My Favorite Posts of 2013

And so the end of the year lists begin.

I know everyone else is doing theirs already, but I have three big ones, and I should probably start around now if I wanna get them out before 2014. So yeah. I put together a list of my best posts of the year. Not the most viewed, not the most commented, not the most controversial. The best. It's not even in list form, it's in order.

Stream of Consciousness- Jacoby Ellsbury- Good one to start with. My favorite English teacher, who I ended up having for Journalism this year, used to have this column in college where he'd just write about whatever he wanted, stream of consciousness, and it would be as bizarre and funny as humanly possible. And I took his advice, and tried doing a post about Jacoby Ellsbury. Was it too weird, because I've been thinking about doing another one.

Custom Card of the Day: Chapman Edition- This one explains the Incredible Hulk theory, which explains why closers like Chapman and Neftali Feliz only do well because they're closers, and would fail if they were promoted to starters.

Custom Card of the Day: Rivera Edition- This was a touching, fitting sendoff to the greatest closing pitcher of all time. I think I did pretty well, too.

4/15 and '42'- I had a nice post a few years back when I talked about Moneyball and baseball movies. This one wasn't as good as Moneyball, but illicited more of a meaningful post, more of a post on Robinson and movies in general, which was nice.

Custom Card of the Day: Santana Edition- That same day, I gave my dad the greatest birthday present he could ask for. He absolutely loved this post, and shared it with a lot of my family.

Custom Card of the Day: Fowler Edition- This post was great, because after years of seeing players like Slade Heathcott, Dellin Betances, and Alexi Ogando, all of whom I had found first, flame out after a few years, I finally had someone I found that made it big. Now he's on the Astros. Not sure if good thing or no.

Custom Card of the Day: Pujols Edition- This post, comparing the Angels' team to The Great Gatsby movie, was one of my favorites, and incredibly detailed and funny. I especially love comparing Chris Iannetta to Carey Mulligan.

Custom Card of the Day: Gallardo Edition- If I could pick a favorite on the year, it would be either this one or What Pisses Off Carlos Lee. This one was so funny, and so excellent in its execution that I'm still proud of it to this day. And still not a single call from Nabisco.

Custom Card of the Day: Quentin Edition- A lot of times, when I have absolutely no ideas for a post, I'll just throw together a random sonnet. This was probably my favorite, in response to the MLB repealing Carlos Quentin's suspension for beating up Zack Greinke, yet keeping the victim's suspension.

The Long Fall from the Top- This post was from a frustrated Phillies fan, who had seen the Phils be awesome, and then had to watch the seasons after. The sad part was that Roy Halladay, the one person who I thought would take the team back to October, retired at the end of the season.

Custom Card of the Day: Brown Edition- Coming way late to the Dom Brown party, I used another movie analogy, likening prospects that pretend to not pan out, only to be awesome in the end, to movies that use multiple fakeout 'oh, no! How are we gonna come back from that' moments in their climaxes, especially any of the Back to the Future movies. Bonus points for the Man of Steel jab, which came not too long after seeing it.

Custom Card of the Day: Gordon Edition- Examining this generation's Fred Lynn, Alex Gordon, I stated how so much hubbub was caused over his rookie card, when he's basically amounted to being a nice everyday player, not as much a superstar. It's one of those things a lot of people really don't think about years down the stretch, just to say 'man, we really thought THIS GUY was gonna be amazing?'

Why Panini is doing football cards better than Topps- I was in Lake George, New York, and I was hungry for Topps Football, and they had none. So, I got Panini, and absolutely fell in love with their set. And this post was just flat out fawning over Panini, analyzing how good their product was, and the similarities between Panini and Topps.

Custom Card of the Day: Stanton Edition- My funniest post of the year, arguably. I couldn't have done this before Blogger added strikethroughs, so I'm thankful for that. The little jabs I threw in, especially at the expense of Chris Coghlan and Mike Redmond, were so much fun to make up.

Football Custom of the Day: Rice Edition- The number of implausible Super Bowl matchups were endless, so I had a lot of fun making them up. Remember kids, back in September, the Chiefs making the Super Bowl wasn't a surefire lock like it is now. My favorite is 'If Tim Tebow had his way'.

Custom Card of the Day: Helton Edition- Back when Chipper Jones retired, I had a whole post dedicated to how I first saw him in Backyard Baseball, and my appreciation stemmed from there. Todd Helton was the same story. I just had more of a connection because I pulled cards of him from packs of 2002 Topps.

Football Custom of the Day: Charles Edition- Seth Meyers used to do this thing on Weekend Update, whenever a big news story would come along, and he'd list the winners and losers of the event, and put his own snarky commentary on it. I thought I'd put my own spin on the idea, in honor of the looming Chiefs-Eagles game (aka the Welcome Home Andy Reid Bowl). The results were fantastic.

What Really Pisses Off Carlos Lee- The first of the Nachos Grande trilogy. This is obviously the funniest, as I absolutely went all out in making this the funniest, and getting the most votes in the qualifier.

Football Custom of the Day: Luck Edition- I had an over-the-top reaction to the Colts beating the Broncos, which I thought would be a surefire victory. Also, someone remind me that if I ever do a side project, or another blog, that I call it 'Somewhere in Saskatchewan, the people could hear my frustration."

Juan Uribe's Recurring Daydream- Part 2 of the Nachos Grande trilogy. I personally loved this one, but it only snuck by the competition to get me through. Thanks Grandma. Didn't know you had a PC.

Young Frankenstein: The Red Sox Version- Every year I tie a scene from my favorite movie into recent baseball events. This year's was my best, as I had a lot of fun with Bobby Valentine's ineptitude, and that last Igor line.

Mr. Thomas will now take your Questions- Part 3. This was not my best, and while it was inspired, it wasn't as good as the other ones, and that's why I lost this round. However, the whole inchworm-to-water-buffalo metaphor elicited quite possibly the loudest reaction from me of any joke I made up this year.

Eighteen- I celebrated my 18th birthday with a very meaningful post. Nothing else to say here.

What I'm thankful for, albeit a bit late- My Thanksgiving post is obviously one of my most popular of the year, but my dad loved it, as did a lot of my family.

Colon Blow- One last angry rant. This one concerned the Mets GM being confident enough in Bartolo Colon to sign him for 2 years. I was not amused, and had a very funny 'letter to the editor' style post.

So, those are my favorites. I know it's a bit weird if I'm pointing them out, but who cares. I doubt anyone else out there would be authority on this, but were there any of mine that I missed? If so, let me know.