The first photo I ever posted on my blog. I stole it from Yankees.com that first day.
Five years ago, July 30th was a Saturday. That afternoon, I was alone, watching the Yankees play the Angels on Fox and reading the Red Sox Fan Forum at redsox.com when I came upon a message about the new blogging site “MLBlogs” that MLB.com had started. I checked it out and decided that my annoyance at seeing Alan Embree in pinstripes was enough to get me motivated to write…so I did.
The entries were scattered at first. I kept up a steady pace for a while, mostly fueled by my Yankee hate (the tagline for the Red Sox Chick blog was “Because life is too short to be a Yankees Chick”) and then I posted randomly. Short blurbs here and there. More about my personal life than I do now. I had no plan. I was writing for me and my enjoyment and folks started picking up on it and reading it…and here we are.
Five years ago, the Red Sox were in first place on July 30th with the Yankees 2.5 games behind them and the (then Devil) Rays 20 games out of first place. Baseball life was, to say the least, very different. It was the season of love, where the world loved the Red Sox for beating the Yankees and going on to with their first World Series in 86 years the October before, and it was a season full of anxiety (WOULD Manny be traded) and ending with disappointment yet it convinced me that I truly enjoyed blogging and wanted to continue on with it.
So here I am, another Red Sox World Championship has happened in my lifetime and I continue to blog about them. I changed the name of the blog, after much hand-wringing about doing so (never regretted it, though. I loved the “Red Sox Chick” name and domain but it was definitely time to move on) and settled in happily with “Toeing the Rubber”.
There have been bumps in the road. MLBlogs started off to be a place I loved but slowly turned into a place I felt like I had to act a certain way or I’d be getting accused of not being part of the “community”. And WEEI.com seemed like a wonderful opportunity that turned into exactly what I expected before I got there. But I learned a lot from those bumps and am really happy with where I am right now.
I genuinely appreciate all the the support I’ve received over the years from everyone. There have been ball players, photographers, sports writers and, most importantly, all of you who visit the site just to read me ramble or rant about the Red Sox and baseball, who truly help make spending the time in front of the keyboard worthwhile. I hope you all enjoy the blog at least as half as much as I do.
Today is my least favorite day in the baseball season…the trade deadline. I had plans for today. I had wonderful, happy plans that included friends and alcohol that I had to cancel. This means I’ll be around. Around the Internet and the television and I’ll be privy to all the rumors that we’ll be bombarded with until the deadline this afternoon (it also means instead of watching the game in a noisy bar that mutes the sounds of the Fox broadcasters I might have to hit the mute button myself and go with Joe Castiglione).
This has been a, thankfully, quiet trade deadline week and the local sports media has done their best to prepare us to expect nothing. I can’t shake this nagging suspicion, though, that they’re being played. I can’t help remember that not one of them had a clue Theo was interested in picking up John Lackey. Maybe it’s a new era of radio silence from the team when it comes to transactions? That would be nice. I’m torn between wanting something huge to happen and wanting nothing at all to go on. So, yeah, I’m in a bit of a pickle.
Five years ago we were still basking in the World Series win and worried that Manny would be traded.  This game, it’s a strange one.
Thanks again to all of you for making it worth logging on every day! Here’s to five more years and a few more Championships!
3 comments for “It’s been five years”