Pants, the bane of my existence.
I’m at a crossroads of my own making. Again.
On the one hand, Coupeville Sports, in year thirteen, is racking up its best numbers.
With a month-and-a-half left in 2024, I’ve already topped my previous best for visitors to the blog in a given year, and I’m on target to surpass my record for most page views.
Together, we made it back from the dip caused by the pandemic, and interest in my ramblings seems at an all-time high.
Which is great, since I do like to ramble.
Overall, this is story #11,653, and I appear to be fairly unique in what I’m doing, at least in Washington state.
On the other hand, as we reach the end of the fall sports season, a time when I should be excited because basketball — God’s Chosen Sport — is set to tip-off, I am struggling.
Thanks to you, my readers, the last time I had a “real” job was about a decade back, when I was still trying to balance the blog with working in the dish pit.
Which never really worked.
I tend to go zero or Mach 200, and the blog only really took off after I focused all my efforts on churning out three-plus stories a day, unencumbered by the dinner rush conflicting with kickoff.
Since leaving Christopher’s on Whidbey, I have survived, paying my bare-bone bills — rent, propane, internet service, electricity, and gas for whichever hunk o’ junk I’ve been driving — while never going much beyond the moment.
That I have survived 12+ years doing this is nothing short of amazing.
The school district has never given me a penny. It’s all been you, the readers.
But I’m not sure how much further I can go.
I’m 53 now, my Xterra decided to stop backing up yesterday — right after I pulled into a parking spot at PC — and there is no world in which a small-town sports blog is ever going to turn a profit.
So, I have two options at this point.
One, basically come begging (again).
Like this blog? Want it to make a run at 12,000 stories? There are options:
PayPal: https://paypal.me/DavidSvien?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US
Venmo: David-Svien
Snail Mail: 165 Sherman, Coupeville, WA 98239
In person: Try not to hit me in the face if you’re throwing quarters.
Or two, grow up, go trim the beard before it truly becomes a full winter depression masterpiece, and return to having a “real” job.
Which would mean shutting down Coupeville Sports. I struggled to do both at the same time the first time around and wouldn’t try it again at this point.
So, I sit and ponder, and one thing is obvious … they’re going to want me to wear pants and not shorts, aren’t they?
Always with the pants.
“PAAAANNNTTSSSS??????”
Coupeville Sports 