Thank You Halos Heaven

This little baseball blog and the people who visit it have been a real blessing in my life. Over the years I’ve increased my baseball knowledge, made some good friends, and now have a fan experience unlike anything I would have imagined as a kid.

I joined Halos Heaven in August of 2008 after finding the site during the trade deadline. I don’t remember who I was hoping the Angels would acquire, but this site showed up on Google as one that would have Angels news. And, as anyone who has read Stirrups great morning links can attest, Halos Heaven covers all the Angels news and more.

Not doing things in moderation, I decided to jump in with both feet after just a couple readings of the site. User name? I entered my real name thinking I’d be able to set up one of those cool nicknames later. That’s what happens when you have no idea how things work.

Rookie mistakes? Made them all. A horribly flawed Fanpost about wanting to replace Howie with Orlando Hudson because Howie wasn’t clutch (in my defense, he was horrible that post-season). Political joke in a game thread which was called out by Opie, using RBI as a metric, I was a general newbie who hit all the pitfalls.

But people took time to help rather than squash me. Opie called me out but said to move on. JohnnyAngel101 told me about RISP, which was exactly everything I though RBI was. Suboptimal gave me a primer on WAR. In an era where SABR heads often come off as condescending, I was given information instead of attitude from so many of you that I couldn’t possibly name you all.

Over the years, some of the online chats have led to face to face encounters and I’ve enjoyed them all.

I’ve grabbed lunch with Stirrups, Downing Rules, and 2pints. All quality people. Chase and I met up in Tempe one year. I’ve gone to games with DR, met his great son, and hope to raise my son with the same appreciation and fanhood of baseball and the same perspective that hey, it is just baseball. Steelgolf has met my family and I’ve met his (his son has a nice roundhouse kick).

For those of you doing the math, I got sober in April of 2009, less than a year after finding HH. It was at that time that my post count started going through the roof. This place occupied a lot of dead time. I don’t do well with dead time. Halos Heaven actually helped with that life transition.

I had found that I could jump in and chat about one of my favorite subjects at just about any time. That I could go back and read previous articles, learn more about all these newfangled acronyms that kept popping up on the site and by extension learn more about the game.

Ultimately I ended up on the masthead and that’s been incredible. The interviews, contacts, connection with the team and some personnel have been beyond imagination. The friendships on the staff are genuine and we meet up at games when possible.

There’s definitely a time for an article on all the great things being on the masthead has led to, but that’s for another day. For now, just realize that is a picture of Rahul, Jessica, and I hanging in the broadcast booth with Vic during a game this year.

For now, just know this community is something I’m very thankful for and that all of you are what makes Halos Heaven truly “An Angels Community” and not simply an Angels blog. And a special thanks to Rev for founding the site, Josh for bringing me onto the staff, and Jessica for keeping me there.

I truly hope you enjoy this Thanksgiving holiday.