Happy 1,000!

Fire Brand officially has reached 1,000 columns. This is the 1,000th column of Fire Brand. Allow me to be self-serving for a minute.
I started this December 31st, 2003. I had no clue where this site would take me. I had no idea the amazing commenters I would encounter along the way that call themselves ‘Firebranders.’ I had no idea I’d need a partner and end up with Zach Hayes and Andrew Lipsett. Andrew may be gone now, but his analysis while here was fantastic, and Zach reminds me of me, only younger.
1,000 articles (including guest columns, but not that much) is a long time. Out of that 1,000 I’ve written at least 600 of them. That’s a lot of time. It’s a lot of time figuring out what to write, it’s a lot of time writing and researching and analyzing, and it’s a lot of time to chew up on my personal time. It’s worth it because I write about the Boston Red Sox in the city known as the Athens of America. It’s worth it because there aren’t any other fans like us Sox fans anywhere else. It’s worth it because my opinion is respected, and people want to hear it.
The third year anniversary is coming in 31 days, but 1,000 has more meaning for me. It’s a round number that’s big. It’s a big number. Sure, it’s small for those great bloggers whose bread and butter is posting quick articles multiple times a day. But we don’t. We post long analytical articles, mostly once a day, about the Red Sox. 1,000 articles have been written on the Red Sox. That’s a lot. That means there have only been SIXTY-FIVE TIMES from December 31, 2003 to December 1, 2006 that an article was missed (there are 1,065 days in that span).
Below this you can find a depth chart I sketched for the Red Sox so we can all feed our Red Sox hunger today. But for today, I’m not going to worry much about the Red Sox and I’m going to bask in the accomplishment that 1,000 articles gives me. It just validates everything I’ve written for – for a passion of writing, for a passion of the Red Sox, and I nor Zach would have continued if it wasn’t for the passion of the commenters responding to the posts, preferring their own opinion, or paraphrasing Sean O, telling Yankee trolls to go comment on Yankee sites.
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now.