good riddance.  You are taking this way too seriously.

other blogs that might be more in your league. I wish you luck in your search.

I do have to say though, if responsible journalism is what you are looking for, perhaps blogging is not the fastest route from A to B.    I'd have to agree that perhaps you are taking this a bit too seriously.  

i'm glad to see it was not just me who felt this way.  watch out for the backlash from the "community".  i tried to point out the problems and got called "typhoid mary".  because it was me who bans people and sends e-mails and tells people not to talk about them, and it was me who posted diaries that drove people away and then it was me who begged people to stay.

i'm with you.  i keep coming back here trying to give it a chance, but all that happens is i get disappointed again.  over the past year, i put up with a lot of nonbaseball diaries and opinions I did not agree with, because there was enough baseball talk to keep me here.  

i figured all the crap from last month would die down and the site would get back to normal.  i came back because i figured spring training starting would change things.  but now problem is, i see front page movie reviews and talk about "racist photographs" and pictures of jen lopez.  sure glad we got rid of those "nonbaseball" people.

cubs news?  i can get that anywhere.  bruce miles giving the lineup an hour early is not worth the rest of this.

if we all really want cubs talk, then why are gbs and i the only ones with the guts to say something about the rest of the crap that is still going on?  

i'm trying to help al keep the audience he has, but whatever.  i guess gbs and i are the only ones who give a crap about this site going down.

but I think you may be taking yourself, and all of this just a bit too seriously, TerryS.

While I agree that some of the posts on this blog may be out of line, I just scroll past the drama and look for the baseball related stuff.

This is still one of the most knowledgeable bunch of baseball fans I have run into anywhere.

If you choose to leave, that is your choice, of course, but spare us the same kind of "drama" you are railing against, please.

as I see it.

I've kept quiet the past few weeks out of respect for everyone that I like, both here and at other sites, and because I was one of the people ivolved in the bruhaha which started the issues in the first place.  I've been trying to remain neutral.  Sadly, I'm not Switzerland.

I've noticed a change over the last few months.  Not necessarily with one specific person, ie Al, but with the community as a whole.  And I'm getting tired of it.  I thought if I didn't comment as frequently, then I might get over it or realize that I was overreacting.  I also assumed, in error, that everything would settle down once baseball came back.  Apparently not.

I'm not sure when the change happened.  But somewhere over the course of the last few months, this site has gone from a place with a lot of intelligent baseball discussion, camaraderie, and some random silliness to a place where it seems common, almost natural even, to stand on a moral soapbox and denigrate to personal attacks when a poster does not share the opinion of the majority.  Some of the responses to this diary have proven this statement.  It's saddening.

I've been here almost a year.  Yes, that's not as long as many of you, but it's longer than a lot of you as well.  I've seen a lot of quarrels between people, but for the most part, it was a respectful disagreement amongst baseball fans.  It no longer is.

Why do we feel the need to attack someone who posts their reasons for leaving?  It's his or her own decision.  Don't flame that person for their opinion.  It really puts you in a bad light.

I've tried to be the voice of reason the past few weeks (when I do post), but frankly it's not working.  And yeah, I have called people out myself.  On all sides.  And I try to be reasonable in my arguments.  But I've never resorted to personal attacks to do so.

There are still quite a few people whose opinion I value here.  Maddog, Thelonius, VS- you all are intelligent, rationale and mature.  I respect all your posts and hope I am more intelligent from reading them.  

A lot of really good people, whom I consider to be friends, have left recently over all the hubbub, and I can't say I blame them.  I've thought about it a lot recently.  Especially since it's been made abundantly clear by the majority that anyone with a dissenting opinion or a penchant for shenanigans is not welcome.  Why have I stuck it out?  Like everyone here, I love Cubs baseball, and I enjoy this site.  At least I did.

I'm not sure that I want to stick it out anymore.  I'm not sure that I want to deal with the juvenile behavior.  If I wanted that, I'd go to a chat room.

That said, I'm going to stick to a mostly lurker status only, unless something compels me to comment.  Or until everyone takes the sticks out of their asses and the conversation returns to normal, educated, mature discussion, with a few shenanigans thrown in for fun (in the appropriate place.

And now, I'm waiting to see the obligatory "we won't miss you" and "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out" and the "who cares if you leave" degrrading comments.  Carry on.

I dont like the stock news at cnn.com, and I will be stop reading, cause aol time warner are freaking jerks.

Seriously I think I have missed at least half the stuff that  gets posted. For that reason I  have been largely oblivious to any major changes. I stick mostly to game posts and subjects of interest to me ( Maddux, Murton EI whatever). I have been here a very long time and short of Al becoming a Sox fan I am not likely to leave but this doesn't mean I don't read and sometimes post on a few other Cub blogs. I have made a lot of friends here and some have left but well I guess I AM Switzerland to the degree that I can't that personally angry about blog stuff ( exlcuding insults to Maddux) I understand that some people feel personally attacked and if I actually read all the stuff I would see that but ignorance being bliss I manage to either skip it or just not have the time to look at it. Not making any new points here just telling you how I feel. REAL baseball is only a few weeks ago so I am going to focus on THAT ( and my trip to Spring Training)

Unfortunately, the fans of the Rangers have been the biggest loosers in this whole situation.  Two players who embraced this mess we love so much are now running away.  Personally, I don't blame them.

Moving forward, I think we all need to be careful in what we post.  I think it is clear that Al fucked up.  That being said, the man appologized.  Would it make it better if we cut off his hand or stoned him?  

I've been away for a bit due to a personal crisis with an adult kid but felt I had to respond to this post.

I think in the last few weeks, BCB has become a better blog in discussing the Cubs among other things concerning baseball.  I enjoy this place better than any other Cubs blog or forum and respect Al for all he does and whatever he wants to post is fine with me.  After all, he does run this joint.

In my opinion only, if you don't like what is posted or don't want to be here, then why do you read the posts and feel like you have to start a diary to complain.  You aren't getting paid to read here so quit the drama and attention seeking. The best thing folks can do who only want to bash and complain is to hit the road, Jack, and don't come back no more, no more, no more, no more.  Give the rest of us a break and read elsewhere.  

...and I will try to be brief.

To those of you who felt that the likes of myself were bringing down the quality of this blog with flights into off-topic nonsense, please accept my sincerest apologies. As my absence should attest, I have gone elsewheres so as not to be a distraction or a hinderance to what is the primary function of this blog: the discussion and dissection of Cubs baseball.

Part of it can be blamed on the snail-like pace of the offseason, part of it perhaps on the inevitable tediousness that comes from discussing the same topics over and over again due to said snail-like offseason (which never goes fast enough). But mostly, I blame the off-topic nonsense on the fact that I became, strangely enough, good friends with a number of posters on this site, and found that I enjoyed conversing with them on just about anything and everything, not only Cubs baseball.

And part of being friends means messing around a bunch and having fun, which was what all those hijacked threads were about in the first place.

However, looking back now, and seeing how all the thread hijacking has affected BCB, I honestly wish it hadn't occurred, and I apologize again for my part in it and if I ruined the experience for others who come here strictly for Cubs baseball. This is why I have left, so as not to be a part of the problem, in addition to finding a blog that fits my personality a bit better and is bit more indulgent towards my digressionary tendencies.

It's also where my friends have gone.

As far as the aftershocks that seem to continue to rumble here and there and as far as assigning blame as to who did what and how BCB is now as compared to what it was before, do what you want of course, but I think it's time this was put to bed. There is far more to the story concerning why specific posters have left than what has been reported, and in lieu of those details, which should not be shared for the sake of the dignity of those principally involved, I would ask those of you who aren't privy to the entirety of the situation to just let this go and be happy. You now have your blog back. The wherefores and the whys are not important. Enjoy this place.

So anyhow. In closing, I am grateful to BCB for this community, as I would not have found the posters who have become good friends of mine and whom I look forward to watching and criticizing and smarmy commenting the 2007 season away with, and I apologize again for not considering others enough and for being a part of the reason these others have not enjoyed this blog as much as in times past.

Good luck BCB. Take care.

Oh and look. I wasn't brief. Sorry.  

with all the controversy. As Cub fans we've got enough problems, without bickering among ourselves. It's March 11th, and we've got some great talent on the field, and an old codger in the dugout that I really like. Let's have some fun in 2007!!!!

Don't we all have enough in our own lives that we have to create something out of nothing on the internet?  Yikes!

www.wtf.com

Hope to see you all when you come back, enjoy.