Dec
11

A big RAB thank you

By Benjamin Kabak

With the Winter Meetings wrapping up today, I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who has stopped by over the last days. On Monday, we set a new RAB record with a hair under 30,000 page views; on Tuesday, we topped that record and hit 34,000; on Wednesday, we blew past Tuesday’s total to end the day with over 42,000 page views. In other words, with Mike and Joe in Vegas covering the meetings and my running the wires in New York, we’ve pulled in over 108,000 page views in three days.

On a similar vein, Rob Neyer penned an interesting piece on his acceptance into the BBWAA. He’s certainly a bit ambivalent about inclusion, and one of his passages strikes a chord:

when I was hired to write for ESPN’s Web site in 1996, nobody told me to respect my elders. So I didn’t. If I thought Tracy Ringolsby was writing foolishly, I said so. If I thought Tom Verducci had crossed the line from intelligent analysis (of which he’s highly capable) into subjective dim-wittedness, I said so. And usually not with any surplus of grace. I believed then (and believe now) that my job, my responsibility, is to entertain and to educate, and that “not ruffling feathers” falls way, way down on the list somewhere.

That gets at the root of what we do. Yes, we’re fans covering our favorite team. But at the same time, we don’t give the Yanks and the papers that cover them a free pass. I cover the stadium issue quasi-fanatically because there’s been an utter lack of skeptical and accurate reporting. Joe takes issue with the New York Post because they more than push that line Neyer mentions. Mike delves into the minors because few others do. We like to hope that we bring something new and unique to the table, and I guess we’re doing something right.

So thank you to the regulars and thank you to the new folks who have stopped by. We’ll be here all winter and into the season as well. Make sure you come back.

Posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 1:30 pm in NYC Sports Media.

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106 Comments »

Jake K. says:

Thank you guys for the tireless, too often thankless work. Keep it up!

 
doty25 says:

YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS!!!!!!!! ESPECIALLY BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE FANS, AND NEVER TEND TO BE EXPERTS!

 
MJ says:

It’s a phenomenal site. A source of interesting analysis and a nice clearinghouse for Yankee-related info, both original and gleaned from other sources. You’re a daily stop on my internet surf-ride. Love the work you do and I applaud the way you do it. And this is coming from a guy that isn’t a regular commenter over here…

 
Slugger27 says:

agree with above posters… yall did a great job covering the meetings

excellent work, much appreciated

 

Excellent work by all.

And Mike, your ass is MINE in fantasy. NO HOMO.

jsbrendog says:

due to frank gore’s injury I have had to reinitiate the tj duckett era.

but i already beat Mike. HA!

Fred Taylor in the IR means more sweet, sweet Maurice Jones-Drew action for me…

jsbrendog says:

frank gore injury means tj duckett and tashard chouice action for me! holy shit im totally fucked

Mike Pop says:

Your worse at managing a team than Girardi !

Zing !

jsbrendog says:

with 20 teams and having been given a crappy draft from yahoo by ifnishing second and being i the playoffs i would beg to differ.

Mike Pop says:

20 teams is wild, too much for me

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jsbrendog says:

at times its awful. therefore you see why tj duckett is the onyl available player there is.

My second running back revolving door this yr:
duckett, gary russel, jakob hester, ahman green, tashard choice, tj duckett.

it really does all come full circle.

and you dont realize how amusing it is til you ask your friend, a fantasy football FANATIC who to start, russel or hester and he goes, who the fuck are those people?

 

Yeah, this season has been awesome. I’ve enjoyed this 20-team gulag deathmarch a little more than the standard 12-team league.

It’s like playing a whole new game.

 
jsbrendog says:

agreed. im totally in again fornext year

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Matt says:

You guys do a fantastic job; please keep up the great work. Thanks and good luck with the site in the future.

 
 
Nady Nation says:

Thank you guys for allowing me to accomplish a combined 2 hours of work over the last 4 days. My bosses appreciate it greatly.

TurnTwo says:

i’ll second that.

i actually have the double whammy… no work accomplished on the job, plus wasted time studying for finals.

Nady Nation says:

One slip, and you’re gone. Wha-mmy

 
Mike Pop says:

Anyway, Im kinda known for my catch phrase WHAMMY! As in Gene Tenace at the plate… WHAMMY! WHAMMY!

Maybe go to Seaworld, take off my pants…

jsbrendog says:

have some chicken, maybe some sex

 
Nady Nation says:

Flip off the monkeys

 
 
 
 
 
Bruno says:
 
Mike in RI says:

Thanks for all of your hard work the past few days. You guys did an excellent job of covering the Winter Meetings. The constant updates, analysis of moves, and live chats made it feel like I was almost there. Thanks again guys.

You guys did an excellent job of covering the Winter Meetings…made it feel like I was almost there.

I even have a new dysentery infection to prove it!

 
 
jsbrendog says:

gentlemen. keep on truckin. you are well aware as to how i feel.

 

You guys are a model that I follow. Fans but objective, honest, rational. Good work.

radnom says:

Whoa.

I would consider changing up the color scheme on your blog man.

Whitey14 says:

Yep, no offense dude, but that’s brutal.

However, it was the first time that I ever tried to read sonmething written on a Lima Bean, so you do have that going for you ;-)

I feel bad for Padres fans. Those puke-mustard-sand-yellow uniforms look like clown suits. Pathetic.

 
 
 
 
ceciguante says:

and a big thanks to all 3 of you guys for keeping us all updated more than we otherwise would be.

one point, though: since you rightly don’t shrink from criticizing others who offer their opinions on baseball, just remember that when you guys get criticized, too.

looking forward to more RAB coverage this hot stove season-

Joseph P. says:

Noted. We always appreciate the criticism, ceciguante, no matter how much we defend ourselves.

Mike Pop says:

Ya well, you guys suck at everything

jsbrendog says:
 
 
ceciguante says:

i know you guys can take it. that’s why i come back.
and you’d damn well better defend yourselves!
i don’t read no pushover bloggers.

 
 
 
Bruno says:

Can this be used as an open thread?

 
The Honorable Congressman Mondesi says:

Great work, as always. RAB 4eva.

 
UWS says:
UWS says:
UWS says:
Mike Pop says:
UWS says:

Yes. I fail at life.

Mike Pop says:

Your an embarassment to this blog

At least you have juggs. You’ll always have that going for you…

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UWS says:

Mike is a tranny? Wow, we really get all kinds ’round here, eh?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
UWS says:

By the way, a word to the wise: do not do a GIS for “funbags” at work. Even if SafeSearch is on. Yikes. I guess I should’ve known better.

 
pat says:

did ur pimp get angry?

 
UWS says:

Yeah, he slapped me around pretty good.

 
pat says:

Pimps these days.. cant live with em, cant live without em

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
jsbrendog says:

YOU BLEW IT!!11!11!1!111 is this cashman? cause you got hosed! YOU ARE TEH SUX0RIEST OF SUXING

jsbrendog says:
 
 
 
Ivan says:

Terrific work guys and thanx for all the cool stuff you guys do.

And the best part is, you guys are gonna get better and make a dynasty out of this thing and one day we can celebrate a yankee WS with this blog.

Great Job.

Mike Pop says:

The RAB celebration party, we all get hammered and post comments about how the yanks are the best

UWS says:

RAB celebration party will be when the Melky trade is finalized. That’s when the authors get hammered and post comments about how Murray Chass is their idol.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOO CHASS YOU FUKIN SUCK LOOSER WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[vomits]

jsbrendog says:
 
 
 
Bruno says:

How’s that different than every other day?!?

 
 
Ivan says:

It would be like the old Jay-Z song, it would be a “Takeover”

 
The Honorable Congressman Mondesi says:

“The RAB celebration party, we all get hammered and post comments about how the yanks are the best.”

Oh man that’s kinda depressing and perhaps the lamest party idea ever. Don’t get me wrong, clearly I’m totally down. Just saying.

We have been comin’ to the same party for the last twelve years, and in no way is that depressing…

The Honorable Congressman Mondesi says:

Wow, this burrito is delicious, but it is filling.

(Worlds collide!)

 
 
Sweet Dick Willie says:

“I’ve been smoking pot every day for the last 11 years and I don’t find it to be habit forming.”
Alfred E. Newman

 
 
 
 
 
Manimal says:

Oh man, Marlins are pissed. I just got that old school yankees feeling of buying everyone in sight and no one can do anything about it because we have the money for it. Go for Tex, we have enough money.

UWS says:

Whatcha talkin’ ’bout, Willis?

Manimal says:

Marlins president said that he hates the yanks for getting CC(basically). Everyone is starting to hate on the yanks because we are too good.

The Honorable Congressman Mondesi says:
Manimal says:

I saw it on ESPN, Ill find one though

 
 
 
 
 
 
Thomas says:

You guy run a great website keep it. Keep posting for more or less the the intelligent fans!

Keep posting for more or less the the intelligent fans!

Always remember, you can’t make lemonade with lemons.

 
 
Julie says:

You guys have been doing great work from the start, day in and day out. Congratulations on all the traffic!

 
Manimal says:

Wow, I just had a really nice conversation with Gerrit Cole about of a bunch of stuff. Sick.

jsbrendog says:
Manimal says:

yeah he has a facebook. We talked about everything from CC to UCLA to Boras.

jsbrendog says:

that’s cool. tell him he should’ve been a yankee and to become one.

Manimal says:

He is still a HARDCORE yankee fan, he just wanted to go to college. He told me that he will enter the draft as soon as he is eligible, which is his junior year of College(3 more years)

JohnC says:

Unfortunately, we may not get another chance to draft him.

Manimal says:

Yeah. I asked him an interesting question.

Me: What would you do if the sox draft you when your eligible
Gerrit: id sign
Gerrit: who cares at that point
Gerrit: haha
Gerrit: an opportunity is an opportunity
Gerrit: gotta go with the flow

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jsbrendog says:
 
 
jsbrendog says:

he could pull a jd drew couldnt he?

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Steve H says:

JD Drew didn’t sign because of money. If the Sox draft him, they’ll pay him. So no, he wouldn’t pull a JD Drew. Could he? Technically, but it would be the dumbest thing ever.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
emac2 says:

Thank you!

For keeping me from gettng any work done for 2 whole days!

:)

Actually – I do have a “bug” question. I don’t run flash so I can go to ESPN without having to manually stop them downloading and playing movies on every page. The problem is that it causes your site to show me your main page for a second or two before taking me to a copy of opne of the ads you run. I have to hit back and stop to get it to stay on the main page.

 
Matt K says:

Thank You RAB!!

How are you gunna get media passes to the games???

 
Manimal says:

Wow, 42000 hits and 0 slow down on the site. You guys REALLY upgraded the servers when we were having those Sox games

Ben K. says:

Glad someone noticed!

BigYank1 says:

I don’t know if you guys have seen this:

————————–
‘Also, big thanks to the guys at River Ave. Blues. Baseball America’s web site wouldn’t load and milb.com wasn’t updating so I followed the draft through their live blog. Kudos to those guys for going to Las Vegas to cover the winter meetings themselves. ‘
————————–

Direct quote from Chad Jennings over on his blog.

jsbrendog says:
 
 
 
 
A.D. says:

Mets got Putz… now if they only had a starting staff

Steve H says:

No no no, it’s all about the bullpen. Who cares about the first 7 innings. JOBA to the Pen 2009!!!

jsbrendog says:

not to mention their second baseman cant run or hit and delgado is probabl oging toplay the whole yr lik he did the first half and their left field platoon of murphy and cant think of other person is unproven (at least murphy is over a full season) and church is injury prone and reyes is a prick and schneider will probably regress too and their starters are a mess with neise who isnt proven and pelfry and maine each coming off injuries and then having to find a 5th starter to go with johan and STILL having to rely on 3 kids (we found how that works)

but hey, at least they have a closer now.

 
 
ceciguante says:

i actually furious about this, i’ve been saying for years that the way to build a bullpen is just to sign 2 closers and plug one into the 8th. effin minaya. i LOVED watching the mets blow games late…

 
 
christopher says:

peavy deal is toast again – ESPN

 
 
jsbrendog says:

i remember when i first started coming here and threads owould have like 30 comments and id be like damn that one’s huge! now they almost all consistently have over a 100. awesome. wish i had a successful blog lol

 
mike G. says:

congrats!

you guys do a great job!

for what its worth i check the site every day. I got some baseball withdraw going on.

i’m actually looking forward to the WBC.

 
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