12/12/09 Odds & Ends

Box Score:

- The Summer Ball blog took note of the three Rice Owls who have made the Goldpanners' preseason roster. Nice to see a little ABL love over at Summer Ball!

- The Pittsburgh Pirates have picked up '99 Panner Bobby Crosby. In his ABL campaign, Crosby was good for a .250 average with 11 RBI's and one swiped bag. Crosby has since logged 7 seasons with Oakland A's, including a 22-homer season in 2004 which netted him the AL Rookie of the Year. He will battle Ronny Cedeno for the starting shortstop job in Pittsburgh.

- I've actually been getting some traffic and some comments on this blog, which is nice! Thanks to all the visitors and especially those who have left comments. I've written a few blogs before and there's always this period during the first couple weeks where you know no one is reading your blog, but you have to keep writing and writing and writing so that when that first handful of people finally stumble upon it they will have some good content to read instead of just seeing a dead "under construction" blog. Well, I think we're definitely over the hump, so I just want to thank all the readers who keep checking back and everyone who's linked to me or shared the address with a friend. And keep the comments coming!



- I just want to give a specific shout-out to Todd and the Panners crew for linking to me. No doubt a lot of the increased traffic I'm getting is through them. Plus, blogging is all about networking, so it's good to be "hooked up". If you haven't found them already, the Goldpanners are on Twitter and Facebook. They're not spammy  so don't be afraid to follow them; if you're an ABL fan I would highly recommend it.

- Believe it or not, this isn't a Goldpanners blog. I write about the Panners because they give me something to write about. If anyone on the inside of any other ABL teams are reading this, all you have to do is give me something to write about and I'll gladly do so. I scour your websites several times a day in search of fresh material; just post something up there and I will be all over it. I figure media exposure is good, right? Well I'm better than that. I'm not the  media. I'm a fan. I try to keep an overall positive outlook in anything I write about the league, and do everything I can to generate interest. Oh, yeah, and if you link to my blog  I will lavish praise upon you, I promise.


On Deck:

- My much anticipated first interview will be posted TOMORROW. And who did I interview, you may be wondering? Darian Sandford of the 2010 Goldpanners. He was kind enough to give me a moment of his time and I got a great interview out of him. It's really good stuff, so make sure you come back tomorrow to read it.