Here’s some big news that would affect you, dear Fire Quinito reader: A couple of weeks ago, I accepted a job offer to head the new sports website for TV5.

Yeah, I don’t know what they were thinking either.

It means I’ll have to give up my position at the PCIJ to work full-time for the site. I won’t officially become a TV5 employee until July, but I’m kinda-sorta running things for the site right now even as I’m wrapping things up at my current job.

What this means for Fire Quinito is that I won’t have as much time to update this blog, even after I’m done with the transition. I’ll still probably check in here from time to time, giving updates on other projects and ranting about my favorite teams.

On the flipside, it also means that I’ll have a full-time job that would actually require me to devote pretty much all of my energy to thinking, reading, and writing about sports – imagine being in the office and getting into trouble for *not* watching the NBA game – which means that I’ll be writing a shit-ton of sports content every day. I’m guessing that will be a fair trade-off?

Apart from my own writing, the site will feature pieces from many contributors, and I think that any new channel that allows more quality sports writing is a win for us fans. Just this past two days, we published an excellent piece by Mikkel Bolante on Smart Gilas, and an analysis of the Azkals loss to the UFL All-Stars by Ryan Fenix.

Now, I’m sure you have some questions, so I’ll make some up and answer them and hope they’re the same as what you were thinking:

You’re a sellout!

Hey, ouch! Also, that’s not a question.

Did MVP hire you?

No. In fact, I dread the possibility that I’ll end up getting fired once he finds out that I was hired for the sports site. Then again, I don’t think he spends time surfing snarky blogs on the web; I think he could find other, more productive hobbies given that he’s worth a kajillion pesos.

The website looks awful.

Again, that’s not a question. I’m not exactly thrilled about it, but it was kind of a rush job – I was brought in about a week prior to launch, so I didn’t have a hand in the design. But efforts to do a redesign for the long term are already under way. Currently, it’s still part of InterAksyon.com but it will be spun off as InterAKTV.ph.

Why did you take the job?

The opportunity was too good to pass up, and I’m not talking financially. This is going to be the first dedicated sports website that is published by a mainstream media outfit. You know how I keep talking smack about the need for better sports coverage from the mainstream media? Now I get to put my money – actually, MVP’s money – where my mouth is.

What can we expect from the website?

We’re working on a network of contributors that would allow us to break local sports news as fast as possible. We’ll also be putting together a team of analysts that would offer deeper insights into the games. We’re also looking at doing some investigative reporting projects related to sports. Finally, we’ll play around with different multimedia formats to present stories, whether they be video, audio (podcasts) and photos.

Will you still be posting snarky tweets on Twitter?

Is the sky blue?

What’s going to happen to the From the Stands podcast?

The podcast will still be available on Fire Quinito. In fact, last night, we recorded an episode that will be posted tomorrow.

What about my favorite Fire Quinito contributor, [insert name of contributor]?

They will probably end up writing for the website at some point.

Can I write for your site?

Sure! Email me a sample of your work.