I have collected some pictures of my friends (both online and offline). Actually, this page dates back to early 2001 and has not really been updated in ages. I did remove some links to home pages that no longer exist and rewrote some of the captions to reflect 2002, but it will help if you approach all of this with the knowledge that it is in need of a major reworking. Maybe this winter. :)
This one was
taken at the venerable Hubert H. Hum
phrey
Metrodome in Minneapolis. That's Dick from Grand Rapids, Minn., on the left, with me and my friend, Bruce, from Wishek,
at a Twins/Cardinals game in 1998. We saw Mark McGwire
hit one of his
record-setting homers
during that series. If you're one of the lucky people who first met me in The
Sporting News chat room back in the good old days, you may recognize Dick as convert7 or just plain convert and
Bruce as schwarz. Bruce and I found you can actually meet people you've met on the
Internet in real life and live to tell about it. One time, at least,--thanks to
Dick and his buddy, Bill, (not pictured, hi Bill).
Here's
Cheri, from way out on the western edge of Washington state. She was one of the
first people I ever chatted with at TSN. She is a busy college girl now and not
online as much, but we still keep in touch, e-mailing bad jokes to one another
and stuff.
She finally dloaded ICQ again at college and that helps alot.
That's all
the folks I have pictures of, for now. But I also want to send a big shout out
to Dale/GumbyG, Kelly/Irish, Chad/Rubberneck (wherever he may be), Dilla/Tropic,
Lynn/Wildrose, NancyB, Bert and Rachel, Dard and Marty, Bridget, Molly, Yael, Karin, Lucy, Elfy/Tara, Ishee, Signe, Melissa and Elisabeth, Eric, Justin, Phil, Vince, Neal, (no,
not that weird guy from Motley Crue; Vince and Neal), Dave, Keith, the above-pictured and/or
mentioned's friends (some of whom I feel like I kinda/sorta know), everyone else in the world and
the greater Wishek metro area with Internet access whom I may have accidentally forgotten, and, of course, my own family.
This
is Kristi, from Baton Rouge (or as I call it Le Red Stick). She is another TSN
friend from way back. She likes Todd Walker and Warren Morris and anyone else
who has ever played college baseball for the LSU Tigers. Kristi is such a
knowledgeable baseball fan that when I first met her in chat, we talked for
about a week before I realized she is of the female persuasion. (I didn't have
this picture then, obviously). Kristi is a sorority girl down there in Weeziana and studying to be a nurse.
Sometimes,
it almost seems like Kenny and I went to high school together. I have known him
for about five years--he was in high school for most of that time, I wasn't. (I think.) We chat frequently about baseball, music and just about everything else you can think of.
Kenny is now attending Missouri Western University in his home state. He wants to be a broadcast journalist. I look for him to be anchoring ESPN
SportsCenter by 2005, if not sooner. Unless he becomes the next Tim McGraw or
John Michael Montgomery, of course. 
Erin
is amazing. She was the captain of her high school soccer team (which made the quarterfinals of the California sectional playoffs during her senior season), graduated with honors and moved on to UCLA (Go Bruins!). She eventually will open her own sports medicine clinic. Yet, she still finds some time for the Internet and our West Coast chat parties that jus'...don'... st-aaaaaaah-p. And
her mom is really cool, too. =)
Libby.
Libster. Lib-er-ace. The most loyal Seattle Mariners and Portland Trail Blazers
fan I have ever met. She even tolerated J.R. Rider, as hard as that is to
believe. But Libby always keeps me in line when I start getting all cynical about sports or
when I start going off on how Charles Barkley is (was?)the best all-around player of
his generation, bar none. And when I pronounce Or-Ree-Gone like that.
Mel
(also known as soccerchic, soccs, and chicola) is living proof that there are cool
people in Canada, too. I am sure she has some bad days, like we all do. But you
would never know it from chatting with her. She is always cheerful and makes you smile. She loves soccer (her team won the provincial championship a few years ago, but she never brags)
and also writes poetry.
Robin
was so glad to finish high school that she's still wearing her cap and gown several years later. Okay, not really. She is back at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (they called it UNCle
CHARlie when I was much younger) after spending some time as a Diamondbacks (or is it just a Matt Mantei?) fan in Arizona.
Chad
is a Wishek native who's now teaching school in Missouri (different part of the
state than Kenny, though). He and his wife, Kristy (also a local native), are the parents of twins! Yikes, huh, Chad?