[January 3rd] -- Today was a very busy day for me. Because school doesn't start for another week, my wife has kept me busy with my semi-annual "honeydew" list [you know, honey, do the wash, clean out the garage...]. It wasn't until late this afternoon that I finally had the opportunity to do my daily "quick-check" of all the important Nationals' websites. Today is Tuesday, so I started off with the team's "official site." It is after all, mailbag day!

I suffered through Ladson withdrawal last week as the big guy took some time off and didn't publish a mailbag. But it didn't take long for me to see that magic word right there on the front page: Mailbag!

I quickly began to absorb the intellectual fodder that brother Bill provides me each and every Tuesday. Scroll .... scroll ... scroll .... ahah! Here's Garon from Indiana who wants to know why Jim Bowden isn't jumping onto the Sammy Sosa bandwagon ... scroll ... scroll ... scroll ... hey; John from Spokane wants to know if the Nationals have thought about trading Jose Vidro for pitching ... hmmm..... never thought of that .... scroll ... scroll ... scroll ... Chris from Walkersville Maryland wants Bob to explain to him why the team hasn't traded for Corey Patterson to fill the vacant leadoff position ... scroll ... scroll ... scroll ...

STOP THE MOUSE!

There, about three-quarters of the way down the page, 5th from the bottom, was perhaps the most well written, well articulated, well throughout, and well punctuated question ever to be picked by Mailbag Bill. What a stunning intellect this questioner must have. Wow. It's the very question that I might have asked myself.

Wait a minute.

It IS the question that I asked Bill Ladson. He chose ..... me! Right there in the mailbag, a place reserved for the best and least benign, was my question regarding Ryan Zimmerman. Sure, Ladson whittled my original 14 paragraphs down to 28 words, but he picked my very best 28 words. He even used a bold font!

Oh, thank you Bill. I can now write on my resume that I am a published author. In a few days, my many fans can do a google search and find my name, right there next to Bill Ladson's. When I sign my name on official paperwork, the signature block will read: Farid Rushdi, Contributing Writer, MLB.com.

Although I am now even more famous than I was, I want you to know that I will still treat you, my adoring public, with the same banality as before. You deserve no less.

And oh, how I deserve this accolade.

Actually, I emailed Mr. Ladson two weeks ago and asked him if he was aware of the continual assaults in the Nats' blog-o-sphere directed towards him. I asked him about Zimmmerman then. He replied, saying that, indeed yes, he was aware, and would enjoy getting some emails from the angry mobs. He ended by telling me he'd use my question in the mailbag. So, to all my friends out there who are quick with guilt-by-association, I say this: "Hey, I'm not the mailbag, I'm just in it."

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 8:28 PM