Forward From the Past

First of all, let me say that I have decided to bring Bucco Blog back to life.

That being said, I've learned a lot about my writing in the last 48 hours.

After the Pirates began a discussion forum in 2000 at pirates.com, I became a very active participant. Over the years I threw out my opinions like any fan might do.

In 2005, something changed.

After I uploaded years of research to a Pittsburgh newspaper columnist, another writer at the same newspaper came out with a financial article on the Pirates containing much of the material I had submitted to the columnist just a few weeks earlier. That was a major blow to me, especially since the article received the acclaim it did.

Now I won't go as far to say my material was copied. I mean, I believed the writer when he told me he didn't use my research. And everything I submitted was either freely available on the Internet, available in the discussion forum at pirates.com where the fans and I discussed it over Christmas of 2004, or were figures anyone could have come up with using Excel.

But still -- I learned a hard lesson from that coincidence, so I took to blogging.

At first I shot my mouth off in the blog like any passionate fan does about the team he follows, but over the months my writing style changed. Readers noticed, and some of those that had once trashed my combative nature at pirates.com, were now writing me saying they were enjoying my articles, albeit they may not always agree.

I was maturing as a writer, and the more folks around the game learned to trust my credibility, the more bones they tossed my way. But the flip side to that coin was that I was being critically reviewed more often as well.

Someone I call my writing mentor wondered in the last 48-hours if I had possibly reached the limits of my tolerance for blogging as journalism with this latest episode.

Perhaps I had.

When I received the criticism from someone inside the Pirates organization about a post I made months ago, I overreacted by blowing off the blog. After all, I was blogging, not writing for a living, and for him to come down so hard on me was very intimidating.

After several of my old time Internet friends all rallied behind me tossing their wisdom my way, including the fabulous writer I call my mentor, I realized something I had never considered.. that Bucco Blog had become what I wanted - a credible read.

I had finally shed the immature ranting fan image.. I was being taken seriously. Now, did I have the guts to take it to the next level?

When I received an apology yesterday from the individual who blasted me, he told me he thought I should continue blogging.

So to that end, I'm back. Not because he said I should, and not because I finally got up from the butt whipping he gave me. No, for a more importantly reason - because I want to.

Give me a few days to get everything sorted out and the blog back online whether here or at BuccoBlog.com.

Now, as one local blogger questioned about this incident, was it Mr. Green in the Conservatory with the lead pipe? No.. it wasn't. But he was close.

I'm not going to open the door to further controversy by naming names because, not only would I shoot myself in the foot doing that, but because it wouldn't make any difference at all.

The issue wasn't about someone in the Pirates trying to get me to stop blogging. It was about two guys who are passionate about their work both overreacting. That's it in a nutshell.

Thanks has to go out to my blogging brothers and sisters from Jeffery Ma at ProTrade, Will Leitch at Deadspin, Will Carroll at Baseball Prospectus, Brad Templeton at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the staff at The Big Lead and Gawker, and everyone else who either emailed, called, or followed the story, not to mention a few of my fellow Pirate bloggers.

One thing is absolutely certain - bloggers make up a very powerful community and I am very proud to be a part of that.