Hey, why the heck am I following you?

A good post over at Fourth Grade Nothing by Ally concentrates on the whole idea of unfriending and defriending and un-following people on Blogger. While I've never unfriended anyone, I can certainly understand why some people think it's necessary. A couple of ex-girlfriends and people I dated have given me this treatment, which made me cry myself to sleep is understandable.

However, the entry did make me realize that I should probably explain myself to the whole blogging community, since I am following (as of this entry) 151 different blogs. The reason why I'm following tends to fall into one of four categories:

1) I know you personally. This applies to my friend Amanda, who lives in Boston and I've been to sporting events with, and my friend Adam, who I've just conversed with online.

2) You're funny. This is a much wider range, and it constitutes the bulk of the people I follow. The first blog that got this treatment, and one that inspired me to get more into blogging myself, was Brick Sexplode (or as the rest of the world calls it, Bricks Explode). Josh is a heck of a writer, and I love some of his lists, like the Top Ten Selfish Sports Teams Since 1980.

Lately, the best funny blog I've been following has been Sadako's Dibbly Fresh, which offers alternating dry and spastic commentary on 1990s fare. Confessions of a Cashier reminds me of my own past time at Dunkin' Donuts. I'm also a frequent commentator at Just The Cheese and Not Worth Mentioning, which is a delightfully random mish-mash of stuff, and 30 other blogs that I don't really have time to highlight individually. A lot of the pop culture critiquing would fall into this group.

3) You write about sports. This group is second to the funny blogs in terms of who I follow. At some point, I started following a good group of Canadian bloggers who linked to one another - Tao of Steib, The Blue Jay Hunter, Sporting Madness, and Sports and the City.

Of course, this led me to poking around for other sports blogs on Twitter. When it comes to Red Sox division mates, I'm a big fan of the Orioles' blog Dempsey's Army. (Note to self: If I ever do a strictly Red Sox blog, it seems the key to success is naming it after a good but non-Hall of Fame pitcher. Tim Wakefield, Mike Boddicker and Bill Lee seem like good candidates.) When it comes to the Red Sox, Off The Monster is a nice balance between passionate fan and logic.

4) I know absolutely nothing about which you write, and I'm interested in expanding my knowledge. This is a much more random group, although there are big segments - fashion and being a housewife - within this group. Generally, I'm following all of the blogs in this group because I saw them leave a funny or interesting comment on a blog from one of the above sections. While I personally might not have much knowledge of school psychologist issues or the newest fashions or housewife stuff, it's interesting to me because the writing is solid.

The defriending cartoon is from here. The "know nothing" picture is from here.