Let's introduce ourselves

Drama (Corey) here. I lived in San Diego from '80 to '02. I now live in Austin, Texas with my wife and (almost) 3-year old daughter, Riley. My son Jack is due on July 25th...just in time for that exciting 4-game series against the Astros! August of this year will mark five years of living away from America's Finest City. I miss it everyday...and part of that is because of the Padres. Thankfully, I have Gaslamp Ball and MLB.TV to keep me close.  

Here I am at Safeco Field for the Mariners - A's game on April 4, 2007. Luckily the dreaded Mariners were getting killed in that game and Ichiro and I were able to have a chat about the virtues of playing for the San Diego Padres. Some may call it tampering...I call it friendly conversation.

This is Riley. Whenever she sees me watching baseball on the computer she yells: "Go Padres, Daddy!". Jack hasn't even been born yet and he has more Padre gear than I do.

I'll leave you now with the questionnaire invented by the great Bernard Pivot...all answers related to Padres baseball, of course.  

1.    What is your favorite word? - "Trevor Time".
2.    What is your least favorite word? - Off-day.
3.    What turns you on? - Great pitching and defense.
4.    What turns you off? - Bad at-bats.
5.    What sound or noise do you love? - Jerry Coleman: "And the Padres, drape the National League flag around their shoulders for 1998! Oh ho Doctor!".
6.    What sound or noise do you hate? - That second of dead quiet in the ballpark right after the last out of a tough, close loss.
7.    What is your favorite curse word? - "DAMMIT, KHALIL!"
8.    What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? - Relief pitcher.
9.    What profession would you not like to do? - Public Relations Director for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
10.  If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? - "There's a day game starting in a few hours and I have a couple of seats right behind the dish. Cammy's starting at third."

....so i'll keep mine short. And yes Drama's #10 tugs at the heart strings a little.
My name is Sam and I've been a Padre fan since I was born in San Diego in 1985. That makes me 22 this month. I'm a Senior at SDSU and will be graduating in December with a Political Science degree. Then I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life. Maybe I'll become mayor of San Diego and fix up the pension crisis and build the Chargers a new stadium.

(Capri)

Recently I've been a very boring person: work (1), Padres, work (2).  

I'm a rising third-year law student, living in Richmond, Virginia.  I'm interning this summer (for free, dammit!) and also working like crazy on a research grant (yay, money!).  

Generally, baseball is my favorite distraction and my worst curse.  The season begins as I'm getting ready for finals and ends as I'm starting a new semester, so needless to say, I feel torn for large parts of the season (including now, when I should be writing 60 pages for said grant. . .).

I'm a -very- new baseball and Padres fan.  I moved to San Diego, scored free tickets to a Padres-Rockies day game at the brand spanking new Petco park, and I've been sold ever since.  And I will defend the Padres to the death against those bought and sold baseball teams -cough-Yankees-coughRedSox-cough-.  I fell in love with that first team, but I keep loving them as they change and grow.

I'm still in the process of learning my baseball history.  There's a lot to know.  But I'm a fast learner and I'm very dedicated.  I do know who the gaslampball numbers are for!  I can at least say that.

I'm a sucker for pitching and defense (I blame the Padres -completely-), so I can never get too mad at Khalil, even when he's -killing- me.

I don't have any pictures up on the internet, or I'd post them.

My name's Kenny, I'm 18, born and raised in La Jolla, and absolutely love the Padres.  They are definitely my first priority in life.

My dad, my brother, and my sisters are all Dodger fans.  My Mom made herself a Padre fan out of pity for me.  Seeing as how important the Padres are to me, and how much I truly do hate the Dodgers, I generally separate myself from my family when we play LA.  The division of the family this way seems to cause a lot of stress, actually, and I don't really like it.  If only my stupid Dad wasn't born in LA...

Oh and I go to La Jolla High School but I'm graduating in a week.  Watch the local CBS or ABC news tonight, apparently we got on tv for our senior prank.

I was born and raised in San Diego, so therefore am a huuuge Padre and Charger fan. I went to school at USC and now work in home entertainment marketing in LA. I just took a week off work and went to Guatemala. The above picture was taken at a bar in San Pedro. The locals would scream "San Diego" at me when I wore that jacket.

I know my user name is a little cheesy but it is 110% true. I will be a Padres girl FOR LIFE.

HI! My name is Shayna and I am 17 years old and I am almost done with my junior year of high school. My entire family are Padres fans, especially my dad. He was the one who started my whole passion for baseball and its a reason why we are so close. He has had season tickets for almost 30 years and I tell him everyday that I will hurt him if he gets ever rid of them. My first Padres game was when I was 6 months old and apparently since then, I have been hooked. The Padres are my life and my passion and I would rather go to a game (or at least watch on TV), than do almost anything else.

I have traveled to go see them and I plan to do that even more for the rest of my life.

At school, people know me for my love of the Padres. When I walk into my class every morning, baseball is usually the first thing a lot of people talk to me about. I know everything about them and love my Padres with all my heart. My favorite is Jake Peavy, but of course most people know that by now. I have picture with him and have talked to him and I just love watching him play.

I have a Padres logo (the SD) necklace that I wear every single day and I feel naked without it.

I will be a Padres fan the rest of my life and so will be to-be family one day. I will make sure of that.

Man, this all feels really touchy-feely, but my wife says I need more of that, so...

I'm Jeff.  I'm 37.  Born and raised in San Diego.  Graduated Mission Bay High School in '88.  Graduated from UC Irvine, married a graduate from UC Santa Barbara.  We moved to Denver, CO for her job in '96.  Lived there for 10 years before moving down to Dallas, TX last spring for her job again.  (She's the adult in the family and decided that a career was important so we wouldn't starve.)  

I was a high school administrator and basketball coach for 8 years before I "retired."  I fooled some people in NY into thinking I was a writer and they've since overpaid me to write a couple of novels - mysteries, set in San Diego, that, of course, mention the Padres.  Which means I get to stay at home with my daughter (she'll be 4 in two weeks), make stuff up all day and do really important things like write the links diary.

I attended my first Pads game in '75 when I was in kindergarten.  We had season tix until '92 when my parents moved out of California.  Greatest game I've ever been to - in any sport - was Game 4 against the Cubs in '84.  Thinking about Garvey's homerun still gives me chills.  The team is in my blood.    

I get to travel a bunch now with the books, which means about a half dozen trips to SoCal a year, and that's great.  (The picture below is of me and my daughter at Mysterious Galaxy last summer on the book tour.  She attended her first game at Petco that evening, a 5-2 win over Houston.)  But it's still not like living there.  I miss San Diego a ton.  GLB and the Padres are two of the ways I stay connected to a place I still think of as home.    

hi, i'm heather.  born and raised here in san diego.  long time padre fan growing up in a football family.  this is my first post here, so i wanted to say hi.  hi!

My name is Joe and I'm a 24 year old resident of Parkersburg, WV; next Monday will mark my second anniversary of being married to a San Diego born and raised gal- we joke that that was one of her major selling points since I've been a Padres fan since I went to kindergarten in 1988 and found out one of my classmates had an uncle who played for the Padres. The classmates name? Andrew Kruk. John Kruk moved on to Philadelphia but my heart stayed with the hapless Pads although I followed his career closely and my favorite player ever is Joey Cora. I catch Padres games in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and I'll be in SD for a week and change starting the 30th of this month.

I have a ten year old stepdaughter who greets me when I get off of work and wakes me up on my days off with my glove so I'll play ball with her. She likes to be called Audreybot because she loves Khalil's D (when we took her to her first ML game last month [Pads @ Pittsburgh] she told the people next to us "Our shortstop's a robot, you know."). I work mornings at a coffee place and tattoo when I have the time. I love music, notably Social Distortion. If baseball's not on my TV, Arrested Development is.

hey y'all! the name is nicole. born in the philippines, raised here in sd. i just finished my 2nd year at miramar community college (holla)... let's see i'm an accounting major. i sing... A LOT. if i could be anything i wanted to be in life, i'd be mimi in rent, or elphaba in wicked. my favorite drink is water. i can play four instruments. i wanna get married by the time i'm 25 and have at least two kids before i'm 32. i actually do enjoy writing research papers. and i admit, i do love britney spears.

okay i swear i'm not that boring...

i chose freelunch as my username because when i was a senior, i qualified for the free lunch thing and have since declared that i love free lunch. actually i just love free food in general. my friend has made fun of me for it because it kind of also ties in with this one time that we met cla meredith and i made a comment about how it was a good day because we got free lunch at the autograph signing. i don't know, you had to be there.

i've been a padres fan since probably junior high, but when i got to highschool, i kinda stopped paying any kind of attention to the padres. i would watch a game every now and then. when i got to college, i actually had time to watch baseball so last year was my 'come-back' year. NOBODY in my family likes baseball except for me so i never got to go to a game until last year when i finally knew someone that loved the padres as much as i do (yay amanda!). and like shayna, i would much rather watch a game than do anything else.
none of my friends understand it, except for my best friend amanda. sometimes i refer to pads as the papas or daddies... um let's see... i'm not good at these things so if you wanna know something, just ask :)

p.s.
Christina, this was an awesome idea! I loved reading all these mini-bio's.

This is great!

I've been ghosting on GLB for a few months and I finally got up the gumption to register only a few days ago. BTW, I love the retired jersey shirts. Only a true Pads fan would know what it means.

I grew up in LA in a Dodger family. I hated the Dodgers because my cousin and brother liked them. I rooted for any team playing AGAINST those guys. Sure, I took much flak from my Dad and Uncles but it strengthened my resolve to hate the Dodgers even more.

My first Padres game? I went to boot camp at NTC (now Liberty Station, hurray for OGGI'S!) and on my liberty weekend, I chose to go to the Q because I had heard that you got in free if you wore your uniform. Today, Marine Recruits are at Petco EVERY Sunday. OOOORAH!!

I don't remember who played or who won but I do remember people offering me beer after beer. That was back in August of '81. I have been a fan ever since. The Pads for me meant something to look forward to. Win or lose, any day at the Q was better than any day overseas or in the field.

Today, I collect anything Tony Gwynn and Padres, baseball cards, and Sports Action Figures (THEY'RE NOT DOLLS!). My wife says I'm running out of room for all my toys but I know its just an excuse so she can take over my den and move her sewing stuff in there. I say NEVER!! MUWAHAHAHA!!

....thank you to Christina for the best diary ever on Gaslamp Ball. I really hope this keeps going. I couldn't wait to log on this morning to see updates.

I am 42 years old and still don't know how to post a picture on the website!  
I was born in London where I took my degree in dance (now that's useful!)  In the summers I used to travel with the Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club as their scorekeeper.  I wasn't sure if it was the fact that I was a girl in the scorebox that caught peoples eye or the fact my hair was a little bit like The Third Giles!

I've been in the States almost 20 years now.  My love of baseball developed watching Ron Gant play for the Braves on tbs.  Living and working in NYC  pushed me to want to learn more about the game so I could argue with yankee fans and have something to back it up with!  Hence my user name... pronounced Abbey but actually an acronym for Anything But Yankee!!

I moved to SD as part of the witness protection program last summer so I can't tell you anything about me or what I used to do... Oh!  Ah well, I'm sure Wiggins and his boys will never find me on an obscure website like this.

I wish I'd known about GLB for the 10 years I lived in New York, it would have made those 1 am mornings a lot less lonelier, especially after a loss.  But now I get to drive downtown and look for parking with the locals...

I currently run a small crane certification school and safety business for the construction industry and in my spare time I dance for a Salsa/Mambo Dance Team, sequins an' all!  

My name is, uh, Kevin.  I'm turning 28 next Monday.  I was born in Rockford, IL (90 miles west of Chicago) and lived there until 2004 when I moved out here to San Diego.  I grew up a big sports fan but then music kinda took over my attention.  I never got into the Cubs or White Sox and always loved Tony Gwynn so I adopted the Padres (still love all the other Chicago teams though, BEARS/Bulls/Hawks).  I became a huge Padres fan when I moved out here 3 years ago.  My wife is Australian and I've had fun teaching her about the game and she and I are now fanatics for the Padres.  Now that the SD music scene that I love has kinda dried up, we focus our attention to the Padres.

Big thanks to Gaslamp Ball and Ducksnorts to really help me keep track of the team and have tons of laughs while doing it.  I really love this place and come here often during the day at my horrible job.  Cool idea for a thread, Christina.

Cheers.

Randall Brian Simbro

that's me. I'm still 29 years old, but I'll be 30 when we finish our sweep of the cubs on Sunday. I'm an IT consultant, so I manage computer networks for small businesses. I grew up in Newport Beach as an Angels fan, I went to game 7 of the 2002 World Series where my Angels won (Highlight #3 of my life). Mrs. RBS and I moved to Carmel Valley last year where I promptly became a Padres fan. Been to 5 games this year, I'm 2-3 but with 3 game balls, so I'll take it. I'm a Christian and I go to Canyon Hills Church. I'm a republican and I'm part of the Young Republican Federation of San Diego. I listen to country music and conservative talk radio, and I love to argue with liberals and make Christina leave comments like: ppfffffffffffffffff!!!!!!! (I still don't know what that means, but it makes me laugh)

Here's me and Mrs. RBS in Paris, 2002, when I closed the deal:

Here's me post Khalil's HR ball on April 19:

Great diary idea, Christina!

Born and raised in SD.  Love the Pads.  I know it's hard to believe, but I do.  Love the Chargers a bit more though.
I think growing up in the 1980's is why I am a Padre fan.  If it weren't for Tony Gwynn, I probably wouldn't love this game.  After '84 this team went down hill fast.  And when you are eight years old time flies even faster, so thanks to Tony I stuck around.
Our family had season tickets until the fire sale of '93.  Not to worry I know enough people today with tickets to make use of.
I visit gaslampball because I have to.  Dex, Jbox and Kev are some of my closest friends.  I met Dex in high school, Jbox in sixth grade and Kev in Kindergarten.  So I've known these dudes way too long.
Keeping this short because I'm sure everyone knows too much about me and has seen many more pics than they would ever want to.

No pics from me but a little story of how I found the site. I used to be a musician, and still am to some degree. I was on a fellow musicians blog when I saw this post bad mouthing me and wife, saying we had both got fat. The post was written by a guy named Dex who I instantly recognized as my wife's ex boyfriend. I in fact did get fat, my wife was pregnant at the time so technically that was true too. I actually liked Dex a lot so I followed his path over to gaslampball where we chatted and ironed it all out. The End.

A little about me. I am the complete opposite of RBS. I also have never caught a ball at a game. Born and raised 5th generation San Diegan. Work in software. Married with an almost 2 year old. In my spare time I build guitar fx pedals, record and mix music... and occasionally still have a band practice. If you are really lucky you can hear one of my songs from my old band between innings at petco.

my name is TheNerdHater and I'm an alcoholic.

Hi my name is Stephanie and I was raised in San Diego. I'm a Junior at Eastlake High school and I'm soon to be a Senior. I Absolutely LOVE the Padres. My favorite Padres is Clay Hensley. I also Love Justin Hampson.  
My Uncles are big Padres and Chargers fans which is where I think I got my baseball obsession from. I Thank them everday.:)

Is Wiggins' Bio?

I'm Charlie, a.k.a. TheGrandHatching, founder of Jeet Kune Do or "Wave of the Fist" and I fled to this country from Hong Kong after killing a man.

Anyways, I reside in Chicago now, trying to finish up my Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. By "finish up", I mean "spend at least 2 more years beating my head against the wall for". Chicago is fun, but I miss San Diego and I really miss my family's season tickets.  You guys are good therapy in that respect.

TheGrandHatching is of course a reference to Ted Giannoulas' spectacular return as the San Diego Chicken. For many, that 1979 ceremony symbolized Ted's clean break from KGB, and the past. It was his metaphorical re-birth as a hometown (and national) icon. Similarly, I see the 2007 Padres gaining new life as an organization. I see them emerging as World Series champions. As Vonnegut said, "Symbols can be so beautiful, sometimes."

Anyways, Go Padres! Experience It!

My name is Laura. I'm 17 years-old, 18 in December! Hahaha... I go to Eastlake High.. Class of 2008!! I've been a lifelong Padres fan. I lived in Tijuana for 11 years which sucked. I loved going to Padre games as a kid. I loved watching Tony Gwynn and Ken Caminity play. I was 7 years old when Trevor Time was born and used to shout until my throat was hurt when it was Trevor Time (and I still do shout a lot). I cried when the Padres got swept in the '98 World Series... I was 7. My favorite current Padre is Chris Young! Everybody knows that my best friend is Stephy08 and that we both love Justin Hampson (the Sweetheart). My buddy angiegopadres is a newbie to baseball but she'll learn from Stephanie and I.

I'm Josh.  I'm 32 and live downtown right across the street from Petco Park with my wife and our 6 month old puppy.

I moved to San Diego when I was 6, and instantly became a lifelong Padres fan.  I've had a half season ticket package for 8 years now, and now that I live next to the ballpark, I attend games more than ever.

I'm usually more of a reader than a poster on here, but once in a while I'll get motivated to either vent, cheer, or just shoot the S about the boys.

Anywho, this was a great idea.  It was fun to hear all about who everyone is.

My real name is David Butler. The photo is from a Padres game that I saw at Shea (the field is somewhat visible in the reflection of the lenses). I am 36 years old, live in Venice Beach, California, and work as a dialogue editor for movies. When I am on a mixing stage in the role of the supervising dialogue editor, my presence on this website is reduced to nothing (as in the case now) because I have to pay some attention as to what is going on (with the game on my laptop next to my workstation). When I am working in a non-supervisor role, I revert back to the "positive thoughts" (circa 2005 playoff run) in the comments section on the open thread.

My family moved to Rancho Bernardo in 1975, when I was 4 years old. I learned to read box scores before I could actually read. My dad's business had season tickets for 4 seats on the Loge level that were usually given to clients, but we managed to go to 5 games a year (natch). I remember seeing Gaylord Perry pass Bob Gibson on the all-time strikeout list (#2 at the time). I also remember that his at-bat song was "When I'm 64" (but played by the organist). I remember Dave Winfield coming to bat in the 1978 All-Star Game and getting, what felt like to me at the time, a 5 minute standing ovation.

My family moved to Midlothian, Virginia (outside of Richmond) when I was 8 years olds, but I remained Padres fan. Not many Padres fans in Virginia (as Demoira can attest), so I converted my friend Glenn, who was a Dodger fan at the time. Glenn, despite having never lived anywhere but Virginia, is still a Padre fan.  

My dad died on September 1, 1984 (I was 13, he was 44). My mom was amazingly depressed and never left her bedroom. I was utterly lost, having lost a father and having an emotionally absent mother. Then October came around, and my mom left her room to watch the Padres in the playoffs. I don't remember much from that time in my life, but I do remember my mom letting me stay up late (past midnight, east coast time) to see Garvey and hit the biggest home run in Padre history. My mom and I were jumping up and down, more excited than when Rolf kicked the game winner in Miami in '81. And for the first time since my dad died, we were happy.

Best Padre moment witnessed in person: Hell's Bells in Game 4 against the Astros
Favorite Padre ever: Gwynn
Current Favorite: Peavy
Favorite Jerry malapropism: "Rich Folkers is throwing up in the bullpen."

Thank you, Christina, for starting this thread. It has been great to get to know all of you whom comment on this site. It has great to see this site really blow up this year (although I miss Richard throwing out his random VORP stats).

I have been inactive as far as posting the last few days, but I don't want to miss this fun thread. My name is Marcos, and I am 30 years old. I was born in San Diego back in 1977 (there are quite a few '77ers on here). I've lived here my whole life, minus a year in Mexico and summers with my dad in Greece growing up. I have been a Padres fans ever since I started going to games in 1984. What a great year to become a fan! I will admit I lost a little interest in baseball in the early '90s, right around when I finished playing little league. I had season tickets the last few years at Qualcomm (out in left field, the best section!) and every year so far at Petco. Since we met, my wife has become a fully fledged Padres fan (and she of course thinks Clay Hensley is dreamy. Before that it was Nady). It is fun to hear her yell at the TV. My 20 month old daughter is well on her way to becoming a diehard also as evidenced by the following picture:

That was taken when we threw on our Rally Caps for that awesome ninth inning comeback against the Dodgers. It shouldn't be too long before she is chanting "Beat L A", she already has the general idea. I guess I should throw a picture of myself up here too:

Not much else to say. I am a graphic designer by training, but am working at a sportfishing landing til I get my act together. I have a few Padres shirt designs in mind that I want to make and submit to my fellow GLBers. Maybe some Jbux would be good incentive...