God and Ruler of SportsWire - Chad Erickson

Well like the title says, God and Ruler of SportsWire, well okay that is a little much.

In simple terms Chad was born on the East Coast, raised in the Midwest and the South, now living in the Pacific Northwest. Chad loves all sports and long walks on the beach with football and baseball at the top of the list. His favorite teams tend to all be from around the city of Los Angeles (Dodgers, Lakers, Trojans, Bruins) with the exception of the San Francisco 49ers and Vancouver Canucks.

When he is not working on SportsWire he is designing websites for Pro Athletes. If you care for that sort of thing you can view the Athlete sites here: O9 Productions

Editor In Chief - Matthew Gagnon

Matt Gagnon is a 2004 graduate of the University of Maine, where he obtained a bachelors degree in Political Science with a concentration on American Government. While at Maine, Matt played baseball, rugby and golf and was a regular fan of the powerhouse hockey program (really the only thing they did well on a national level), going so far as to paint himself blue and run around the rink like an idiot while waving a Black Bear flag when a goal was scored.

Matt loves all sports, but has a particular affinity for baseball, football and golf. His favorite teams (other than the San Francisco 49ers) tend to all be from the city of Boston (Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins) - and no, he did not become a fan of all these teams when they began to beat the living hell out of your favorite teams, he is a fan from the time when they all sucked, when he was a kid growing up in New England. And yes, you did read that right, Matt loves both the 49ers and the Patriots - get over it, he was born in San Francisco and likes the color red.

Currently, Matt lives in Annapolis, Maryland and works for a private intelligence firm as an Intelligence Analyst for the Asia and South Pacific regions. Besides sports, he is a die hard political junkie and loves nothing more than a good debate. Pick a fight at your own risk.

Staff Writer - Vini Chopra

Vini Chopra was born in India but moved to the United States when he was two years old. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area as an avid 49er fan and played football and soccer into high school. Vini graduated from Woodside High School in 2004 and is currently pursuing his Bachelor’s in Science in Physiology, hoping to relate that to the sports medicine field in the future.

Vini has a passion for all sports including football, soccer, and basketball. He follows the 49ers, Lakers, and Manchester United very closely and can sing the Manchester United song (when an appropriate amount of alcohol has entered his system). He also loves the Brazilian national team in soccer and Brazilian women too.

Currently, Vini is angry/jealous of Matt and the entire Boston area for defeating his Lakers and winning most of the significant sporting titles in recent memory. He dreams of sweet revenge from the Lakers and hopes that the 49ers can become decent again. While studying and working part time, he hopes to provide you with an interesting take on sports and also dreams of one day poking Chad in a similar fashion to the Pillsbury Doughboy. He is also a movie buff and used to review movies throughout high school. Woo hoo?

Staff Writer - Bill DeMartini

Bill DeMartini was born in L.A. but moved all around the world as a young Army brat. His love for sports started early and he grew up a huge 49ers fan. He has lived in Georgia for almost 25 years though and most of his favorite teams are from Atlanta. He was destined to attend the University of Georgia after moving here in 1980, when his Dad adopted the team and watched them win their last National Championship that year.

Unfortunately for Bill, pretty much every team he loves is terrible. Perhaps that is what drove him to start watching and loving the UFC. Or perhaps it was his love for fighting (inside the ring of course) and training in Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chung Kung Fu, and as soon as his shoulders are repaired (torn right labrum, left shoulder AC impingement), Brazilian Jujitsu.

Bill is currently a Real Estate consultant and investor. He loves hanging out with his wife and kids at the house, at the pool, and in the neighborhood. When he’s not doing that he loves training at the gym, watching every sport possible, watching movies (he’s a complete Home Theater junkie), and working on his house in Atlanta. His favorite sports are NFL football, College Football, College Basketball, any type of MMA fighting, Tennis, and Golf.

Staff Writer - Sharod Oliphant

Sharod Oliphant was born in Washington, DC on August 7, 1981, and was raised the majority of his life in the suburbs of Prince George’s County, MD. He was bred a Washington Redskins’ and Washington Bullets fan, but through his 27 years of experiencing all the triumphs and downfalls of the “fan experience”, he has developed an objective view of athletics.

As a Bowie School scholar-athlete, he excelled as an All State/County football player, while also lettering in basketball his junior and senior year. He signed to play football with Towson University where he played defensive end for 2 years before transferring to Delaware State and switching to tight end while he finished up his last 2 years of eligibility; Sharod also served as a sports writer for “The Hornet”, Delaware State’s school newspaper.

Despite experiencing a tremendous amount of adversity while at Delaware State University, he overcame the sometimes overwhelming pressures of the college atmosphere (women, parties, alcoholic beverages, etc.) to acquire his Bachelor of Arts degree in Print Journalism. Now, he hopes to excel as a writer for The Sports Wire, which has afforded him the opportunity to shed some light on the world of sports as it is, was, and will be.