Today is Monday, May 5. The start of another work week. Time to shake off the beer goggles and wretched hangovers and embarrassing predicaments that defined your weekend (or, more specifically, my weekend) and start anew.
Today also marks the fourth anniversary of this here blog.
It was May 5, 2004 when Denton and I launched “Surviving Grady.” The blog was our attempt at “self-help therapy” after the Hindenburg that was the 2003 ALCS. A way to purge that sick knot that was burning through my lower intestine since Aaron Boone went airborne and I had to endure the World’ Longest Train Ride home from New Jersey (I was there on business for game seven) with the sounds of ass-slappy Yanks fans still buzzing in my head. Like most of you probably did, I felt physically ill for weeks after that game–far, far worse than I felt after the ’86 Series–and thought the only way to deal with it was to vent through the keyboard, instead of, say, punching a truck.
The first post, by yours truly, was something about Bill Mueller. I probably mentioned Hazel Mae’s ass. There was likely a puppet reference, too. Sure, we eventually went back and added a couple of back-dated posts about who we were and why we started this here blog, but the fact remains that the first-ever official post was four years ago today.
Despite our less-than-auspicious first couple weeks, established and far more talented bloggers like Beth and Allan and Guapo’s Ghost and the Big Dog gave us that all-important linkage. Soon afterward, with Denton out of rehab and me having beaten that solicitation rap, we were on our way.
Since that time, a lot of pretty f@#king cool things have happened. The Globe and the Phoenix and Deadspin wrote some nice stuff about our blog. We were invited to appear on TV; once on NECN’s morning show–a mind-numbingly embarrassing experience in which Denton and I looked like a couple of professional fart catchers on live television–and once on WBZ’s morning news, through which we were redeemed by our man Dave Robichaud. We experienced the raw thrill of hearing Jerry Remy utter the name of our blog during a NESN telecast. Writers that Denton and I had long admired, like Stewart O’Nan and Kurt Busiek, were showing up in our comments section and e-mailing us with kind words. We also saw our 2004 posts collected in convenient book format by Larry Young, Publisher to the Stars, and held book-signings in which actual people actually came up and shook our actual hands and said they enjoyed reading the blog. Sure, they were all related to me, but it’s the thought that counts.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ve met a lot of very nice people as a result of this blog; folks who actually reduce themselves to hanging out with us from time-to-time in public. Folks like Dev and Annette and Kristen and Finn and Amy and Greta and Steve and Jen and the indefatigable Derjue (who occasionally risks her own livelihood as Boston Magazine’s blogger by showing SG the love on the BostonDaily blog). We’ve also been blessed with some long-time commenters who are every bit as certifiable as we are, and show up day after day to bring the noise. They’ve made this place infinitely more interesting than we ever dreamed it could be, and for that, we are eternally grateful.
So we wanted to take a moment to thank you–all of you. Fellow bloggers, fellow perverts, fellow mimes, fellow members of Red Sox Nation and, of course, smokin’ hot female escorts. Basically anyone who stops by this site on a regular basis just to see what fresh hell we’ve concocted. If you’ve never commented before, say hey in the comments today. Or hit us up at soxfiend2004[at]comcast.net. We always like to know who’s out there, who’s reading and, y’know, who’s interested in getting felt up by us.
We hope you continue to tune in. And we’ll try our best to keep the Suck Factor to a minimum.
Also, f@#k Giambi.
