My friend Chan was saying to me the other day, "You're really into baseball this year." And I said, "Yeah, just like every year." And he said, "But this year specifically, you're really into it."

So, I've been thinking back on past years, and just to show him what he's missed, or in some cases, forgotten, here's some highlights:

1979, age 3: memorized every player's name on the Red Sox and yankees. (I have this on audio tape.) After my dad went through the list of Red Sox first names, with me filling in the last names, I said, "Dad, you forgot one. Jimmy Wright." And I meant Jim Wright, too, we'd already covered Jim Rice.

1987, age 11: kept track of Sox wins and losses all season. Not that big a deal, except when you consider I wrote out the entire schedule on a piece of paper, and then marked "W" or "L," istead of using a pre-printed schedule.

also 1987: kept a game log in a spiral notebook, pasting in every boxscore and article about the Red Sox.

1989, age 13: Spent at least 100 bucks total (of my parents' money) on baseball stickers, just so I could be the first to fill my Panini sticker book. (As I'd been doing with the Topps Sticker Book since it's innaugural year of 1981.)

1993, age 18: arrived at college in Lincoln, Nebraska, and a week later dragged two friends, one a yankee fan, the other a non-baseball fan, to Kansas City, to see the Sox play the Royals, making the yankee fan drive, since I had no car. (Saw Jose Lind spray Tony Pena with a hose.)

1998, age 22: Went to Detroit and Pittsburgh, just to see baseball games at stadiums I'd never been to--with Chan.

2000, age 24: Went to Blatimore to see the Sox--with Chan again.

2002-2004: Went to see the Sox in Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh, New York (just like almost every year), and Toronto.

So c'mon Chan, I've always been into this. I guess now that I'm in cyber---oh god, I can't even say cheesy buzz words like that. The point is, you're just noticing it more, Chan.