I haven't posted on this site in almost a year and for a while didn't check in on the boards. It wasn't that I'd forgotten about the site or didn't enjoy it anymore, it was just a change in priorities and a lot busier life.
I started on this site as a cocky 15 year old kid and picked a fight with PGStaff, possibly the most powerful and most well-respected person in all of amateur baseball, for no reason other than being a hothead. I got my proverbial bells rung for it and quickly realized maybe I was being...a little brash.
Throughout high school I frequently checked in on the message boards, posting my opinion here and there. The boards didn't just provided me insight on the intracacies of the game in general. The boards provided me almost with a whole new set of friends. It was like a mini baseball utopia for a kid my age...I loved the game, I loved to learn, and I loved to be involved. Where else could I find Major Leaguers, scouts, college coaches and high school parents all in one place, just looking to chat about baseball? Where could I find hundreds of other people who loved the game as much as me? My mom and sister would grow tired of the conversations at the dinner table during the summers because usually they'd involve my father and I talking about my game or a Major League game we saw. But they must have hated it even more when my dad and I started talking about the HSBBWeb message boards on top of my games and the MLB games (I felt like a gossipping high school girl, doing the whole "he said she said" thing about a post on the Internet).
If I wasn't involved with this site I wouldn't have delevoped relationships with people that have helped me greatly both on and off the field, directly or indirectly. People like TRHit, for example, who I played for in tournaments during the fall. Withouth this website, I probably wouldn't have ever been able to meet him, let alone play for his team for two seasons.
If I wasn't involved with this site, I would have never been able to run into fellow "HSBBWebers". Once, I remember, I was at a game at a local college field and was sitting by a mother of a kid playing on the field. We struck up a conversation and it turned out that I had defended her during one of the patented HSBBWeb arguments. She said she felt so embarrassed that a teenage kid was standing up for her and she couldn't.
If I wasn't involved with this site, I never would have been friendly with some kids my age that I am now. At first, I was reluctant to have so much communication. But as I found more kids my age, we began conversing. Now, I have several of those players as friends on my Facebook page, their cell numbers and have hung out with some off the field (they are all now college players like myself).
Most of all though, to me, is that if I wasn't involved with this site, I wouldn't be where I am now. The people on this website has given me a little bit of everything...exercise advice, pitching advice. They gave me advice on how to deal with a miserable experience with a high school baseball coach. Heck, they gave me advice on what Valentine's Day gift I should get my (very) ex-girlfriend.
Basically, the point of this post is to say thank you. Thank you to everyone involved with this site. Whether you've had direct contact with me or not, you most certainly have a connection with me because everyone is here for the same reason...they love the game of baseball and want to share that with perfect strangers. And I'm sure that my thanks goes for most, if not all of the posters on this site. Sometimes people take things for granted. I am glad to be able to step back and be appreciative of something that has been so great to me. And as times get tough (and are only getting tougher), this site gets even better...it's a scapegoat from troubles, a pool of knowledge, and a mecca for baseball lovers.
I'm going to wind this whole semi-sentimental thing down now. But after an 11 month hiatus, it certainly feels good to post again.
Thanks
~JH
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