Two years ago I was not interested in Baseball. I lived very close to the Atlanta Braves and decided it was a little too hot to sit in the bleachers with a foam red tomahawk and argue if Chevy made a better truck than Ford, or how much manure you really need. What I decided was that for the time being, I was not interested in America's pastime. I had been tainted, the bad taste in my mouth was not from the warm Pabst. I had no reason to love Baseball. This was not to last very long.

Before I realized it I had moved to Boston, not too far from the fabled Fenway, I heard the crowds and saw the fans and began a new appreciation. I did not know Pedro's ERA. I did not know there was a new stadium planned, or the fact that 1918 looms over the head of every Boston fan like a scarlet letter. I knew I was mildly interested.

It was then that I was invited to my first Redsox game. Couldn't be much different I thought, oh well, I will give it a shot. By the end of the game, I felt like I had found a lost girlfriend, or stumbled across a couple twenty's in an old coat pocket. I had a general "feel good" attitude toward baseball and started checking the scores weekly, then daily, then I found WEEI, then I ordered NESN and pretty soon I was outside the stadium for almost every home game buying a program, checking the stats. Becoming a baseball geek. A game and a half behind, no problem! Put on your rally caps boys, let's go! I was content.

Then I learned there was controversy in the bullpen, in the clubhouse, with the managers. What? My glorious Redsox have issues? Impossible. As it turns out, because they have issues, I have issues. Better than issues, I have opinions. Not the usual Herald or Globe opinions. But real opinions. Like maybe Jimy does know what he's doing, and there are ways to win even if Pedro gets hurt, (PLEASE NOT THAT) and Nomar will hit .400 and Carl is not Freddy Kruger, and a huge bat is not what we need, and there is just something about Mr. Kim that makes me laugh. Curious?

In two years I have not had an earth shattering revelation, no one swooped down and bonked me with a Louisville slugger and said, "hey, you will now love baseball." What I have is a true dedication to the sport, but I have a fascination with one team. I learned enough to check some fluky stats, question the lineup and react accordingly. My reason to write you? Funny you should ask.

I have all these things to say and the Yankee loyalists that I work with do not care. If I don't vent somewhere I will have to start talking football in July. Who talks football in July? Do you know where they talk football in July? They do that in cities where the baseball sucks. So I need a forum, a place to call my own. A semi-comedic, semi serious look at our Sox, the managers, the players. A different look into what it will take. A weekly journey into the not so obvious.

sgoodling@virtual-ink.com