About Oly Sports

Remember when The Olympian had a calendar that listed all the local sporting events going on in town? It was my go to reference for college and high school sports. I found my North Thurston High School football and basketball games there, Saint Martin’s hoops games and much more. The sad state of local newspapers forced The Olympian to drop this calendar and much of it’s local sports coverage. The people left in the sports department of The Olympian do a great job with the resources they are afforded but there is only so much they can do. Lots of games and sports fall through the cracks, no matter how hard they try.

The goal of Oly Sports is to fill in those cracks by gathering information from every source possible. From The Olympian to our local college athletic departments. Twitter to Facebook. First hand accounts and original reporting. Oly Sports will bring the Olympia area scores, schedules, news, links, opinions and more about our local sports teams and athletes.  Mind you I’m only one person so some of the cracks still occasionally go unfilled, but Oly Sports will try to do our best.

About the author

Hi, I’m Brandon Sparks and I am a born and raised native Olympian. I attended the old Madison Elementary (and was scared to death of Dead Man’s hill), the old Roosevelt (not the ugly old yellow one where the treasure was buried, though) and South Bay Elementary. I then matriculated to Chinook Middle School and finally North Thurston High School.

I went on to Green River Community College where I broadcast Gators baseball and basketball games on campus radio station KGRG and interned for the Grays Harbor Gulls baseball team. In Hoquiam I developed my love for sports management and information and minor league baseball. I moved on to Bowling Green State University’s Sports Management department and volunteered in their athletics marketing department. Stupidly, I left just shy of my degree in 2001 but recently returned and finished  my Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in 2011.

I worked in media and public relations for the Elmira Pioneers, Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings and Richmond Roosters baseball teams before returning to Washington. Though I’ve been out of baseball and media for over  ten years, it always been my first love and am I excited to get back in the game. In my spare time, I worked for the Seattle Supersonics and Everett Aquasox and now long for a minor league or collegiate baseball team in Olympia.

I root hard for just about every team in Cascadia except for the Oregon Ducks and Portland Timbers. I’m a huge Seattle Mariners, Sounders and Washington Huskies fan and I live and die with my Bowling Green State Falcons (mostly die, given our recent history).

You can also find me ranting about one of my other passions, sports logos and design at The Sports Logo Pundit blog and on Twitter.