This week we're going to focus on a few team-specific fan sites.

We'll start in the AL West with Future Angels (http://www.futureangels.com/), one of the best designed fan sites on the web. The site meets the #1 criteria for a good fan site--it's updated regularly. There is nothing worse than finding a link to a site, waiting a minute for it to load up on a slow server, and then finding out that it hasn't been updated since May of 1993...whatever did happen to Pat Listach anyway? Anyway, if you're wanting to know anything about the Angels of 2001, this is the place.

A Haven for the Diehard Red Sox Fan (http://kristencornette.home.mindspring.com/main.html) is Kristen Cornette's tribute to her long suffering team. Kristen's an excellent writer and this page is well worth visiting. It seems to be updated on a weekly basis, which isn't bad at all for a fan site. Especially recommended are her article on "Red Sox by the Numbers" and the section on "The Fenway Experience" in which Kristen and other Red Sox fans talk about the magic that is Fenway.

Save the Minnesota Twins (http://www.wcug.wwu.edu/~johnb/twins/) is our next stop. Though the site is poorly designed with a gigantic useless frame taking up the top half of the screen, don't let the site's bad design keep you from checking it out. The content is a little sparse in places, but the intent is good and much of the data presented is informative. Check out the "Articles" section to see how firsthand how the situation in Minnesota has deteriorated over the last two years.

I wanted to show a good Yankees fan site, but after two hours of surfing I've determined there is no such thing so let's just get right to the Golden Ooshuk. Rac Slider, winner of the first Golden Ooshuk, was thrilled upon receiving his award...

Apparently, one mere mention of Dickie Thon -- which always seemed better suited as the name for a marathon sexual encounter than a ballplayer -- has paid off handsomely for Rac Slider.

Thanks for the kind words, Rac.

This week's winner of the Golden Ooshuk goes to a site that is very near and dear to the hearts of all us members of the Dickie Thon Fan Club. Because of the gracious manner in which they accepted defeat at the hands of the Thonsters in the Fastball Fan Site of the Year Contest last December, we are proud to give the Golden Ooshuk to none other than our favorite Jim Rome worshippers at Kevin and Scott's Astros Connection (http://www.astrosconnection.com).

Nah, seriously, Astros Connection is by far the best team-related fan site on the web. A professional looking design, stellar writing, one of the busiest baseball forums on the web (just don't make a spelling error), and daily updates are combined in this site that should be the envy of fans of other teams everywhere. Kevin and Scott, this Golden Ooshuk is for you:

--JingleBob, July 4, 1999

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June 22, 1999

© 1999 JC White