Answering A Student's Questions About Blogging

This post has nothing to do with Eric Show- I do have a post on him coming up in a day or two, though. It was a reader request and I aim to please.
A few days ago, I got an email from a Melanie who is a Broadcast Communications major at CSU East Bay and is currently doing research for her Sports and Media class. She's one of the four or five readers of this humble little nerdblog and had some interview questions about sports blogging. Gaslamp Ball got the same set of questions and posted their answers. Since I'm always in the market for filler, I thought I'd do the same...
1. Where did you grow up?
Ravenswood, WV
2. What was it like to be a kid, a teenager, or a young person in that time?
It was pretty boring. A small, redneck town, it wasn't the best place for a young punk rocker.
3. Did you decide to go to college? If so, did it help you in pursuing become a sports blogger?
I went very briefly. It had no impact on my eventual blogging.
4. How did you first become interested in becoming a sports blogger?
Probably after reading and getting immersed in other blogs such as Gaslamp Ball. I had a short lived blog called Pads And Ends before starting Friars On Cardboard which I started because I like baseball cards and no one else was doing a blog that was strictly Padres cards and nothing more.
5. What did you read before you became a sports writer (newspapers, books, magazines, etc)?
All of the above.
6. Who are/were your favorite authors?
Jim Bouton, Jeff Pearlman, John Steinbeck
7. What sports did you play?
baseball
8. Did you have a favorite sports team growing up?
The Padres
9. Did your parents have a favorite sports team that differed from yours? If so, how did that affect you?
My mother didn't care about sports until I did and then it was just for my sake. I didn't know my father.
10. How did you use media in your everyday life before your career?
For information and time-wasting.
11. How has the internet, instant messaging, instant video uploading and other new technology impacted the way you report today compared to five or ten years ago?
I have never done any reporting, haha
12. How do you deal with coaches or club owners who may or may not want to share information? For example, the Giants issue with Barry bonds and the Balco investigation.
This has never been an issue in the kind of blogging I do.
13. How have sports news and entertainment changed in the span of your career? For the better? For the worse?
Blogging seems to be taken more seriously now. They are now cited as sources and the mother's basement jokes seem to be dying down. I think Rob Neyer's move from ESPN to SBN will further legitimize the sports blogging community.
14. What would you say is the most challenging part of being a sports blogger?
Writing when I don't feel like it. Which I don't do, so it's not challenging at all.
15. What is the most exciting part of being a sports blogger?
I got pretty excited when I found out Jeff Pearlman read my blog and it "made (his) day".
16. What are some major sports events you recall covering? Did that change your perspective?
I haven't covered any events.
17. What kind of skills are necessary in order to be a sports blogger?
The abilities to write and research. For more serious bloggers than myself, the ability to make deadlines.
18. Where would you say the future of sports blogging is heading?
I think it's taking over. People won't tolerate the BS that comes along with traditional sources when they realize they don't have to.

Dickey Thon And Some Shoutouts

Since I'm always giving the almighty Gaslamp Ball its proper respect around here and I shouted out RJ's Fro and .400 in '94, I thought I'd toss out a few more links today. Well, that and I don't know shit about Dickie Thon.
About a month ago, multi-blogger Steve Adler (no, not that one!) sent me the Friarhood shirt shown above. It is so comfortable! They've got a wide selection of shirts, including Team Latos and the Pen-itentiary ones the bully rocked last year.
As far as card blogs, my favorite has to be Orioles Card O' The Day. And, yes, he really does update it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I'm impressed. Kevin has two other phenomenal blogs as well- The Great 1965 Topps Project and NumerOlogy.

Goose & Garvey

It's been a couple days since I posted anything so I thought I'd toss up a little scrap of filler to suffice until I have time to write a proper post in a few hours or so. Man, I love the unis from this era- those BP jerseys especially. Outside of that, there's not really much I have to say about this card right now that the back of it hasn't already said.

Ten Trivia Gems: Joey Cora Edition

1. In Joey's 11 year career, he hit 30 HRs. He didn't hit any in his three seasons with the Pads; in fact, he didn't hit his first until his sixth season.
2. After a 1986 game in AA San Antonio, Cora got jumped by eleven guys
and was stabbed. According to Sandy Alomar, Jr., "The doctor told me if the stab was two inches lower, Joey's probably dead."
3. In 1997, Joey hit in 24 consecutive games. This is a record for American League switch hitters.
4. He was no stranger to hitting streaks; in 1989, he hit in 37 straight games for AAA Las Vegas.

5. Joey led the A.L. in sacrifice hits in 1993.
6. Best remembered with the White Sox and Mariners, he played the last month of his career with Cleveland. He went to Spring Training in 1999 with the Blue Jays but retired before the season began.
7. Joey wore numbers 4 and 5 with the Friars, 21 and 28 with the White Sox and kept 28 the rest of his career, wearing it with Seattle and Cleveland.
8. His best season was 1997. He was an All Star and posted career highs in most statistical categories. He hit exactly .300 with an OPS of exactly .800. It was his only season with an OPS+ over 100 (110).
9. In 402 plate appearances in 140 games spread out over three seasons with San Diego, Joey had 35 walks and 35 strikeouts.
10. My cat Cora is named after him. The day I got and named her, Joey's brother Alex was released by the Rangers about an hour later.

This Isn't About Randy Jones

I was just reading SDPads1's awesome memorabilia blog .400 in '94; man, he's got so much RJ stuff! I guess it makes sense considering his other (*cough*more recently updated*cough*) blog is RJ's Fro. Gaslamp Baller ABY recently sent me a parcel of Padres gubbins as she called them. I'd never heard that word before but it has since became one of my favorite words. Man, I love words. I love words so much that my friends call me "Words". But I digress... Anyway, I'll be posting some of that in the near future- along with an accompanying card, of course. I hope he doesn't think I'm stepping on his turf! He's already done a post on one of the things...

Oh, and that jersey I'm wearing in that picture? Hoffy. That was all ABY. To quote Rivers (no, not that one!), "How cool is that?"

A Baby-Faced Derrek Lee

Three weeks ago, the Orioles signed D. Lee to a one year deal worth up to ten million dollars to man their first base vacancy. Lee had a down year by personal standards though his numbers did pick up after a waiver-wire trade to Atlanta, albeit in a small sample size. Despite his subpar season, he was still in demand this offseason with several teams, including the Padres, attached to his name. "I hear people say I'm old, I'm declining. I want to prove that theory wrong" said Lee upon signing. Nobody was saying that about Derrek during his short tenure in San Diego. As a baby-faced 21 year old, Lee got into 22 games and hit one of his 312-to-date home runs before being sent to Florida in the trade that got us a year of Kevin Brown. Of course, you can't mention Derrek Lee without thinking of this picturewhich led to this

which led to this

Rambling About Camouflage And... Wait, Harold Reynolds Was A Padre?!?!

As you know, the Padres have unveiled two new uniforms over the past two days. I've made my disdain for the new road grays well known both on Twitter and Gaslamp Ball so I won't gripe any more about that. As for the new Marines-inspired digital camo, well, I like it. I like it better than the most recent camouflage jersey but my favorite is still the original. I'm just a fan of that print; maybe it's the West Virginia in me. I've owned countless pairs of Army pants (usually cut-off) along with an Army jacket (which of course got covered in patches of punk bands) and my favorite Bouncing Souls (speaking of New Jersey!) shirt. Sheesh, that was a lot of parenthesis...
I got this card the other day (among many more and lots of other awesome stuff that will be showing up on this blog) from fellow Gaslamp Baller ABY and was pretty surprised. I had no recollection of Harold Reynolds being a Padre. Turns out, I had good reason as he never played a regular season game for the Friars. He was signed as a free agent January 28th, 1994 after one year with the Orioles and was traded two months and a day later to the then-California Angels on the eve of the season opener for the forgettable Hilly Hathaway. The more you know...

So Long, Salad Bar

I don't have a card of Oscar Salazar so I decided to do the next best thing and picture cards of Oscar Azocar (R.I.P.) and Luis Salazar. It'll do.

Well, it appears that with Jed's addition of Jorge Cantu, Salad Bar's days with the Pads have come to an end. What little business he still had doing on the roster is now gone. I remember the day KT traded for him. I was, as I am right now, suffering from a brutal cold. My friends made me get up and hang out; we did some shopping- I got a way too big for me Springsteen Born To Run shirt- and went to Red Lobster. Then I scored some Vicodins and we drank a bunch of Coors Light on the porch of my then home which has since burned to the ground. I'm grateful to say that today is different- not that I'd mind getting a new Bruce shirt or some seafood and cheddar biscuits, but I'm not drinking today and the only drug I'm on is DayQuil.

Totally Terrible Garbage: The Worst Of FoC In 2010

Earlier, I posted a year-end list of my favorite FoC posts from the past year. You have to take the bad with the good so here are the ones that didn't work, needed more work or just plain sucked:

7) Eric Owens: Intense

I put absolutely no effort into this one. I just copied the story from the back of the card. Granted, it was a good story about him but still... that's card-blogging at its very laziest.

6) He's A Friar Now, Damn It!

This isn't the shortest or the worst entry but it was admittedly half-hearted. As noted in the post, I literally wrote it on my way out the door.


5) "Mud, you're the best, man."

Another example of my laziness, this entry consisted of nothing but a link to Gaslamp Ball's account of Sut's infamous visit with Matty V. and Mud back in '06.

4) You Write The Caption Contest, Volume 1

Undoubtedly, the first volume will also be the last. The contest was an absolute flop. Only three people submitted a caption and, after I declared them all co-winners, no one bothered to e-mail their address to me in order to claim their prize. Good in concept but terrible in execution.
3) Here's Some Filler ('06 UD Ben Johnson)

The title says it all. The entirety of the post is the transcript of an approximately three second exchange between me and a friend of mine.


2) Can Matt Antonelli Please Have #9 Back?

Oh, this was embarrassing. I wrote an empassioned plea that Antonelli be given his preferred uniform number of 9 as opposed to the 10 that the club issued him since nobody else on the 40 man roster was assigned that number. It was promptly pointed out to me that coach Ted Simmons was in possession of that digit. After the season, when Simmons left the organization, I was optimistic that Matt would be able to get his old number back next season. Alas, it was not to be as he was non-tendered and recently signed on with the Nationals.
1) Bruce Bochy: Dead To Me

This one sums up "phoning it in". It consisted of merely one sentence- an obscene, resentful and parenthetical sentence at that. This was shamefully my only post for the month of November.

Top Thirteen Goodness: The Best of FoC in 2010

Well, it's the end of the year and that means one thing: "best of" lists. I was going to do a ten best list but, as Sam of 11 Points says, "Top ten lists are for cowards". Since 11's his thing and besides, "Top Eleven Goodness" can't be abbreviated TTG, I decided on twelve. I was unsure between two posts for the final spot so I expanded it to thirteen. I'll be following this up with a "worst of" list...

13) Brian Johnson and Jeff Pearlman: Personal Heroes

This one was about my admiration of forward-thinking former Padres catcher Brian Johnson and his friend: author, sportswriter and blogger Jeff Pearlman


12) Fried Chicken And A Puddle

It's a story John Kruk once told me about him and Tony Gwynn. I thought about using a different Tony post for this list just because I managed to sneak a Bruce Springsteen video in it but I think this one is ultimately better.
11) 7 Random Facts About Garry Templeton

The day before, I asked readers what card I should write about next. There was a choice between five players and Templeton tied with Steve Finley. The comments were used as a tiebreaker.

10) A 'n' G Lies

This post about an Allen & Ginter of former face of the franchise Adrian Gonzalez combines two of my favorite things: Guns 'n' Rose's G 'n' R Lies album and badmouthing Jake "Cy Young, Dumb and Full Of Cum" Peavy.

9) Everybody Loves Blummer (No Pressure, No Problems)

I really enjoyed writing this one. It was a follow-up to the previous day's Sean Burroughs And My Hatred Of The Word "Potential". It's less about Blum and Burroughs than it is about expectations and how they skew perceptions.

8) This Tuesday's Guest: SDPads1 from RJ's Fro on Wally Joyner

Just what it sounds like. In FoC's second guest spot, SDPads1 of RJ's Fro and .400 In '94 wrote about Wally World's tenures in San Diego as both a player and as a hitting coach.
7) Ten Trivia Gems

Featuring ten pieces of information you may or may not know about Padres history. Pictured are four cards: two Caminitis, a Greg Vaughn and a Sean Burroughs. Since this was a May post, even Burroughs was rocking some beard.

6) This Thursday's Guest: Steve From White Sox Cards on Shawn Abner

As the title states, Steve from the excellent White Sox Cards blog wrote about former Number 1 draft pick Shawn Abner who spent time with both clubs among others. It was FoC's third guest post.

5) The Klesko Facial Hair Chronicles: Volumes 1 (Facehawk), 2 (Chopgoat), 3 & 4 (Circlegoats) and 5 (Chinblock and Soul Triangle)

While this was four posts, I'll count it as one since it was a series spread out over a few days. It was part of The Month Of The Beard festivities.

4) Archi!

This was the first of three guest posts this year. It was written by Friars fan and friend of the site Alex Kasendorf. It's about watching games with his dad when he was a lad.

3) The FoC 100th Post Celebratory Review and Beardstravaganza

This post came near the end of May (a.k.a. Beard Month). It includes fourteen cards featuring various stages of beardedness.


2) My Month In Zanesville (Featuring Token Mentions of Jay Payton & Chris Young)

This is one of the longest FoC posts ever. It mentions when Chris Young nearly threw a no-hitter while I was spending 30 days in Jay Payton's hometown. It includes excerpts from letters I wrote home during that month.

1) Baseball Heals All Wounds (A Tale Of Joey Cora, My Mom & Me)

This is my favorite thing I've ever written. It's a heartwarming (gasp!) story about how baseball brought my mother and I back together. I wrote it on her birthday.

The One Where I Write About Matt Clement

A few days before the 2001 season began, the Friars sent Matt Clement, Eric Owens and somebody by the name of Omar Ortiz to Miami for Mark Kotsay and the immortal Cesar Crespo. Obviously, Owens, Clement and Kotsay were the main pieces of the deal. Fleer was able to make note of the new locales but didn't have new action shots by the time presses ran.
By the time of the trade, Clement had pretty much worn out his welcome in San Diego. In his second season, he was worse than the first. He lost 17 games and led the league in walks and wild pitches. He didn't fare much better in black and teal and was shipped to Chicago 364 days later. Eventually he was named an All Star with Boston in 2005, his penultimate season. Probably best remembered for his various goatees, Clement has gotten back to his roots. He now spends his days in suits and sweats as the basketball coach of his high school alma mater.

Tiny Tony's Gone (Tales Of Walk-Offs And Mushrooms)

I know he's a filthy effin' Dodger now but I can't hate him. I know, I know he chose to sign with them under his own free will but I get it. He still gets to play as close to his hometown as possible now that playing in his hometown isn't an option and they gave him a Major League deal which, let's face it, not a whole lot of other teams were lining up to do. He'd been my favorite Padre since we got him from Milwaukee for Jody and he got to PETCO after the game had started, walked as a pinch hitter in the ninth and came around to score the walk-off run- all of which happened while I was on mushrooms. The last time I had done mushrooms before that was when Adrian hit an 18th-inning three-run walk-off shot against the Reds in May of '08 when I was wandering the Earth like Kane from Kung-Fu...