More Purpose Statement Thoughts......

I had some follow-up thoughts about Dean’s Purpose and History piece, many of which seemed to form a general disclaimer about us being smart and knowledgeable about baseball or anything, or in any way entertaining, or even very articulate. I don’t want to have to live up to anything, and I’m getting tired of letting people down. But screw it – Dean can write anything he wants in here. That’s the deal. Love it or leave it!

I have an idea to perk up participation in here. I’m operating under the assumption that Dean and I will be the only ones visiting the blog on purpose, so we have to invent ways to ensnare those who stumble in and then trick them into contributing.

I’m not sure even how much accidental exposure this place will luck into, so if we can spark off small brushfires of our own ridicule, and I think we can, others may pop in to throw a sucker punch on their way to somewhere else. But I daydream….

Anyway, I’ve visited many baseball fan sites and blogs, and I can say with certainty that condescension and ridicule are easy to come by. In fact, I think baseball-oriented blogs have a sort of magnetic pull that attracts snide insults and name-calling. The Pied Piper wishes he could attract rats so easy. The formula is loosely this: claim to be smart and know baseball, assume a firm opinion, and then back it up with nothing but private anecdotes, hearsay, and other personal opinions. Maybe some real facts. Fish in a barrel.

But this train of thought leads me to wonder: why blog in the first place? Is a blog’s success measured only by the volume of visitors, posts, “hits”, “views”? What if I just want a place to write stuff that makes me sound smart, especially about baseball? I wouldn’t need/want the interference of other readers asking questions and refuting my genius point-making. Plus, even though I could do that by “blogging” in a private journal, this would be public, which adds to its importance and means that I have finally made it. I’m a writer, and if you don’t believe me, why don’t you go check out my blog. I mean our blog, right Dean?

Also, if people do read and comment, that could lead to discussions and those sometimes require a moderator and that is just more work for Dean.

So, on second thought, the trick is to have a blog that people don’t visit or contribute to. Check!

Come to think of it, the blog’s very existence validates its crucial necessity – it wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t meaningful. This blog is liberated from the influence of corporate funding, with no threat of ever becoming shackled thusly, so it is potentially a platform for unencumbered liberty and advocacy, but really just about baseball and stuff. It is perfect already, except for maybe the title, so, in the words of Jeff Spicoli, “don’t hassle it.”