As we celebrated our 10th anniversary at AngelsWin.com we've focused our attention on our writers, mods, directors, advisers, contributors & website members. As the year has come to an end, we conclude this series with our Director of Social Media, Geoff Stoddart. Stoddart has been the online voice of AngelsWin.com over the last few years, interacting with fans and providing them Angels & AngelsWin.com updates from both our Facebook and Twitter pages. His social media presence has skyrocket our fanbase & memberships have been steadily going up since he came on board. Geoff has also provided funny MEMES that can be found on our Pinterest site.
Behind the scenes, Geoff is also on our board of advisers team and is a tremendous help at our fanfest events throughout the year.
Let's get to know Geoff a bit more in our final Member Appreciation Interview.
AngelsWin.com: When and how did you first come to AngelsWin.com?
Geoff: I was a regular on the Angels Official Message Board (OMB as it’s known on AngelsWin). The board had kind of become troll central. Lots of people dropping in to create posts to sell their products, services … stuff. Sometimes it had to do with the Angels, but most of the time it didn't. Anyway, one of the few joys the OMB offered was messing with the trolls. (Yes … the OMB had become that exciting.) Guys would create their posts to sell/market their goods and we’d poke fun at their stuff, while tagging them for spamming. Within a short period of time, their post would be deleted.
One day, this guy creates a post advertising his new Angels fan site. I flagged it for spam and had it deleted. (Oops … sorry about that Chuck.)
The OMB continued to spiral into irrelevance and most of the good posters were jumping ship. So, one day I decided to check in with this new AngelsWin site that I kept having threads deleted on (again, sorry about that Chuck). Once I check it out, I never left.
AngelsWin.com: What keeps you coming back to the site?
Geoff: This was really a hard question for me. I mean, why do you keep going to your own house every night? It’s because that’s where you live!
The message board is always changing … always morphing. Over the years it’s always something different that keeps it fresh. There were times it was basking in the glory of tremendous team performances. There were times it was wallowing in the sadness of God awful team performances. There were times when the Political Forum was going off the rails with left vs. right arguments. But I guess when I actually boiled it down, the thing that keeps me coming back are the people. We have really created an online community of some amazing folks. We laugh together, cry together, yell at each other, cheer with each other, pray for each other in times of need. But in the end, we’re there for each other. And that’s pretty special.
AngelsWin.com: What have been some of your favorite articles and threads?
Geoff: I know I said the last question was really hard for me, but this one was really hard for me! There’s just too many. I’ll throw some out here, but I know I’m going to miss a bunch.
What’s funny is some of my most memorable threads have absolutely nothing to do with the Angels. A lot of them occurred in the Hangout Forum (which is basically our “random stuff” forum where we talk about any and everything.) There was the thread about the guy who "almost had a heart attack" because someone posted the Lakers score in the title of a thread. There was the thread linking to a news story of a gentleman being arrested for having sex with his patio furniture. Again, the political posts from about 2007 to 2010 were pretty hysterical. There have been times I’ve sat in front of my computer laughing so hard that I have tears running down my face.
I love it when people start going off the rails and get kicked off the site. I don’t know why I find this so amusing, but I do. For the most part, they usually come back. They’ll apologize to Chuck and be let back on. Then they typically spin a story about why they’re back. It’s highly entertaining.
As far as articles go, I can’t get enough of the Point/Counterpoint series. Glen and Nate kill it every time. Having a JPL rocket scientist (Robert Cunningham) on the writing staff is pretty incredible. When he starts driving into stats and numbers, I realize how dumb I am. I also love the human element that David Saltzer brings to his pieces. His memorial piece to Jim Fregosi was wonderful.
AngelsWin.com: What in-person events have you attended from AngelsWin.com (Spring/Summer Fanfests, Charity Golf, Charity Softball)?
Geoff: Living in Colorado, it’s not always easy (or possible) to make it out to everything. But I think the family and I do a pretty good job. I've been a part of every type of event except the golf tournaments (which bums me out, because I love golf.)
AngelsWin.com: Why is AngelsWin.com your internet home for the Angels?
Geoff: It’s the people. We’re a family. And that comes with all the blessings and baggage that a regular family has. We fight, we yell, we scream, we cry. Well … the girls cry. And Adam. Adam cries. But we also laugh, we cheer, we support, we encourage. It’s a wonderful collection of imperfect people that love Angels baseball.
AngelsWin.com: In your opinion, what is AngelsWin.com’s best feature: the articles, charitable events, game-day chat, message boards, Fanfests, podcasts, etc?
Geoff: I think the way AngelsWin handles its social media accounts is simply amazing. Great posts, tweets, memes … the whole package. Just an amazing job. (takes a bow)
Lighter Side
AngelsWin.com: Where do you live and what do you do?
Geoff: I live in Fort Collins, CO with my wife and 3 boys. I work for Adobe Systems, Inc. and enjoy watching my boys play sports year round. Last year, my son’s baseball team won the 12U Colorado State Championship! Go Eagles!
AngelsWin.com: Why are you an Angels fan?
Geoff: I cannot point to moment when I became an Angels fan. I’ve just always been one for as long as I can remember. I've just always loved the Angels and hated the Dodgers.
AngelsWin.com: What was your first Angels game that you remember? Who’d you go with?
Geoff: My dad took me to a lot of Angels games when I was young, and then sometime in the 80’s became a season ticket holder. I remember going to games and watching Nolan Ryan pitch. I remember the field seeming so big and the grass so green. This was before they enclosed the stadium for the Rams. I loved the old ballpark.
AngelsWin.com: Who have been your favorite players? Why? Any great stories or interactions with them?
Geoff: Nolan Ryan is my favorite Angels player of all time. I've had lots of favorites over the years, but Nolan will always be my favorite. Bobby Grich and Don Baylor were big favorites in the 80’s (I had a Bobby Grich glove in little league). I was a big fan of our 3 lefties Abbott, Finley and Langston in the 90’s. Torii, Vladdy and Erstad were my favorites during the 00’s. Today I live in a Trout house. All my boys are huge Trout fans. It’s fun to see them cheer for an Angel, who is one of the best players in the game, they same way I got to with Nolan Ryan. The fact that Mike is such a good guy, and solid role model, makes it even more fun.
AngelsWin.com: How do you survive the offseason?
Geoff: There’s always something going on at AngelsWin. Hot Stove season provides lots of entertaining discussions. I also enjoy keeping fans engaged through our social media outlets.
AngelsWin.com: What’s one thing you’d like everyone in AngelsWin.com to know about you?
Geoff: I’m extremely serious about not being too serious.
