I write the stories, they make the magic happen. (Photos by Shelli Trumbull, JohnsPhotos.net and moms everywhere)
It’s been interesting.
Seven years ago today, sick with a mystery illness and royally, self-righteously ticked, I launched this blog in a hail of exclamation points.
Aug. 15, 2012 was the death of one thing, and the birth of another.
The Coupeville Examiner, where my movie column ran for 15 years, where hundreds upon hundreds of my freelance sports articles landed, had been sold … to its rival.
In the days right after the sale, all of the bylines on my online stories (my only “payment” for many of the articles) vanished, never to return.
I was not amused, and I wasn’t tactful about it. In print or in person.
The launch of Coupeville Sports gave me the freedom I had been seeking. Freedom to edit myself, to write about whatever I wanted, to post at 2:30 in the morning if I chose.
And yet, in the early days and months, instead of enjoying this new freedom, I lashed out a lot.
At my former editor, at the newspapers in town, at rival fan bases.
Once or twice it was justified, other times it was just a way to be an ass.
It drove readership upward, but sometimes backfired.
Though some of the biggest fires I had to put out were started for other reasons.
South Whidbey High School’s Athletic Director threatened to bar me from his school’s gym, after READER COMMENTS got out of hand on a story about the Falcon’s best basketball player walking away from the sport.
The girls basketball coach at King’s said I glorified violence for praising a Wolf player’s “lethal elbows” in a story, while Archbishop Thomas Murphy fans were content to just tell me I was a moron. Frequently.
To the first, go cash your cushy private school paycheck and lighten up.
To the second, you’re probably right.
Meanwhile, Coupeville Athletic Director Lori Stolee booted me from the CHS press box before a football game after I encouraged Wolf students to break the rules and sneak vuvuzela horns into the stadium.
She was right to do it.
We sat down a couple of days later and had a long talk, one in which I came away with a completely different perspective on her job, and the pressures she faced.
It’d be nice to say I completely transformed that day, but I didn’t.
Over time, though, as my illness faded (while never being properly diagnosed), I began to listen more to Stolee and CHS athletic jack of all trades Kim Andrews, who was my frequent press box companion.
“You can be better,” Kim would say. “You have this outlet and it’s only going to be what you make of it.
“So be better.”
Or something like that.
And so I did change, at least a bit.
I reached out and offered an olive branch to South Whidbey, wrote positive articles on some of its athletes, tried to be less flippant.
The change wasn’t 100%, as I would later bob and weave and poke fans and players at Klahowya during our time together in the Olympic League.
There too, though, I learned some lessons, as Eagle soccer star Izzy Severns and football standout James Gherna called me on the carpet, offering solid constructive criticism, and the occasional (written) kick in the rear.
As I hit the seven-year anniversary of Coupeville Sports today, I would like to hope I’m in a better place.
This is article #7,123, and, while my blog isn’t going to please everyone every time, it is in a much-more positive place than it was seven years ago.
It is largely the work of one man (though the help of photographers like John Fisken and Shelli Trumbull has been invaluable), and it will always reflect that.
It can be messy, often biased, sometimes entertaining, sometimes still infuriating (I am quite sure) — many different things to many different people.
If I’m smart, I, and the blog, will continue to evolve, continue to listen to the input of others, and continue to seek that sometimes-elusive balance between being cheeky and irreverent, and just being an ass.
Coupeville Sports is unique in many ways. None of the schools the Wolves play against have anything similar in place.
Many towns have newspapers, some of which go into more depth than others.
But here on Whidbey, a rock in the middle of the water stuck way up in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, local athletes, coaches, parents, and fans have coverage many big city rivals don’t experience.
The News-Times and Record offer Jim Waller, my high school journalism teacher, and a man who knows a billion times more about prep sports than I ever will.
He’s the voice of reason.
And then, over here in the corner, you have me doing my own thing, like a Dennis the Menace balancing precariously on top of a fence, throwing rocks at your window at 2 AM, screaming, “Guess what I just heard?????”
How long will it go on? Your guess is as good as mine.
I’ve thought about quitting twice, but am pretty locked-in these days.
So, I might make that run to article #10,000 after all, or I might go herd goats in Yugoslavia tomorrow. Never know.
I think I’ve found a pretty good groove, where the positive aspects of the blog outnumber the negatives, and there’s a steady mix of current stuff and historical stuff.
Though, if I start slipping, that’s why you, the readers, are here – to keep me in check. Positive comments are great, but never hesitate to tell me when I’ve cheesed you off.
I don’t work for the school district and they have little say over what or how I write, other than the fact current CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith can boot me off school grounds if he ever chooses.
Something he likes me to remind me of, with a big grin, every once in awhile when I send him too many emails in a single day.
Love the blog? Hate the blog? Come talk to me and don’t waste his time.
Coupeville Sports has morphed over time, and will likely continue to do so, based largely on what the readers want.
Some things won’t change.
I’ve never had a paywall, and never will.
I understand why many do, but I’ve taken a vow of semi-poverty, it appears, so, if you want to read for free, so be it.
Though, if you like what I’m doing, and want to help, you can buy an ad or make a donation. But that’s your call.
Ads are $100 and good for the lifetime of the blog, which means if you had been in back on day one, you would have already had seven years of advertising.
Donations can be given to me in person at games, mailed to 165 Sherman, Coupeville, WA, 98239, or dropped here:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/DavidSvien
And so we roll on into the great unknown of year eight.
Will it be unlimited juice boxes and gold stars, or frequent visits to detention?
Only one way to know – keep reading.
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