Welcome one and all to the listeners and visitors to the New Big Jab Website. This is an exciting time, as The Central Maine Sports Blog expands its horizons yet again with our pals at WJAB 96.3 FM / 1440 AM! The CMSB will be blogging right along with our buds, Shoe, Joe and of course Chris Sedenka. Things are happening here (sorry Bob Marley) so make sure you keep coming back and see whats going on. The blog is just the beginning of a beautiful relationship between the Big Jab and The CMSB, so stay tuned!!!
We thought, that since some of you JAB faithful haven’t been here before, we’d give you a little Central Maine Sports Blog history!
Matty is the founder, father, editor in chief and grand poobah of The Central Maine Sports Blog (editor’s note very similar to Jabba the Hutt). He went live sometime in August of 2005 with, how appropriate, a Matt Cassel article. What followed over the next 3 years was the Matty we all know and love, sarcastic, pithy, funny and best of all…shedding his New York Yankee skin! It was made official April 1st 2008!
Shortly thereafter, Matty made either the best decision of his life, or one that he will live to regret til the day they lay him to rest, he accepted this fellow fat guy into the CMSB fold! Matty and I decided it was time to try this internet radio show thingy out and boy what a ride it has been.
As fate would have it, we ended up following the Boston Celtics to Bannner 17 and The Sports Vortex was launched. Here are some of our highlights so far…
– Boston Celtics Jerry Sichting and Jo Jo White
– Maine Guides Series with Houston Astros 3rd Base Coach Dave Clark, Dave Gallagher of davegallagherbaseball.com, former Guides Manager Doc Edwards (DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!) and Portland Maine native and current ESPN baseball writer Jerry Crasnick.
– Various teams bloggers and college coaches
– And, quite frankly, the biggest and best endeavor by the CMSB and Vortex, the Montreal Expos Appreciation Series. We had a great time interviewing fantastic guests, talking Matty’s favorite defunct team, Montreal Expos Baseball! We had Maine Sports Hall of Fame member Jim Beattie, ESPN writer Buster Olney, MLB record holder, Dr. Mike Marshall, current Toronto Blue Jay Brad Wilkerson, California Angels former GM and current Sr Advisor Bill Stoneman (2 days before the start of the Red Sox – Angels ALDS no less), MLB Hall of Fame member Gary Carter, and the greatest of all time, Bill “The Spaceman” Lee
We sort of re-launched the blog in mid November to focus more on our home. With the help of Chris Sedenka, we were able to cover Maine v UNH in Orono and the High School Football Championships all in 1 day. We were able to keep ahead of all the major Maine media outlets on that day. Since that day, we have covered Maine Basketball, Hockey and Football and in the days to come will start focusing on high school basketball as well. We have created relationships with the Portland Sea Dogs, Portland Pirates and the Lewiston MAINEiacs, so expect game stories and features involving all of those teams. Don’t worry, we won’t forget the pro teams..we have a whole bunch to say about those teams.
Again, thanks to everyone at The Big Jab for making this all possible. Without them, the blog and the podcast would never have reached the heights they have. Remember, Frankie Fix is the reason most of us do this, and with the partnership with WJAB, that love can be honored every single day! Good things will be happening here..please continue to visit.
Last but not least, one of our favorite pieces of the Big Jab will not be returning…The Big Jab Forums. What is done is done, and we move on. We have created a forum, open to EVERYONE! Visit often, chat with other Big Jab Listeners and have a grand old time…
Welcome back BigJab.com…we missed ya!!
The Black Bears Men’s Hockey Team falls to Colgate with 1 second left in overtime, 3 – 2. The Black Bears play a consolation game today.
The Portland Pirates allowed a late goal to the rival Manchester Monarchs, falling 3 – 2. The Pirates return to action today at 4PM at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
The Boston Bruins continued their hot streak as Blake Wheeler scored 2 clutch goals on the way to defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4 – 2 in Carolina.
Army Hockey will visit New England over the next few days, as they compete in the Ledyard National Bank Classic in Hanover New Hampshire, hosted by Dartmouth. Army will face Dartmouth today.
The Maine Sports Blog 