Me and My Blog

Well, I thought I’d go ahead and give this whole blog thing a try.

So here’s the “rules” for my blog (at least as far as rules go for blogging):

1. I am a fan of the sport of baseball first and foremost. I live close to Cooperstown, NY and I enjoy reading about and researching the historical background of the game. At the end of the day, I root for baseball to succeed everywhere it is played: from little league to the Major Leagues and everywhere in between – professional and amateur.

2. I am a fan of the Washington Nationals. Sounds weird, I know, living in Upstate NY; but that’s me. Here’s the story of how I became a Nats fan: I grew up on Cape Cod surrounded by Red Sox fans. My father’s side of the family were from New Hampshire and grew up all Red Sox fans. My father (who’s middle name is Ferris as he was named after Red Sox pitcher “Boo” Ferris) decided he wanted to be different from everyone else and decided on his own to be a Yankee fan in New Hampshire. It was made easier by the fact that the Yankees were historically the best team at the time he was born (1940’s) and continued to be even until today. My mother’s side of the family was from the Washington, DC area – and as a result they were all either Senators or Orioles fans. When the second incarnation of the Senators moved to Texas, the remainder of the family became Oriole fans. Because I identified more with the mom’s family than with the dad’s family, I became a Redskins, Capitals and Bullets fan; but my father was the one who really liked baseball and got me into the sport I love so much today, so I decided to take on the Yankees as my favorite team, despite not liking the American League style of play. The 1980’s were some really lean years for the Yankees and the Red Sox fans (most of whom I considered “friends”) really let me have it (despite the fact that even then, they had a 60+ year drought of championships). I finally got my day in the sun in 1996 when the Yankees won it all and built a team with a core group of guys who were really worth rooting for: Jeter, Williams, Pettitte, Rivera, O’Neill, Martinez, etc. Then the downward spiral began. They started trading away their good young players and pillaging other teams by buying up superstars. They offended my sense of fair play. They cobbled together rosters with big names and no substance. They spent like drunken sailors and failed to care about the sport in general (a practice ongoing today). It got to the point where I actually rooted FOR THE RED SOX in 2003 because I was just so sick of it by that point. It was then I knew I needed a change. So in 2004, the announcement was made that Washington, DC was getting a baseball club, it was a natural transition for me – and as luck would have it, I could dump the American League altogether and get myself a National League team. I’ve been hooked ever since and despite their lackluster record in DC so far, the Nats are my team now and I never again want to ever acknowledge that the Yankees matter.

3. I do have other teams I follow because I either always have or have found something worth keeping track of: (1) The Los Angeles Dodgers – the Dodgers were my dad’s National League team so they’ve stuck with me. (2) The Pittsburgh Pirates – I loved Andy Van Slyke, Doug Drabek and the early 1990’s Pirates. It breaks my heart to see them as the joke they are today. (3) The Houston Astros– the Astros are the parent club of my local A-ball affiliate here in Troy, NY (the Tri-City ValleyCats) so I follow them and the players that come through Troy. (4) The Baltimore Orioles – essentially leftover from my mom’s rooting interest.

4. I follow some players as well – players who I believe are great players or great ambassadors for the game of baseball. Right now they are Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, Brad Ausmus, Jason Varitek, Dustin Pedroia, Derek Jeter and there are more I’m sure I’ll pine about in the weeks, months and years to come (provided I continue on that long). Historical players that were my favorites for various reasons: Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Sandy Koufax, Cal Ripken Jr.,Walter Johnson, Mike Schmidt, George Brett and others.

5. I play baseball in an amateur league in based in the Albany, NY area and I reserve the right to self indulge every now and then and talk about my experiences on the diamond myself – both past (high-school, college, semi-pro and amateur) and present; perhaps even future.

So that’s it.

I also have a wife and three kids (my oldest son who is six recently went to his first-ever Major League game – April 19th: Nationals v. Marlins, pictured above) and I may talk about them from time-to-time as well.

At the end of the day, I hope to keep this blog about Nationals baseball, though. I really follow the Nats more than anything else. It may prove difficult over time as one with a young family and a budget to follow closely. I don’t have the MLB Extra Innings package or MLB.tv yet. But I do have XM radio and listen to most games on XM radio (by the way, after listening to most every team’s radio crew, I believe Charlie and Dave are two of the best in the business). So I’ll try to reflect on what I see and hear when I can and comment on the State of the Nationals as best as I can given my limited documentation. I’ll also pledge not to be a mouthpiece for the organization and express my thoughts as candidly as possible.

Right now, the team ispretty bad (historically bad, you might say) and I’ll offer my thoughts on how to change things for the better and hopefully by 2009 I’ll be writing about a team headed for prosperity.