FalconBlog--Triumphs and Trials in the BGSU Falcon Nation

Red Leg Nation Nails it

From time to time, I like to fancy myself as someone who can analyze the game of baseball, and I was just beginning to think about a season-review for our Reds, the first since the "playable lie" post, which has turned into "in the heavy rough to the left of the fairway."

But, Redleg Nation, a consistently high quality source, has already done it and done it better than I can. So, I'm just linking to it.

Highlights are the following:

We are scoring a .5 runs/game LESS than last year. And pitching is no better, and the bullpen is worse.

Here's the key quote that puts the whole thing in perspective:

The Reds are like that photograph of a guy holding a photo of a guy holding photo of a guy holding a photo.

Winding its way into infinity.

Meanwhile, JD of Redreporter had a nice piece on Redszone following the model of a Son of Sam Horn site in Boston, which is not an open forum, but rather restricts access to those who pay and those who are vouched for on the inside. Anyone who has seen a message board slow deteriorate as Redszone has knows the pattern of a few intelligent posters eventually being dragged down by people sitting high atop the bell curve.

Here's JD's article.

Here was my comment:

JD, great post. I've had the same observation. In fact, I have observed that sports message boards have a similar lifecycle. At the beginning there is a high level of discussion and camraderie, and in its day, redszone was absolutely great. Man, I couldn't get enough of that site. I looked at it through the off-season, (even more than during the season). I posted a decent amount, and found it a positive experience.

Since then, it has really gone south, and has been replaced, in my view, my blogs like this. After a while, as the circle broadens out, the idiots start to flock in, and that just makes the good posters stay away.

The new model is a good idea. Given all the debate about open-source, I think it says a lot about how much "open" any endeavor can really take, but that's probably a post for another blog.

Here's the Son of Sam Horn site, for those who are interested.