A Late Night Meta Aside

As we speak, snow is falling on empty baseball diamonds. GMs and reporters are planning to get on airplanes and head to Las Vegas tomorrow after telling their wives that the Winter Meetings start on Friday night instead of Monday. Prince Fielder is sitting in a lounge chair and enjoying the realization that Ho-Hos are vegetarian. In other words, it’s slow season, and when slow season strikes, you start thinking and reading about stuff that isn’t quite baseball.

One thing that I just read (and I have no idea why I was reading it, but there you are) is a post from Arianna Huffington about the nature of blogging. In it she says:

Blogging is all about connecting to others. The bond between blogger and reader creates an intimacy that is a much-needed corrective to the isolation that hard times bring. I’m always amazed by the things I learn from commenters I’ve never met but feel that I know. And I’m equally amazed by the things I keep discovering about myself in the course of writing and clarifying what’s important to me.

She may be kind of loony, but she’s not wrong. As I went on and on at length about back in October, the whole blogging thing works for me because of the conversational nature of it all. Because of the commenters who teach me way more than I teach them. Because when you write 160+ posts a month, you don’t have to worry about being wrong once in a while, and the fear of being wrong is what makes for some really tepid writing and analysis in the first place.

It’s a scary world these days, and between the wars and the economy and everything else, it’s not easy to find a comfy place in which to relax. This place serves that purpose for me, and I just wanted to thank all of you for helping to make it what it is.


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Doug
15 years ago

where else can i talk about comics and baseball at the same time?

Ryan
15 years ago

Meta?  I thought it read Mets.

Not that I am a Mets fan or anything, but I was confused for the whole post.

I really appreciate your blogging and hope it continues.

Aaron
15 years ago

Now I feel all warm and squishy inside.

When I think that a man as fat as Prince Fielder can hit a homerun, I feel good inside. I don’t know why.

Alex
15 years ago

“When I think that a man as fat as Prince Fielder can hit a homerun, I feel good inside. I don’t know why.”

Fielder was also hitting bombs in major league parks as a 15-year-old.  Still feel as good inside?

smsetnor
15 years ago

I think I could fit inside Fielder.

Dave Studeman
15 years ago

And thank you for bringing your place to THT, Craig. We’re all the better for the conversation.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

Jon—I get an email each time a new comment comes in. I can read it in the email without clicking back to the thread. I try to get back to respond whenever possible, but sometimes if I’m on the run or in a meeting at work or something I forget.

Upshot: I see every comment in real time.  One of my favorite things about the blog.

Jon Daly
15 years ago

Cool beans!  I see that I get the same.  I never figured out how to use RSS feeds and probably waste time reclicking on some of my favorite blogs looking for new comments.

Wait until you make a post about PETA or John Mabry.  Your inbox will flood.

Jon Daly
15 years ago

Craig, how many hours back do you check your posts for new comments?  I was just curious.  That’s the only downside to 160+ posts per month.  I didn’t repond to one of these until a good 12 hours after it was posted.

Because when you write 160+ posts a month, you don’t have to worry about being wrong once in a while, and the fear of being wrong is what makes for some really tepid writing and analysis in the first place.

I’m the anti-Calcaterra.  I started an essay on Earl Wilson last Friday and it’s only 2,300 words so far.  I need at least another 1,700 by the end of the month and I’ve already picked the low hanging fruit.