Somebody once told me good byes are permanent. They said you should say “see you later”.

So this isn’t good bye, it’s see you later (maybe).

If you hadn’t heard, I have decided to close up here at SOX & Dawgs. It’s been almost 10 years of doing this. I’ve made a lot of friends through the site, made some good connections and embarked on something I truly enjoy and hope to continue down the line.

In case you didn’t notice, the last year or so, the site has been primarily a UConn only site with a smattering of Patriots as well. During that time, I have been covering the UConn Huskies teams almost like a beat writer with the exception of traveling on the road all of the time. I’m not a beat writer though and don’t see myself that way.

When Steve and I talked in the spring, I had mentioned to him that I was thinking about closing down the site. I wanted to see how things went and how much time I had to dedicate to the Red Sox and as well, UConn. He let me know at that time about his job and how much he was working and that doing some of the things he has done might not be feasible.

In the meantime, as I thought about it more and more, I couldn’t give the Red Sox the coverage that I had once given them here. I had hoped maybe to bring someone on board to write about them but it fell through. That would have allowed me to just concentrate on UConn.

Last week I had hinted on Twitter about a big announcement and got an email from Steve that reinforced my decision.

So with all that being said, I would like to formally announce that I will now doing my thing at TrueBlueUConn.com which was founded by me. I hope to bring on some people and continue to give you the same coverage I have of UConn football, men’s and women’s basketball as well as men’s ice hockey. I do hope to be able to do UConn men’s soccer as well but that one will be time permitting.

I would like to thank everyone out there for their support. Because let’s be honest, without you the reader, the site wouldn’t have become what it has.

Obviously, I’d like to thank Steve for all of his tremendous work here at S&D. I’d also like to thank NotWallyGM and Amanda Bruno for their contributions to the site. Everything you three did here for the site is graciously.

It’s a bitter sweet day. But as one door closes, another one opens. So instead of good bye, I’ll say see you later (Yes I’m leaving the possibility of resurrecting S&D down the road. But for now, the focus will be UConn and only UConn.

Thanks again!

About 30 years ago REO Speedwagon had a song called “Time for Me to Fly” and it appears that my time to fly has come. As I explained to Ian with my work schedule expected to get busier as the football season progresses I just do not see myself having enough time to commit to write the New England Patriots game previews that I have written for SOX & Dawgs since the 2007 season.

Over the years the previews have become more in depth and therefore more time consuming. I have truly enjoyed researching and writing them for you to read each week. In the time I have written them the team has gone to three Super Bowls and five AFC Championship games and has continually established themselves as a force each and every season in the NFL.

This also goes for the MLB Preseason Preview I write each year. This takes hours, days, weeks and even months of work. Some days or weeks are more time consuming then others and at this time I do not plan on continuing with that annual post as well.

While I will no longer be writing here on a regular basis I know that this forum is always open to me to express my opinion on anything sports related. Over the years I have written mainly on the Patriots and the NFL but have also contributed on the Red Sox and Celtics, UConn athletics and hockey related points.

Over the years, I also have created the Carl Everett Crazy Hall of Fame. While the Hall has been dormant the last few years as far as new inductees I do have a list, have some stuff written and do plan at some point in bringing you another installment of that silliness.

Thank you for reading,

Steve

It’s that time of the year where if you are a college basketball fan, men’s or women’s, where your favorite team or even alma mater is playing. And unfortunately, you’re stuck at work. Or maybe they sent you to Boise, Idaho and you want to watch the games.

Well luckily for you, Slingbox has a solution to your problem, and you won’t miss a minute of the tourney if using this device. If the game is on TV, it’s on Slingbox. And it fits in any setup, as it’s sleek and compact.

Slingbox lets viewers watch TV anywhere in the world, on any device (laptop, phone or tablet). Whether it’s live or recorded on cable or satellite TV, Slingbox has it covered.

One of the best facets of March Madness is the number of highlight-reel plays that occur during the tournament. And with the power of social media, sports fans can share and converse about these amazing moments with their friends. Slingbox can help assist them in doing so.

And here’s the good news: Slingbox is hosting a contest that will make one lucky winner the most popular person in their office during this year’s NCAA Tournament. They’ll get hooked up with a brand new chair, a Slingbox 500 and a feast for all their coworkers. And 68 runners-up will win a Slingbox M1. So head on over and enter (here).

The era of rushing home to watch live TV is long over. It’s now all about cool gadgets that allow sports fans to record or view games on multiple devices. So get with the program, and enjoy the action!

[This article is sponsored by Slingbox.]

With the UConn Huskies football team getting ready to start its preparations for the 2014 season in the coming weeks, it’s time for the vacation to end.

I’ll once again be covering the football team again all season long and I have some ideas on what I plan to do. I just have to sit down and make sure they’re realistic considering the time I have to put into it.

While I was away, I did cover some UConn football events and while some of you may know about them, others may not.

We also have some press releases concerning the UConn football team to post and will be doing that as well.

Surprisingly enough, the Boston Red Sox have started to play much better lately and that’s going to make some things interesting over the next eight days as we reach the 2014 trade deadline.

Steve will be doing his usual thing with the New England Patriots this season and we’ll have some info on preseason camp which starts tomorrow.

I just want to thank everyone who voted for us in the Hartford Courant’s contest, The Websters, for the top blogs of 2012 in Connecticut.

While we got in late due to a technical error and missed the first three days of voting, we were able to pull off the miracle and we won Best Sports Blog!!!

I really can’t thank everyone enough for their votes. Steve and I really appreciate them.

You can see the full list of winners for The Websters at the Hartford Courant website.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

A few weeks ago, I asked y’all to nominate me for Best Sports Blog, Best UConn Blog and best overall blog at the Hartford Courant. Well the voting began Monday and didn’t include us.

So I took my brother’s advice and asked SOX & Dawgs wasn’t included. It turns out they made an error and forgot to include my site.

So despite the fact that they are 3 ½ days into the voting, I’m hoping to make a splash and be the cardiac kids and pull this win out.

So if you could vote 10x today and tomorrow with each of your email addresses for SOX & Dawgs blog as the best sports blog, I’d would sincerely appreciate it immensely.  Also tell your friends to do it as well. And then thank them for me!!

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/websters/

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

The Hartford Courant is taking nominations for local blogs in various categories. I need your help in gathering a nomination for my site.

Here is the site link:

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/websters/

Here are the categories:

• Best overall blog
• Best sports blog
• Best UConn blog

All you need to put in the line is this: SOX & Dawgs https://soxanddawgs.com

We’d just be honored to be nominated so please help us out on achieving that. And who knows, if we are nominated, maybe we can win one of those three categories.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Blogs with Balls is coming back to New York this fall and for the first time they will be having the The First Annual Untitled Sports Media Awards Project.

There are many different categories out there including Best Team Specific Site. This is where we need your help. We’d love to be nominated for a chance to win this.

All you need to do is headover to the USMAP voting page and in the Best Team Specific Site is entering the following information:

Nominee name – SOX & Dawgs

Nominee URL – https://soxanddawgs.com

Nominee Twitter – @soxanddawgs

Of course if you see any other categories where you have some other nominees be sure to fill those in as well.

Thanks for taking the time to nominate us for the award. Steve and I both appreciate it very much.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

In a way that only Fitzy can, he brings us a great preview of tomorrow’s New England Patriots versus Indianapolis Colts game. As always, Fitzy’s videos are NSFW.