The new media will never again be the same.

For years, broadcast sports have been sucking the fun from our culture's pastimes. While the undeniably great impact of ESPN and SportsCenter cannot be stressed enough -- and really do you want to imagine a world without them? -- the mainstream media are just killing every fan's enjoyment of sports. From steroids to dog fighting to congressional hearings to Spygate, these have been the major sports stories of the past ten years.

Along the way, the sporting media have forgotten what sports are really all about in the first place. Why yes, you guessed it -- the games!

Now, I know what you’re thinking, that the explosion of sports channels and websites have given the fan unlimited access to sports 24-7. Unfortunately, quantity does not equal quality.

SportsCenter airs from 5:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m. to midnight, and finally from 1:00 a.m. until 3:00 a.m. For those doing math at home, that’s 14 out of 24 hours daily. Now that would be tremendous if many of those hours weren’t completely wasted. No offense to “experts” like Mark Schlereth and Merrill Hoge, but instead of hearing what these former athletes have to say -- especially when they are way more concerned with hearing the sound of their own voices than providing insight -- I’d much, MUCH rather just watch the action for myself. You see, no one gets into sports because of blowhards like former ESPN employee Sean Salisbury’s opinions. No, they get into sports because of fantastic athletes and great sporting events.

We here at TakingBackSports.com have had enough. Each of us grew up loving sports. We’ve seen hockey, and even fringe sports like tennis and golf, shoved aside as if they are somehow not enjoyable so that an ESPN pundit can say “expert” things like “Lebron James is really good!” As big-time fans from all across the country, we want to see sports returned to the fans.

But none of us are, as former VP nominee Sarah Palin would put it, merely Joe the Fan. We are all professionally trained journalists, and currently, most of us work in the industry as either staff writers or copy editors. With writers from the Trentonian in New Jersey to freelancers for the San Diego Union-Tribune 3,000 miles away, we offer a variety of viewpoints on the world of sports.

Also, instead of having spent years in the business, jading our fanhood, we are all young writers. None of us have dealt with superstar athletes, who haven’t the time of day for these cynical sports writers.

We are the future.

I know it’s cliché and all that jazz, but here, at TakingBackSports.com, sports are entertainment for the fans. Period.

This is the beginning.

Welcome to sports the way we see them, at Taking Back Sports.