An Axe From Last October

I just discovered from one of my online acquaintances that this blog was linked from Deadspin last October in the midst of the disastrous four-game series better known as the World Series. Well, the post they evidently linked to was taken down, as it a) offered nothing particularly valuable save my emotional reaction, and b) attracted a bunch of Internet buzzards who were generally eager to laugh at someone else's expense. Which, of course, is the way it goes with sports fans, but I should have guessed that the sudden influx of nasty commentators came from somewhere, as my modest blogging enterprise is usually scarcely enough to merit such distinguished attention. Perhaps the mistake was mine in putting something on the Internet after one of the worst nights of my life as a sports fan, and should have given the wound some time to heal overnight, but I still can't help but be extremely mad that of all the posts I have spent time on for this blog, that one was the one that the Deadspin sophisticates chose to highlight. Yep, I'm sure my misery was very entertaining for that crew, who audition to have the best jaded-cynic comments posted on every entry.

Disclaimer: I usually enjoy reading Deadspin. I get a chuckle out of a lot of their posts, and especially football-wise, it's extremely amusing. I just do wonder as to why they pick that to link to, and why everybody has to take it as their mandate to come over and make it worse. I was struggling pretty badly that October, as last semester in general was extremely hard for me, and I was dealing with a lot of emotional issues that started before the Series and were made worse by it. As my next post attested, I had to give it all up for a while because it was just not something I could deal with in my emotional state the way it was. Depression is something I have started to have to deal with, not necessarily welcomed, but last October's bout with it came at a particularly inopportune time. As my friends can tell you, and as I can tell you, I was pretty much a wreck. I was unhappy, homesick, lonely, isolated, and really struggling while 1600 miles from home, made worse by the ugly results of the Series, and... yeah, I am still angry about this, especially since it was bothering me since before I even knew where all the know-it-alls came from. I removed the offending post and the comments with it, and the result of that was that I banned anonymous users from making comments on the blog. Flame wars are fine elsewhere, but not here; that's simply not what this blog is for. I'm fine with feedback, not trolling.

As for all the Red Sox partisans that came along to sneer at me for being such a fool for even daring to support the Rox: I am a fan of my team, the same as all you. What am I supposed to do, fly the white flag pre-emptively and sigh, "Oh no, the mighty East Coast juggernauts are going to destroy my overmatched Munchkins? I can't believe I'm so foolish as to think this small-market Western team that's just won 21 of 22 can have any chance against these ESPN darlings! Oh... the Sox are going to win in three, the Rockies are just completely doomed, it was all a fluke, Red Sox Nation 4Ever!" No. You believe, I believe, we all know how it turned out, you were justified, yadda yadda yadda. You're certainly not doing much for your perception as some of the most loutish fans in baseball. If you want to come along and engage in some friendly debate, I'm always up for it. If you want to troll, you will find your comments deleted. 18-1.

One of the anonymous posters did have the grace to come back later and apologize, which I am grateful for. And since this is five months later, I doubt that anyone who came here then will see this now, but it still bothers me and I figured I wanted to air some of my left-over resentment from that. If you by some chance HAVE come here from Deadspin, or anywhere else, after the long-past history of the 2007 World Series, welcome. You will find various interesting featurettes, most of which showcase my probably inaccurate predictions, insane love of my team, and general anticipation for 2008. Most of which, remarkably, are probably sentiments you share. I am, remarkably, more than a bad reaction to a bad game, and if you'd like to look around, do so. Thanks.