So, your appreciation does not constitute thanks?

Copycat.

I grew up in the Bay Area, but haven’t lived there for quite a long time, and as such my exposure to fellow fans was severely curtailed until I latched on to AN a couple of years ago. I could catch games on mlb.com, get out to the park when I visited home, and read recaps and tidbits in the Chronicle on-line, but the dearth of astute, in depth, A’s-centric commentary plagued me, weighed me down, cast a bleak gray pall over my days and haunted my dreams at night. Well, okay. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. But there is something hollow and mildly depressing about pursuing fandom in such an isolated manner.

Example: Remember that game, a few years back, in which Mulder and Petite dueled into the 9th, the A’s were down 1-0, and Tejada hit a 2 run double to win? I’m in my room, headphones plugged into my PC, listening to mlb.com, Bill King is losing his mind (“THE GROUNDS CREW IS GOING CRAZY! TEJADA’S TEAMMATES ARE MOBBING HIM AT SECOND BASE! IT’S PANDEMONIUM AT THE COLISEUM!”), I’m losing my mind, but I can’t let loose even a peep, because my roommate, who could give two sh*ts about the A’s, is studying for something in the next room, so I’m relegated to this weird silent fist pumping running in place thing that, if I ever saw a tape of it, would probably cause me to jump off my balcony in shame, and that, in the moment, caused my headphones to rip rather violently from my ears, leaving me frozen in mid-weird-dance in the middle of the room, the strains of Bill King’s voice drifting up from the headphones on the floor.

Sigh. Jubilation marred by circumstance.

But now, should a similar thing occur, I can log on to AN for proper catharsis.

So I’m extremely thankful for AN. I’m grateful the front page contributors do such an outstanding job, and that the community, by and large, is so interesting (and combative, and passionate, and funny). I’ve voiced a mild criticism or three in the past, but those are a) more a product of my grumpiness than anything else, and b) quite thoroughly dwarfed by the consistent excellence of the blog.

It really is great to be appreciated, even if you don’t think you care. Even if you’re mainly talking about Taj Adib and secretly wish that the rest of us would shut the Kruk up.

The morning after we put the Garden Grove Angels of Rancho Santa Margarita City through the thresher in that series opener I drove to work with a huge smile on my face. It was due , in part, to my excitement about reading the game thread, and the follow up on AN. You all do great work, and we appreciate it.

No comment on what else contributed to my smile.

A little bit of it may have been interest in seeing Rev’s postgame…

for watching the replay of the marlins’ bark at the park game last week.

mostly terrible internet blog world. Just look at Lookout Landing…full of cursing, epithets, and not much cleverness. Some pictures are okay-funny, but overall the content is poor.

I too appreciate all the commentary: great blend of info, stats, opinion, and observation, mixed in with “optical cheering” (<= reading words instead of hearing them screamed and shouted!)

into this blog. Each has his/her own style…and specialty which adds up to a lot of outstanding articles to read. Props to all.