Anniversaries

February 3, 2008

Mr. Chatter and I celebrated our 8th anniversary yesterday. Staying ahead of the game, I decided to peruse the Hallmark aisle at CVS while picking up some other items Thursday morning. I was quite proud of myself considering last year we both forgot it was our anniversary until we heard something about Groundhog Day on the radio and gasped – then quickly looked to make sure the other had also forgotten. Heh! I was taken aback by how many cards focused on the negative. “Being married takes work, yet there’s no one I’d rather be with than you,” or “We suffered through the rough times, yet,” and on and on. Aside from the humorous cards (which I’ve learned Mr. Chatter doesn’t really appreciate like I do), I could not find a single one that was strictly positive. It’s our anniversary! I didn’t want to hand over a card that basically says, “I know it’s supposed to be our special day, but… Hey, remember all those awful fights we had?! Look, we’re still together!” cuz frankly, I don’t want to remember them! So word to the wise — if you plan on getting married any time soon, I suggest spending 15 minutes reading anniversary cards for a glimpse of your future.

Following shortly on the heels of celebrating marital bliss, some other anniversaries come to mind. It’s also been one year since Washington Post Nationals (soon to be Redskins) beat reporter Barry Svrluga first introduced himself to the blogosphere. As in, interviewed Nats bloggers for a Post article. I think he interviewed me first and I distinctly got the feeling we were pretty much a mystery to him, while all of us were quite familiar with “St. Barry” and his writing. The article came out not long after the Post hosted a “Blogger” night and mentioned wanting their reporters to know the bloggers who covered their beats. Svrluga then went on to start his spring training “Nationals Journal” blog, only this time he kept it up for the full next year (and pretty much put me out of business!). Fans no longer had to wait for the next day’s paper (or articles to appear online around midnight) – news was broken on the blog with personality and the commenters flocked to form their own NJ community.

It seems posting the little details like what’s for lunch at Panera and changing signs on the outfield wall are what makes a good blog. I need to work on sharpening those good blog skills. Okay, so I’m in my “blue room”, otherwise known as the living room (when the house was built, it was known as a parlor). I’m still in my (blue) pajamas on this Sunday morning! My (blue) cat keeps trying to jump in my lap and then walk up on my laptop. Ok, he’s really grey and white.

Eh… my stuff’s not very interesting, eh? Svrluga, however, was touted as the “Very Model Of A Beat Reporter” on the Recovering Journalist blog back in June. Wow, that’s quite an accolade! According to the author’s About page, he was one of the co-founders of Washingtonpost.com, so he’s probably partial to their writers ;-)

I don’t know Svrluga, but I’m a huge fan. Based on his output, which seems damn close to 24/7, he may be the hardest-working beat reporter in the business. By taking advantage of multiple media, he gives Nats fans something close to blanket coverage of the team, as well as interacting on a constant basis with his readers in the blog and chats. Svrluga openly solicits story ideas from readers and regularly uses the blog and discussion to respond to reader requests for information about the team that he might have left out of a story. There are many other blogging beat reporters, of course, but I think few are serving their readers as well as Svrluga.

I didn’t know Svrluga a year ago either aside from having his book autographed at a book signing once. Last year, I took my first of three trips through Viera and visited Space Coast stadium. I took pictures of myself on the loooong solo overnight drive down to entertain myself (while prodding myself awake) and show the various hats I wore as the weather changed. I also got that awesome newsstand photo I use in vodcasts. That would also be the same trip where I spun off the road with the new-to-me boat for the lighthouse attached to my Jeep. They both still work a year later! I went back down for pre-game workouts. Svrluga was the first beat guy to say hello to me. Hmm.. or maybe Todd Jacobson actually spotted me first. But whatever. He said hi! And believe it or not, I’m incredibly shy, so it was like, “wow!” uh, “hi!”

I was hesitant being around the regular reporters and I’m sure they were probably a little wary of me as well. Over the course of spring training and the regular season, I saw Svrluga (and Jacobson til he quit, Zuckerman, Ladson, and even Thom Loverro) on several occasions and that early awkward hesitance seemed to pass over time. All made me feel more welcome in their inner sanctum, as long as I stayed out of their press box. For that I am eternally grateful. Or who knows – maybe they all groan when they see me, but I like to believe we’re beyond the blogger/media thing! Although, Svrluga created the kind of community in one year that I’m going into my third (fourth? I can’t seem to count today) year of trying to build. Impressive and just shows he’s that good! Recovering Journalist again talks about the phenomenon of the NJ readers in mourning.

But now Barry’s fans are in mourning. That’s because Svrluga has decided to transfer within the Post to the Washington Redskins beat. It’s probably a promotion, but not to the Nationals fans who had created a community around their favorite baseball beat writer.

Back in the day, people read the paper, but the writers were these ethereal beings you couldn’t interact with. If they moved on, those who enjoyed their reports suffered silently and adapted to the new reporter. Now, with so much interactivity between fans and writers, fans can let him know. Plus, those fans are not only fans of the Nationals, but fans of the writer as well. I’m sure Svrluga will use his multimedia creativity and experience to the utmost on his Olympics and Redskins beats. It’s not like he’s moving to Alaska or something. For Nats fans, yes, losing Barry is sad. Kind of like our neighbor friends who have celebrated something like thirty anniversaries (which we can aspire to) and bought a beach retirement home they plan on moving to soon. We’ll miss them and be sad, but we’ll still stay in touch. Someone new will move into their house and we have high hopes we’ll like the newbies and get along just as well. But it all remains to be seen. Svrluga will bring his wit and snark to the Redskins and enjoy a less hectic travel schedule, but he’ll still be in town working for the same paper. Someone new will get the keys to Nationals Journal and move in. We hope we like the new person just as much, and still have high hopes for the future. (And I’ll be less hesitant when meeting the new person because hey, I was here first now! haha). I wish Svrluga the best of luck with his new gig and I’m sure he’ll do great and win over Redskins nation next.

Speaking of keys, if you worked as a valet at a fancy restaurant and raced cars on the side (I’m an excellent driver), and the car of your dreams came in and you were handed the keys… would you take it for a test ride? I mean, you know you’d get fired over it, but it sure is fun to fantasize over the possibility…? The answer is no, of course, but it sure is fun to sit behind the wheel and stare at the ignition. Heh. (I know that seems random. *snicker giggle*) Here’s to many more anniversaries of various sorts!

Enjoy the Superbowl!

Posted in MLB, Media, Washington Nationals