I'M Back!

[Chi_Town_Raven]

First, I would like to say thanks to all of you that have sorrowly missed me Anyways:

Ever since I was about four I started watching football with my Cowboy fan of a father. I never really understood everything, but I got the basic concept of the game. I was very fond of "cool" looking creatures. I saw the Ravens playing the Bengals in Cincinnati, so when I saw their logo, I just started to like them. I watched Lewis play, and quickly grew to love them. The next season, they won the Super Bowl, and I was really excited. But then, I began to like basketball because of my sister's great ability, and I became a Kevin Garnett and co. fan (same reason why). Then I was just a fairweather fan, liking the Raptors and 'Bay Bucks all for the same reason.
Then in '06 I watched our great run to a 13-3 record, and started to watch again. I am truly embarrassed to admit this, but I seriously though that Reed was a Wide Receiver, because I always saw him with the ball (Sue me). In '07, we picked up McGahee, and I picked up some knoweledge (actually, I knew basically everything there is to know about football), and I joined the forums. I painstakingly watched (as any die hard fan could) our season crumble under all of the injuries. I still came to the bar every week, optimistic that we could win. When it came to Monday Night Football against the Pats, I played our "D" in fantasy football, and bet money on it with my dad (I won because we "lost" by less than 10 1/2 points). That season was an absolute nightmare.
Then we can talk about this season, where we drafted a Quarter Back, and completely threw the predictions out the window. It was a miracle! Perhaps a bigger comeback than the Dolphins (One thing people fail to understand is, at the point when we played them in 2007, we were worse them). Our forums were piling with new members, everything was great. When we beat the Cowboys on national television, I was jumping for joy! (Literally, I was in my dad's condo high-knee skipping.... He hit me....) In the playoffs against the 'Phins, our boards almost crashed, because there wasn't one minute the whole week where there was another post. Keeping up on the game thread was a workout. Then, after 'you know what,' I was totally depressed. I stopped posting for a long, long time. I still came just as often, but I was just reading all of these threads. I learned a whole lot, not
just about what's going on, but about a lot of your attitudes.

So to summarize what has happened in this offseason, I would basically say that we drafted Oher, which I think was a good move to strengthen the depth of our line. I have heard he is picking it up really well. We helped out Conerback problem by resigning Rolle, cutting McAllister, and signing Foxworth (which I am hoping is a good choice). Rice has bulked up, and McGahee is getting into shape. Gregg is back, which is going to help a LOT. We finally locked up Suggs, and also had quite a few Wide Receiver try-outs. And finally, the Mason scare is over. I think we are in pretty good shape.
But to say the least, I really think we, as fans, are declining. Not only was I loosing interest because it's the off-season, but I didn't really want to post on many topics, because it doesn't seem like threads are getting good feedback. I don't see people actually backing up facts, I just see them saying things like "Williams will have the #3 spot." Well, why? I see threads that are just empty. "Clayton with Hamstring Injury." I'm not just pointing fingers, but if you're not going to add any input, at least include a link on it. I see people bashing for no reason, and it just doesn't feel "friendly anymore."
I don't know, maybe it's just me or off-season boredom, but it's just what I've seen.



Edit: Another thing I forgot to add is how annoying {double, triple, quadrouple, etc} threads are. They are completely unnecessary. For example, if there is a Merged Derrick Mason Retirement thread, and you find out that he was injured or something, there is no need to post a new topic. It's related to his retirement, so it's not completely different. If he gets in a car accident during that time, then you [i]should [/i]post a new topic.

[wolfzie06]

Welcome back! I didn't post much after the AFC Championship Game loss, probably for a month or two, but I came back to posting a little more regularly. I don't really think that the content is shallow. I think we all bring up the valid points and back them up. I also think that when the preseason games actually start we will have a lot more to post about since we can all see how our team looks on the field.

BTW, I'll pretend I didn't read the sentence where you thought Reed was a receiver

[Chi_Town_Raven]

[quote name='wolfzie06' date='03 August 2009 - 04:26 PM' timestamp='1249331178' post='214587']
Welcome back! I didn't post much after the AFC Championship Game loss, probably for a month or two, but I came back to posting a little more regularly. I don't really think that the content is shallow. I think we all bring up the valid points and back them up. I also think that when the preseason games actually start we will have a lot more to post about since we can all see how our team looks on the field.

BTW, I'll pretend I didn't read the sentence where you thought Reed was a receiver
[/quote]
Like you said, it's probably just the fact that there is nothing to talk about. I'm not really using good examples, perhaps it's gotten way better, but like a month or two ago, I completely stopped reading because some people were getting ridiculous.

And when you just start watching football again, it's hard to keep knowing all of the players. But you can't blame me with the Ed Reed thing.

[F1stRaven]

Welcome back to the board. I am new here, only been here a few days myself. I look forward to seeing you around.