So, read anything controversial lately? My home connection has been down for the past 21 hours, allowing the fire started by yesterday’s post to smolder nicely in my absence while I got on livin’ and lovin. Before addressing that fire, I’ll give a quick recommendation to Miracle, the new movie about the U.S. Hockey team’s 1980 upset of the Soviets and subsequent Olympic Gold Medal. I’d place it in the top 10 sports movies of all time, but not the top five, and the second-best hockey movie (Slapshot wins that particular faceoff). Good for taking one’s mind off of the silly stuff.

I want to thank everyone who’s paid a visit here over the past 24 hours, particularly the fine folks of Red Sox Nation who’ve been trashing me over at Sons of Sam Horn (Backwash and Pinstetting and Gutterballs forums, though the latter appears to be members-only) and elsewhere. I find it terribly amusing that the “jihad of Red Sox Nation” (as Bambino’s Curse blogger Edward Cossette described them) has decided to share exactly as much love with me as I feel for them, sometimes even using complete sentences. That I’ve been trashed here and elsewhere by a couple dozen people who hide behind pseudonyms and will likely never visit this site again means very little to me compared to the support I’ve received from my peers who stand behind their good names and the principles I’ve tried (however awkwardly) to defend; I know the folks who have my back, and I appreciate them.

Very few of the comments posted to the previous thread have had major impact on my thoughts on the matter, but then nobody ever said I wasn’t a stubborn person. Several detractors have thrown around words like “courtesy” while resorting to name-calling themselves, which is good for a chuckle. Frankly, the courtesy ended when the refusal to listen to rational argument began, and that David Pinto was compelled by Lanternjaw’s trashing of his reputation with the charges of “unethical behavior” counts as pressure in my book. If anyone’s ethics are questionable, it’s Lanternjaw’s. I will say that in the nearly three years I’ve been doing this, Pinto has shown himself to be one of the most ethical — and professional, if such a term can be used — bloggers around, and while we may differ on issues occasionally, you won’t find too many people outside of the Red Sox Jihad who would say otherwise.

I do find it amusing that the “bandwagon” accusation about my Yankee fandom has been flying about. Hey guys, I’ve been writing entire articles about it for the past six years, so congratulations on your sleuthwork. I don’t cotton to the pinstriped fundamentalists any more than I do the carmine-hosed ones, and I don’t think Don Matttingly’s going to be sending me more love letters than Curt Schilling.

To address a few of the comments directly:

* The guy who said I was “probably jealous that you aren’t in SoSH” probably hasn’t figured out that the site owners of that particular country-club aren’t interested in Yankee fans (even bandowagoneering ones such as myself) as members. Insert the Groucho Marx line about clubs here. I’m not exactly universally loved at Baseball Primer, but this incident has made me appreciate their free and open exchange of ideas all the more.

* Sully — thanks for the return visits and the epithets. “Dick” is my father’s name, but he hasn’t posted here yet, so I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.

* Dirt Dog — your post was relatively civil and I appreciate that, but if you’re the same as the person who posted Will Carroll’s open letter (which was leaked by a party as yet undetermined) on the front page of your site, then I’m guessing that civility was an exception, and your command of the concept of ethical behavior is lacking. By the way, I’m sure the Yankee counsel is quivering over your “will be dealt with accordingly” statements.

* The guy who apparently graduated from the same college — I didn’t wave my diploma around in this argument, so why did you? I don’t recall ever meeting you during my years in Providence, so if you’re not going to let me sing the alma mater with you at Campus Dance, I’ll just have to get on with my life.

* The “Jamie Moyer changeup to the ass” line is a great one, especially as he’s gone 119-55 since the Sox traded him for Darren Bragg back in 1996. Given that I’m rehabbing from a torn labrum, it’s probably a more accurate gauge of my pitching speed if not ability. Hey, fastballs, changeups, whatever gets them out.

Back to baseball in my next post, I hope…