Oops

So my last post around these parts was April 20.

Sorry about that.

I could give you a host of pretty good reasons — new job; two kids 2 years old and under; the Red Sox' generally crappy season; and, frankly, frustrations with the tenor of the debate here, for which I know I shared some of the blame. Probably all that boils down to burnout. Since YF and SF first elevated me from the ranks of Lowly Commenter to Grand Poobah of Posts (it's in the contract) in May 2006, I crafted 1,159 pieces of art threw 1,159 pieces of dung at the wall to see what stuck, or roughly 290 per year. That's a lot of time and energy, probably an unhealthy amount, given that it is just a game and this is just the Internet.

I never stopped following the Red Sox, though doing so as closely as I did before our first daughter was born in July 2008 — and then again before our second was born last November — was obviously impossible. I lurked around SOSH for a while, actually scored a membership thanks to the writing I had done here, decided I didn't feel like paying for the privilege of hanging out with the cool kids, underwent some significant shifts in my personal life, especially regarding how I set priorities, and pretty much unplugged from baseball beyond reading the Boston Globe's Extra Bases blog (I'd be lying if I didn't admit the Sox' lousy year didn't help make that easier).

Yet baseball is something of a drug, and the Red Sox are the pushers, and here I am again. I've always been a sucker for the hot stove season — the rumors, the drama, the hope, imagining five-way trades that would bring Justin Upton and Adrian Gonzalez to Boston simultaneously. You know how it is. I started posting comments on the Extra Bases blog, on the excellent Red Sox Beacon blog, Baseball Think Factory, etc.

Then I thought, "How much more effort would it be to just go back and do the same thing on YFSF?" AG sent me a link he'd posted, asking for my thoughts, and for the first time in months, I checked back in.

Turns out the site somehow hasn't collapsed since I left. And I think I still have some interesting things to say. So we'll see. I can't promise daily posts; in fact, I can pretty much guarantee nondaily posts. But if something catches my eye, I'll come around and post and comment and maybe even get into it a little bit (though not as much). The goal is to be healthy about this. 

I've always been grateful to SF and YF for the opportunity to post here, and I remain so. The game's not over. Let's play some ball.