Watchdog

Thanks for your patience, WatchDog Nation.

I was determined to go post-free for two weeks just to see if I could, and by golly I did it - only after the blogging gods presented me with the sternest possible test:

At 11:06 p.m. ET Wednesday, I received a tip that ESPN's Erin Andrews had been hit in the face by a baseball at Citi Field - the most disturbing errant ball injury since, well, you know. (See video above, if you are sufficiently brave.)

I did not aggressively pursue reporting on the matter for two reasons:

1. I was in line for Splash Mountain at Disneyland at the time.

2. I assumed that if Erin Andrews were hit in the face by a baseball in front of 40,000 fans, 50 baseball players and national TV cameras I would not be the only journalist aware of it.

As it turned out, it was not until 16 1/2 hours later that TMZ finally broke the story, leaving me to ponder the page views windfall I had left on the table.

I didn't have much time to think about it, though. I was in line for the Simpsons ride at Universal Studios Hollywood at the time.

D'oh!