(NOTE: This is a new column on West Metro Sports. Unlike most of the articles you find on this site, there will be some opinion mixed in. With this column taking the “West Metro Weekly” name, the weekly schedule is now called “West Metro Schedule.” – Joel)

When I started this endeavor almost a year ago, most of my friends and family looked at me funny.

“You want to do what?!”

I can’t blame them. This is a bit nuts sometimes.

However, I have strong ties to high school athletics in this area and high school athletics in general.

My father taught and coached for 43 years and my mother taught as well.

When I was born, my dad was coaching at Carl Albert. As a toddler, he moved to a brand new school, Putnam City North. But, I grew up singing “Go Fighting Patriots” on the bus with the football team and running around the old baseball field as my dad spent the 1980s as a football assistant coach and head baseball coach at Putnam City West.

I was supposed to be a Putnam City Pirate. I played football for the PC Central Wildcats (I’ll never get used to the Capps name). My dad moved to Original in the early 1990s and my mom taught at Central throughout the 80s and 90s.

After my freshman year at Central, I transferred to Bethany because my dad became the head football and head baseball coach there.

My athletic career was less than stellar. I was a decent but undersized defensive player on some overmatched Broncho teams. Baseball is my first love, but I love the sport more than it ever loved me.

Many things have changed with ol’ Bethany High and the three Putnam City Schools since then (That’s an understatement), but there’s always been something special about this area for me.

My freshman year at UCO, I was the sports editor at The Bethany Tribune. I covered all four schools as well as SNU. It was too much to handle but I loved it.

In college, I had a stint covering mostly high school sports at The Oklahoman. I ended up getting into radio (another lifelong love). That’s been my day job since 1998. It took me to Kansas City and Indianapolis (where I dabbled in high school sports again on the side for a small daily paper in Indiana). My wife and I moved back home in 2015.

After getting back into play-by-play, I was doing some research on high school sports history in this area. I noticed that the coverage today was sparse for the three Putnam City Schools compared to years past. Bethany gets a little more coverage from The Tribune these days, but I still found it lacking. Western Heights’ troubles as a district have been well documented, but I felt those kids should get recognition as well.

After doing play-by-play of Putnam City’s quarterfinal football loss to Stillwater last November, I registered the domain on a whim.

West Metro Sports was born.

I felt like there was a niche to be filled here. Print journalism isn’t like it used to be. The Oklahoman and probably even The Tribune won’t cover these schools like they used to. With all of the changes in media and the economics of things, I can understand that.

It’s a different world, but I think these athletes deserve their time “in the paper” even if it is digital.

I think there should be a historical record of their accomplishments just like there was in 1964, 1974, 1984 and so on.

That’s why West Metro Sports is here and I hope you’ll keep reading.