Introducing Inside the Blogosphere

As a follow-up to the popular Inside the Press Box series, STC is asking (mostly) local bloggers about why they do what they do. Today's first installment: me!

Blogging gives me an opportunity to fulfill my lifelong dream of being a sportswriter.

It all started with my first memory of watching a sporting event: the Redskins' horrible 38-9 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII. From there, I began to watch more sports, attend more games and eventually found my way to the Capital Centre where, on Nov. 11, 1989 (at least according to my records), I witnessed my first hockey contest: a 5-3 loss by the Caps to the Edmonton Oilers (in their first season after the Wayne Gretzky trade, which didn't stop them from winning the Stanley Cup).

I won't bore you with an extensive record of every game I've attended but, needless to say, it's a long list. By the time I made it to college, though, I was hooked. I ventured up to Syracuse University with the hopes and dreams of being a sportscaster. That dream pretty much ended (by choice) after graduation, but it didn't die.

I have been reading the sports page of the print version of The Washington Post every morning since I was a kid and thinking about ways to cover the teams I love. The Web has given me a vehicle.

One of my floor mates in college introduced me to the world of HTML and it didn't take me long to create a Web site with a page for all of my favorite teams. That site died when I graduated, but I didn't stop thinking about the joy I derived from maintaining my own sports page.

One fateful day in 2006 finally brought me into the blogosphere. As I was unloading another brain dump of statistics on my wife one night at dinner, she uttered a throwaway line: "why don't you start a blog?" She continued, "that way, I can read it when I want and you can write as much as your heart desires about everything you want."

The light bulb went off very brightly. On May 25, 2006, I launched my first foray into the blogosphere, Random Reality Thoughts. It covered everything from the Caps, Wizards and my alma mater to "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor." I was in heaven.

But my journey wasn't complete. As time progressed, and the percentage of posts relating to the Caps increased, a few wise people (including my wife) helped me realize that blogging only about the Caps and the world of hockey was the best way to go.

The rest is history. This very blog officially launched on Sept. 18, 2008, making me a true online journalist. I hold a full-season press credential to the Caps and attend about 25 or so games per year. I've been to every game seven in the Bruce Boudreau era and have watched Alex Ovechkin blossom into one of the best hockey players on the planet.

I'm not sure what the future holds, but I can't picture a day when I'm not covering my favorite sport and fulfilling a lifelong dream. For that, and many other things, I'm extremely thankful.