Some Opening Information About Me and This Blog

As some of you may have noticed, our new blog officially went public today over at SethSpeaks.net, another great blog that you should all check out if you haven't already. This was a tad premature, as the official announcement will come on the DFTC in the coming days, but no matter. Anyway, in order to give you something to chew on for today I thought I would start out with a brief introduction of myself. As you have probably already divined, I have been a diehard Minnesota Twins fan for most of the 19 years I have been on the earth. I am a native of Northfield, Minnesota (it's about 40 miles south of the Twin Cities) and I am currently a freshman at St. Olaf College. St. Olaf is a somewhat prestigious liberal arts institution that also happens to be located in my hometown of Northfield! Around here I am known as a "townie" because a large percentage of our student body comes from out of state. I have four younger siblings and two parents that I love very much. My dad is a long-time high school baseball coach and overall baseball enthusiast, so I inherited my love of the game primarily from him.

As for my Twins experience, I first became a "true" fan in about 1995 (realistically, how much of a fan can you be before age 10?). One of the reasons I am such a diehard is the fact that I suffered through the "Dark Years", as I like to call them, of 1993-2000 along with many of you. I remember the Scott Stahoviaks, the Rich Robertsons, the Rich Beckers, and the Carlos Pulidos (the first time). Even without the aid of the Internet I followed the Twins as much as a young kid can do. I talked my dad into attending about 4-5 games a year with me, even though he absolutely despises the Humpty Dome. By the year 2000 however, my faith was beginning to crack. The youth movement of 1999 was encouraging, but when seemingly no progress was made in '00, I began to falter. The summer of 2001 really helped me get back on track, as it did for many other fans and the entire organization as a whole. These last two seasons ('02 and '03) have been spectacular. To have your favorite team experience such success after so many years of futility is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

This blog will be a unique one in many ways. I started it with my high school buddy John (also a huge Twins fans) because I sensed an "opening" of sorts in the Twins blogging scene. Twins Geek (who still does outstanding work) is now sponsored by the Strib, and longtime blogger Aaron Gleeman has decreased his Twins output a tad with his new gig over at the Hardball Times (www.hardballtimes.com). I felt we needed some fresh blood on the scene, and I think we can provide that here at Twins Chatter. Our entries won't be statistically saturated, but we will use some statistical evidence from time to time. Mostly however, it will just be John and I giving you our takes on the state of the Minnesota Twins. That might be takes on the previous day's game, player analysis, speculation, among a variety of other topics. We will also predominantly feature guest writers, whether they be from the DTFC or other places. More on that later. John should have a brief introduction up later today, so check back for that. Look for our first official entry this Friday! Thanks for stopping by. If you want to contact me, e-mail me at twinsfan21@msn.com. Thanks for looking!