I'm Back!!!

It's been a year since I've written in this space. It's a space I conceived talking to a few people outside of Gordon Bierch in Rockville, MD, while trying to figure out how I could best break into the sports writing world. I figured I'd write my own blog, do my internship with Comcast SportsNet and soon be a sports writing machine at a well-known publication. Well, I was wrong!!! I decided sometime after graduating from Maryland in 2010 that maybe being a sports writer wasn't all it's cracked up to be. It has some flaws, and frankly I didn't care to be covering games of teams I had a rooting interest for. It was a big-time conflict of interest. So in the spring of 2011, I decided to help coach my high school alma mater (Wootton High) and spent the spring there. After that I enjoyed the summer and started seriously considering a career in sales. I wasn't really sure what that would entail, but it sounded fun and more interesting than blogging and asking some garbage questions to athletes who wanted no part of them. I ended up getting a job as an inside sales rep at a company called Motionsoft. I sell club membership management and scheduling software to (among others) gyms, hotels, spas and medical wellness centers. I've found a niche doing it and I really enjoy the industry. The fast pace nature of sales and the competitiveness of it really gets me going and makes me feel like I'm playing sports again; albeit in a much different way. But enough about what I've been up to-HOW ABOUT THOSE O'S!!! I'll write a separate article on a more in-depth look at why they're succeeding; but this story starts and ends with Buck Showalter. Showalter has given this organization the leader it's needed for more than a decade. His confidence, preparedness and desire to succeed at a high level isn't lost on this blogger. Remember Matt Wieters pre-Buck? I do. He was a bust. Why? Because he was wandering aimlessly trying to exceed impossibly expectations. Showalter came in and let him know from day one that as the catcher it was his team. Wieters hasn't been the same since. He's become the best catcher in the game. Adam Jones has taken his game to a higher level and on and on. The pitching has been a huge factor as well. Gone are the days when Orioles pitchers would be knocked out of the game in the 3rd inning. Gone are the days when the Orioles will be dead last in starters ERA. The depth that the organization has built has brought competition, fire and a commitment to holding the other team to less runs. I refuse to bore people with my blogs, so I will not continue going tonight. But check back in the next few days for a new article in this space. It will probably have something to do with the Orioles resurgence. Here's to keeping it going at Fenway this weekend!!!