500th Post

Posted by Steve

Well, how about that one, folks! B!B!K.T.U.T.H! has reached its 500th post.

I got things started in January of 2007, when I was nothing more than a young baseball wannabe. Four years later, and…. Well I suppose I’m still a baseball wannabe. I’m less young, though.

Going back and looking at some of my first posts has been a little entertaining and a little embarrassing. Embarrassing–partly for my level of writing, and partly for the state of the Brewers in 2007. Reading complaints about Ned Yost and Kevin Mench sure brings me back and helps put current frustrations in perspective. Also, it seems the “Cornucopia of Thoughts” was first attributed to a Michael Hunt column! Who knew? That was also around the time I called a looming Bill Hall extension “potentially great news.” Oof.

On April 20, 2007, I added Dan as an author and changed the URL to danandsteve.com. In return for listing his name first, Dan wrote 44 of the next 475 posts.

I kid. I always like Dan’s posts, and it’s a pleasant surprise when he decides to drop in.

Anywho. I’ve experienced some pretty cool moments along the way.

My recap of the 2007 draft ballooned my total hits, which helped me realize that draft day is payday (if I actually got paid for visits).

My post in 2008 against Ryan Braun making the All-Star Team was picked up by a Journal-Sentinel blog. This led to a bunch of “Douchebag!”-type comments and emails, which was pretty awesome–any press is good press! The best part is my premise in that post is still backed up today, as Braun has developed the plate discipline since then that has turned him into a truly great hitter.

In 2009, I worked a dream job for a year at Baseball Info Solutions. I learned a ton, which improved the blog, and I met some awesome people–some of whom now read and comment here.

I’ve also enjoyed writing some of my stupid posts, particularly the recurring ones. Beefcake Kapler pictures were funny, especially as they spiraled out of control into a place that was uncomfortable for everyone. Bill’s Scouting Report of the Week was wildly fun to do.  Dan’s “What in tarnation!?” series was entertaining, just because we tried to see how many times in a row we could use it.

I have a few favorite posts that come to mind. 2009 Zack Greinke vs. 2004 Ben Sheets (fitting now that Greinke’s a Brewer) pretty much hammers on two things I love talking about: Ben Sheets and the idiocy of the win-loss stat. Dan’s Fire Ken Macha! is an amusing look at how pointless it usually is to fire a manager. And Defense Loses Games chronicled the Brewers’ horrendous defense in 2010.

I don’t really get anything out of this other than the fact that I really enjoy doing it. It’s awesome when a post gets a lot of hits, or when a stranger leaves a comment, but I’m not doing it with any delusions of building some big readership. It’s just a dorky thing I do for fun.

Thanks so much for those of you who do visit regularly. Dan, along with All-Star commenters like Dave, Shawn, Adam, all of The Andys, Jake, BBFan, Steen, Glenn, and plenty more have been awesome. Thanks to the guys at BrewCrewBall, both for their awesome content and for repeatedly linking here and sending plenty of new readers in the process. Thanks to brewerfan.net for teaching me all I know about the game. Thanks to the whole BIS Crew for a ridiculously fun year. And thanks to Ken Tremendous and FireJoeMorgan for existing.

I now sign off with a segment I’ve chosen to call:

Fun with Keyword Searches!

The following are some of my favorite keyword searches that have led people to this blog over the years. These are all real.

Most Popular

The most popular search terms, not including some variation of “Brewers Keep Turnin Up the Heat”

• “Manny Parra”
• “Nicole Oswalt” (Here’s why)
• “Seinfeld” (Here’s why)
• “Fire Ken Macha”
• “J.J. Hardy”
• “Matt LaPorta” (Because of that draft post that got a ton of hits)
• “Russell Branyan”
• “Mat Gamel”

Of course none of these, including searching for the actual title of this blog, are as popular of a keyword search as…

“Gabe Kapler.” That’s right. The most commonly searched term that points to this blog is freakin’ Gabe Kapler.

If that doesn’t convince me that everything I’ve done here has been a complete waste of my time, I don’t know what would.

Here are less popular ones, but ones that are just way more fun. Again, these are real.

• “Beefcake”
• “Schlong”
• “Metal and Brawn”
• “Yoda teaching Luke”
• “Chris Spurling Family Blog”
• “Other words for balls”
• “What is wrong with the brewers”
• “Todd Wellemeyer scouting report”
• “stfu”
• “Gabe Kapler naked”
• “Ann Carroll FSN”
• “Chris Collinsworth Olympics”
• “the ring creepy”
• “f*cking brewers” (4 searches)
• “rickie weeks hit in face”
• “slave statistics”
• “hey i’m walking here”
• “yi jianlin bucks”
• “naked beefcake”
• “manager man”
• “wham a homa”
• “ben sheets vertigo” 😦
• “suck cardinals”

Alright, so I’ll bite. As the search stats show, you’re clearly wanting this. Who am I to deprive the people of what they ask for?

Thanks again, everybody.