Let the blogging begin!

OverTime Magazine is known as the business and lifestyle guide for active and retired professional athletes, providing content that helps athletes on and off the field during their careers, and after their playing days are over. Especially since the diverse fraternity of professional athletes is composed of men and women who represent from all ethnic backgrounds and walks of life, there are a multitude of opinions and viewpoints. So it is only natural that this OT blog would debut.

In the weeks and months that follow, you will see a bigger and better OT web site with more features and original material that we hope will lead you to become a regular visitor. The OT blog, which will feature ongoing posts by publisher Ryan McNeil and me, along with posts from guest bloggers who are active and retired professional athletes, will focus on current events in the world of sports, subjects that impact and interest professional athletes and intriguing sports topics. We welcome your comments and opinions in response to these posts, and if you have an idea for a guest column on the blog, please let us know.

For those of you who are new to reading and responding to blogs, the objective of each post is to stimulate discussion about the subject at hand. If you agree or disagree, or if you have your own take, feel free to comment. The only rule is this: respect everyone's right to his or her own opinion, and express your own opinion in a civilized manner. In other words, don't resort to the personal attacks that are common on media site message boards like the ones that are found on Boston and New York newspaper sites, or even Yahoo Sports, for that matter.

About myself, I am the editor of OverTime. I have been a reporter, editor and freelance journalist for 17 years at newspapers and magazines, and I have extensive experience writing about athletes, and covering collegiate and professional sports. I am also a recreational athlete who, at 39, still plays in YMCA basketball leagues and 30-and-over wooden bat baseball leagues, even though balky hamstrings and strained muscles sometimes derail my plans. I write about and follow sports closely.

The OT blog will be interesting because of the different perspectives. I am a media member who offers a point of view that combines the elements of a sports writer and author, and a knowledgeable fan while Ryan has the first-hand knowledge of an accomplished collegiate and professional athlete who is now a successful entrepreneur.

That said, let the blogging begin!