TIGERS FANS MOURN VA. TECH VICTIM

Call it a reminder of the online baseball community's strength that no one wanted to receive, not in this way.

While moments of silence were held at arenas and stadiums everywhere over the past couple days for the victims at Virginia Tech, the Detroit Tigers actually mentioned a victim, 25-year-old Brian Bluhm, by name prior to the their game last night. Good on the Tigers for the acknowledgement, since Bluhm was a regular on several Tigers message boards, creating a connection with fellow fans who he very well never met physically. In another acknowledgement of online fandom, Tigers centre-fielder Curtis Granderson made Bluhm his No. 1 friend on his MySpace page and mentioned him by name during a pre-game interview.

Lee Panas' TigerTales has a nice tribute to Brian and links to several others. Condolences to the Tigers fans who enjoyed dialoguing with Brian Bluhm -- no doubt it's a real hit to take after the dream ride they had last season.