My favorite is Frangelico, the hazelnut liqueur in a cool bottle:

It's very sweet, so a little bit is plenty.  I find it quite lovely for dessert.  What are your recommendations?  The more obscure the better, as it increases the snob factor, which of course is important when choosing an after-dinner drink.  I know RR has experimented with Lillet and other high snob-factor spirits; I'd like to hear your favorites. 

Plus, I'm tired of reading about the Royals.  Thank you.

I'm more of a football fan.  I love the action, the athleticism, the hits, great offenses, great defenses, the crowd noise, the college traditions and rivalries, bowl games, the playoffs, big games, and the underdog winning.  I can watch football all day, every day, nearly without regard to who's playing.  About the only thing I don't like is the college football creampuff parade the first month of the season.

I've learned that I enjoy the analytical side of baseball about as much as I enjoy the actual games.  In fact, were it not for the analytical side of the sport, I probably wouldn't care too much for the Royals or baseball.  The playoffs are great, but the analytical part of putting a winning team together and learning which players are actually good is what I like most about baseball.  That explains why I spend much more time reading this blog and other sites than watching baseball games.

I've never gotten into serious football analysis.  For example, I can't intelligently dicuss the advantages and disadvantages of a 3-4 defense.  But I love the long bomb and a game-winning drive.  Maybe that makes me a dope, but I love football.  Just wondering where you guys are on this important issue.

For me, the day was July 25, 2001, a day that will live in infamy.  A friend, with a voice half sympathetic and half sarcastic said to me:  "Neifi Perez?  Nice."  I had no idea what he was talking about.  I was in law school in San Diego, following the Royals but not yet obsessing.  I was on my way to class and didn't ask my friend for details.

Later that night, I hit ESPN.com, as I did about 3,000 times every day back then.  There I saw the news that we traded Jermaine Dye for Neifi Perez, a trade Retro ranks as the #1 worst trade in Royals history:

The....absolute.....worst. It wasn't even a salary dump because the Royals didn't save that much money in the deal. Nor did they get any high upside players. For an All-Star Gold Glove slugger they got....a light hitting shortstop. Except they already had a slick fielding, light-hitting shortstop named Rey Sanchez. And another one in the minors named Angel Berroa. And Neifi's defense wasn't even that good.

Absolute worst.

I was unhappy about the trade, but not outraged.  Then I went to Yahoo! to do an internet search on the trade.  I came across RoyalBoard.com, a pretty good Royals message board.  As I read various posts with titles like "Allard Baird is a moron!" and "Glass is running the Royals like Wal-Mart!!", and the dozens of responses to each post, all cascading down and to the right across my computer screen, I discovered a bunch of other nuts willing to spend hours venting their frustrations to random strangers on the internet.  I was hooked.  Learning all the posters' personalities and baseball philosophies was great.  Go Internet!

My favorite RoyalBoard "discussion" was when a theological debate broke out regarding whether or not Jesus really served alcoholic wine at the Wedding of Canaan.  One poster (RoyalinLenexa, I think), was a holy roller and argued that Jesus, as a Christian, just couldn't have served alcohol to anyone.  I reponded that as a Catholic, I'm pretty sure Jesus thinks acohol is great.  Then someone accused me of supporting pedophiles.  And so on.  Those were great times.

My screenname was PowderBlue.  I remember that I almost always agreed with a guy named PatTabler.  Are any of you guys RoyalBoard alumns?  Surely.

RoyalBoard changed its format to its current one some time in 2004 (maybe?), which was actually a good thing, since the message board format suffers from irreparable flaws, namely the most recent post and its comments pushes previous posts down and, eventually, off the page.  An example of what I'm talking about:

Glass thinks the Royals are WalMart!-posted at 03:24:15 on 7/25/09 by BaboniRulz

God Baird is a jackass!-posted at 03:24:49 on 7/25/09 by Denkingerwasright

You are so right my friend.-posted at 03:25:31 on 7/25/09 by Neyerstoocynical

This is worse than the Damon Trade.-posted at 03:26:29 on 7/25/09 by FoffStLouis

Always low prices at The Royals, but beer still costs $8!-posted at 03:25:09 on 7/25/09 by Glassmakesmepuke

Wait a minute, what is OBP? - posted by PowderBlue at 03:21:43 on 7/25/09

 

I think you get the point.

I think I discovered Royals Review some time in 2006.  Needless to say, I'm a big fan.  The format allows for excellent discussions, and I've learned a ton about baseball and the Royals from the people on here.  Lots of nuts on the internets. 

So, any RoyalBoard veterans on here?  Other sites you came from?

Will's fanpost on Bill Simmon's take on the decline of sports journalism made me wonder about the future of The Star (and all local newspapers). 

I don't see any hope for The Star.  It doesn't know how to make money on the web and its fixed costs are enormous.  Every year fewer people want to pay for its content. 

Some have mentioned partnerships with local news stations, but I don't see how the business model works.  Those presses and all those reporters/columnists cost a lot of money.  And I think we all agree we get better coverage of the Royals from this site and others.

I think The Star and every non-national newspaper is doomed.  Even assuming bankruptcy and massive restructuring, how is the Star supposed to make money when everyone can get pretty much the same coverage for free?  I don't think enough people care about local school board shenanigans to make The Star viable. 

I guess it's sad, but at least I know the Wall Street Journal will always be around.

I went to opening day in 2006 and 2007 but now I'm a baby about the weather and I didn't make it out there yesterday.

Some comments in the game thread were not glowing, particularly about the long lines for food and restrooms.  That's surprising, since I've been told that wider concourses are better than a cure for cancer.

I thought a Fan Post would be a good way to consolidate reviews of the New K.  Thanks!