Chass > Shaughnessy

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but it is undeniable now that I have become the type of guy who writes e-mails to sports columnists. This is behavior I find troubling, but I just can't help myself.

Most recently, the target of my venom was New York Times baseball writer Murray Chass, who uses his Sunday column to take a big crap on the Red Sox every two weeks or so. The offending column said the Sox were gambling by building a team with so many guys who played in the NL last year.

I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say I took exception to the paltry and scant facts he used to back his specious claim.

Ok. Another stupid Red Sox fan e-mails a maddening newspaper guy. No news there.

So imagine how surprised I was when he wrote back. And he was polite, to boot.

I was so happy, I wrote back to tell him I would keep reading his column, and that he was much better than that jerk Dan Shaughnessy, who's never had the courage to write me back.