2005... This Is The Year

Two years ago, I started writing a blog.

Well, who didn't, you're saying. And that statement is even more true today than it was in 2003.

I didn't have a proper name for it, and I wasn't even sure what I was going to put on it, so I used the phrase "and another thing!", which I figured would catch just about everything I wanted to say.

As I went along I realized that most of what I wanted to say was about the baseball team I obsess about not only all season long, but all winter long, the Cubs.

And over the last two years, many of you have read what I've written, written from the heart, and written from my personal experiences attending nearly every home Cubs game and many road games; you've written me thanking me for being there when you couldn't, giving you a flavor of the ballpark, and for writing what you were feeling too.

What I've written got me here. I've been invited to join this terrific community of other baseball team bloggers, who you can find in the "Links" column on the right panel, and I hope you'll visit them too, just to see what we're all about.

One thing you will be able to do here is contribute. I've received e-mail from many people in the last two years, but now you can post stuff right here at Bleed Cubbie Blue. Click on the "Diaries" link on the right, fool around with it, and join in. You'll have to register, it's free, and we promise not to spam you -- so don't spam us either. Deal?

There will also be, once the regular season begins, something called an "Open Thread" each day, for each scheduled game. It'll contain some basic info on each game (similar to what I've been posting at the top of my old blog) and will be there mostly for you to make comments on each game while it's happening. As Grant says on his Giants blog McCovey Chronicles:

For those of you who have read my stuff for the last two years, fear not. Being here with the snazzy new graphics and layout isn't going to change a thing about what I write. And neither is the advertising; I can't be bought. I'm still going to the ballgames; I'm still going to write about the Cubs and about the bleachers and about the community we've built there and about the Jimmy John's sandwiches and all the other things that are part of my life as a Cubs fan.

What you won't find here are Win Shares, VORPs, PECOTAs (and all I can think of when I see that is Bill Pecota, the former infielder for the Mets, Braves and Royals) -- if you want those, there are plenty of places in the Cubs Blog Army, conveniently located on the right sidebar, to find those. Not to say that I won't quote stats when I feel the urge to, because statistics are part of baseball history and lore, and I do have my complete collection of Baseball Registers and Baseball Encyclopedias and Total Baseballs to pore through.

But as I have said often in my other space, there are things that win baseball games that cannot be measured on a stat sheet.

Just coincidentally, Jim Hendry decided to grace the gala grand opening of Bleed Cubbie Blue with a significant trade today. Dr. Tightpants was traded to the Tigers for right-handed reliever Roberto Novoa and two low-level minor leaguers, third baseman Scott Moore and outfielder Bo Flowers.

You know what, in a strange way, I will miss Kyle Farnsworth and his antics. I will also miss his 100-MPH fastball, which when it was on, was one of the most unhittable pitches I've ever seen. If Dr. Tightpants had only had a brain to match that arm, he'd have been Eric Gagne East.

Now he'll be wearing the tighty-whitie pants of the Tigers, and the larger ballpark might actually keep his gopher balls out of the seats.

Novoa is Farnsworth lite -- he's 25, has a good arm, and pitched pretty poorly in 25 innings in Detroit last year. But rumor has it that this isn't the end of this deal, that it is possible that these players, plus others, might be dealt elsewhere (Oakland? Tampa Bay?) for a major league closer (Dotel? Baez?) -- and maybe, if we can dream a little, Aubrey Huff.

About the name of this blog. You know, the one person we all know who truly does "Bleed Cubbie Blue" every day is Ron Santo. So I figure there is no finer tribute I can give this fine man, than to write about the team he and I both live and die for every day, and hope that in three weeks' time, he'll get the phone call electing him to the Hall of Fame.

I rather like the logo, and hope you do too. Welcome to my new home. And if you want to check for past posts, I'm leaving them on the old site, at least for now, and may continue to post non-baseball-related content there. Or here. This is a work in progress; keep checking the right sidebar for new stuff over the upcoming days and weeks and also -- join in, and let's win it this year, at last.