The Soxaholix
Encyclopedia
The Soxaholix is a comic-based blog
published by pseudonymous Hart Brachen (similar to heartbroken) for Boston Red Sox
fans to discuss the team and other sports-related news. Occasionally during the television season the blog also discusses the television drama
Lost
. The site began just prior to the 2004 baseball season. The author references many different sources of classic literature, modern literature, television shows, popular culture, and internet culture through the characters' dialogue. The setting for the comic centers around a group of office co-workers in Boston and each daily strip focuses on the conversation of two of the characters in a back-and-forth manner similar to the comic Get your war on
.
Readership averaged 1,600 visitors per day in 2005 with sometimes as many as 12,000 readers in a single day. The site has been recognized by a number of prominent online award committees and sports websites for incisive wit and mix of high-brow as well as low-brow humor, including a 2005 article in The Wall Street Journal
. It was also mentioned in the March 2, 2007 All Things Considered
story concerning baseball fandom on NPR.
and attended college in Boston. He then attended graduate school at a university in the South
. Always a Red Sox fan, the author found the comic style of Get your war on
appealing and chose to use the method to describe his thoughts about the Red Sox, especially given their heart-breaking end at the hands of the New York Yankees
in the 2003 postseason.
One of the first entries included a discussion of blogger Ana Marie Cox
and a link to her blog, Wonkette
. She linked to the entry from her popular website and The Soxaholix received a large amount of attention very quickly. Readership remains high and the website garners more attention when the team is doing well, such as during and after the 2004 World Series
. The author was interviewed for a Wall Street Journal article shortly after the Red Sox lost to the Chicago White Sox
in the 2005 postseason. The characters are not real people. Readers comment on the strips, following the lows and highs of the season.
blog entries are written in a comic-strip style using only one or two positions for each character's appearance. The dialogue is written in plain HTML
above the character's "talk bubble" instead of incorporated into the images; this allows for alternate browsing such as cell phones and RSS
syndication. The strip is created in BBEdit
and Fireworks MX
on an Apple
iMac
. The original blog used clipart directly from Microsoft Office
, but the current artwork is obtained from completely original sources.
environment. The dialogue given to Bill by the author balances between pessimism and pragmatism regarding the Red Sox. In order to display the stereotypical Red Sox fan, the current fate of the team determines what attitude is assigned to Bill each day. The author describes Bill as a "...cross between David Brent
in the BBC
sitcom The Office
and the Dabney Coleman
character Buffalo Bill
from the 80's sitcom of the same name."
Doug Roy, a counter-part to Bill in a large number of the strips, gives voice to the author's darker side. Conversations by phone between Bill and Doug in the strip show that when Bill's character sounds optimistic, Doug's portrayal is just as equally cynical. Further, Doug is described as being younger than Bill. This allows the character to not seem as tied into the Red Sox history and pathos as Bill, choosing to evaluate the team with a more current and hip mindset.
Mike Sweeney is given the role of an office employee under the supervision of Callaghan. He frequently appears as the author's voice against the more established Boston sports media. In order to do this, the author stays up to date with the latest online news concerning the team via blogs and fan websites and relays this information via Sweeney. The reader is quick to recognize that Sweeney is less prone to suffer the losses of the team than Callaghan. This leads to the character always looking for the silver lining at all times regarding the team's performance.
Tara Hemmings allows the author to comment from a more rational and statistically-based point of view. Her portrayal as an African American
female in a mainly white male office gives a presentation as an outsider. This often results in dialogue using sabermetrics
and occasionally making fun of the other characters and their passions for the team.
Susan Wentworth (aka Circle), according to the author, is the newest and youngest member of the office, filling a vacant graphic designer position. In order to present a more artistic and bon savante attitude for the character, Susan asked her co-workers call her "Circle" for the same reason as the character Sarah in Geoff Dyer
's Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It.
Arturo the Hot Dog Vendor is an occasional character who likes to "tell it like it is". His introduction as a rough street vendor gives a talking place for Roy to be strongly sardonic. Most of the time, Arturo is used by the author to include the more ribald links and pictures.
Marty Silverstein is an antagonist that speaks out for a Yankees
point of view. Brachen gives this character the stereotypical loudmouthed fan attitude that most Red Sox fans know one example of in their life. The character's backstory includes time with Callaghan from their college days. His smug, upper East Side dialogue is used in phone calls to Bill every so often, typically after a Yankees win and Red Sox loss, just to gloat.
Steve Xiang is used for representing transplants to New England, specifically from the West Coast. In his backstory, he came to Boston just before the Red Sox played the Mets in the 1986 World Series
that captured the entire town's attention. Because of this insight into the character, the reader can understand how Xiang became instantly attached to the team and frequently talks with the other office characters, playing into each of their personalities.
Al appeared in 2007 as a new set of scenarios were introduced by the author. Included in the new set was a water cooler situation including Bill, Doug, and a heavier set office worker named Al who has not yet received significant character development.
Lisa the Temp is a minor character, making a one- or two-panel appearance whenever the regular Soxaholix characters are absent. Because of the perceived status of temporary workers in modern offices, Lisa is generally resentful of the other characters and even the readers. This is adequately relayed by the dialogue assigned to her when conveying the message that there will be no significant blog/comic entry for the day.
A Green Line T Train
is the panel reserved for when Brachen chooses to speak as himself directly to the reader. This is often the case when technical difficulties or other occurrences get in the way of the publishing of new strips. Beginning during the 2006 baseball season, a computer terminal with no one around (see below) has also acted in a capacity halfway between the T train's direct communications and Lisa the Temp's more aggressive style.
A Computer Station With a Scraggly Avocado Plant is the panel which indicates that the author is on vacation or otherwise is distracted by the press of "real life" to provide significant comment. This generally signifies empowerment of the daily commenters to try to cook up something on their own, which rarely succeeds.
A Christmas Tree is the panel which signifies, well, Christmas.
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
published by pseudonymous Hart Brachen (similar to heartbroken) for Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
fans to discuss the team and other sports-related news. Occasionally during the television season the blog also discusses the television drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. The site began just prior to the 2004 baseball season. The author references many different sources of classic literature, modern literature, television shows, popular culture, and internet culture through the characters' dialogue. The setting for the comic centers around a group of office co-workers in Boston and each daily strip focuses on the conversation of two of the characters in a back-and-forth manner similar to the comic Get your war on
Get Your War On
Get Your War On is a series of satirical comic strips by David Rees about political topics — originally the effects of the September 11 attacks on New York City but quickly switching focus to more recent ones, in particular the "War on Terrorism"...
.
Readership averaged 1,600 visitors per day in 2005 with sometimes as many as 12,000 readers in a single day. The site has been recognized by a number of prominent online award committees and sports websites for incisive wit and mix of high-brow as well as low-brow humor, including a 2005 article in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
. It was also mentioned in the March 2, 2007 All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
story concerning baseball fandom on NPR.
History
Hart Brachen, a pseudonym to cover the author's true identity, grew up in New HampshireNew Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and attended college in Boston. He then attended graduate school at a university in the South
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
. Always a Red Sox fan, the author found the comic style of Get your war on
Get Your War On
Get Your War On is a series of satirical comic strips by David Rees about political topics — originally the effects of the September 11 attacks on New York City but quickly switching focus to more recent ones, in particular the "War on Terrorism"...
appealing and chose to use the method to describe his thoughts about the Red Sox, especially given their heart-breaking end at the hands of the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
in the 2003 postseason.
One of the first entries included a discussion of blogger Ana Marie Cox
Ana Marie Cox
Ana Marie Cox is an American author and blogger. The founding editor of the political blog Wonkette, she is currently the Washington correspondent for GQ and is The Guardian's lead blogger on US politics. She previously worked at Air America Media.-Early life:Cox was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
and a link to her blog, Wonkette
Wonkette
Wonkette is a left-leaning American online magazine of topical satire and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox, and edited by Ken Layne from 2006 to 2011...
. She linked to the entry from her popular website and The Soxaholix received a large amount of attention very quickly. Readership remains high and the website garners more attention when the team is doing well, such as during and after the 2004 World Series
2004 World Series
The 2004 World Series was the Major League Baseball championship series for the 2004 season. It was the 100th World Series and featured the American League champions, the Boston Red Sox, against the National League champions, the St. Louis Cardinals...
. The author was interviewed for a Wall Street Journal article shortly after the Red Sox lost to the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
in the 2005 postseason. The characters are not real people. Readers comment on the strips, following the lows and highs of the season.
Format
Style
The TypePadTypePad
TypePad is a blogging service from company Say Media . Originally launched in October 2003, TypePad is based on Six Apart's Movable Type platform, and shares technology with Movable Type such as templates and APIs, but is marketed to non-technical users and includes additional features like...
blog entries are written in a comic-strip style using only one or two positions for each character's appearance. The dialogue is written in plain HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
above the character's "talk bubble" instead of incorporated into the images; this allows for alternate browsing such as cell phones and RSS
RSS (file format)
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...
syndication. The strip is created in BBEdit
BBEdit
BBEdit is a proprietary text editor made by Bare Bones Software. It was originally developed for Macintosh System Software 6 and is now available for Mac OS X.BBEdit is marketed under the trademark slogan, "It doesn't suck."-History:...
and Fireworks MX
Macromedia Fireworks
Adobe Fireworks is a bitmap and vector graphics editor. It was originally developed using parts of xRes by Macromedia, which Adobe acquired in 2005, and aimed at web designers for rapidly creating website prototypes and application interfaces...
on an Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
iMac
IMac
The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers built by Apple. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms....
. The original blog used clipart directly from Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
, but the current artwork is obtained from completely original sources.
Characters
Bill Callaghan is one of the major characters used by Brachen in the strip. Callaghan's character portrays an office manager in an ITInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
environment. The dialogue given to Bill by the author balances between pessimism and pragmatism regarding the Red Sox. In order to display the stereotypical Red Sox fan, the current fate of the team determines what attitude is assigned to Bill each day. The author describes Bill as a "...cross between David Brent
David Brent
David Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary The Office, as well as a recurring character in the NBC series of the same name, portrayed by co-writer and director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of the BBC series...
in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom The Office
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
and the Dabney Coleman
Dabney Coleman
Dabney Wharton Coleman is an American actor, best known for his roles in 9 to 5, WarGames, You've Got Mail, Sworn to Silence, The Beverly Hillbillies and as the voice of Principal Peter Prickly in Recess and Recess: School's Out.-Early life:Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Mary...
character Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill (TV series)
Buffalo Bill is an American television situation comedy that featured the misadventures of an egotistical talk show host and his staff at WBFL-TV, a small TV station in Buffalo, New York. It premiered May 31, 1983 on NBC and ran for only part of two seasons...
from the 80's sitcom of the same name."
Doug Roy, a counter-part to Bill in a large number of the strips, gives voice to the author's darker side. Conversations by phone between Bill and Doug in the strip show that when Bill's character sounds optimistic, Doug's portrayal is just as equally cynical. Further, Doug is described as being younger than Bill. This allows the character to not seem as tied into the Red Sox history and pathos as Bill, choosing to evaluate the team with a more current and hip mindset.
Mike Sweeney is given the role of an office employee under the supervision of Callaghan. He frequently appears as the author's voice against the more established Boston sports media. In order to do this, the author stays up to date with the latest online news concerning the team via blogs and fan websites and relays this information via Sweeney. The reader is quick to recognize that Sweeney is less prone to suffer the losses of the team than Callaghan. This leads to the character always looking for the silver lining at all times regarding the team's performance.
Tara Hemmings allows the author to comment from a more rational and statistically-based point of view. Her portrayal as an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
female in a mainly white male office gives a presentation as an outsider. This often results in dialogue using sabermetrics
Sabermetrics
Sabermetrics is the specialized analysis of baseball through objective, empirical evidence, specifically baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research...
and occasionally making fun of the other characters and their passions for the team.
Susan Wentworth (aka Circle), according to the author, is the newest and youngest member of the office, filling a vacant graphic designer position. In order to present a more artistic and bon savante attitude for the character, Susan asked her co-workers call her "Circle" for the same reason as the character Sarah in Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer is a British author and novelist. He is also a journalist who writes about a wide range of topics. His published work includes four novels and several books of non-fiction, which have won a number of literary awards...
's Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It.
Arturo the Hot Dog Vendor is an occasional character who likes to "tell it like it is". His introduction as a rough street vendor gives a talking place for Roy to be strongly sardonic. Most of the time, Arturo is used by the author to include the more ribald links and pictures.
Marty Silverstein is an antagonist that speaks out for a Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
point of view. Brachen gives this character the stereotypical loudmouthed fan attitude that most Red Sox fans know one example of in their life. The character's backstory includes time with Callaghan from their college days. His smug, upper East Side dialogue is used in phone calls to Bill every so often, typically after a Yankees win and Red Sox loss, just to gloat.
Steve Xiang is used for representing transplants to New England, specifically from the West Coast. In his backstory, he came to Boston just before the Red Sox played the Mets in the 1986 World Series
1986 World Series
The 1986 World Series pitted the New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox. It was cited in the legend of the "Curse of the Bambino" to explain the error by Bill Buckner in Game 6 that allowed the Mets to extend the series to a seventh game...
that captured the entire town's attention. Because of this insight into the character, the reader can understand how Xiang became instantly attached to the team and frequently talks with the other office characters, playing into each of their personalities.
Al appeared in 2007 as a new set of scenarios were introduced by the author. Included in the new set was a water cooler situation including Bill, Doug, and a heavier set office worker named Al who has not yet received significant character development.
Lisa the Temp is a minor character, making a one- or two-panel appearance whenever the regular Soxaholix characters are absent. Because of the perceived status of temporary workers in modern offices, Lisa is generally resentful of the other characters and even the readers. This is adequately relayed by the dialogue assigned to her when conveying the message that there will be no significant blog/comic entry for the day.
A Green Line T Train
Green Line (MBTA)
The Green Line is a streetcar system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the Boston, Massachusetts area of the United States. It is the oldest line of Boston's subway, which is known locally as the 'T'. The Green Line runs underground downtown and on the surface in outlying...
is the panel reserved for when Brachen chooses to speak as himself directly to the reader. This is often the case when technical difficulties or other occurrences get in the way of the publishing of new strips. Beginning during the 2006 baseball season, a computer terminal with no one around (see below) has also acted in a capacity halfway between the T train's direct communications and Lisa the Temp's more aggressive style.
A Computer Station With a Scraggly Avocado Plant is the panel which indicates that the author is on vacation or otherwise is distracted by the press of "real life" to provide significant comment. This generally signifies empowerment of the daily commenters to try to cook up something on their own, which rarely succeeds.
A Christmas Tree is the panel which signifies, well, Christmas.
Awards and recognition
- Blogdom's Best: Boston Red Sox - named the best Red Sox-related blog by DeadspinDeadspinDeadspin is a sports website owned by Gawker Media and was launched in September 2005. As of February 2010, the site had attracted over 462 million unique visitors and about 573 million page views....
. - 2005 WebbyWebby AwardsA Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
Worthy Selection - awarded to sites and teams demonstrating a standard of excellence and outstanding caliber of work. - 2005 South by SouthwestSouth by SouthwestSouth by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
(SXSW) Festival Finalist - "Best Blog". - 2005 Bloggie AwardsBlog awardA Blog award is an award for the best blog in a given category. Some blog awards are based on a public vote and others are based on a fixed set of criteria applied by a panel of judges....
Finalist - "Best Non-Weblog Content of a Weblog Site".