I started following the Blue Jays during the 1997 and 1998 seasons as a kid. Shawn Green and Roger Clemens were two of my favourite players. Even Jose Canseco in 1998 was pretty awesome. The Jays still had some leftovers from the World Series teams like Tony Fernandez, Ed Sprague, Pat Hentgen, Dave Stieb, Juan Guzman as well.
I started becoming more of a student of the game once JP Ricciardi took over for some reason. His idea when he first came over was building a contender on a limited payroll and I found that Moneyball idea interesting at the time. I started watching baseball through the lens of a front office/GM instead of just a die hard fan. The 2002 season brought my excitement back after seeing guys like Doc, Wells, Hinske, Phelps, O-Dog breaking through. Started really following the team more in 2003 which was a fun season, seeing Halladay win the AL Cy Young for the first time and the seasons both Wells and Delgado had! I joined the message board in 2004 and even from having discussions and reading posts on here, have learned a lot more over the years from a lot of you guys!