Having been in the sports media business for the past 30 years, we've seen it all. We've seen how sports is often relegated to second-class-citizen status in many newsrooms.

We've heard many an editor and publisher roll his or her eyes, wave hands as if to dismiss a notion and say, "It's just sports." As a result, sports coverage suffers.

It is our hope that our new website, pressbox1.com, will alleviate that problem. What is pressbox1? Glad you asked. It is going to be a website that will cover all 20 rural West Tennessee counties, including colleges. We hope to eventually have in-depth coverage of all 50 West Tennessee high schools and their feeder systems. In addition, we aren't just tied to the schools, but to the youth programs and any other sports-oriented event of interest in your area.

For example, if the Tennessee Titans or St. Louis Cardinals have an off-season caravan in your area, chances are, we'll be there. Trapshoots? Fishing rodeos? Let us know about them and we'll put it on here.

We also know that regional college athletics are of special interest to fans in the area. Look for Tennessee, SEC, Memphis and other major college stories here, too. You probably have already seen that we have led off with coverage of the Tennessee Vols and West Tennessee athletes on The Hill.

Our goal is to eventually have stories, photos, audio programming, video programming, statistical data all in one place. And we want there to be something for everyone, everyone who has an interest in West Tennessee sports. We plan on doing video and audio streaming of ballgames, have live data tracking, video programs and panel discussion shows, audio updates and at some point live audio programming throughout the day.

Many websites emphasize one or two sports, but we believe that all sports are important. Sure, football and basketball tend to be king in certain pockets of West Tennessee. But we understand that there are other things and they, too, need publicity.

If you see the cover of pressbox1.com, you'll see that we have links to all 20 counties, colleges, pro sports and other links. Some of the links aren't ready yet. And we aren't in all 20 counties yet. But we will be. We just wanted to get started and build from there. Be patient with us; this is a work in progress.

We hope you like what we are attempting. It's not going to be easy, but once we get it up and going, we think you will really enjoy what we have to offer. We also want your input. Drop us a line at jsteele.pressbox1@yahoo.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Again, thanks for dropping by and welcome to pressbox1.com. Remember, it's just sports.