Navigating the Blogosphere

By Michael Haas

Many people are fairly new to this thing called blogging. So I thought I would regale you with a story about my personal history of blogs, and then give a little cyberspace map to some blogs that are worth reading.

I remember my first contact with a blog was way back in 2002. That was the year that I really couldn't get enough of those cute Minnesota Twins. It seemed like every day someone would write something about how cute of a team we had in Minnesota, how they were almost contracted and now playing excellent baseball, and doing it with integrity and class. I was eating that stuff up, but I was desperate to find more, to get that good-feeling-fix.

After the newspapers, I would turn on the radio. First, I would tune to WCCO. I loved listening to anyone on that station talk Twins. But when they weren't praising the hometown nine, I thought I would switch over to the all-sports station, KFAN. The only problem was that I would usually only tune in some time just after noon. The Common Man Dan Cole would inevitably be discussing his golf game or it was just dead air. I would scream at the radio, "How can you talk about nothing after that amazing win last night?!?!?" I had never listened to KFAN before, and I vowed never to listen again. (but once I tuned to Common during Vikings season, I was hopelessly addicted)

So I figured I'd hang ten on the supernetinfohighway. I found one of the only Twins Blogs around at that time, (at least the only one that mattered?) TwinsGeek. It wasn't mainstream, it was amateur, it was well-written, it used statistics that I'd never heard of, it was updated daily, and it was right up my alley.

From there, many other fine sites popped up like Will Young, Seth Speaks and Twins Chatter; but I only regularly read two blogs aside from TG - Bat-Girl and Aaron Gleeman.

Bat-girls website, which shut down just this past May, is pretty much famous around the Twins Blogosphere, she even gained attention from ballplayers and national writers for her guest posts at ESPN Page Two. Her blog was humorous, what with her LEGO recreations of plays and her characterizations of the Twins players.

Aaron Gleeman's site was and still is the complete opposite of BG's. He offers zero humor, but sound analysis and realistic predictions. The only problem with him is that he rubs me the wrong way sometimes - like when he arrogantly describes the downfall of the newspaper industry, or talks about how much weight he's lost, or arrogantly describes the fact that he dropped out of college but got a good enough job through blogging that he could afford a new house, or how he still cannot believe that the Minnesota Daily actually turned down his amazing talent. If you can get past those flaws and his poker infatuation, his blog is excellent.

Back a few years ago, it was just random jack-off's who started blogs (this blog is way behind the times.) Nowadays, the term BLOG has become posh and cool, so much so that some people hate the very thought of them *coughjakegraff* Now not only do jack-off's have them, but corporations have them, celebrities have them, Pat Nesheks have them and even people named RuPaul. Mainstream writers who used to shun blogs have even started blogging, and newspapers have embraced them. The blogospheere is a crowded place these days. So here are a few weblogs that I recommend, but like LaVar said - don't take my word for it. So check out these blogs, but do yourself a favor and discover some for yourself. The space on the right side of AH! is always open for more links. There are tons of them out there, and theres probably one thats really cool, like one that we don't even know about.

• Howard Sinker's blog, "A Fan's View From Section 220" over at the Star Tribune is by far the best baseball blog. Howard used to write for Bat-girl occasionally, as well as cover the Twins and appear on M.P.R. and shit. An true expert fan. If you scroll to Howard's Monday, July 9th post, you'll understand why he's first on this list.

• The other two Twins blogs over at Star Tribunes website are written by The Beat Writers, LaVelle E. Neal and Joe Christensen. There's something special about a beat writer. Their love of the game always shows through, and their everyday involvement with the club is more than most bloggers can brag about. I especially dig it when they throw in their opinions on shit, knowing they'll get ripped by Gardy or savaged in the comments section.

• Twins Geek is the Original Duder. He's a good writer and analyst, and a very good leader for the twinsblogosphere. I've had the chance to shake his hand a couple of times and tell him what a good job he does. He sets up events for the bloggers to step away from their computers and meet real people, he writes and helps run Gameday (the independent scorecard magazine they sell outside the Dome) and even attempted to start a Twins blogging community website. Pretty goddamn good.

• Aaron Gleeman. I already mentioned him up there. I read him a lot and his site provides me with lots of insight for arguments with friends. He attends SABR conventions, does work for NBC.com and has been written up in Sports Illustrated. Pretty good for a kid who got turned down by the Minnesota Daily, right Aaron?

• Coffeyville Whirlwind is a blog that I should read more often. It is all about the history of the Twins franchise, going all the way back to the early days of the Senators. Sure, anyone can look up box scores or old player stats, but this duder brings old games and players to life. Amazingly fun and easy reads.
  

• Pulling A Blyleven is a LiveBlog. These grad school students are away from home, so they get their Twins fix by watching the games on MLB.tv and then commenting on the game. It's pretty damn funny, they are a lot like Mystery Science Theater 3000. They have taken the humor throne from BG, so I encourage anyone, while watching the game to check onto Pulling a Blyleven, or even as a recap for games, if you watched the whole thing.

• Minnesota Sports Guys is a community blog a lot like this one, but it's all Sports Sports Sports, their whole lives are sports over there - with no humor to boot. I linked to them right away after this duder named Corey from the site commented on Wuters first blog and invited us to write for MNSG.

• The two blog following the New Twins Stadium are excellent. Greet Machine has been around for a long time, following the legislative process and even giving fans a voting guide in hopes of electing pro-stadium officials. Activity over there has slowed down, and it probably would have completely died off if it weren't for this Landowner vs. Hennepin County curfuffle. It's actually kind've fun to follow, you should check out Mike Opat's letter that was posted on there a couple days ago. Twins Ballpark 2010 follows the progress and critiques the designs of the ballpark. It is a very good site, and I wish it were updated daily.

• On the Road With Pat Neshek is a blog by some duder who pitches for the Minnesota Twins. It's pretty alright, but it's not updated very often and half his posts are about rare baseball cards that I've never heard of or auctions for game used equipment. I wish he would have won the Final Vote, then he'd be updating daily and giving all kinds of insider information.

• A good one to check out this time of year is MLB Trade Rumors. They scour the web for any rumors at all and then report back. They also report on signings and stuff. It's way better than ESPNinsider's Rumor Central, and it's free!

• The Soul of Baseball is a blog written by Kansas City scribe, Joe Posnanski. I just finished reading his book of the same name (review coming), which is all about his travels with negro leaguer Buck O'Neil. Posnanski is a superb writer and he knows what he's talking about. His posts look long, but i equate his writing to a automobile driver - all of a sudden you're to the end and you didn't even notice how long it took. He's awesome and he knows what he's talking about.

• There are a bunch of other blogs that I read, and next time I'll list ones that are not baseball related. Until then, I feel I should mention these other Twins blogs that I swing by occasionally: MPR baseball blog, Battle Your Tail Off, Lipgloss n' Baseball, Twins Junkie, Twinkie Town, Twins Territory, Babes Love Baseball, Bugs and Cranks, Alright Hamilton There are bunches more, but I either couldn't find them or they aren't updated frequently enough to be listed here.

I started this blog after I had a few discussions with some friends. I used to send around emails to my buddies who worked in the office as I did. So I figured that I might as well make a blog-type-thing on which anyone could post their dumb shit. What clinched it for me was when I felt I had written an article worthy of Bat-Girl, this fake article about the Twins stadium. I thought that my buddies would enjoy it, so my friends and I met in a secret locale, and started the blog. We then took an oath to never to divulge the secret origins of the name of the blog - unless the blog lasted two months. So it's time to reveal that secret - it's named for one of the last lines that the great Spicoli mutters in 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High' One of the great mysteries solved - besides for those who've seen the movie. I hope thats most of you. So maybe not a great mystery.