The History Behind “The Thunder”

In 2002, my house burned down.  The fire started at 6am and there were five of us home.  It happened quickly and because of a string of strange circumstances, I wasn’t in my bedroom, which is where the fire exploded into the house.  Had I still been in bed, I would have died.  Instead of being in bed, I was watching a report on Darryl Kile, who had died two days earlier. 

A couple of weeks after the fire, I settled in the the back room of a family friend’s house.  I lost everything I owned (except the clothes on my back when the fire started, which included a Derek Lowe t-shirt!) and for two years, I basically lived out of this one room, with nothing but a futon for a bed and a tv with basic cable.  At least I had NESN!  🙂

Next to the room I lived in, was the computer of my family friend.  One night that July, I went online to read about Darryl Kile and in doing so found the Red Sox fan forum.  I started reading it and became thrilled that there were so many people out there like me.  Internet geeks who loved the Red Sox as well.

To make a long story a little shorter, the Red Sox Fan Forum and the folks on it helped me through a really rough time.  For the remainder of that summer, I watched baseball and then talked about it with like-minded folks online.  It would be another year before I met my ‘sistahs’ on that same forum.  For now, this was just a bunch of faceless names who were helping me through the worst time in my life by helping me enjoy baseball with them.  Many late, late nights that I couldn’t sleep were spent chatting with folks on that forum.  It was great.  And, I will always be thankful those folks were there.  I was in a bad way and I’m not sure what would have happened to me if I didn’t have that outlet.

But it wasn’t all good.  No, in 2002 I also got my first taste of trolls.  And my first real understanding of what drives a lot of fans of other teams, especially the Yankees.

It seemed that, regardless of what the thread was discussing, a Yankees fan would barge in to mock the Red Sox fans basically for being fans.  (In 2002, the Red Sox finished 10.5 games behind the Yankees.)  The Red Sox Fan Forum was inundated with Yankees fans being crude, making threats and generally doing nothing but trying to make Red Sox fans miserable.  For my entire stay at the Red Sox Fan Forum, they tried to ruin the experience for Red Sox fans.  And they did a pretty good job.  And, as fans and contributors to the forum, we were powerless to stop them. 

Then along came the 2003 season.  And with the team’s new look (Millar, Mueller, a guy named Ortiz) and the fun they were having, we ended up, at the end of THAT ride, with a lot of new fans.  Younger fans just joining the forum who ended up joining the Yankees fans in making the Red Sox Fan Forum a miserable place to be. 

2004 was not a great season.  Of course it was a tremendous POST season, but the season itself was full of a lot of bad games, a lot of anxiety for Red Sox fans and a lot of questions about the future of the team.  So every bandwagoner in Red Sox Nation with a computer would come on board to make every optimistic Red Sox fan miserable.

I was a regular contributor to the Fan Forum from the summer of 2002 to the fall of 2004.  I stopped posting after game three of the 2004 ALCS because of two things…1) Yankees fans with nothing better to do than rub it in our faces about the three-game losses and 2) Red Sox fans who actually had the nerve to say that Johnny Damon needed to be benched or dropped from the roster altogether because of how poorly he was playing.  I remember that really setting me off.  But mostly it was because I was sick of the Yankees fans who would rather bash my team and rub it in my face that I support the team, than support their own team on the Yankees Fan Forum or some other place online where Yankees fans meet.

So I stopped visiting the forum.  Discussed the rest of the post-season with my friends through email and enjoyed the 2004 championship.  But I was sad about losing the place that had meant so much to me.  And I was mad that the fact that, as Red Sox fans on our own turf, we had no way to discuss our team without dealing with the jerks. 

I’d occasionally stop by and do a drive-by post…but it was never the same.  And then I read a post by someone who mentioned MLBlogs and the rest is history.

I’m not thunder today.  I still have faith that my team can persevere.  And even if they don’t…it really isn’t that big a deal to me because they mean more to me than an opportunity to watch the playoffs with a vested interest.  I feel no entitlement to a playoff berth…that isn’t why I’m a Red Sox fan.  I’m a fan because I love baseball and I especially love my Red Sox.  And I started this blog as a place to write about that love, through the good and bad of it.

So that is why every time the likes of Umair writes a ‘ha-ha, see I told you so!’ comment, it will be deleted.  I left the Red Sox Fan Forum because, instead of discussing baseball, most of my posts ended up being arguments with Yankees fans.  The negativity I was helping to spread was overwhelming.  It shouldn’t be that way on a "FAN" forum and it certainly shouldn’t be that way on a personal blog.

I haven’t read the Yankees blogs here at MLBlogs the last couple of days.  Mostly because I haven’t had time, and partially because they aren’t usually on my list of reading anyway.  I’m sure they’re having a great time with this series and they should be.  But I find it worth pointing out that the MLBloggers who are Yankees fans haven’t come over here to rub anything in.  They’re too busy actually enjoying what their team is doing right now.  I also find it worth pointing out that it has never been Yankees MLBloggers who have come over here to stir up things.  Again, that’s why they have their own blogs.  I get the sense that the folks who come here to rub the Red Sox inadequacies in my face, are the same ones who troll the Red Sox Fan Forum and other Red Sox message boards and blogs.  And I refuse to deal with them any more.  I’m not thunder and I don’t want to be.  This blog is supposed to be fun.  The Red Sox losing doesn’t suddenly make baseball NOT fun for me, but jerks coming here to gloat does.  And I’ll respond accordingly.

Rainy Sunday morning.  Hopefully the team is sleeping in and reflecting on what they need to do to right things tonight.  I’m going to go enjoy my day and settle in at 8pm for another night of baseball. 

Have a great day, folks!

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