Everything you never knew about this site

Today happens to be the 1000th day of this blog. With everyone's seasons finally completed (and Hockey Deficiency Syndrome gripping the nation), and with so many newer readers the last few months I thought I'd offer some basics about this site. What's this blog about? I consider it a niche (business issues) of a niche (junior hockey) of a niche (hockey) of a niche (sports). That where I focus. For most leagues, it's now easy to find out who won last night, who got the shutout, who got the hatty, what the standings are, and who are the stats leaders. I do help a little in that regard with links in the margins to most leagues and their standings, but that's the extent of it. Similarly, college commitments are easily tracked through folks like Chris Heisenberg, whom I also link to. I've done the generic "where is so-and-so going?" or "so-and-so is a great kid" thing when I've written for others. I find it pedestrian, formulaic, and unsatisfying. No offense to others who cover this stuff, but it's just not my thing. By the way, readers don't usually have to come here to the site six times a day to view the news, as you can subscribe and receive blog posts via email. Subscribing is relatively anonymous - I'll know you're on the list but no one else will. Blog posts are the only thing that go out - no one else can spam you. Secondly, those so inclined can subscribe to the blog feed, if you understand that sort of thing. Then there's the advertising. I'll spare you the usual about "visit our sponsors," and just point you to where you can find out more about advertising on this blog. Going down the left margin, we've got a variety of links of interest, starting with two dozen league sites, followed by a pair of sites that will likely answer most questions about college recruiting. Then there's a variety of hockey information links. If you don't know what a particular site is, I suggest you check them out - you'll be smarter for it. Finally on the left side, there's a handful of links that are mostly of a personal interest, storm chasing, work, and kilt-wearing. On to the right side... there's a search box in case you're looking for something in particular around here. Then there's links to the last several blog posts. Following that there are links to some posts on topics of interest to me, including some written by my wife on Clearinghouse issues. Finally, in no particular order, there's links to some of the more important hockey writers in the blogosphere. So who am I? I'm the fan who knows too much, I suppose. On the hockey side, I've served with a variety of pro and junior teams in minor capacities. Most recently, I've called play-by-play for local junior teams (NAHL's Lone Star Cavalry and the WSHL's Dallas Titans and Fort Worth Texans) in recent years, but other than the occasional guest appearance as a color commentator I've hung up the mic. On the education front, I've got an MBA in marketing from Oklahoma City University and a B.S. in Geography from the University of Oklahoma. I have been kicking around pursuing a doctorate from UNTHSC, but seem to always be to busy to get going on it. In real life I'm an analyst for the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC), a medical school in Fort Worth. We do a lot of strategic planning in my office, and much of my real-life work influences my thinking when it comes to hockey as a business. I've never really sat down and written out my philosophy when it comes to this game, but it's been painfully obvious to me over the years that the people behind it can do a much better job - hence the quote by Stafford Smythe located on my masthead. On a more personal front, I've been married a dozen years to Lindsay (also a hockey fan), and we have three kids aged three to seven. I used to spend a fair bit of my free time storm chasing, but between work, family, and hockey, I haven't had time to go out in several years. So that's about it - everything you never knew about this site, and probably didn't want to know in the first place...