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Today is bittersweet for me, readers.

(Quick sidenote: The photos on the right highlight some memorable moments in Just Baseball history).

Boy did John Danks stink

I am sad to see Just Baseball sink into hibernation during the offseason, but at the same time I’m proud of what this blog has accomplished.

Barry Bonds left a stain on the game of baseball

I will continue to post when big stories in the baseball world break (and the steroids problem will be in the news again soon, so they say), but posts will be far more infrequent.

Here’s your NL Cy Young

A turning point.

In the end, wasn’t this the highlight of Chicago baseball this year? You gotta love a no-hitter.

As my final post, I’d like to talk about a hobby of mine I’d like you try. It’s a subject subject I always meant to talk about on this blog and I just never had the opportunity to: scorekeeping.

One of my favorite pastimes is going to a baseball game and keeping score of the game. Not only is it an enjoyable experience in itself, but it provides a nifty souvenir to take home with you from the game.

The beauty of it is that there is no correct way to score a game. Everyone does it differently, and everyone does it correctly, so long as you can follow all the action of the game 10 years after it’s ended.

Let that be the final thing you take from Just Baseball; next year, when you attend your first game, spend $1 on a scorecard and enjoy following along with the game.

Oh, and another thing I want to leave you with. I still greatly dislike this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy, and this guy, sorta.

Enjoy the links, because that’s as close to a rant as my farewell post will include.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading Just Baseball as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. The forum of discussion that some of my posts created made it all worthwhile for me. Especially this one. A three-word post spawned a 24-comment conversation between some of my most avid readers.

Please subscribe to the RSS feed if you’d like to keep track of my offseason posts. I will be switching over to the Daily Illini Sports Wrap-Up blog as my home away from home, posting about Illini basketball and thoroughbred racing, primarily.

I’m not sure what will become of Just Baseball when I am gone. As you know, this is my final semester at the helm of the sports desk. Without a doubt, though, the baseball blog will return in some form or another.

I will be covering the Illinois baseball team for the newspaper in the spring and may include some of that material for Just Baseball.

But come February, my mind will already be on the major league season to come.

Just, out.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 11:32 pm and is filed under Farewell. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.