This is fun, right? You tell me

I would say I don’t want to get all “Old Man talking about the past” on you, but I kinda do. Even though I’m only 31, I’ve scoured these corners of the intertron for a long time. I’ve been roaming the AZ Snakepit commenting halls since 2009, and the writing labyrinth since 2012. I know all the little memes that became popularized before the word “meme” was in the zeitgeist (Eels, Personmouth, Ponies, etc.) I’ve been there, man.

I don’t bring all this up to brag, or elicit pity (“Wow, you haven’t figured out something else to do with your time in nine years?”), but to provide some vaguely authoritative air when I say the following: This is the most fun the Diamondbacks have been in my era of Extremely Online Fandom. There is a caveat, it could all come crashing down in, let’s say, two weeks.

That’s always the specter hanging over every hot period of time for any sports team, and moreso with one like the Diamondbacks who since 2002 or so, has only contended once in awhile, probably lining up with some major other event in your life so you can write some weird prose about it when you’re in your 50s (“Ah yes, Eric Byrnes taking a questionable route to the ball ending up in a diving catch that looked spectacular lined up when I asked Becky Andersmith to the prom. She said no.”)

There is precedence for this nagging feeling. The 2008 team started off extremely hot, but then tapered badly near the end and barely cleared .500. 2012 and 2013 had potential after an unexpected 2011 playoff run, but they also couldn’t keep up that production.

However, there is reason to believe that this is for real. The Diamondbacks are 9-3 despite Paul Goldschmidt, for the most part, not hitting in about 10 of those games, Zack Greinke having the fastball velocity equivalent of an overly-cautious driver going 20 under in the left lane, and Jake Lamb being injured for about half. The team is good, and in some intangible way, seems extremely fun to watch on a day to day basis.

In the interest of getting some discussion going (And, full disclosure, in the interest of meeting a deadline and cutting this a little short because I need to figure out why the water in my apartment is off right now), lemme ask you this prompt: What was the most fun you had watching the Diamondbacks in their 20 year history? There are no wrong answers, except the ones you’ll be viciously roasted for in the comments.

Fire away!