One afternoon a couple of months ago I was sitting at my computer reviewing my company's financial reports but just couldn't get into it. After a couple of games of Free Cell I flipped over to Fox Sports web page to check on my beloved Red Sox. There was nothing to grab my interest but I didn't want to go back to my work page.

I started hitting the tabs to see what was there (I don't think that I ever looked before). I hit the Community tab and it gave me 4 options. I clicked on the Blogs option and here I am. I don't know today if that click produced a prize or a curse. The first Blog I looked at was from JoshQPublic, the ultimate Red Sox homey. I was born, raised and schooled in Boston and there was an immediate identification. There  was nothing JoshQ had written that I didn't agree with completely. I next clicked on ReverendRhythm and low and behold, found another Sox fan. I was home. My next click was on a Kenrick Thomas Blog where he was calling out bloggers for not producing any quality on this site. I assumed he was going to get murdered in the comment section but was surprised when I scanned them. The comments were more educational and sensitive than I would have ever believed. Some folks took offense and struck back but a large percentage was trying to help this kid.

What had I found here? There were Red Sox fans. There were people who could make their points in an intelligent and informative manner. There were people who would not start drooling when someone showed their ass. This place was comfortable.  I started to visit the site on a regular basis and actually wrote a couple of pieces.

This morning I was reading Reverend Rhythm's latest he/said, she said blog.  At the end of his post he had a link to Frank Irizzary's Fox-Bloggers show. I clicked on it and found the rebroadcast of last night's show on College football. Not expecting much, I decided to listen for a while. The show was great and was I surprised that people who wrote so well could also speak well.  I don't know why that surprised me though. Lisa4usc was correct in her bio. She can talk college football with anyone. JoshQPublic is still a homey and brilliant (I am a BC alum) and my neighbor, ReverandRhythm sold me on the Gators chances. My Orioles buddy represented Paterno's Nittany Lions with style. Nostradamos was great but I agreed with Frank when he said that Nebraska needed to play Oklahoma every year. It was a fine show.

I doubt if I will ever have the opportunity to meet any of you face to face but it sure is nice to be able to put a voice to the avatar. Everyone just became people, not just bi-lines. That unfortunately, will only serve to keep me away from my work pages even more than it does already.