Who's Your New Tigers Blogger?

I've been procrastinating with this a bit, but now seems like an excellent time to share what's going on. I've been asked by the fine people at SportsBlog Nation to take over their Detroit Tigers site, Bless You Boys, and after giving the matter a whole lot of thought, I've decided I'll take the gig.

Not only am I curious to see what it will be like to write for a larger sports blog network, but I'm really excited about contributing more to what has now become a formidable Tigers blog community. I'm hoping my first post - the mission statement, if you will - will be up within the next day or so. (I can only hope my mission statement leads to a better result than Jerry Maguire's.)

To be honest, I was initially intimidated by the idea of running a Tigers blog when several other people already do it so damn well. Could I possibly have anything different or interesting to say about what's now Detroit's most beloved team? I guess that remains to be seen. But besides the sense of community and camaraderie that's been created, one thing that's been so great about the Tigers blogosphere is how each writer has been able to find his or her own niche to fill. I hope I manage to find mine over the next few months.

So what does this mean for Fried Rice Thoughts and the other wing of the Casselbloggy network, Sweaty Men Endeavors? Well, I might be naive or delusional, but I intend to keep it all going. I've occasionally wondered if I should dial back the blogging and concentrate on something like writing a novel or advancing my freelance career. But two-and-a-half-years of my life have gone into this, which includes several events extremely important to me, such as my father's passing and my mother's citizenship. I'm proud of (most of) what I've written here, so I'm not letting my baby go.

I'm not sure what will happen here during the summer, as I'm sure I'll have to cut back a bit with my attention and time being further divided. But there's always something going on worthy of celebration and ridicule, and I can never keep that type of stuff to myself. This blog was always meant to be a place where I could write about anything I wanted, and I love having that, along with the gratification of those who make a point to stop by here each day to see what I'm emptying out of my head. I will always appreciate that.

If you're a Detroit Tigers fan and already check in at Bless You Boys, I hope you'll bear with me as I try to find my footing there for the next couple of weeks. And if not, I'd certainly love for you to follow me over and chime in during the upcoming baseball season. Again, thank you, and I look forward to keeping this thing going with you.