I may be a political junkie, but I have other interests as well. I'm a huge hockey fan, and even though I live in the Detroit metro area, my favorite team is the Dallas Stars. I grew up in Kalamazoo, and for thirteen years, we were the home of the primary minor-league affiliate for the Minnesota / Dallas franchise. I also think it's fun to make fun of Red Wings fans. :) I never figured these two main interests of mine would ever converge.
The Dallas Morning News hosts a blog about the Stars here. It's a fun way for fans to...well, to complain about the team, more often than not. But in a fun way. "Constructive criticism," if you will. Regardless, it's just a harmless way for us fans to vent our frustrations with the team, to celebrate victories, to propose new ideas, and to chat with the DaMN's beat writer for the team. Very rarely does it get very serious and personal, unlike many other Internet message boards or blogs.
I had to respond to an offensive "joke" this afternoon, though, in a post on this thread regarding an annoying captcha posting requirement (near the bottom). "Now that the Democrats have allowed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to expire, maybe we can get the DMN staff to allow the Captcha to expire," someone posted. A joke, of course, but an unfunny, offensive one. I responded in kind with a crack about John "100 Years" McCain, only to be compared to the "leftist trash" that can be found on Drudge (*chuckle*).
I replied with a link to Johnny boy's "100 years" remark and a quote from Politico about the true reason for the FISA extension failure. I'm still waiting for the next round; this is kinda fun, it's been a while since I've been involved in an Internet pissing match. Does anyone have any suggestions for my next response?