Now Introducing...

The Wheelhouse is glad to welcome a new contributor to the site and the world of sports blogging in my good friend Jared. I've know Jared for many years, spending a majority of our lives as neighbors and oddly enough, we still are neighbors to this day. Jared grew up around sports and he's gained a wealth of sports knowledge over the years and can sit down with anyone to discuss many angles of the game for hours. His love for sports fuels his desire to want to write about it on a variety of topics.

I think he's similar to me in that when asked what his favorite sport is, he would quickly respond football. But, just like me, I think he knows there's no time like Opening Day in baseball and come a sunny June afternoon, there's no place he'd rather be than at the ball yard, listening to a crack of the bat or the smell of a grill sifting through the air.

Not only is The Wheelhouse bringing Jared on for his knowledge of sports in general, but he will be providing us with his expertise in the great game of baseball. With spring training in full swing and the World Baseball Classic less than a week away, things will be picking up very shortly with baseball talk on this blog.

I must warn readers out there that Jared is a Braves fan, but go easy on him and try to ignore his Atlanta Braves bias mindset at times. Jared's first post will be coming shortly as we launched our MLB preview with a breakdown of each division heading into the 2009 season and which teams to watch for throughout the summer.

Welcome to The Wheelhouse, Jared.

The Wheelhouse Is Open For Business

Welcome to The Wheelhouse! For several years this blog has existed only in the form of conversation over scotch and soda, talk of how great it would be to finally bring together all of our thoughts and have a discussion about all the things that make up our lives. However, for quite some time with jobs, life and everything getting in the way, we were starting to wonder if this idea would ever transpire into anything at all. Well, we're excited to say that The Wheelhouse has finally arrived.

The Wheelhouse joins the other thousands of blogs currently on the Internet today that cover various categories from sports to fashion to random happenings. What category does The Wheelhouse fall into and what can you expect to read here?

Well the word "Wheelhouse" in baseball terminology is described as,

"A hitter's power zone. Usually a pitch waist-high and over the heart of the plate."

Basically, if you put a ball in the hitter's wheelhouse it's going to end up in the bleacher seats for a 400-foot home run. In this Wheelhouse, you are entering our writing zone. The pitch is coming in slow-motion, we can see the stitches, the sweet spot and are ready to knock it out of the ballpark.

As you can tell from that we will definitely cover sports in this blog, but we are not tied into that category alone, as we will discuss plenty of the topics that make up life. From the little things to the big things, it's all on the table, and you're invited to join us.

Founded by two college grads with a writing background from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, The Wheelhouse will be bringing you fresh thoughts and ideas all the time as we work to raise the level of discourse. We're not experts, and don't claim to be, but what we will be is open, honest and unfiltered.

We invite you, the reader, to join in on our reindeer games. Comment, post, email us- participation isn't just welcomed, its encouraged.

Go ahead, bookmark us right now before you forget, and check back often. Better yet, shoot us an email and say hello, we want some two-way traffic as we travel down the highway of life.

Cheers,

Ryan Alexander

Todd Leight

Editors, The Wheelhouse