Bringing a Piece of Sochi to Maryland

By Patch Staff

Countdown to Sochi!

At Patch, we’re passionate about promoting area athletes and providing a place for local conversation about this nationally—and internationally—exciting event.

Before the Winter Olympics officially begin, we wanted to share the easy steps to adding your voice to the site.

You can post notes of pride, rally support for locals heading to Sochi, or like this Joliet Patch blogger, sound off on the recent anti-gay legislation from Russia and why it’s important not to boycott the Games. Patch is the place to share whatever’s on your mind.

It’s super easy—you can personalize your post with a title, photos and a description in less than five minutes.

Because we value community voices, our platform allows users to interact and post directly to the site. There are no requirements for blogging -- it’s your content, your space and your rules (just don’t violate our terms of service!)

Posts appear on the homepage, in the daily newsletter and are shared with our social audiences on Facebook and Twitter. Our network of hundreds of sites across the country and ties to AOL and Huffington Post mean your content may also earn national placement.

Want to share your thoughts? Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Start a Blog" under "Post Something" on your Patch homepage. If you need help getting started, email community editors Shannon Morgan at shannon.morgan@patch.com or Susan Jenkins at susan@patch.com.