An introduction and thoughts on the future of Viva El Birdos

Greetings Birdos Faithful,

You've been left in suspense long enough. It's time to lift the curtain and reveal the man voluntarily walking into the buzz saw. My name is Mike Grabowski. I am the new site manager at Viva El Birdos.

Before we talk shop, I'd like to tell you a bit about myself. First and foremost, I am a Cardinals fan. You'd figure that could go without saying, but, given the state of things, I want to squash any fears that the site has been usurped by an ad-bot. I've seen an Ozzie backflip in person. I'm legit.

I'm relatively new to blogging. And while I've lurked on these pages for a number of years, I'm wholly new to the VEB community. I realize these are not strengths to sell myself on. However, I want to be upfront and save you a needless Google search. As important as it is to prove myself a worthy site manager, it will be equally important that I become a valued member of the community. This is something I'll work hard at.

I'd like to take a moment to thank Dan Moore and congratulate him on his success at Viva El Birdos. Being that I have neither a personal or professional relationship with Dan, it's hard to make my sentiment seem anything more than lip service. Yet, I'm one of the many who have read and enjoyed and learned from his work, and I understand how incredibly difficult it is to write about anything with intelligence and clarity, let alone the hot-button world of baseball. To attempt to follow Dan, someone who has done this on a regular basis at VEB, is equal parts inspiring and intimidating. And when you come to the stark realization that no one gets rich off this stuff, his commitment over the past half-decade is all the more impressive.

In regards to the future of Viva El Birdos and what you can expect going forward, there will undoubtedly be changes. It is no secret that I am tasked with increasing the amount of content on the site or, as I prefer to describe it, expanding our coverage. And while a decrease in quality is typically an accepted trade-off for more content, I want to assure you that every conversation I've had with Justin Bopp, the MLB League Manager for SB Nation, has revolved around retaining quality and the identity of the site.

The way to accomplish this is to bring together a strong group of contributors and have multiple, unique voices on the site. I believe that we already have that within the current VEB staff, and I will make my pitch to them over the coming days to implore them to stay on board and continue to do what they do best for our community. I also suspect that you'll be introduced to some talented new voices in the very near future.

Most importantly, I want to grow our community while continuing to focus on what has made VEB a virtual home for Cardinal fans. Ultimately, it is the interaction within the community and with fellow fans that we are all looking for, so creating a strong atmosphere in that regard should be the main goal of what we do here. It is also my hope that we'll see more Fanposts published on the front page and bring on more community members as contributors.

Lastly, I'd like to tell you how thrilled I am to be here. I know this post has read more as corporate speak up to this point, but I assure you I do have a personality and an understanding that this is just baseball blogging. However, I have a lot of work to do to live up to the standards set by the previous managers and a duty to keep this place from bursting into flames.

That being said, I expect nothing but good things going forward for our site. There will undoubtedly be some rough patches as we get up and running, but I'm confident we'll find a groove. I look forward to getting to know all of you and actually talking some Cardinal baseball. After all, that's what we're here for, right?