Well, you did it. I thank you. And curse you.
As you know, I promised that, if I was able to raise enough in donations to cover the costs of hosting Bleacher Nation for one year ($480), I would blog for 24 hours straight at the trade deadline, from 6pm CT on Saturday, July 30 until 6pm CT on Sunday, July 31.
You all came through in spades – at this time last week, we were a little more than halfway to the goal, and, within a couple days, we hit the goal. And then exceeded it. In total, you very generously exceeded the hoped-for goal by almost a third. I can’t thank you enough. It really helps keep this place running the way (I hope) you’ve come to like it.
So, about the 24 hours of blogging. What exactly will it entail?
I can’t know for sure, because it will depend greatly on what’s happening. I envision covering all Cubs rumors and news, obviously, as well as the most interesting stuff from around baseball. I anticipate that I’ll be using Twitter and Facebook a fair bit as well, so you’ll probably want to check those out when the day comes.
I also plan on doing periodic updates on my own state of being. You know, something like, “Hour 18: The Walls Have Started Judging Me.” For the record, I’m not one of those people who pulls all-nighters. I think the longest I’ve ever stayed up in one day was an 18-hour stretch in college – no, not studying. No, not partying. I think I was playing Starcraft. What, you thought a guy who blogs professionally about the Chicago Cubs was cool? So, anyway, we’ll see how this goes. I’m not guaranteeing that I don’t pass out on my keyboard a la the photo to the above right.
I hope this thing is fun – both for me, and you readers – but I also truly hope it’s useful. Rumors and news fly fast and furious during those last 24 hours, so BN should be a pretty good resource for what’s going on. You can check it out when you get back from the bar on Saturday night, getting ready to settle in for a nice sleep – and I’m just entering hour six or seven.
Because of the nature of staying up for 24 hours, you can expect limited, perhaps non-existent, coverage from late on Friday, July 29 until 6pm CT on Saturday, July 30. I’m sure you will excuse me. If something huge happens, feel free to drop it and discuss it in the comments to the most recent post.
Thanks again to everyone. And, although the goal has been reached, I figure F it, I’ll hold out my hand one last time. If you’d care to throw some bones my way, either because you want to support the 24-hour thing, or because you just like the site, you can donate by clicking on this here button:
And, for those of you who donated this week and put us over the goal, here’s a dog that looks vaguely like Spuds McKenzie expressing my feelings:
Specifically:
Linda L. – you’re awesome.
Thomas C. – you’re awesome.
Ben C. – you’re awesome.
Jeffrey L. – you’re awesome (again!).
Jason W. – you’re awesome.
Keith – you’re awesome.
David R. – you’re awesome.
Phillip T. – you’re awesome.
R.T. – you’re awesome.
henna – you’re awesome.
Simon N. – you’re awesome.
Gary R. – you’re awesome.
Si when does the webcam go live?
(Frankly, I’m having a really hard time writing anything other than “Starcraft?!?! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa!”, but I’m managing to restrain myself.)
Hey, man. Starcraft was all the rage* in the late ’90s/early 2000s.
*among nerds.
Yeah I remember my roommates playing that game as I left the door to go drinking and often they’d still be at it when I brought a girl back…. NERDS!
Gosh, I haven’t played Starcraft in… six months. Geek pride.
Is drunk posting by forum members encouraged during this marathon?
Has that *ever* been a problem ’round here?
Wait, wait, wait… your saying people get drunk and post on this site? I just thought the lack of grammar, punctuation, and clarity was a result of us teachers not doing our job. Whew, I feel better now.
Don’t worry, MG. I still blame you.
I post sober sometimes!
Well, sober-ish.
It’s all relative.
Drunk posting is required.
Brett does it once a week, just for practice. His routine has picked up in recent days in preparation for the trade deadline, hence the rash of Mike Quade posts recently.
Quade makes for an easy drunken rant.
speaking of which, 4pm is early enough for a drink for me ..so disregard anything i drunkenly post later
I hope that you are bracing yourself for right around 0 trades from the Cubs.
Unfortunately, you are probably right. The guys that actually have a little bit of trade value it seems like Hendry does not want to trade them, or at least, is saying that publicly. The guys that we all want traded (Soriano, Fukudome, Grabow) have played so bad recently that the glimmer of hope we all had has faded away.
Yeah, it wouldn’t be surprising to see little action, but I expect at least a flurry of possibilities.
Brett your in trouble, I recently stayed up for 30 hours as part of a protest some of my students organized to support us sad under-appreciated teachers here in Michigan. It really takes a toll on you at about hour 18 and the ability to communicate clearly diminishes. I look forward to seeing your slow decent into insanity.
Y’all are weak! When I was in college I often went days without seeing my apartment, napping here and there under my desk in the design studio. Of course, it was because I was terrible about time management and spent most of my time screwing around, but whatever…
I think the longest direct non-asleep time I ever had was 36 hours or so during the birth of my son. My wife was much better off — she slept between contractions.
Pfft. I had no qualms about sleeping during labor, even whilst my wife stayed away trying to complete a natural child birth.
I went over 36 hours once, I was aided in staying awake by periodic beatings and interrogations while I was in SERE school.
Congrats on making it through.
Note to self: If Ron doesn’t want to tell me something, he’s really, really not gonna tell me.
One of my favorite stories about the experience revolves around the Cubs, I went though during the playoff run in ’03 so I was using the radio to listen to games at night. When it came to one of the interrogations I told them this and proceeded to talk for at least 30 to 40 minutes about how big of a fan I was. I told them everything about the Cubs I knew. (I used to, prior to reading the comments on this site, think I knew a lot of Cubs history but yikes, compared to a bunch of you, I am a novice) Anyway after I finished the coarse one of the “instructors” came up to me and said that they were all discussing telling me that the team plane crashed but they decided not to because they didn’t know how it would effect me.
Anyone else a little scared of Ron now?
And I mean that in the nicest possible way, Mr. Ron, sir.
Too bad that the truth of that playoff run was even more painful than what they had contrived.
You aren’t kidding there. To top it off one of my best friends that went through the coarse with me was a huge Red Sox fan. It was like watching your best friend hook up with the girl you had a crush on your entire life.
Try workin a Paramedic in any ghetto city. While most productive people in the world are sleeping at 3am, there are plenty of folks calling 911 for really no particular reason other than they’re bored; hence 48 hour strecthes with no sleep, cups and cups of coffee, and a maybe a shower are common. Nothin like making slightly more than minimum wage.
Epic, can’t wait!
Since the Diamond backs just lost their SS, how about a trade of Barney and Pena for Paul Goldschmidt and either Bobby Borchering or Tyler W. Skaggs? I like Barney but you have to give up something to get something and they still have options at second.
There’s absolutely something there, RR. I’ve heard the Cubs and D-backs have already been in deep discussions (mostly centering on either Ramirez or Pena) about those very prospects. If the Cubs could toss in a SS replacement, too? That could put it over the top.
That said, for whatever reason, Hendry doesn’t want to move Barney. And the D-backs might just be fine with letting Bloomquist handle SS.
Brett how much Value do think Reed Johnson has with all the outfielder injuries & his studly stat line .336/.372/.567.940?
& did you see the news that the Phillies put vance Worley on the block to aquire an outfielder?!
Reed has definite value, but because of his limited role and injury risk, I still don’t think he can return a prospect you’re likely to have heard of. In other words, if the Cubs want to trade him, they’ll find plenty of suitors. But I can’t see a team giving up a quality, future starter for him. Byrd is more likely to bring back someone like that.
And damn would it be nice to land a kid like Worley. But, for him, the Philies should be able to get a top outfielder.
The Worley kid is why the Phils are so successful. They flip their prospects at the peak of their success or reputation to acquire proven talent. What an organization!
Wait a minute…. are you saying buy low/ sell high?? Quick, somebody call Hendry!!
But his buy high, sell for peanuts could get him an extension.
They may have even done that as a direct aim for Beltran…maybe…
Fukudome and Byrd plus $$$$$ and a pretty please.
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