Knowing my place on the food chain

I'm about a week late with this, but I really think it's deserving of mention. My buddy and fellow blogger Brian would probably prefer I not write about this (and maybe I should've run it by him first), but it was so amusing - and impressive - that I just had to make note of it.

As you might (and should) know, Brian runs what is the authoritative blog on northern college baseball, Big Ten Hardball. To me, this is exactly what blogging should be: see a void, fill the niche. Brian wasn't getting what he wanted about Big Ten college baseball from any newspapers or websites, so he decided to create the damn thing himself. Since he was offering something no one else was, it was only a matter of time before he drew the readership he deserved.

Anyway, Michigan baseball held its annual "Meet the Team Night" last Monday, and since I live nearby, Brian asked if I wanted to join him. Even though I know very little about Michigan baseball, other than they use bats and mitts and play at Fisher Stadium, I tagged along. For one thing, I enjoy learning about a sport that's new to me. That's what made me a sports fan in the first place, and I've come to miss that feeling.

Plus, Michigan has a good team coming back, but baseball isn't the giant monolithic machine that football is, and it was nice to see people be invited to support and take an interest, and have a chance to meet the players. There's still a feeling of amateur athletics to it. But frankly, I just wanted to see Brian get to work the room and enjoy yielding some benefits from the work he's put in.

Not only wasn't I disappointed, but I got a little reality check, as well. I'm gratified by the readership I've been able to generate at this little blog you're reading here. It's worth all of the effort. But no matter what this site becomes, I will never expect athletes - amateur or professional - to walk up to me, shake my hand, and tell me they enjoy reading my blog. (Oh, and their parents love the site, too.) But that's exactly what Mr. Big Ten Hardball got to experience on Monday night.

And there are a lot of fantastic blogs that cover University of Michigan athletics, but I don't think it's likely that any of their writers will ever get much chance to chat with Lloyd Carr or Tommy Amaker. (I hope I'm eventually proven wrong on that, of course.) Yet there was Brian, getting 5-10 minutes of quality time with Michigan baseball coach Rich Maloney.

Affirmation, baby. In comparison, I'm just a song-and-dance man. Treating Brian to munchies at Cubs AC seemed like the least I could do afterwards. And I can tip my cap here. Kudos, my friend.

Carlos Guillen - you have DIBS

At one point or another, perhaps you've noticed the list of websites under the DIBS banner on the sidebar here. (Unless you happen to belong to DIBS, in which case you already know about this stuff.) To paraphrase from the press release at Tigers Central, "DIBS" stands for "Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes" and is a grouping of independent blogs and websites that cover the Detroit Tigers. The community was the brainchild of Brian Borawski, Bill Ferris, and Ryan Sosin, who wanted to gather the various fans and writers producing independent sports coverage online.

In its second year of existence, the ranks of DIBS has grown, as many more sites and blogs popped up to cover the growing appetite for Tigers-related material. For instance, Sweaty Men Endeavors. I didn't start this blog until fall of 2005 (um, Happy Blog-iversary to me?), toward the end of another disappointing baseball season. Besides the fact that SME hit the scene with approximately 1/6 of the schedule remaining, I just didn't write much about the Tigers. I was all about the football. But during the winter, Billfer extended the hand of community and friendship and I gladly embraced it. (That is to say, I shook it. Figuratively. Over e-mail.)

Anyway, that's a really long-winded introduction to the point of this post, which is that each of the DIBS members got together and nominated their choices for Tigers Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, and Breakout Player of the Year. And since the Tigers had that nice World Series run, a selection for Post-Season Performer was also made. Here are the winners:

DIBS Player of the Year: Carlos Guillen

I believe that Guillen received first-place votes from everyone except... me. Yeah, I voted for Kenny Rogers. I know he's not an everyday player, but I thought Rogers made the biggest difference on this 2006 team, giving the team - especially the pitching staff - the guidance and leadership it'd been sorely lacking. But it's not like I'd argue with Guillen. He was the Tigers' best everyday player.

DIBS Pitcher of the Year: Kenny Rogers

Closer vote than I might have predicted here. Justin Verlander got his fair share of first-place votes, too. Joel Zumaya also received one.

DIBS Breakout Player of the Year: Justin Verlander

Also something of a close vote here, with Zumaya and Curtis Granderson getting some votes. I voted for Zumaya, which seems kind of silly with Verlander winning the AL Rookie of the Year award. But I was trying to look at the term "breakout" a bit more literally, and though Zumaya was considered a top prospect in the Tigers' organization, he really seemed to come out of nowhere and became the player everyone wanted to see. We got a taste of Verlander and Granderson in 2005.

DIBS Post-Season Performer: Kenny Rogers

Almost unanimous here, except for the one first-place vote going to Sean Casey. Hard to argue, since Casey was seemingly the only one who brought his bat to the World Series. But Rogers taking the mound at Comerica Park this post-season was a sure thing.

I'd like to thank Billfer for inviting me into what has become a damn fine collection of bloggers and webmasters. I think we've all raised the level of discourse surrounding the Tigers, and made writing a hell of a lot of fun. And as I've written here before, meeting several of the other DIBS members at a Tigers game in September was some of the most fun I had this season. I hope we get to do it again next year. A tip of the hat to everyone involved.

Blogger invasion extras

As a follow-up to Wednesday's post about the soggy bloggy field trip to Comerica Park, others in the gang have chimed in. Check out Billfer's post at The Detroit Tigers Weblog and Brian's at Beyond Boxscores.

But the best description of the excursion might belong to our little Samela, at Roar of the Tigers. She definitely captured the tone of the evening well. Reading her post made me feel like I was there getting soaked (and touting the virtues of Neifi) again. I was laughing all night.

More than words, however, Samela brings us pictures - and some damn gorgeous ones, to boot. The hour-and-a-half rain delay obviously gave her ample opportunity to stretch her photographer wings.

You can see the best of the bunch at Sam's Flickr page, including this guy who may or may not have really been Fernando Vina.

That could be him, right? Maybe he's gotten a bit thicker since he's not playing. Who else would wear that shirt?

Blogger invasion at Comerica Park

Call it The Detroit Blog-Down. Or maybe the Motor City Spiel-Down. Whatever. Bloggers were out in full force last night at Comerica Park, taking over the first row of section 212 in the right-field mezzanine. The '27 Yankees can keep their Murderer's Row. I'll take these guys instead.

Who was in the bunch? Billfer, who organized the whole CoPa klatsch. The Bleacher Guy (efforts are apparently under way for a legal name change). Brian from Beyond Boxscores. Big Al was in Da Hizzey! Eno dropped by for a bit. And the woman responsible for the following photograph, who endured being the only female and youngest of the gang, Ms. Samela (to whom I apologized profusely and frequently for sticking her with that nickname) of Roar of the Tigers, rounded out our super-team.


From left to right, we have Rob, Brian, me, Bill, Greg, and Sam waiting out a rain delay. Big Al joined us later on - unfortunately, after this photo was taken.

And let me clarify, that is NOT sweat staining/soaking my shirt. (Actually, from a distance, it almost looks like stripes on the shirt, doesn't it? So just pretend.) Just because the blog is titled "Sweaty Men Endeavors" doesn't mean I take it that seriously in public. That is rain, people. Check your game recaps. Clearly, the only people who took their weather forecasts seriously were Brian and Samela. Smart kids. I spent the rest of the night worrying I'd come down with something.

Anyway, it was a great time at the ballpark (and Nemo's beforehand). Very cool to meet everyone, and put faces to blogs. And a lot of joking around. Popular punching bag of the night: Neifi Perez, who could become the Tigers' Chuck Norris (at least on defense) if any of our jokes were committed to paper or recording. Oh, well.

Hey! You bloggers! Down in front!

It's the talk of the metro Detroit sports blogosphere!

Bloggers are meeting at Comerica Park. The date is September 5. The opponent is the Seattle Mariners. We'll be sitting in Mezzanine Section 212, which is a little far for Ichiro to hear my declared (heterosexual) love for him, but we'll be in Row 1, and I'm told my voice carries, so we'll see what happens.

Ichiro. Casselberry. Hing Dai. Chung Kwo. (Deadwood reference. Sorry.)

Other bloggers who will be happy to shake your hand, talk baseball, and accept any offered free hot dogs and beer thus far include Billfer of The Detroit Tigers Weblog, Samela of Roar of the Tigers (and Blue Cats and Red Sox), Brian of Beyond Boxscores (and Big Ten Hardball), Rob of The Cheap Seats, Ryan of Tigers Central, and Greg Eno of Out of Bounds (and Where Have You Gone, Johnny Grubb?)

Is that it for the italicized hyperlinks? No! Because Big Al of The Wayne Fontes Experience has told me he'll be in attendance, as well.

Operators are standing by and invitations are being passed out, so who knows who else will be there? The Leelanau Sports Guy? The Sports Dude? Maybe Terry Foster and Pat Caputo can stop by, since they're bloggers too.

It'd be great if Mike of The Daily Fungo and Kurt of Mack Avenue Tigers could join us, as well. But that would be kind of a hike (especially for Mike, out in Arizona). And what, no K-Dog?

I made the comment at The Detroit Tigers Weblog that I'd prefer people approach me through my publicist and not make eye contact with me at any point during the evening, but that was a joke. I'll be the guy with the stack of 8 X 10 glossies in his lap, waiting to be passed out. Please come on over and say hi, bloggers and readers, one and all. It should be a fun night.

"Bloggers Night" at the Fish

This is the true story of three strangers - each of them bloggers (running multiple blogs, at that) - who agreed to spend their Friday evening at a Michigan baseball game, chatting about the woeful Detroit Lions and the upcoming draft, the promising Detroit Tigers and the merits of Brandon Inge, intro music for batters walking to the plate (preferably heavy metal), photography (Where's a telescopic lens when you need it?), and embarrassing 80s music (Journey #@$ing rules, man!), while also consenting to be photographed.


From left to right, we have Brian who works his boo-tay off on Big Ten Hardball (and Beyond Boxscores), the world-famous Sam(ela) of Blue Cats and Red Sox fame (along with Roar of the Tigers), who's pursuing approximately a half-dozen degrees from the University of Michigan and has apparently found a way to add five extra hours to the day, and yours truly, the Fried Rice Thinker and chronicler of sweaty men endeavoring, who's crushing poor Sam's left shoulder with his gigantic melon and appears to be reaching to give Brian a pinch on the caboose (much to the amusement of the woman behind us with hand to mouth).

It was a rockin' good time at Fisher Stadium on Friday night, huddling up with a couple thousand of our closest friends, and watching Michigan spank Ohio State like a brat acting up at the grocery store, 14-3. (Michigan went on to sweep the weekend from the Buckeyes, which threw the Big Ten standings out of whack, and sent Mr. Big Ten Hardball scractching his head.) There was dancing, singing, and a couple of cars dented and smashed by foul balls. (Oh, that poor guy from Ohio...) Despite minor disagreements between Sam and I over the suitability of Run DMC's "It's Tricky" as intro music, and faced with the abject horror of my confessions of love for 80s power ballad bands, our evening of college baseball was very pleasant.

I hope we get to do it all again, at a ballpark near you.

If you'd like to see more photos from the game, check out Big Ten Hardball (which is filling a void you wanted filled, whether you realize it or not) and Samela's Flickr labor of love. You will get no more pictures from me, as I still have yet to join the digital camera revolution, pending an upcoming birthday.