This is Montana Sidelines. It is a continuously running blog where sports rule. My focus is the Flathead, but anything within the athletic realm is fair game. I will derive some of the writing from athletic events that I cover with my regular reporting duties, while much of it will stem from my relentless, if not obsessive, interest in statistics. In my mind, I started a numbers game when I looked at my first box score and the game has since proven to be unending.
Other entries will be random thoughts or brief references to current happenings in sports across the valley, the state and, at times, beyond. I plan to frequently utilize the magical power of linking, where I don’t even have to do any writing. I just say click here and check out what other people have to say. The Internet has vastly changed how we view, analyze and appreciate sports, just as it has done with most everything else in our lives.
Entries could pop up several times per day, or rarely throughout the course of a week. It depends on what’s going on.
Sports reporting requires a constant search for “the story.” But too often there are tidbits – fleeting moments and abrupt sensations and fourth-quarter emotions – that are hard to fit into the confines of a traditional newspaper format, yet deserve mention nonetheless. This is where Montana Sidelines comes in.
And it’s certainly not just for me. It’s for anyone with an interest in sports – athletes, coaches, parents, casual fans and lifelong enthusiasts. I appreciate as much feedback as possible, whether in the form of comments or e-mails. In Montana, where there are no big-market professional teams, local sports carry significant meaning. They are cornerstones of the community and, as one person, I know only so much about what’s going on.
So let me know what I’m missing out on and we can share it with everybody else, here on the Sidelines.