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My dad and older brother were HUGE baseball fans, so I grew up in a baseball-rich atmosphere. There was a lot of baseball history discussed around our house, and my dad knew a lot about the old-timers (players from the 1920s and up). I probably had more baseball knowledge than a lot of my friends at the time.
Starting in junior high school, I became a Reds fan (The Big Red Machine of the mid-1970s). From that point on, I used to follow the box scores religiously (this was before ESPN). I'd watch any games on tv whenever they were televised. I'd go to several Giants and A's games during the year. I continued this religious trend until the strike of 1994. After '94, I stopped looking in the paper as often, I stopped going to games as often, and I stopped watching ESPN as often. I still had an interest in the game, but it wasn't as "religious" as before.
I've been playing a fantasy baseball game called Strat-o-matic Baseball for the last 15 years. This is a game played with cards and dice (our league now plays the computer version; no more cards and dice), and we can play versus the other teams in our league via internet. We draft a team, create our lineups, pitching rotation, etc. The players abilities (hitting vs. lefties/righties, fielding range, arm, baserunning, stealing, pick off ability, pitchers' hold, catchers' arm, etc.) is determined on the actual player's statistics from the previous major league season. It's a lot of fun, and it's probably the only thing that is keeping me interested in following the game on a weekly basis (I check how my players are doing with a quick glance at the boxscores).
Over the past 10 years, there have been too many things that have turned me away from baseball. The steroids issue has put a huge scar on my feelings for the game right now. I currently feel like I'm watching a staged event like WWF.