THE UNCOOL

DIANE COURT: "I just don't want it to get too heavy. I feel really overloaded. I have this theory of convergence, that good things always happen with bad things. But I know you have to deal with them at the same time, but I just, I mean I don't know why they have to happen at the same time, I mean, I don't know why, I just wish I could work out... Am I just babbling? Do you know what I mean?"

LLOYD DOBLER: "No."


EXPLANATION: A family member has recently been taken over by a dozen legions of cancer found on the brain. Cancer was supposed to have been beaten. After a year of struggle and chemotherapy and emotion and stress and contracts and wills and business decisions and holiday weeping sessions and reflection of the indirect unpleasantness of life in general - it was all supposed to be over.

Things had been happening in the background with the blog and we have plans for a new site, Spring Training appearances, a pizza feed, a fan forum and an outreach to the local media. Everything was put on hold for a 72 hour period when the news arrived. Then it was put on another 72 hour period as thinking about anything seemed rather a pointless exercise in the drudgery of existence.

All of the above still applies. Life still sucks. It is unfair. Baseball metaphors aside; the unconditional release after a period on the waiver wire, winning isn't an issue, making it through the season is all that counts, et al.

Yah.

So, we're back to work. Back to writing. That's what needs to be done.

Not because we are avoiding the issue, but because the family member is proud of what we had accomplished in a short period of time. The accolades, the personal friendships and relationships made in just over 18 months, the Mention in Baseball Prospectus 2004, the fact we didn't go on daily self-promoting entries, the responses all seemed to be positive even when they were negative. And even if the family member is a Giants fan, it made being an A's fan even more virtuous.

We'll be taking a lot of time to prelude the season with analysis without some of the statistics we had hoped to generate. The research process has taken a back seat to concepts. So, like our Multi-Functional Catcher idea that was really just thinking out loud, a few ideas here and there are going to be presented without much data oomph in support.

LLOYD DOBBLER: "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."