The Good Stuff

Baseball. No other sport has created such a close relationship with America's hearts, or with the pens of poets.
My entire life, I've been a baseball fan first, and an everything else fan second. Not once during baseball season did I think about what the Giants or Knicks were up to, but every fall I'd closely follow off-season happenings.
There is baseball that 99% of the world sees, and there is baseball that I, along with several thousand other people, see. I don't consider myself a "pathetic get-a-life loser" who doesn't leave my mothers basement except to attend nerd conventions. I do, however, love devouring (almost) everything involved with baseball in order to further appreciate the game. Whether it is scouting, minor leagues, sabermetrics, or economics, I want to know about it. I'll occasionally use this knowledge to answer questions about the game, but these conversations often go astray. It is difficult to explain certain concepts to people if they don't accept the concepts to begin with. Everyone has their own pre-conceived notions of the game that they learned as they grew up, and this is perfectly fine. But very often, these notions are flat out wrong. It is difficult to change the mind of someone when that person is convinced that they are right and there is no other way. I am a believer in the saying, "foolish consistencies are the hobgoblins of small minds." Everyone with an interest in baseball thinks that they know the game inside and out, and that their view of the game is correct. In fact, there is no one single view of the game that is absolutely correct. I am smart enough to realize that I am only beginning to understand much of the game.
This education started in the fall of 2006, when I was a junior in high school. After finishing Moneyball, I began reading a few sites outside of the team websites, such as Hardball Times, MLB Trade Rumors, MVN's different blogs, etc. These discoveries showed me a new understanding of the game, often through the use of statistical devices that are derided in the mainstream media. I don't know everything there is to know about baseball, but I certainly feel that I know more than anyone I've ever met in person (as of this writing). This is obviously a very general and rambling (it's almost 2 am, gimme a break) chronicling of my interest in baseball, but I'll get to more specific and interesting things soon.