work. Cool.
• @baseballtwit - Love Adam Darowski's moniker. Anything but a twit, Adam created @HallofStats and writes for High Heat Stats, Beyond the Boxcore and more.
• @SorianoJoe - Joe is the lead writer on the FanSided @Musket_Fire and staff writer for @NFLSpinZone.
• @Niktigs - A fellow BBA generalist.
• @LorinBigD - Laura Schulte is a must follow for those who love their Texas sports. Great personality too.
• @RationalPastime - J-Doug is one terrific talent that has been on hiatus finishing up his PHD. Hurry!
• @RobAbruzzese - Rob is one of the saner Yankees writers whose blog is a part of the ESPN Sweetspot Network.
• @baycityball - The Duke of TOOTBLAN. No need to say more.
• @Sport_Hippeaux - colleague on IIATMS. Way smarter than this Fan.
• @Mike_Hllywa - Fun to tweet with. Writes for Halo Hangout and Off Base Percentage.
• @DanielRathman - Writes for Baseball Prospectus. And yet lives and talks to us average joes.
• @CoreyRievley - Corey is the admin for MLBTradeRumors.com. Very cool. Also started BaseballNation.net.
• @gregkihn - Hey! When a rock legend follows you, that is very cool.
• @TrishVignola - Writer and satirist who currently contributes to Full Spectrum Baseball.
• @captainlatte - Love this twitter account. And it's okay she roots for the Blue Jays.
• @jpmccord - Paul McCord is fun to talk baseball with.
• @HighHeatStats - Founded by the guys who used to blog for baseball-reference.com. Their site is terrific and a lot of the Fan's friends write there now too.
• @BigLeaguesMthly - The e-magazine that proudly boasts the Fan's writing. Proud.
• @MLBeef - Taylor Wolfe writes for his site. Good baseball guy.
• @instreamsports - M.V. Pieces is a very earnest and hard working up and comer.
• @MGVanwormer - Indians fan and beer lover.
• @LandoBC75 - Landon Evanson is the songbird of his generation. Writes for Bugs and Cranks. Introduced the Fan to YankeeMegs. Grateful.
• @mattymatty2000 - Matthew Kory writes for Over the Monster and Baseball Prospectus. Really like this guy a lot.
• @juniusworth - Dave England is a prolific writer who has written everywhere. A colleague at MLB Dirt
• @Mike_Schwartze - Mikey is becoming a real up and comer on scouting prospects. Colleague and co-founder of MLB Dirt.
• @StaceyGotsulias - Writes EVERYWHERE. Always well too. Colleague at IIATMS. Love her.
• @ChuckBooth3024 - Chuck is a lead writer at MLB Reports. Terrific.
• @pitchingstats - Dylan Cain is a fifteen year old baseball writer. I was still playing Strat-o-matic at that age.
• @MikeTSchmidt - No, Mike is not the former third baseman. But he is as good as that guy was when it comes to writing about baseball.
• @FeliciRose - Baseball fan and model. Great photography. Farm girl. Gentle soul. Laughs easily.
• @AskROTObaseball - David Kerr is a colleague at MLB Dirt.
• @CCaylor10 - retweets the Fan a lot. Good for the ego. Fun to talk to.
• @DevinPangaro - FanSided Network A's blogger. Colleague at Big Leagues Monthly.
• @dianagram - Writes for ESPN Sweetspot Network. Wonderful writer and person.
• @MLBInjuryNews is a new baseball site picking up steam and started by some good friends.
• @jamesschuck - James Edward Schuck is a renaissance man who also has a goal in life to keep the Fan's ego in check.
• @hangingsliders - Wendy Thurm writes for Fangraphs, ESPN, SBNation among others. Her follow meant the Fan was getting somewhere with this baseball thing.
• @replevel - Bryan O'Connor. What took you so long to get to Twitter?
• @Anna_McDonald - Writes for ESPN. The sweetest of ladies too.
• @YankeeMegs - Yay! Megs follows moi.
• @pjmclaugh - Peter McLaughlin is just about the most erudite Yankees fan ever.
• @williamnyy23 - Proprietor of The Captain's Blog and writes for other Yankee-centric sites. Strong opinions, but that's okay.
• @mccoveycovedave - Dave Edlund writes for the premier Giants blog. Cool guy. New follow.
• @AnswerDave - Dave Brown writes for Yahoo's Big League Stew. Very funny tweeter too.
• @jhacohen - Jonathan Hacohen is the founder of MLB Reports and has established that site as a must see site.
• @23yanksgoyard - Andy is the Fan's newest follower and writes (obviously) for Yankees Go Yard.

Phew! That took forever. All of these are great follows for more than just baseball. They all make this Fan's Twitter experience extraordinary.

Plugging a friend

Twitter is a fascinating place and you meet all kinds of cool people (and some not so cool ones). One of the coolest meetings at that site has been Jay Ferraro ( @JayFerraro ). Not only is he a baseball nut and writer of some distinction, he is also an actor that has been in stuff you've actually seen! Anyway, Jay and his friend, Ben Nisman do a weekly baseball broadcast on Blog Talk Radio hosted by Full Spectrum Baseball.  The show is on every Saturday and Sunday mornings at nine o'clock Eastern Time.  For more details and a link to the show, go here. And thank you.

Twitter Snobbery

A few of us were talking on Twitter the other day about Twitter snobbery. Some baseball writers have thousands of followers and yet follow hardly anyone. One of these Twitter buds was particularly tweaked about it. That, naturally, piqued this writer's curiosity enough to investigate the matter. You expect a bit of this snobbery to crop up among celebrities and ball players. Ozzie Guillen, the former White Sox manager now ensconced in Miami has hundreds of thousand followers and yet follows only one person (Olney?) That's to be expected. Alyssa Milano is an exception. She has over a million followers but follows over a thousand people. But what about baseball writers?

All of us, if we are smart, use Twitter to announce our posts. That is one great use of Twitter that we all do. But at best, Twitter is a community. It's about people with like interests interacting. Many of us see it that way anyway. And a lot of the heavy hitters among baseball writers see it that way too. The legendary Peter Gammons has over a hundred thousand followers and follows over six hundred people. That's acceptable. Why? Because having a large number of follows (people you follow) can make for a confusing timeline. Your host and Fan has 475 followers (thank you) and follows 705. That's sort of unusual as most people have fewers follows than followers. And even with 705 follows, the time line can get jumbled in a hurry.

So what is acceptable for a sports writer not to be a snob? An arbitrary number has to be contrived. Three hundred follows seems to be the number that makes sense to this observer. If you follow three hundred other baseball people, you care about the opinions of others and you show an interest in how others think about baseball and the news created by it. But are we being fair here?

Is it fair to call a writer a snob if he/she doesn't follow anyone? Perhaps their view of Twitter is simply to announce to their fans what they have written lately. Perhaps they view Twitter as a real time way to announce what they know...a form of reporting they have always done in the print medium. Perhaps we can cut them some slack here. But the heart of the matter is that if a big time writer follows no one, then we can assume that they perceive themselves to be an island in no need of peers. Again, perhaps unfair. But that is the perception given a lack of follows. 

Out of curiosity, the Fan did a study of some of the heavy hitters in the industry. The list isn't all-inclucive but it gives you a general idea. So here is the result of that research. What follows (pun intended) is a list of perceived big time writers and analysts and how many follows they have relative to how many follow them. They are listed in no particular order. While viewing the list, remember our 300 follows snob threshold:

• Adam Ruben (ESPN): 19,533 followers, 209 follows
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): 10,834, 4,065
• Scott Miller (CBSsports.com): 5,442, 238
• Jon Heyman (SI): 115,103, 483
• D. Knobler (CBSsports.com): 14,833, 707
• Tango Tiger (Inside the book): 2,193, 6
• Jay Jaffe (Baseball Prospectus): 4,674, 302
• Darren Rovell (CNBC): 148,306, 1,479
• Tony Lastoria (STOHD): 2,381, 97
• Duk (Yahoo): 9,549, 561
• Buster Olney (ESPN): 318,222, 325
• Craig Calcaterra (NBCsports): 9,239, 331
• Maury Brown: 8,683, 2266
• Jonah Keri (Grantland): 17,688, 543
• Jeff Sullivan: 6,668, 52
• Keith Law (ESPN): 361,612, 281
• Ken Davidoff (Newsday): 17,678, 1,122
• Ken Rosenthal (Foxsports): 146,712, 105
• Karl Ravech (ESPN): 34,070, 81
• Matthew Leach (MLB.com): 13,918, 454
• Pete Bott (New York Daily News): 3,550, 195
• Jason Parks (Baseball Prospectus): 4,356, 190
• Mark Feinsand (New York Daily News): 19,630, 1,472
• Bob Klapisch: 9,814, 85
• Jane Lee (MLB.com): 8,258, 102
• Heidi Whatney (NESN): 39,155, 132
• Brittany Ghiroli (MLB.com): 8,982, 144
• Troy Renck (Denver Post): 13,827, 6,597
• Marty Caswell: 6,388, 112
• Shi Davidi (Sportsnet): 10,315, 550
• Jeff Passan (Yahoo): 17,908, 16
• Dave Brown (Yahoo): 3,925, 2,079
• Ramy Jazayerli (Grantland): 7,948, 110
• Alden Gonzalez (MLB.com): 2,749, 119
• Mike Fast (Baseball Prospectus): 2,335, 72
• Larry Stone (Seattle Times): 8,322, 307
• Christina Kahrl (ESPN): 4,190, 502
• Todd Zolecki (MLB.com): 27,542, 296
• Tim Brown (Yahoo): 14,830, 153
• Jerry Craznick (ESPN): 43,317, 763
• Aaron Gleeman (NBCsports): 9,550, 250
• Joe Sheehan: 13,639, 86
• Kevin Goldstein (BP and ESPN): 15,271, 1,111
• David Cameron (Fangraphs): 9,016, 70
• Susan Slusser: 8,936, 72
• Joel Sherman (NY Post): 29,960, 141
• Peter Gammons (NESN): 107,277, 647
• Jason Beck (MLB.com): 9,019, 232
• Jon Morosi (Foxsports.com): 26,128, 752
• Joe Posnanski (SI): 50,263, 78
• Rob Neyer (SB Nation): 33,820, 567
• Bill Simmons (Grantland): 1,544,980, 98

Make your own conclusions, but that's the list. 

Twitter - I'm Getting Addicted

I've always known that I have an addictive character trait. First, there is family history with alcohol and I was heading down that road when I was young and dumb and went to college for the first time. After I woke up in a closet upside down, I swore off hard liqueur and haven't touched it since. But the thing about addictive tendencies is that you can get addicted to anything. I was addicted to chatting on IRC and AOL back in the early 1990s. I know that I'm addicted to Coca-Cola and greasy foods. And there are other addictions I'd rather not talk about. Now I'm addicted to Twitter.

At first, Twitter was a means to an end. You can click a post you've just created and create a "tweet" that automatically puts a link to your new post on Twitter. I'm not about gaining "followers" like a lot of people are. I could care less really. I do care about attracting new readers, so that's why I created my account. But a funny thing happened. The first person I followed on Twitter was Nick Swisher. Nick Swisher!? Get out! I could actually get tweets from a real ball player? Yeah, even at my age, I'm still into hero worship. Sheesh.

But following players are actually quite boring. Swish likes to promote his charitable work and uses Twitter to do so. More power to him, that's great. But it's not really interesting. Curtis Granderson tweets things from his Yahoo Sports tear-off calendar or something and tweets birthdays of long lost players. Whuh? Logan Morrison of the Marlins can be interesting, but really young players like him and Austin Jackson are...well...young. So the glow has worn off quickly then.

No, the real juice for me is following the writers. There are writers with wit and those with sarcasm, but you get a glimpse in 140 character segments of who these people are that are what I aspire to be. Some are hysterical like Dan Szmborski (@DSzyborski). A morsel? One of his recent tweets: "I had a bad case of mono. But then I discovered one of the speakers was unplugged." Well, it was funny to me.

Keith Law will respond to fans, usually sarcastically since their questions are usually pretty dumb. The same can be said for Kevin Goldstein. But all of these wonderful writers are tweeting regularly and it's fascinating. Peter Gammons tweets. Imagine! One of my all time icons as a writer and there he is on Twitter. Joe Posnanski is on there. Jonah Keri and so many others. I just soak it in and dream. They always seem to have the right answers and the right way of looking at things. They cut through the BS and see the real stuff most of us miss. It's awesome.

I also enjoy working with my fellow BBA members, particularly those who are like me and striving for success. On Friday, everyone shares "followers." They call it #FF day which stands for Friday Follows or something or other. I do enjoy when one of my tweets gets retweeted. It's all so weird sounding, isn't it? That's how you know it's an addiction. But when someone retweets you (reposts your post so others can read it), it's sort of a thrill, especially when it's a known writer. Gawsh, I'm sounding like a groupie. And maybe I am. Except I don't want to sleep with these people. I just want to be where they are.

So now you know one of my dirty little secrets. I'm getting addicted to Twitter. But at least it's yet another way of losing sleep that doesn't make you have regrets in the morning.

Facebook, Pictures and Vanity

The Fan tweets. Now there is something the Fan never would have predicted five years ago. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, the Fan tweeted (stupid, isn't it?) that Facebook has become a new part of his life. But what on earth is the proper use of Facebook? The Fan just doesn't get it.

The Fan was an early pioneer of AOL and also IRC (a chatting system). In fact, the Fan was on AOL so early that the screen name didn't need any numbers on it and chatting meant 24 baud and dial up connections. At the time, those places made sense. You met people, you bonded with some, had "bashes" where you met some of them face to face. It was an interaction of sorts with people that ordinarily you would never meet. That made sense (at least in that point in the Fan's life). The Fan hasn't "chatted" in ages.

The Fan was also a bulletin board kind of guy. Remember those? Those made sense in a pioneering sort of way. Facebook seems to be an amalgam of all those things except the chatting isn't in real time nor as personal and there are lots of confusing things like surveys up the yin yang and a bunch of requests from old acquaintances for friendship. Well, okay, that's nice and all. But a lot of times, the Fan ends up approving friend requests with people he would just as soon forget, but has to approve them anyway to prevent being rude. A lot of people use it for business and contacts. Well, the Fan is in business, but doesn't see the point. Perhaps the Fan is just being obtuse.

The Fan's wife loves Facebook. Then again, she loved AOL and still goes there when she wants to browse the web. The Fan thinks that's silly but keeps his mouth shut. Perhaps she has a fondness for AOL because that's where she met and fell in love with her Fan. Anyway, she is on Facebook and she was disparaging the Fan's picture there. "It's a stupid picture," she says, "and it doesn't do you justice."

So, since the Fan loves his wife, he patiently sat for her as she took a new picture. The Fan dutifully posted the new picture and the wife smiled a lot at that. A few minutes after the picture was posted, the Fan got a "message on his wall." Whatever that wall is. It was from a girl the Fan went to high school with way too many years ago (the power of Facebook). Her words were something to the effect that she wondered how the Fan hadn't changed much and looked much the same as high school. Mind you, the Fan thinks she's nuts because that was 35 years ago. But the Fan has to admit he has aged fairly well. Must be the Sicilian heritage that makes up half of who the Fan is.

Now, the lady who posted the nice comment looks pretty darned good herself after all those years. The Fan was surprised she even remembered this old guy because the Fan was pretty much a recluse in high school and was seemingly invisible. The Fan moved away from there right after high school and has only been back twice since.

The Fan has a confession to make. The lady's comments flushed this old geezer like a peeper frog. The blood quickened and the heart fluttered and for a brief second, the Fan felt like a little bit of a stud. It passed quickly when the Fan went to the bathroom and remembered what he looked like. But aren't we funny? Isn't it silly how easily we are inflamed with such vane thoughts? Like Rudolph, we fly through the air shouting, "She said I'm cute. I'm cuuuute!" Silly people. It doesn't take much to get us going.

Once the Fan came back down to earth, he realized that his cherishes his wife and as long as she thinks this old guy is the be all and end all, then that's more than enough for life to be really, really good.