I just wanted to take a few minutes and pass along some updates to everyone on some things we've been working on here ...

- Within the next week, we'll be launching The Northeast Georgia Sportsline, which will provide daily coverage of the local sports scene and prep athletics. As most folks know, I got my start in journalism covering high school sports at the Athens Banner-Herald and, quite frankly, I missed the work. So, partially inspired by the fine work done by another ex-ABHer, I'm going to give this project a go. To be sure, it's going to constitute a very large portion of my time, and that's going to mean fewer posts from me, but we'll get to all of that in a minute.

This project will feature a web site that does everything from features and profiles of the student-athletes at the high schools in Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties to provide basic coverage of the wider community sports scene. So, we're going to take pictures, run scores and compile schedules from local softball leagues and Little League baseball. We're going to get student representatives from the nine area high schools to host their own blogs at the site, giving them the chance to comment and report on what's going on in their halls. We're going to do regular podcasts and video projects on the local scene. We're going to publish four printed publications that preview the seasonal sports, beginning with a local golf guide at the end of March.

But, most importantly, we're going to do what's important to you. If it's news to you, it's news to us.

It's an exciting project, and a rather comprehensive one. I've worn the editor and journalist hat for some time, but now I'm trying on the publisher, distribution and advertising ones as well.

With that in mind, it's essential that I make it known that we are selling ads for The Northeast Georgia Sportsline, both the printed publications and online product, so if you'd like to get a copy of our rate card and talk about some options, feel free to drop me a line.

- Now, how does that impact BTT? Hopefully, not much. I'll still be doing some posting, but we're actively working to expand our stable of writers. And, though we don't want to say anything just yet, we've got three or four folks on our radar who are interested in joining up. They've all got good experience and some solid writing skills, and that's very important to me. I take this little venture seriously, and I want the content and commentary we produce to be well-sourced, logical and well-written. By the beginning of next week, we should be able to introduce who's coming on board, so just stay tuned for that.

- That said, it's obvious we've got some plans for BTT. Martin and I are trying to map out a programming plan that includes some video projects (which one possible new contributor would head up), as well as a weekly podcast/livestream program. We're going to start doing more liveblogs, with one most likely coming up next week, and we want to make those liveblogs more routine. We want more Q-and-As with local and state leaders, as well as more forums from other commentators around the area. I know we've talked about these things in the past, but we've actually been able to get some traction going on a lot of them in recent weeks, so we're pretty excited about some of the potential here.

- Since I mentioned advertising with The Northeast Georgia Sportsline, let me jump in and give a little information regarding advertising at BTT. Considering we're hurtling into election season, I've already gotten some requests regarding campaigns advertising here ... and that's something Martin and I discussed, and we're both comfortable with it. It's a rather new development considering that, well, I've never had any requests for campaign ads to be placed here. So, if you're a campaign and you're interested in advertising with us, please know that you're welcome. We've got a well-informed and loyal readership that is modest, but growing, in size. If you're interested, shoot me an email as well.

As you can see, we've got a lot on our plate, but Martin and I are both really optimistic about what's in store.