I realize that these days, on the balance, people are coming here for the non-baseball stuff. On the balance, threads over the past few weeks that are of non-baseball nature get much more attention than baseball threads. I believe that there has been plenty of baseball to talk about, but people have been drawn to the daily non-baseball thread and other hijacked threads. The problem is that this is just one of the steps towards this becoming the next Cubs.com fan forum. Don't understand what I mean? Go check it out.

It seems to me that there is a nature of blogs where there is an endeavor into the personal, which ultimately leads to, well, what we've seen over the past few weeks. I've seen this occur on other sports blogs. I've seen this occur on outdoor blogs. I've seen it occur on TV show blogs. It seems to be that this happens a little less on usenet and, in part, I think thats because of the "owner nature" of blogs. This is a site that Al runs and we all have decided to post on his site, but its his. And when you have a site with an ultimate person at the top I think that lends itself to a dynamic where lots of things happen as we've seen this past few weeks. This is not about Al at all, this is just what I've seen happen on pretty much every blog that I've seen. There are fights, people take sides, splinter groups...

I'm kind of jumping around here, and I'll leave it at this. As long as I'm not being told what to think about my baseball point of view, I don't believe that Al has done anything wrong. If people decide to leave, thats their choice. But when someone announces their departure, then ten threads sprout up for their return, this becomes even less about baseball and the Cubs and sends it further down the slippery slope towards Cubs.com (and no, this is not a slight towards Julie). I don't know how one regulates the personal nature of a blog, and I know I wouldn't want to have to do that, but I think everyone needs to really consider how that ultimately impacts a blog and its ultimate mission.

DmL

Thankfully, games start up very soon and we can all get back to what we do best - Making fun of St Louis, Proclaiming this is the year (March-June), and wallowing in our own misery (July-October).

Except this year, it IS the Year so we can have fun all the way to October :)

Secondly, I wanted to post something about Julie. I miss her and her daily column. Julie, if your reading this, come back! You're one of us. I clicked on your link but nothing came up. I hope to read you soon. You have evolved as much as this site and are as much of a bleedcubbiebluer as anyone. (I think I've invented a new word and from now on this sold be how we all refer to ourselves: bleedcubbiebluer!)

I for one appreciate the fact that you've put that focus into BCB. Seriously. You ain't no control freak when you press that button and you got my support. Now I also don't mind the occasional off topic diary, but dear God, the madness and inanity it sometimes descended into was a pain in the neck to have to sort through. I'm not a Cub fan so I can booze it up and chase the proverbial Trixies up and down Clark Street - I'm here for the Cubs, the game and because I love the team and I dig being around people who do likewise and want to see the Cubs finally become what they can be and SHOULD be .. world champions.

(and if some of them want to get wasted and wobble down Wrigleyville with a vomit encrusted jersey chasing some nubile young thing in a sundress, that's their thing. It's not mine anymore - I've been married for 13 years and haven't drank for 26. We like it.)

Don't be too hard on yourself. Being anal about some things makes life better in the long run - it depends what the anality focuses on. Although I've only been contributing here for the past year or so, I've mostly read and in so doing, think you are doing a great job in keeping this board from descending into juvenile lunacy. Thanks.

P.S. - Now's a good time to use those pictures I sent you .. doncha think? (shameless plug) I asked my brothers to figure out who was who .. none of us could ..

My reading of this site during the off-season has lessoned, not because of the drama, but because I don't need to necessarily read what five songs people have on their Ipod, or what cool Simpson trivia there is. If I need a break, I might read it in passing, but it is not what I come here for. I am interested in the Cubs, notes on the Cubs, stats on the Cubs. Everything else is secondary.

This is a neat place. A place to thumb our noses at the folks at MLB who I am quite sure are trying to figure out a way to charge us for the ability to talk about our favorite team. Once the season begins anew, this will mostly be forgotten as we kvetch about missed cutoffs, grooved fastballs, and Larry Rothschild.

• Sox 99 regular season wins
  
• Sox Sweep the World Series!
  

Just want to thank you for all the work you put into the site.  It is always a good read, even in the winter.  I won't comment on all the other stuff because I usually stick to the main page.  Keep up the good work!

However, I do not have enough time to read and comment on each and every diary/thread.  I do not understand why Julie left and consider her second in contribution to this site only to Al.  Also, I do not completely understand what "hijacking" a diary means; I posted yesterday on a MLB player with Crohn's Disease - is that considered "hijacking" because it is not Cubs' related?  Maybe someone can answer these two questions for me.

Finally, I think this website needs no real administration comments like this one by Al - the users are competent enough to know those that are unruly users need to be dealt with - THEN administration can kick them off/decide what to do.  

You are doing nothing wrong, Al; in fact you are the reason this is the best Cubs site on the internet.  Thanks.  

Dan