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It’s a woman’s world!!

Posted in Bodybuilding, Fitness modeling, Girls Basketball, Girls Soccer, In Memorium, Navy pride, Nobody knows nothing, Not sports? Tough!, Poking Langley, tagged 2013, Basketball, Biggest Stories, Navy, Page Views, Soccer, Stats, Women rule on December 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Some of the women who made news in 2013. (Enlarge the photo to get the total poster-worthy collage experience.)

Women ruled in 2013.

Nine of the 15 most-viewed articles I produced this year were about female athletes (or non-athletes).

From South Whidbey’s exiled hoops star Hayley Newman at #3 (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/02/01/exclusive-south-whidbeys-best-player-walks-talks/) to Wolf grad turned competitive bodybuilder Cavan Simonson at #9 (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/11/03/cav-cav-kicks-some-well-toned-tushie/), it was a woman’s world.

Tragedy made an impact, in stories a person would prefer not to write.

The unexpected death of South Whidbey High School boys’ basketball coach Henry Pope (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/07/25/whidbey-loses-a-basketball-giant/) was the #1 most-read story of the year, while former CHS volleyball coach Kim Meche, and her battle with the cancer that eventually claimed her, nabbed slots #6 (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/04/11/night-coach/), #10, and #13.

You didn’t need to be an athlete, as proved by appearances from a mysterious Navy wife at #2 (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/07/28/exclusive-the-navy-wife-behind-i-support-the-olf-tells-all/) rock goddess Savanna Dohner at #11 (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/11/18/music-has-my-heart-and-it-always-will/ and all-around goddess Zoie Tingstad at #15 (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/10/18/say-a-prayer-for-zoie-please/).

And it wasn’t just the stories, as the feminine businesswomen ruled as well, with Kelsey Simmons Design having the most-viewed ad (by a large margin) among my 46 sponsors.

Helping her cause — a birthday article on Kelsey that topped out at #51 (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/11/18/awesome-just-turned-30/), a feature story on her business (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/06/22/kelsey-simmons-is-awesome-by-design/) that ended up at #33 (Larry Bird’s number, which always bodes well), and a story on her wonder dog, Sitka, (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/09/26/worlds-most-talented-dog-missing-find-her-and-get-a-free-dinner/) that trumped mama by ten slots.

Dogs. Fluffy, fluffy doggies. They’re popular.

While stories about women were the most-read, the best way to get comments (lots and lots of comments) was to write about the always-popular topic of Coupeville vs. South Whidbey, especially if you were prone to pokin’ the Falcons, as I was.

The five most-commented-on articles I wrote all concerned South Whidbey, with the ensuing brouhaha launched on the Hayley Newman article providing the only time I have had to ever shut down a talk-back. The Falcon faithful and their crayons…

I mellowed (a bit) as the year went on, however, and tried to send a (small) olive branch or two South Whidbey way, with a feature on personable, graceful Falcon soccer star Maia Sparkman (https://coupevillesports.com/2013/06/30/the-falcons-are-alright-maia-sparkman-sparkles/) getting big hits.

Small steps.

As we move into 2014, what have we learned?

McKayla Bailey, aka The Photo Bomb Queen, always gets big page hits for her photos. Always.

Belgium is my go-to country (thanks to Iris Ryckaert), second only to the USA in terms of readership. Suck on that, Canada and Britain.

No one knows anything. Several times I watched stories I expected to be big die a hard death, while stories I had no hopes for turned into blockbusters.

And last, but not least. Always, always write about women. Always.

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We’ll spot you 140 students! Go!!

Posted in Nobody knows nothing on December 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

"As long as the fog is here, we'll put extra helmets on sticks and they'll think we have more players!" (Shelli Trumbull photo)

“At least with the fog, we can’t see that they have 60 players on their sideline!” (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Everything changes? Nothing changes? Who knows?

Every two years the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association reviews the number of students at every high school in the state.

Then, after some huffing and puffing, and some schools being slid around, they’ll re-set the class system that sports are played in and lock it into place for 2014-2016.

The preliminary numbers, released last week, show there may (emphasis on may) be some slight changes in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference.

Coupeville is still firmly (and I do mean firmly) locked in as the smallest school in the eight-team conference, with 225 students in grades 9-11. That puts them well behind King’s (368), Archbishop Thomas Murphy (369) and South Whidbey (398).

With 1A schools ranging from 208-512 students, CHS would have to magically lose close to 20 kids before numbers are firmed up in January to drop down a rung. So, barring a mass exodus, they will remain one of the smaller 1A schools in the state.

At this moment, there are three 1A schools and five 2A schools in the league. That could change. Maybe.

King’s and South Whidbey will remain 1A schools (ATM has 1A numbers but opts up to compete as a 2A school — you can opt up but not down) and Cedarcrest and Lakewood are both well above the 512 mark and will stay as 2A schools.

The question marks are Sultan (428) and Granite Falls (491). They’re currently 2A but the preliminary numbers would knock them down to 1A.

But, Granite Falls officials believe they will go back above the 2A limit when numbers are finalized. And, even if they were to miss out by a handful of students, they could still opt up to remain a 2A school.

Questions abound.

Will the league remain status quo, even if it ends up with more 1A schools than 2A schools?

Is there a (long shot) chance other 1A schools could enter the league, such as maybe Cascade Christian and Bellevue Christian? If the league became more heavily slanted towards 1A schools, would the 2A schools stay put?

How would the changes, if any, affect the playoff system already in place? This year, two of the three 1A schools advance to the postseason.

So, what does all this mean?

No one really knows until January.

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