Open Thread: Happy New Year!

We've reached that point where we all start writing the wrong year on our checks for a few weeks. (It's 2010. It's 2010. It's 2010. Just keep saying it to yourself over and over.)  Hopefully you all had a safe and fun ringing in of the New Year.  Now cozy up on your couch and fight that hangover with some college football all day.

If you want to hang out here for a bit, please do!  While you are here, answer these 3 questions:

(1) What is your 2010 New Year's resolution?

(2) What are you looking forward to most in 2010?

(3) Will the Reds manage to have a winning record in 2010?

For me, I don't make resolutions because I have a short attention span.  I do have a lot to look forward to in 2010 though.  As you know, I'm going to Reds Fantasy Camp in February.  The only downside of Fantasy Camp is that I'll miss the final season premiere of Lost (thankfully there are DVRs!), which I am highly anticipating.  My wife has a conference in Orlando in May, so my son and I will be tagging along for our very first trip to Disney World.  I'm told it's the happiest place on earth, so I'm looking forward to taking my son on the ride where the Reds win consecutive World Series while scantily clad women serve me Yuengling and Cheese Coneys.  Believe it or not, I'm also looking forward to the Reds season.  Hope is a dangerous thing.

Probably the biggest news of the year, that I can tell you about at least, is that I am writing a book.  Many of you knew this already, though I haven't talked much about the subject of the book yet.  Well, I'll tell you now that it will be a book about the Reds last World Champion team in 1990.  I'm writing the book with John Erardi of the Cincinnati Enquirer, so don't worry, there will actually be some quality stuff in there, not just my erratic thoughts.  We've spent the last month researching and interviewing players, coaches, and Marty Brennaman, and now we are working on putting the whole thing together.  It's been a fun experience so far, but we are now facing up against a very tight deadline as we try to get the book printed and published by May.

Because of this tight deadline, I will be taking a leave from Red Reporter for a few weeks.  I might pop in once in a while, but for the most part I am going to have to block myself from the site otherwise I will be too distracted to work on what needs to be done.  This is actually good news for you all though because now I will get out of the way and let the smart people contribute something.  I also encourage you all to keep contributing through FanPosts and FanShots, and if you do a good enough job, I'm sure the mods will be more than happy to bump your work to the front page. 

So, wish me luck on the book.  I've found this team to be more and more fascinating as I continue to dig deeper into it.  Hopefully John and I can do them justice and bring them out of the shadow of the Big Red Machine.  They definitely deserve it!

By the way, I say yes, the Reds will have a winning record in 2010.  It may only be 82 wins, but the streak will be broken this year.  Studying a championship team sure makes one overly optimistic!