Welcome to Beltway Sports Beat

Hey there!

Thanks for stopping by the Beltway Sports Beat, my blog for news and commentary on Baltimore-Washington area sports.

I started this because I got tired of watching segments and reading articles on my favorite teams and yelling at the screen (whether it be the TV or the computer monitor) about something I disagree with, especially when I know more details than the writer/commentator/analyst is giving. Hopefully this blog will give you Beltway dwellers -- both on 695 and 495 -- some insight and maybe a little more information than any one major sports site gives on the local teams. This blog isn't meant to give any insider information or do any original reporting, and I don't claim to know more than ESPN, CBS Sportsline, or Sports Illustrated, but I hope that I can bring some of the information that they and other sources give so that people don't have to go searching around for when a player is expected to come off the DL or what minor trades have made minor headlines. I think that I can devote more energy and space to local teams than the major sports sites do, and I also want to be able to voice my opinions in an open forum to other local sports fans. Got some news I missed? Post it! Think my opinion flat-out sucks? Tell me! The more reader interaction there is here, the more fun it is for me.

Let me go ahead and put my biases out there, because I don't want people to complain that I give more post space and comment time to certain teams over others.
1) I am a huge baseball fan, so it's good that there aren't other major sports going on during baseball season (sorry Mystics and United fans), because I'll be devoting a lot of time to the Orioles and Nationals. That being said, I have to admit that I'm a bigger O's fan than Nats fan, so my opinions are a little stronger concerning the Orioles. I do follow the Nationals, though, so there will be posts concerning them.
2) When it comes to the NFL, I am a much bigger fan of the Ravens than the Redskins, and I actually kind of chuckle at the 'Skins failures, so I'm sorry if I offend anyone in that regard.
3) I love hockey, I've played hockey since I was tiny, but the NHL game bores me. Unless they put a game on the ice that is actually fun to watch, I don't know how hard I'll be paying attention to the Capitals (even though I've been a huge Caps fan for so long ... the game needs to be fixed).
4) I love the Wizards, but if they seem to be short on post space, it's because winter has NFL, NHL, NBA, college football and college basketball all at the same time.
5) I like college basketball, but there are too many teams in the area to give a lot of coverage too. I grew up a Georgetown fan until I went to college. I went to Maryland, I work for Maryland, I am a Terp. Sorry if I shortchange other teams in favor of Terps hoops.
6) The only college football team of note in this area is Maryland. Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia are all too far south for me. Penn State -- as much as they think their team should be getting coverage everywhere at all times -- is too far north.
I think that pretty much covers it. If you have more info on other local teams that you don't think I'm covering well enough, post comments or e-mail me. I'll do my best to be somewhat equal.

On a side note, I have to admit that I always cringe slightly when an announcer calls a Ravens vs. Redskins or Orioles vs. Nationals (we'll assume for the future) match-up a "Beltway Battle," because it's two different beltways. Maybe it's just because I lived most of my life less than a mile from the BW Parkway, but I always thought they should be called Parkway Battles. Yet I still named this blog the Beltway Sports Beat because A) it's become the standard, B) I don't know that the BW Parkway is that well known and C) "Parkway Sports Beat" just doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well.

Thanks for coming and check back often for updates!