Yeah, I'm not dead

UPDATE (9:47pm): THIS BLOG showed up on Google Alerts in my Inbox! The system DOES work!

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So I tend to disappear from time to time. No, I'm not in a ditch. I'm probably just tearing my hair out from some silly assignment (ever done prolog?), or obsessing over baseball to the point that I don't even know what to blog about. That's right, I get that bad sometimes. Sue me.

So I think the media is playing tricks on me...
I set up some of these nifty Google Alert dealies so that I get the latest Jays news as soon as i happens. I've set up blog and news alerts for Dustin McGowan, A.J. Burnett, Roy Halladay, Shaun Marcum, and the Jays as a whole for the past few weeks and I'm loving it. Sadly, FOX has a meteorologist that shares a name with a certain oft-injured fire-baller, resulting in many daily forecasts from the states, but it's still well worth it. I've found some real gems, and some real... Interesting things.

First of all, there's no love for John McDonald outside of the Jays' blogosphere. Kevin Youkilis is the best thing ever, apparently. The Pirates are going to the 2008 WS. The O's are going to finish ahead of the Jays. Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum are going to regress because they are young and unproven, while Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy will carry the Yankees to a WS victory. Troy Glaus and Josh Towers are still on the team, and apparently Frank Thomas is no longer a Jay.

I've read some interesting things. Some optimistic, some pessimistic.

What I mean when I say that the media is playing tricks on me (the media and the blogosphere combined)... My hopes are higher going into this season than I would have wanted them to be. I'm trying to go into the season with realistic expectations, but I'm being peppered with the same expectations of victory that came at me last year... I guess I enjoyed the season more than ever before regardless, but still... I feel hopeful guys.

I've read a number of writings that are of the opinion that the Jays are going to win the division if healthy, or the wild card if mostly healthy. Though I feel a little more cheerful when I read something like that (and often read it aloud, much to the dismay of my poor, baseball-abused roommate), I feel reproachful. We've been burned before, folks!

I do know one thing... Baseball can't start soon enough for me. Or my poor, poor friends, really. My friends hate the baseball-deprived me more than the baseball-engrossed me. I'm jonesing, guys. And jonesing bad. I can't wait to see Doc show his stuff on March 31. I'm sorry, but my Database course is being skipped that day. Without a doubt.