One of the first photos I published featured Wolf cheerleaders Emily Clay (left) and Katie Kiel in the aftermath of a team paint war. (Pam Headridge photo)
The most popular pic in blog history — Wolf hoops players celebrating the win which sent them to state last season. (John Fisken photo)
Coupeville Sports started in anger.
And, while a bit of that still lingers — though it’s more mild frustration than outright anger these days — I’d like to think things have largely changed for the better.
When I launched this blog Aug. 15, 2012, I really didn’t know I’d churn out 4,497 articles in the next four years.
That my readership numbers would vastly top what I anticipated and continue to grow each year.
Most of all, I didn’t realize it would offer me a chance to make a real, hopefully lasting, impact on a community in which I’ve lived for the past two decades-plus.
Back then, I was just peeved. Seriously peeved.
The Whidbey Examiner, a proudly independent paper I had written for on a consistent basis for 15+ years, had been sold to the same Canadian kajillionaire who already owned all the other publications on the Island.
One moment, we were “fighting the good fight against the Evil Empire,” and the next we were just another minor line item on a business report produced by that same “Evil Empire.”
Which might have been OK, if all my bylines (way too often the only “payment” I received) hadn’t promptly vanished, never to be seen again, erased by a giant corporation that couldn’t have given less of a crap if it tried.
So, I was mad.
When I kick-started my blog, I set out to be a major pain in the ass to the Whidbey papers.
If you look back at some of the early days, when I frequently ridiculed Canada and picked fights with South Whidbey, King’s and ATM fans, I was a bit of a turd.
A partially-justified turd, but still a turd.
Aggrieved South Whidbey fans even launched their own rival sports blog, which sputtered and died after a mere two articles.
But then things changed, not 100% (losing hundreds of by-lined stories forever still chafes me), but a good, let’s say, 83.2%.
Little bits and pieces of change came from a lot of people, though Kim Andrews probably deserves the most credit.
She was the sports scheduling magician at CHS in the early days of Coupeville Sports, and more than once she gave me good-natured grief about some of my choices.
“You can do better. You could make a real impact if you’d stop being such a butt-head all the time,” she’d say, and I’d roll my eyes.
But, over time, I began to realize how right she was, and I began to (slowly) change.
Four years later, I still tweak South Whidbey from time to time (King’s and ATM moved out of my line of fire when Coupeville changed leagues) and I’m still not totally copacetic with Canada.
But Coupeville Sports, by and large, has gone in a much more positive direction, and both my readership numbers, and what I personally get out of running the blog, have benefited.
When I look back on nearly 4,500 articles, there are some that really worked, a few that probably didn’t, and a lot in the middle.
Hearing a story made an impact on someone, getting positive feedback, in person or through the internet, has driven me more than money (though every last donation is immensely appreciated).
As we take that first step into year five, there are two areas, both still works in progress, of which I am most proud.
When I started my own Hall of Fame, which lives at the top of the blog under the Legends tab, it was a way to give myself something to write about on Sundays.
Now, 60 induction ceremonies later, it’s become something much larger, in spirit at least.
It’s a way to remember the people who have come along and left a mark, who have made Wolf Nation bigger, brighter and better, whether as athletes, coaches or contributors.
To tell them, at least for a moment, “We remember what you did. We will not forget you.”
And now, any day, a more concrete version of that sentiment will rise on the CHS gym wall.
It’s taken a good year, of research (which gave me an opportunity to forge an alliance with the Whidbey papers, thanks to the generosity of Keven R. Graves and Jim Waller), of fundraising, of fast-talking and cajoling, of believing deeply, but my title board project is almost reality.
When it goes up, the handful of banners in the gym will be replaced by a display which recognizes 112 titles won over the past 56 years in 11 different sports at our high school.
For the first time, athletes, fans and coaches will see the highly-successful Wolf teams of the ’70s remembered along side the new golden age Coupeville’s female athletic stars crafted in the early 2000’s.
A sport like cross country, no longer active at CHS but bearing a proud past, will step back into the spotlight again.
Tennis, which has never gotten its fair share of the credit, will rise up and finally be acknowledged, with track, as the most successful athletic programs in school history.
Those who came before will know “We remember what you did. We will not forget you,” and those participating today will have something to aim for, a chance to join their parents and grandparents on Coupeville’s Wall of Fame.
It’s a huge moment, for the school, for the community, as we embrace a vital part of our history, and it will mean a lot to me, to know that one idiot with a blog was able to help pull it all off.
As I head into year five of Coupeville Sports, it would be easy to slip back into poking the Falcons with cheap-shots or lament what Canada took from me.
But I’d rather look forward and try to build on what the Hall of Fame and the title board project have helped accomplished.
Somewhere, Kim Andrews is smiling.
Coupeville Sports 