Wow... look what I stumbled upon...

[Merv]

I see a lot of old faces in a new place. Three or four years in exile and I had to at least pop in and say hi to a lot of the folks that I used to chill with.

How's things going folks?

[Dreamscape]

Merv! Hope things are going well your way. Yeah, this little community isn't doing too shabby.

[bmitm76]

NO Way! Merv! You should stick around man... How are things going with you?

[Agent-X-]

Hi Merv! It's "DonSimpson." So glad to see you pop in. Darren and I had wondered what happened to you. I know he'll be happy to see you're still kickin'.

[Merv]

Personally: The past few years have been tumultuous. My career continues to grow very well and I recently switched companies. I really like it here. My job is basically a data analyst in relation to Medicaid (but that's just an overblown simplification). I met my wife in Feb 08 and we got married in Aug 08. She had 3 wonderful kids. However, things sorta got blown up (not really my fault) and we are now divorcing. It's really painful and I just signed the papers the other day.

Baseball: When I said 3-4 years in exile, I really meant it. I did very little in relation to Baseball. Of course, TBS and the Braves played a huge factor. I was burned out beyond recognition and I wanted to advance my paying career. I've checked this place a few times and read a bit over at BS's. I haven't watched a full game of major or minor league baseball in well over a year or two. I still keep up with the Braves daily on the web though (can't ever let them go). The Francoeur thing I saw a mile away. I've been saying since I saw him in Danville that his chasing pitches would be his doom. He never found a pitch he didn't like. I still track some of the minor leaguers I talked to and stuff. I'm glad to see Zach Miner hanging on with Detroit. I'm disappointed in the whole Andy Marte situation. As for the future Braves, I love the news about Tommy Hansen and I'm very interested in Jason Heyward.

[Agent-X-]

Merv,

I guess life has a way of nailing us in the crotch. Glad to see you're hanging in there. I can completely relate with the need to focus on the paying career part, as mine just got off the ground a little more than a year ago... haven't really been here to build the site since then.

However, I don't think that has hurt the community. The front page never drew traffic like the board does.

Wish I could say it's been a trail of roses for ChopNation, but I'm happy to say we have carried on with much the same spirit that you left us with when Kyle took over.

And there is a definitely a seat here with your name on it. Happy to hear from ya!

[JanShan12]

What a surprise! Glad to hear your updates, Merv, and so glad you decided to post. Take care!

[KB 34]

I was a bit surprised when I saw your name Merv. Glad to see you around here after your Braves exile. For people who are relatively new to Braves forums, Merv was a genius at making sites work and I was fortunate to run into his site many years ago, 9 years this summer I believe.

[JanShan12]

Next month will make 7 years for me. I'll always remember under my original screen name at the old site, it said Member Since: November 2002.

[Chris_Moderato]

I'm on five years. Braves_Blue for a couple of it. Welcome to the site, Merv!

[Merv]

A "genius", wow, thanks. Let's see... I got into the whole Braves site thing about 10 years ago. Wow... 10 years... I feel really old. For all the newbies, here's a brief history:

1998-1999 (Freshman year in college):
Stumbled onto a forum for a site called Baseballfans.net (which surprisingly still stands). I become an admin on the forum and shortly thereafter DonSimpson joined. We had a pretty small following but they were loyal.

1999-2001:
Baseballfans.net merged with Rivals.com (the precursor to the current Rivals and Scout.com). At the time, Rivals had baseball, football, etc. We joined a site called BravesBeat.com. It had a publisher named Bill Johnson. He eventually disappeared and I assumed the role. I believe that was the time KB34 joined in (if I recall correctly). We had some loyal members stick around with us. Eventually, Rivals went to crap and filed bankruptcy. I rushed to gather all materials and created Mervalous.com and joined back with Baseballfans.net.

2002-2003:
This was pretty much the beginning of the in-depth following of the minor leagues. Bill Shanks even started out as a poster on our forums before getting his own place. The forums continued to grow and a had a pretty large following, but I wanted to do much more. At the time, I had several primary writers. One was Michael Rapaport and the other one was FreddyBallgame (whose real name slips my mind at this moment). I had a really good relationship with Rap. I see he floats around here still.

2003 (IIRC):
I began talking to a number of folks. Darren ran Braves.net, a site that had it's own loyal following for 5-6 years previous. Mac Thomason ran BravesJournal, a blog that had a good following and I loved his blog postings. Brad ran NoPepper, a minor league blog that had a good following. At this point, we came to an agreement on a merger and created BravesBeat.com (I bought the domain after Rivals' lease ran out).

2003-2005:
BravesBeat.com had a great following. We had minor league players contributing to player journals. Towards the end of things we were averaging millions upon millions of hits a month. But, I had a real job and I grew burned out of the day-to-day. I sold the site to Kyle Hawkins (who previously helped Braves.net and the Scout site) for $200. Truth be told, I only received $80, but at that point, I said eff it and just wanted out. As you can now see, the site ended and split out among many different sites (ChopNation being one of them). It was sad for me to see, but there wasn't much I could do.

Since then, like I said, I haven't watched much baseball at all. During my years of doing this, I met a number of minor leaguers. My brother still has the signed baseball from Zach Miner hanging up in his room. I met him as he was tracking pitchers during a minor league game.

If I had to name the minor leaguers I've seen that are now in the majors, here they are:

Manny Delcarmen (BOS)
Nick Green (BOS)
Carl Crawford (TB)
Dustin McGowan (TOR)
Alex Rios (CHW) - Man this guy was sooooo overrated...
Andy Marte (CLE)
Zach Miner (DET)
Roman Colon (KC)
Kyle Davies (KC)
Brayan Pena (KC)
Boof Bonser (MIN)
Sean White (SEA)
Ryan Langerhans (SEA)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (TEX)
Manny Acosta (ATL)
Brian McCann (ATL)
Yunel Escobar (ATL)
Kelly Johnson (ATL)
Martin Prado (ATL)
Dan Meyer (FLA)
Jeff Francoeur (NYM)
Jose Ascaino (PIT)
Charlie Morton (PIT)
Adam Wainwright (STL)
Blaine Boyer (ARI)

There are others... but that's the majority of them.

[Hobbes]

2003-2005:
BravesBeat.com had a great following. We had minor league players contributing to player journals. Towards the end of things we were averaging millions upon millions of hits a month. But, I had a real job and I grew burned out of the day-to-day. I sold the site to Kyle Hawkins (who previously helped Braves.net and the Scout site) for $200. Truth be told, I only received $80, but at that point, I said eff it and just wanted out. As you can now see, the site ended and split out among many different sites (ChopNation being one of them). It was sad for me to see, but there wasn't much I could do.
And that was a shame. BravesBeat was a fantastic site by the time I arrived - a year or two B.K. (before Kyle). It was sad to see it torn down so quickly and so thoroughly (through no fault of your own).

[barvos4evr]

I loved bravesbeat too..... didn't like it when the interlopers came in and started a room for cussing and it got just ridiculous and no fun. I stopped going and it took me over a year I think to refind everyone over here! Good to see ya Merv I remember you!!!

[Agent-X-]

Merv, we definitely have a legacy of sorts. I'm just filled with joy to know you're still alive. Your exile left us wondering what happened to you.

That being said, crazy Don here has a new project for this site... one going in a direction no one else has gone in. That front page isn't going to remain blank for too much longer. :)

And here's to hoping this is the third and hopefully permanent iteration of this site.

[Merv]

Coolness... well if you want to bounce any ideas off me... feel free. My email is michael.belmont001@gmail.com. I definitely don't want to get back into any type of design or anything, but I love coming up with ideas.

[KB 34]

I believe I started posting when the site was rivals.com. The merging of all the sites into Bravesbeat was interesting as our side of the site seemed to disappear. Around this time AuntKim, BH, Mike_In_Maryland, and several others started to disappear. Too bad I don't have a way to contact them because this site has the small feel to it that really resonated with some posters.

[4maddux_cy's]

I dont have a ton of posts on this incarnation of the site but I discovered Bravesbeat in 03 and posted a ton more than i have here. I can remember checking that site daily back then. Same user name all the time though.

Thanks for all the effort you put in to that site Merv! Also thanks to the current group who run this one.

[Hobbes]

I dont have a ton of posts on this incarnation of the site but I discovered Bravesbeat in 03 and posted a ton more than i have here. I can remember checking that site daily back then. Same user name all the time though.

Thanks for all the effort you put in to that site Merv! Also thanks to the current group who run this one.

Well you just need to post more over here then. :)

[Freddy_Ballgame]

Merv! Great to see you pop in. I am still around, I just don't have as much time to punch in as I used to. My job has me working strange hours so I look in when I get a chance. I don't recall what year I hooked up with you but I've had much more fun with these boards than I could've imagined. Who would think this team had any chance after their usual June swoon, which came early this year? Funny but all that moaning I did about playing a better fundamental game actually has them looking like a competitive team again. Few here like it, but it has resurrected the team. I hope you'll drop by more often!

[Gman]

Great to see you posting again Merv! I loved Bravesbeat. That was such a fun site. You might remember me. Back then I went by gman but I changed that to Gman so posters I squabbled with wouldn't recognise me. I also fake being a brit to add to the secret cover.

:cheers:

[BigWorm]

I remember when I found the bravesbeat website. I was like a kid in a candy store. I didn't think there was anyone else on the earth that cared about the Braves as much as I did. It was refreshing to see all the intelligent fans on those boards (and these). I tried hard to fight off the influx of deadbeats when Kyle took over but ultimately I lost. It was also at bravesbeat when I started my personal vendetta against the ultra talented stathead, Dreamscape. Ah the days. Didn't win too many of those battles, but it doesn't stop me from trying over here as well. Even if I didn't get "invited" to chopnation like most of you, I've really tried to be on my best behavior. Bravesbeat was great, and sometimes even today, I flip open the ole laptop and automatically type in bravesbeat.com in about 2.1 seconds before quickly tapping the backspace button because that website is deader than John Smoltz's slider baby.

[Hobbes]

Great to see you posting again Merv! I loved Bravesbeat. That was such a fun site. You might remember me. Back then I went by gman but I changed that to Gman so posters I squabbled with wouldn't recognise me. I also fake being a brit to add to the secret cover.
I miss the Fred Flintstone and Don Adams avatars. You should really post more around here Gman.

Even if I didn't get "invited" to chopnation like most of you, I've really tried to be on my best behavior.

Don't feel bad, very few folks actually got formally invited to ChopNation. It was more of a word-of-mouth kind of thing, since Kyle was still in full swing over there when this place formed. He was monitoring PMs for any member poaching and would ban anybody who mentioned this place.

[Freddy_Ballgame]

I think several of us were "invited" when the idea was being hatched and many of us had either bailed on the old site or were barred. I enjoyed the old site and even enjoyed punching up my columns. It was fun to see the responses. I am still playing with the blog idea here, but I haven't had much time to do anything. Besides, I seem to get steamrolled a bit because of my peculiar notions about being able to recognize what you see without need of a stat or a bunch of codes to explain it. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not the way I do it. I do tend to look at a range of stats to get a feel for things or to reinforce what I see. I can't depend on them to project the future as gospel the way some tend to. To each his/her own....

[Dawg]

Good to see you, Merv. Don't know if you remember but you really were the one to get my blog off and running at BravesBeat and I'll always remember that. Hope you are doing well and it's good to hear from you.