Kevin Ray: New To Blogging, Old Hand At Arizona Sports

So this is how the other side operates? I must admit that as one of the new columnists for SB Nation Arizona, this whole blog thing took some getting used to. I mean talking about sports, etc., has never been an issue for me. For some of you long-time Arizona sports fans, you might recall I did an audio blog daily for a number of years on a Valley sports radio station. 

OK, it's called a talk show and I used to do it every morning with my good friend Ron Wolfley before flying solo for a couple of years during mid-day. This all took place on KMVP 860-AM, which is now essentially KTAR 620-AM. A lot of great times and stories from my time on the air and at that station and maybe as we get to know one another a little better, I'll share some of those with you. I mean, you can't expect me to reveal everything on the first date!   

My last several years there were spent as Sports Director and the host of Suns Tonite and Suns Talk, the Phoenix Suns pregame and postgame shows. In all, I spent 14 years at KTAR and it allowed me to make a lot of great friends and meet some really great sports fans from Arizona and beyond. 

I started making the transition from radio to TV several years ago and now spend Suns pregame and halftime shows on the air with Tom Chambers on Suns Gametime on My 45. I've also been doing TV for Cox 7 for several years as the voice of its high school sports package. Along with those commitments, I've been the play-by-play voice of the Phoenix Mercury for 13 years now! Wow, hard to believe it's been that long, but it's been an amazing ride and with two championships and hopefully more to come, I can't imagine not being a part of what that team and league has accomplished. 

Like my time at KTAR, I hope to be able to share some stories from my time with the Mercury and the WNBA and how far each has come since those first few years when everyone was predicting failure. 

At the end of the day though, I'm a sports fan just like you. When Seth approached me about doing some writing for this new venture, I wasn't quite sure because everything I've ever done in media has been in the electronic format (radio/TV). After thinking about it and the unique opportunity it presented me to maybe reconnect with some of those callers from the talk show days and make some new friends along the way, how could I say no?

While my other job has me focused primarily on Suns/Mercury and high school sports, this blog won't be limited to just those sports. In fact, I'm looking forward to throwing all kinds of thoughts, ideas, and discussions at you in the coming months.  

I look forward to your feedback and opinions, as well. I mean in some ways it will be like doing a talk show all over again. I don't get to punch up the callers like John from Apache Junction and get that immediate banter, but it's sort of a delayed give and take. And yes, my mailbox will accept all opinions ... so if you think I'm full of shit, then feel free to tell me. We're all big kids here, right? So let's have some fun with this, OK?