The Countdown Begins... SB Nation Houston Awaits

Sorry that we had to lie to you. It was the only way.

About that meet-up that we had planned: it's still going to happen. Only, it's going to be a launch party. For what, you might ask? Well, for this (click to enlarge).

SB Nation Houston, set to launch June 10th, 2010. For a look at an example of a full, completed site, visit SB Nation DC, Detroit, New York, Boston, Arizona, or Chicago.

Welcome to SB Nation Houston, folks. I'm your managing editor - pleased to meet you if I haven't already (FYI, "meeting" someone online nowadays refers to me responding to a comment of yours, perhaps. Sad, I know). Working alongside me will be five other outstanding writers, including SB Nation's own David Coleman of The Crawfish Boxes and Rivers McCown of Battle Red Blog. Our goal? To bring you the best Astros, Rockets, Texans, Dynamo, UH, and, to a lesser degree, High School coverage that we can.

Let's clarify something, first. SB Nation Houston is by absolutely no means a replacement for the individual team blogs. In fact, one of the goals of this exciting project is to bring MORE traffic to the team blogs and emphasize their content as much as possible. We'll be acting as more of a general Houston news site, with reaction and opinion pertaining to news from the fan perspective. Part of the site, as you can see, will be in the form of short takes on interesting or quirky news in a section entitled "Around the Loop." Another part of the site will pertain to simple news stories. And, lastly, each day of the week, we will publish a "feature" article - a longer version of the commentary that can serve as a daily read.

In other words, we're your basic local news and commentary fix. Now, if you're a big time fan of a team and want more in-depth analysis, THAT is where the team blogs come into play. They are still our bread and butter, and we want to promote them as much as possible. By the way, I keep referring to the team blogs like I'm leaving or something - that's not the case. You'll have to keeping putting up with me at TDS for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, we hope that you will come celebrate this exciting new venture at Champps on Thursday, June 10th. Texans tight end James Casey will be there to hang out, so come by if only for that reason. Spread the word about us, and make us a daily check-up: that's our purpose, and I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Also, we made the New York Times. And Paid Content. In addition, be sure to tune in to Sports Radio 1560 on Thursday at 2 p.m. to hear me promote the site with David Nuño. You know, if you're into that sort of thing.