It's been an interesting couple of first weeks for me here at FoxSports Blogs.  I'm not sure what I expected, but I never expected what I found.  What I found was a group of people who are passionate about their blogging.  What I found was a community as diverse as all of society.  Thank you all for welcoming me in.

Speaking of passion, I expected to find a bunch of guys hyped up about their teams, kind of like me and my Hogs.  What I found was a group of both men and women ready to talk about everything - from politics, to religion, to plagiarism, to race, to corporate greed, to patriotism.  Conspiracy theories and moral dilemmas were my first introduction to you guys, and I jumped in head first. 

And as we swapped comments, personalities came into focus.  I met NorthSider, the bright young man who is so upset by the injustices of the world, he can't believe it's all happening without some hidden agenda, without complicity by people he should be able to trust.  I met UltraMega, who loves a good argument as much as me.  These guys stirred memories of  my younger days, before, as Ultra would put it, I "sold out".  Keep your idealism as long as you can fellas, guard it as precious.

Ultra made some interesting comments about my generation.  We were the generation of Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll.  Now we're the generation of Grandkids, Medicare and 401K's.  What I would hope Ultra would understand is why we have changed. 

If my generation was on the wave of free sex, we were also on the wave of AIDS, broken marriages and fatherless children.  Almost all of us have been divorced, many more than once.  We see the price of our freedom, and we wonder if it was worth it. 

If we were on the wave of illegal drug use, we have also lost friends, seen lives ruined, paid our own cost.

If we were on the wave of Rock 'n Roll you can thank us. (Some things are just good.)

It also makes me think that there really is nothing new in the human condition.  Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll is simply a paraphrase of eat, drink and be merry.

On the other end of the spectrum, I met guys like LSUFan and FlyingPig.  Men who I could almost immediately relate to.  Just as passionate, (that word again) just as steadfast in their beliefs as anyone.  As I listened to their comments, I realized that this ex-hippie, 70's radical is slowly being painted red by the brush of Republicanism.  I think the reason so many of my ilk have changed is because of changed priorities.  We no longer see the world condition as being as important as that of our families, our local communities, our souls.  Many times, the Democratic party may be right on social issues, but too many times they are on the wrong side of moral ones.  If nothing else, the Republican party understands this, and they use it to their advantage.

I guess that's why politically, I'm a realist.  Let's simply do what works the best. 

I also met another group of bloggers who amaze me.  SoCalSportsFan, MeanD,  Burger, Robert Green, Dudski.  I should never have started listing them, because I can't list them all, and there are others.  To see the writing talent in these people, the professional appearance of their work, you know that as MeanD said, they have an "agenda".  May all your dreams be realized fellas.  The talent is there, now all you need is a little luck.

I guess that's about it.  If anyone made it this far, thanks for putting up with my ramblings.  I'm gonna take my own advice now and simply post this under "OTHER".  I don't know if anyone will read it, but I think maybe I just wrote it for me anyway.