Thank you.

(This was originally posted on Thanksgiving 2008).

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, and thank you for reading what was originally intended as nothing more than an outlet for miscellaneous thoughts on books and a way to share notes on restaurants with friends of mine who travel. From those tiny, unambitious beginnings, the dish now reaches over 12,000 people per month, many of whom are regulars. I’ve written 400 posts (this one is #401), and you’ve left over 5,000 comments.

I feel very fortunate to have a dedicated and thoughtful readership, many of whom have followed me from behind the subscriber wall at ESPN.com to read what I write on topics other than baseball. It’s been a wonderful experience for me; I know I’ve improved as a writer, since now I have an obligation to you to finish every thought and check every fact (although I know I still make my share of mistakes), but I’ve also come to know many of you via your comments, via email, via Facebook, and occasionally even by meeting in person. I was concerned at one point that increasing my contact with fans would mean being in touch with lunatics; as it turns out, that’s exactly what happened – most of you are complete lunatics, and I wouldn’t have you any other way, because I am clearly a lunatic too.

So thank you for reading, commenting, calling me out when I’m wrong and backing me up when I’m right, and telling your friends about the dish. The site is what it is because of your participation and feedback. The BBRAA won’t relinquish the RBI until we pry it from their cold, dead hands, but perhaps we’ll make more progress in ridding the world of bad food and subpar literature.