ATHLETICSITE.COM BLOG

Rogers State University & ATHLETICSITE.COM partner for third-best outsourced website in NAIA

2011-07-08T00:01:00.004-04:00

The athletics department of Rogers State University recently cleaned up at the NAIA-SIDA convention, winning multiple awards for publications. We at ATHLETICSITE.COM are also thankful to have played a part in RSU claiming third place for outsourced athletics website in these awards.

RSU release

List of awards on the NAIA website

Congratulations Hillcats!

How big does your brand "sound"?

2011-04-26T13:58:00.004-04:00

The topic of the Civil War evokes many responses. Some view it as a terrible tragedy that should have been averted at all costs. Historians immerse themselves in it. Collectors and "buffs" view the War Between the States in an almost romantic light. Extremists can use imagery to create and/or fuel hate and fear. Marketers can learn lessons from the strategies of both Union and Confederate armies, which learned those strategies from centuries before.

The first major conflict of the Civil War was at Manassas, Virginia. So unacquainted with the atrocities of war was that generation that residents of Washington traveled out to observe the perceived Federal routing of the rebels. The eyewitness account of Corporal Samuel English of the Second Rhode Island Volunteers reads in part:

"Next, orders were given for us to fall back and protect our battery as the enemy were charging upon it from another quarter, and then we saw with dismay that the second R. I. regiment were the only troops in the fight; the others having lagged so far behind that we had to stand the fight alone for 30 minutes; 1100 against 7 or 8 thousand. It was afterwards ascertained from a prisoner that the rebels thought we numbered 20 or 30 thousand from the noise made by us while making the charge." ¹

Did you catch that? A band of 1,100 gave the perception of 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers, simply based upon its volume. The Yankees weren't the first ones to use this tactic (see the story of Gideon's band of 300 men in the Bible's book of Judges), nor the only ones. Perhaps you've heard of the "Rebel Yell". No, not Billy Idol's album or track from the same-titled album.

The Rebel Yell, of which the exact sound is debated, was a fiercesome sound that contained elements of an Indian war whoop and the cry of a pack of dogs on a hunt. From the enemy's accounts, it was a shrill cry that came across as something other than human, or at best from a deranged people, that was most certainly intimidating. "If you claim you heard it and weren't scared that means you never heard it," one veteran recounted.

What does this mean for marketers, or public relations, or the self-employed businessman whose word-of-mouth advertising means his own words coming from his own mouth? If there exists any magic formula to getting your name out there and being heard, maybe it can come from the Civil War. Let's analyze the two examples above.

The first key is volume. What kind of ambassador are you for your own brand? Have you tacked up a shingle expecting the world to rush to your door. How well-known are you? Even though I'm a web guy, for now let's forget about search engine optimization, what your Alexa rank and Google PageRank are, and what kind of traffic you generate online. Does the guy across the street know what you do? Is your business known in your own town?

The real estate people have it the easiest here. We look for the sign in the yard to know who's listing the house. Other home improvement companies (roofing, windows, shutters, gutters, paint, landscaping, etc.) will often put out signs beside their work. If you make cakes, perhaps you can invest in stickers to place on the containers in which your cakes are delivered. A phone number and memorable website address can drive more business your way. That's less obtrusive than actually putting your labeling ON the product you make (here's looking at you, car dealerships).

The second key is content. Now the Confederate Army produced a "maniacal maelstrom of sound that ... never yet came from the throats of sane men."² Ok, at first glance you're probably thinking that you don't want "maniacal" and "insane" as a part of your marketing. Whenever you consider that the soldiers wanted to communicate fear in the hearts of their enemies, they were pretty spot on.

Does your marketing say what you do? Let's try this exercise: open up the Yellow Pages to any given page and look at the business names. (I purposely picked some local, one-shop companies as opposed to national chains to eliminate brand recognition.) Yorel Integrated Solutions -- can you guess what they do? Another from the same category is L2 Technologies -- have an idea yet? Now try this one: Software Solutions and Designs, Inc.; I bet you're in the right neighborhood now. As good as that name is, they certainly did not choose (or fare among what was left) as well in the domain name department: www.ssdplus.com. Who did better? Try PC Corner Computer Center, LLC, with the domain name www.pccorner.org ... it would only be better if they'd scored the dot-com version. (The category was Computers - Dealers, if you're curious.)

Here's another marketing exercise. Can you recite your mission statement in 40 words or less? You (and your employees by extension) should know your business better than anybody. Know what you do, then do it well.

So make your brand "sound big". Use as much volume as you can afford, keeping in mind that some advertising is free. Say what your business is about--you can flavor it with humor or creativity (or maniacal insanity), but in the end you must create a need, then tell effectively how your product or service meets that need.

1 www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bullrun.htm

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rebel_yell

New designs and redesigns

2011-01-31T10:48:00.002-05:00

Check out the new website for Cameron University Athletics (www.cameronaggies.com) and Southern Wesleyan's redesign (www.swuathletics.com).

If you have a mobile device and want to see our mobile sites, visit our clients' sites who have implemented mobile:

Rogers State (www.rsuhillcats.com)
North Greenville (www.ngcrusaders.com)
Tampa (www.tampaspartans.com)
Wisconsin Lutheran (www.wlcsports.com)

More exciting news coming in the next month!

New Clients and New Launches

2010-09-30T23:30:00.003-04:00

We'd like to announce the addition of Miles Community College (Miles City, MT) and Cameron University (Lawton, OK) to our list of clients. Miles CC will have a new site coming out later this month, and Cameron will likely launch in December.

Launching in just a few minutes will be Mars Hill College (http://www.mhclions.com/).

Our text blAst (text messaging) and mobile site features are fully functional and will be added to all clients' sites within a few weeks.

Two schools and the NCCAA join the fold

2010-06-23T14:31:00.002-04:00

We are pleased to announce that Southwestern Oklahoma State University and East Central University (Okla.) have partnered with ATHLETICSITE.COM for their athletic websites. Both members of the Lone Star Conference, it increases the number of LSC clients to four and the number of Oklahoma schools to five.

We have also reached an agreement with the National Christian College Athletic Association to become a corporate partner. As our part of the deal, we will be launching a new NCCAA website this summer that will automate many of the processes that the national office spends time on daily or weekly. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., the NCCAA creates an avenue for athletes in Christian colleges to compete for national titles, but the mission goes much deeper than athletics. A heavy emphasis on community service and evangelism sets this organization apart from other national governing bodies. Three clients are members of the NCCAA: Palm Beach Atlantic University, North Greenville University, and Southern Wesleyan University. We'd like to add to that number as a result of this partnership, but our primary reason for seeking this relationship is the fact that we share the same beliefs and athletic philosophy.

If you haven't seen it already, check out the new Coker College design at www.cokercobras.com.

Partnership with New Media TV brings you an incredible price point option

2010-05-05T00:52:00.003-04:00

BREAKING NEWS
The best value in college athletics websites just got better.

Through a partnership with New Media TV (formerly known as Penn Atlantic, Inc.), we are now able to offer an additional price point. Using an ad-based-revenue system, the cost to your school can be as little as $1,000 per year.

Our non-ad site is still available at $3,500 annually for the first three years of the contract, a savings of 30% off our standard rate of $5,000.

HOW IT WORKS
We will place a tall ("skyscraper") ad on the right hand side of your content, and a few other ads at the very bottom of your pages. Site visitors will be accustomed to seeing ads on other major websites, so it will not seem unusual to see them on your site. Aside from those unobtrusive ads, your site will look and function like any of our other sites.

Contact us today to be the first to get in on this new deal!

New Launch; Free Online Tools for You to Use

2010-04-15T22:18:00.002-04:00

Tampa's new site is up at www.tampaspartans.com. We've implemented some new technologies on the site and feel it is a great improvement from the old site. One feature that did not exist in any form on the old site is the presence of the online store. The store is powered by Prep Sportswear, and you can access the store directly at www.BuySpartan.com.

We would like to invite you to follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/athleticsite) and fan us on Facebook (www.bit.ly/9DEa2l). Notice how that last link does not appear to go to Facebook? That's the first of the online tools I want to show you, if you have not seen them before.

www.bit.ly, along with other sites like www.tinyurl.com, are URL shorteners. Long story short (no pun intended), they will take a link that could consist of 100 or more characters and shorten them all the way down to just a handful of characters. TinyURL has an advantage in that you can make a custom URL, as long as you are the first one to register/submit it. For example, if you are making a link to your live stats which is quite long, you can paste your link in the tinyURL form and then specify a custom link like www.tinyurl.com/ABClivestats ... almost as good as grabbing a domain name for your live stats! The advantage of Bit.ly is that your link is as short as 17 characters long like mine above.

Along with the link shorteners, another tool you may find useful from time to time is an online image editor I discovered called SumoPaint (www.sumopaint.com/home/). If you're used to Photoshop, this interface is going to be very familiar. It puts at your fingertips the most common tools you'd need to quickly edit an image for your website: crop, scale, sharpen, color adjust, and even a pretty amazing number of filters for a free product. While I doubt it will supplant your need for good photo editing software like Photoshop and its competitors, it might mean you can purchase one less copy for your office if the other computers only use an image editor for the basic tools available in SumoPaint.

I hope you've enjoyed this post, and I plan to include more tips to help you with your online work next time!

Anderson University joins the fold

2010-04-02T09:59:00.002-04:00

Just added officially as a new client, Anderson University (S.C.) will be coming on board this fall. There are a couple more that we're waiting on paperwork for.

We also want to announce recent affiliations we've made with Penn Atlantic, an audio/video streaming partner, and Prep Sportswear, an online storefront for branded apparel. Both of these are free to use, and there are moneymaking opportunities for athletic departments through both ventures.

We'll soon be unveiling a new University of Tampa website, as well as the prototype for our mobile version of our websites.

New clients, new sites, new ... news!

2009-10-23T21:18:00.003-04:00

We'd like to welcome to the fold The Master's Academy, a premier private school in Oviedo, Florida. This is our second high school, joining Calvary Day School in Savannah, Ga., as our other secondary partner. This brings our client total to 39, 35 of which are on the collegiate level.

Launched since our last update are Tusculum College (www.tusculumpioneers.com) and Lees-McRae College (www.lmcbobcats.com). Look for a redesigned Saint Leo University athletic website in the coming days.

We just added a Facebook fan page which can be accessed by clicking the badge on the right. The first current client to become a fan will get a cool update we're looking to introduce in the new year. We'll see who follows this blog regularly!

Fallen Comrade

2009-10-01T01:27:00.002-04:00

I received word tonight that Shane Baxley, most recently with Southeastern Oklahoma State University, passed away sometime within the last 24 hours. I worked with Shane on a couple of occasions in the sports information industry and am proud to have called him my friend.

Outside of the Lone Star Conference and the Southern Conference, it's doubtful you would have known Shane. He wasn't high profile, and he didn't win the CoSIDA Rising Star Award, and there are probably a few things he didn't do perfectly. That actually describes 98% of the sports information professionals that I know. What he did do is work harder than anyone I know to overcome a disability and serve as an inspiration anytime I thought I had it tough.

He had sent me a Facebook message in September asking me if I would recommend him for a position if called upon, to which I agreed. If heaven worked on the basis of recommendations, he'd surely get mine. We'll miss you Shane.

Three more clients join the fold

2009-08-31T23:32:00.003-04:00

Launching websites with ATHLETICSITE.COM this fall are Warner Pacific College (Oregon), Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, and Young Harris College (Georgia).

The new additions raises the client base to 38 and welcomes our first West Coast client and two-year college clients. (Young Harris is transitioning to a four-year college.)

We thank God for the new business He has sent.

ATHLETICSITE.COM welcomes three more new clients this summer

2009-07-22T21:56:00.003-04:00

Lees-McRae College (Banner Elk, North Carolina), Pfeiffer University (Misenheimer, North Carolina), and Tusculum College (Greeneville, Tennessee) have signed contracts to bring the total number of ATHLETICSITE.COM clients to 35.

Tusculum is a member of the South Atlantic Conference, where we have five other schools and the conference itself as a client. Pfeiffer and Lees-McRae are members of Conference Carolinas, joining Belmont Abbey College and Coker College as Conference Carolinas members to partner with us.

Pfeiffer's new SID is Sean Fox, a Catawba graduate whom I've worked with during South Atlantic Conference championship festival events in Rock Hill/Fort Mill. He reminded me of a particularly eventful couple of evenings at Knights Stadium at the SAC baseball tournament.

Former Newberry College baseball coach Tim Medlin was a stickler for having everything just right at the baseball diamond. Field was the picture of perfection; lights were to be turned on just before you even realized you needed them--you know, like a professional or semiprofessional ballpark would do ... or NOT.

He had trained me well, so this particular evening I was operating the fancy scoreboard in the same room where the light controls were. The previous night I had watched a guy in an official-looking polo and khaki pants show someone how to turn on the lights: turn on one set, wait three minutes, turn on another set and so forth to avoid the mass consumption of energy that would occur if all lights were switched on at once. I had it down. It's nearing 7 p.m. in May, and Coach Medlin would have already turned on the lights around 6:30, so by my estimation it was past time to turn them on. I carefully followed the procedures I'd seen the night before and the game progressed smoothly with a lit field.

The field was not the only thing that I had lit. Mr. Official-Polo-And-Khakis came storming down the hall, asking in each press box, "Who turned on the lights? WHO turned on the LIGHTS?" Since I had heard the question before, and I knew the answer, I was prepared when he got to my box.

"WHO turned on the LIGHTS?"
"I turned on the lights."
"Why?"
"Because it was dark."
"Who told you to turn the lights on?"
"Well, the DARK SKY was a clue."
"Don't touch these lights any more. Do you know how much this is going to cost us, turning these lights on early? Who's going to pay for that?"
"I could turn them back OFF for a little bit. Would that make you happy?"
He stormed off with words I dare not repeat. Oh well, I was over it ... live and learn, lesson learned. Don't touch the lights in Knights Stadium. I had a chance to exercise that newfound knowledge the very next night.

7 p.m. rolls around and I'm thinking, "Medlin would already have these lights on." By 7:15 the umpires were looking toward the lights, and then toward the pressbox as if to say "someone should be turning on lights soon." Fans started looking toward the lights with the same implication. Next half inning the umpires signal to the press box that the lights should be turned on. I'd love to do it, but, you know ... he he he, I'm Pete Rose up here with a lifetime ban. They get finished with that half inning--in the dark, mind you--and the officials SUSPEND PLAY until the lights are turned on. Somebody finally tracks down Mr. Official-Polo-And-Khakis, and here he comes, storming down the hall with as much aplomb as the night before. Since there was no score for me to keep, I sat facing the electrical panel to watch MOPAK "do his magic" and turn on the lights himself. He asks no one in particular, "Why didn't someone tell me they wanted the lights on?"

I replied, "I would have, but I figured we needed to make up for the extra lights that we burned last night." Good knight, everyone!

Five great years

2009-06-09T12:22:00.002-04:00

I'd like to thank our loyal clients who we've had the opportunity to serve. Our original clients who signed up in the first year--Newberry College, Coker College, Charleston Southern University, Adams State College, North Greenville University, and Lander University--are celebrating five year anniversaries during the next twelve months.

I'd also like to welcome new clients who will be launching websites this summer:

Concordia University Wisconsin, member of the Northern Athletics Conference and NCAA Division III
Lenoir-Rhyne University, member of the South Atlantic Conference and NCAA Division II
There are three other clients with contracts pending which I will list after these are confirmed.

Multiple websites will see new looks over the next twelve months as contracts are renewed.

ATHLETICSITE.COM is now on Twitter: www.twitter.com/athleticsite. We will post selected breaking news events, sometimes related to our clients and some not.

Look for partnerships and affiliate relationships to be announced this summer with providers of audio/video streaming and enhanced live stats.

It's "Merry Christmas", not just "happy holidays"

2008-12-21T21:11:00.002-05:00

Maybe you celebrate Christmas, or Hanukah, or Kwanzaa, or winter solstice, or maybe nothing at all except for some time off work or school. With the commercialization of the holiday season, all some know of the birth of Christ is what little bit appears in the Peanuts cartoons that air.

Just for clarity, I want you to know that Christmas is about Christ.

Common responses to the question "Who is Jesus Christ?" typically fall along these lines: a good man, a wise teacher, an outstanding example, an influential leader. I could probably name 20 historical figures, if not more, that fit this description. Those descriptions do fit my Lord, but He's more.

I celebrate Christmas, the remembrance of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. More accurately I should say we celebrate the incarnation of God in human form, born of a virgin and fully human just as you and I but without sin as He did not inherit the sin nature of Adam, the fallen first man.

He didn't take on human form just to be a good man or a moral example. He came to be a sacrifice, to take on the sins of the whole world. No other method of atonement would do. No other sacrifice for sin would suffice. Since the wages of sin is death, when a man without Christ dies, he is bearing his own punishment for sin in two ways. The body dies; everyone's bodies die because of the curse of sin. More than that, the souls of unsaved man suffer an eternal death in hell, separated from God and all that is good. Christ, as a perfect man, did not have to die for His sin. He was executed in order to pay for all those that would and will accept His payment for their sins.

In this season of gift-giving, remember that God gave the greatest gift in sending His Son. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Six New Clients Welcomed to the Fold

2008-09-01T20:12:00.003-04:00

ATHLETICSITE.COM would like to take a minute and recognize its new clients picked up over the summer. Some have launched and the rest will within the next few months.

Lincoln Memorial University (Harrogate, Tenn.) became the third South Atlantic Conference member to sign with ATHLETICSITE.COM, joining Newberry, Catawba, and the conference itself on the client list.
Brevard College (N.C.) is the fourth SAC school and fifth SAC client overall. Brevard was a provisional member in 2007-08 and became a full member this summer.
The Piggly Wiggly Roundball Classic is a Christmas holiday basketball tournament based in Charleston, S.C. The Roundball Classic is sponsored by Communities in Schools and the Rotary Club of North Charleston to provide educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth. The PWRC signed on this spring.
Calvary Day School (Savannah, Ga.) will be the first high school client and will be launching in September. CDS has a strong tradition across the board and have brought home several state titles in this decade.
The University of West Florida is the first Gulf South Conference school to sign on with ATHLETICSITE.COM. The new website will launch in the latter part of October.
Florida Southern College, a member of the powerful Sunshine State Conference, will launch its new site with us as the calendar turns over to the new year. The Mocs have a proud tradition and national championships in their trophy case. FSC will make four schools plus the conference itself that are part of the family.

Major Program, the parent company of ATHLETICSITE.COM, powers 29 athletic websites across ten states and all three divisions of the NCAA.

Another season in the books

2008-02-16T22:04:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I wrapped up my stint as Northside's assistant varsity girls' basketball coach. We did make it to state playoffs, which is something of itself, being one of the best four in your division. Once we got to state, we ran into a team that was destined to win the state title, and I feel like the girls didn't really play with enough passion and discipline to prove that third place was really that much better than fourth. The consolation game was one of the worst officiating jobs I've seen ever -- the second worst this season. I just really have a bad taste in my mouth about basketball at the moment, and if I let my emotions talk right now, they would say that I'm giving up basketball for good. But I don't know.

Spending time in the garage yesterday and today was therapeutic, finishing up my workbench and repairing this and that. The garage finally looks presentable too, now that I have most everything off the floor and mounted on the walls. I sure wish there were a coat of white paint on the wall though :)

I'm happy to announce that my 23rd college client, Palm Beach Atlantic, will be launching in the next couple of weeks. I look forward to working with the good folks down there.

2007 Reflection

2007-12-26T21:02:00.000-05:00

As we look back on last year, I would like to thank my friends and clients who have made this year so special. What started as a dream in 2003 finally culminated this year as the business is now my ONLY full-time job (prior to August 2006 I had multiple full-time jobs! Yes, it's possible!).

My family and I moved into our second home, and first one in the Charleston area. Our house in Irmo sold three years to the date from when we bought it, and after our apartment lease ran out, we purchased our beautiful home here in Goose Creek.

Our son started school last year, and is a typical five-year old male: he's scatterbrained, he doesn't pay attention to detail, and all he thinks about is playing. Oh yeah, he's pretty smart too and loves to read, and seems to be artistically inclined. No telling what he is going to be when he grows up, as his interests change on what seems like a weekly basis.

My father died in 2007. It wasn't like we didn't see it coming, but nothing really prepared me to see my father's lifeless body in a hospital bed or in the casket. I can see it clearer today than I did back in July ... at the time everything was like a movie to which I was half-paying attention. I dream about my dad in those circumstances, and I seriously wish I could have just one dream where we're playing catch with ball and gloves or going fishing down at Pete Smith's pond or just sitting in the living room watching The Dukes of Hazzard (the show; yes, I'm that old to remember it new). I never wish for my dad to come back; why would I want him to return to a body that had heart disease, total kidney failure, smoke-damaged lungs, high blood pressure, near-total blindness, and leukemia? But I sure want to go to where he is. I want to "shed the sins and sorrows I have carried all these years." (Brad Paisley, When I Get Where I'm Going) As my body ages and starts to wear out, Heaven is a sweeter and sweeter reality. Eternal fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ... and all the ones who accepted the Lord and preceded me in death ... in addition to all the things that a new, perfect body will bring. And there are a lot of things I have to do before I go -- but you know, I really don't have to do them.

Rain and sunshine in 2007. More of both predicted for 2008. I'll try to do a better job of keeping the blogosphere informed as it happens instead of putting it all in one batch in my January 2009 posting. :)

This post was originally begun the day after Christmas on my notebook in a hotel room with a spotty wireless network. I ended up getting a few autosaves, but never got to post. It probably seems weird to do a "Year in Review" piece halfway into January, but I like to finish what I start.

Winning and Losing

2007-12-08T02:28:00.000-05:00

Someone has surely written a book on the subject of the psychology behind winning and losing. One day I intend to find that book and read it. Today I want to talk from personal experience.

I like to win, but I hate losing.

I did not say "I love to win and hate to lose". Love and hate can come in varying degrees, but without any other quantifier, you'd place love and hate at opposite ends of the spectrum, or as counteracting forces. Like vs. Hate is no contest. Hate overwhelms Like in a hurry. Only Love can combat Hate on an equal footing.

Maybe every coach feels this way, or maybe it's just me. I think the idea initially came to mind after hearing an excerpt of a speech from some top college b-ball coach among the caliber of Kryzyzewski, Knight, Pitino et al. It wasn't Wooden or Dean Smith, but I can't put my finger on who it was. Regardless, the unidentified coach shared the sentiment. A loss is a lower valley than a win is a pinnacle.

I suppose one coach in each division of basketball feels differently: the national champion, state champion, conference champion ... that coach that wins the final game of his postseason, the game at the end of the schedule where no further possibility of advancement exists. Once you win that big one, you hit the pinnacle. But you don't live there. If you continue to coach, you will lose again, and you'll be back in the cycle.

This creates the existentialist's question: why do it if it ultimately leads to more sorrow than joy? For me, the answer is that I love the game. Yes, love. I love to see players develop. I love to see joy in their faces after a hard-fought two-point win like we had last night, or after the overtime win last Friday night.

And ultimately, I end up caring for the players. As the season starts, I see players as chess pieces that, once aligned in the proper position and each using her skills and strengths at a high level of proficiency, give us an excellent chance of being successful. Then you see what motivates them, what makes them cry, what makes them fail, and you realize you're working with more than machines: these are carbon-based life forms that believe, and feel, and fatigue, and make mistakes, and sometimes perform better than you knew possible. And then you care for them as people. And ultimately, one day you can count these players among those that call you a friend.

But enough with all that: right now I see a team that is finding its identity and that is getting better in every practice and every game. I'm starting to think about a run in the state playoffs. And dare I say that the possibility of that pinnacle described above--winning the final game for which a team is eligible to play, a state title in this context--is becoming something that I'm willing to believe in.

Tonight, we took a step toward that pinnacle with a tough road win over what could be the toughest competition we'll see short of a state semifinal game. I've seen the other two contenders in our region play, and I think we can take them. We must now play without letdowns and continue to improve on ... what am I doing with all this coaching talk in here?!? I should save it for the locker room!

Champions Again!

2007-12-05T01:57:00.000-05:00

"One for the thumb" could almost be the rally cry for the Adams State University women's cross country program after winning its fifth straight national championship. I say almost because none of the harriers would actually own five team championship rings, as they would have exhausted their eligibility after four seasons. It's entirely possible that one of them obtained a medical hardship waiver (AKA redshirt) and was still awarded a ring ... ahh, you know what I'm getting at!!! Not only did these Grizzlies run away with (pun intended) another title, their male counterparts finished tied for second nationally. These runners certainly are in "rare air" up there at 7,000+ feet above sea level.

The Sunshine State Conference calls itself the conference of national champions, and it can add one more notch to the belt after last Saturday night. The team doing the notching was the University of Tampa women's soccer program. Congratulations Spartans! It is with somewhat mixed feelings that I offer praise, because Tampa did knock off Columbus State, another client, in the Elite Eight during its championship run.

On the men's side of the draw, Midwestern State University dropped its national semifinal game to Franklin Pierce in penalty kicks. Praise is still in order for the Mustangs who were ranked as high as #7 nationally during the regular season.

After winning last year's national crown, Tampa volleyball will have to settle for an Elite Eight appearance this year. The Spartan netters fell to Washburn in the quarterfinal and finished the year ranked #4 by the AVCA.

Two national titles, one runner-up, one semifinal appearance, and two quarterfinal appearances by ATHLETICSITE.COM client schools. Not too shabby at all. :)

It's been almost three months??? Get outta here

2007-11-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

August 29 couldn't have been that long ago, but it was. He he

Well, since I haven't linked to this blog yet, I guess I'm just writing for myself anyway. Still, that's no excuse. Today was not a good day. I'm helping coach a basketball team that hasn't gotten to practice in about six days, and it shows. Very badly. I became very frustrated with the players today and kind of lost my cool. That wasn't good for me. I've had blood pressure issues in the past from coaching, and I should not let it reach that point ever again.

Houston Baptist's site (www.hbuhuskies.com) has now launched, and Florida Tech is on the horizon. Hopefully I have a couple more to post about in the next few days. Florida Tech should be launching around the first of December.

Ok, so I've been tardy

2007-08-29T00:20:00.000-04:00

I haven't done any posts over the last -- wow -- two months because of the volume of work that has come in. Four new sites have debuted since my last post:

Rogers State (www.rsuhillcats.com)
Sunshine State Conference (www.sunshinestateconference.com)
Southern Wesleyan University (www.swuathletics.com)
Midwestern State University (www.msumustangs.com)

Houston Baptist is the next client on the list, and hopefully we'll be able to announce at least one more new client in the next two weeks.

You may have read in my last post in June that my father was teetering on the brink. He passed away on July 6. In lieu of flowers, the family requested that donations be made to the National Kidney Foundation in his name (Charles McCain).

School has begun, and I now wear the hat of a parent in the circle of education. I hope my former experience as a teacher is a blessing and not a blight as we work with the school in the education of my son. I'll have to post some photos of the first day of school soon. Well, maybe not soon ... more like when I get low on work again.

A Purpose

2007-06-22T00:23:00.000-04:00

Not since I've been a camper at summer church camp or been a student in college have I come across something that forced me to take a hard look at my life the way I did today. The website is http://www.johnplaceonline.com/ and the articles in particular were the series on synergy.

To define your life message and life purpose is a daunting task. It's particularly daunting because I see humanity as four groups of people:
* Those who know their purpose and are fulfilling it;
* Those who know (or believe they know) purpose, yet are spending their time in a career or lifestyle that is not working toward that purpose;
* Those "happy fools" (as I call them) who are perfectly content working their 9-to-5 days, happy with their jobs, and no real "greater purpose" exists for them; and
* Those who know no purpose and are also unfulfilled on a daily basis (unhappy with jobs if they have them, no real motivation to accomplish or succeed at anything).

I don't believe those are ranked from best to worst. Obviously the first is best and the last is worst, but I struggle to rank the second and third in my unnumbered list above. I'm almost persuaded that the happy fool is better off than the unfulfilled mission. That's why I say defining your life purpose and mission is a daunting task--once you "eat of the treee of the knowledge of good and evil", you can never return to the innocence possessed before. That is, once you have defined your life purpose, you can't recant later on and say you have no purpose. Saying that would be a lie. You have a purpose and are now choosing not to fulfill it.

I encourage you to spend some time on this site. He writes from a very religious-neutral standpoint, but many of his principles appear to be Bible-based. These concepts would be very easily ported into sermons. I bring up faith here because I'm getting to what I've defined as my life message and purpose. This could change over time, as it has changed since graduating from college 14 years ago, but for today it is:

My desire is to help people know the Lord and walk with Him daily. I want
to help organizations—such as camps, churches, and Bible colleges—financially
and physically. In order to be able to afford to do this, I choose to make
my living as a private business owner involved in website development for
college athletic departments. I have chosen this line of work because I am
a former sports information director at the college level, and coach and
athletic director at the high school level.

So now you know a little more about me, and what makes me tick. I don't publish that in an effort to get more business because someone might be sympathetic to my cause. I'm not going around selling candy bars for $1. I do the line of work because I love it and believe I do it well. I'd rather my motivation, and what I do with my profit, stay private and personal, but because of the topic at johnplace, perhaps I can inspire someone else to define a purpose and life message.

Another thing that I found in another article was this line:
"Do you understand and approve of the reasons you live your life the way you do?"

Can you read that sentence and justify any bad habit you've allowed to creep into your life? What obstacle/sin exists that you can't defeat just once? Just once? Let's say it's smoking. I choose that because right now my father, a lifelong smoker, is experiencing heart disease, kidney disease, Parkinson's disease, and partial blindness brought on by a series of strokes that is also limiting his mobility. He will be confined to a wheelchair or hospital bed soon, or he'll suffer that final stroke that will shut down a crucial part of the brain and that will be the end. He just turned 64, a man who did physical labor all his life after military in Vietnam, and if he'd never picked up a cigarette, it's safe to say he'd still be operating his own flooring installation business. My son is five, and quite likely he won't have a grandfather by his sixth birthday. He did a little better than I, though: my last grandfather died when I was six months old. Of lung cancer.

Can you make it through the next temptation to smoke? That's the only one we're worried about right now. Let's skip this one cigarette break. It will be both tougher and easier to skip the second cigarette break: tougher because of the nicotene withdrawal, but easier because you have a victory under your belt now. Ok, let's go for #3. Don't tell yourself, "well, I'll smoke the third one; I'm trying to wean myself off." So, you're going to wean off poison? Drinking less poison will help the recovery process??? Drinking NO poison is what will restore you to health!

Do you understand and approve of the reasons you live your life the way you do?

When you can say yes to that question in all honesty, you're reaching your potential or heading to the bottom. "Drugs or Jesus", as Tim McGraw sings. Tomorrow can be better than today. Reach that potential.

With only one post in June ...

2007-06-19T13:40:00.000-04:00

I look like a slacker. So here's the second one, and perhaps final one, for the month.

Last night there was a terrible fire in West Ashley (for non-Charleston-area folks, that's inside the Charleston city limits, west of the Ashley River) that killed nine firefighters. If you haven't seen it on national (and even international news), the Sofa Super Store caught fire and as the place heated up, the roof collapsed killing all inside. Our prayers are with the families of these brave men. On a business note, sympathies to the Sofa Super Store for the losses they will now incur due to this loss. Insurance does not "make everything right again"; it only softens the blow of such a loss.

What's going on in the backyard? The squirrel death toll is now up to five. And no matter what Rosie O'Donnell says, the squirrels are the real terrorists, not me. But I am the one with a firearm ...

Rogers State University is just about to unveil its new site, and the Sunshine State Conference will roll out in a couple of weeks. Midwestern State and Southern Wesleyan will unveil probably in the early part of August. There could be a major influx of customers over the next few weeks and months, and when I can say more about it, I will.

New Clients Set to Debut in Summer '07

2007-06-01T11:41:00.000-04:00

Take a minute to welcome to the family new clients that will launch prior to fall semester 2007.

Sunshine State Conference: The good folks at one of the premier conferences in Division II will be joining the ATHLETICSITE.COM family in June. Three of its members--Rollins, Saint Leo, and Tampa--are already clients and were instrumental in bringing the conference into the fold.
Rogers State University: RSU Athletic Director Wren Baker was formerly at Southeastern Oklahoma State, that became a client in October 2006, and knew a good thing when he saw it.
Midwestern State University: Following SOSU's lead, Midwestern will be ATHLETICSITE.COM's second Lone Star Conference client. It will make the fourth client west of the Mississippi River and first in the great Republic of Texas.
Southern Wesleyan University: This is the school where the Mike Gillespie without the tarnished image coaches! I count Mike as a long-time friend from my days at Newberry College, and he's labored hard to make the partnership happen up in Central. What other website design firm has six college clients in South Carolina?
Lincoln Memorial University: The Harrogate, Tenn., institution will make the third South Atlantic Conference school to become a client. We didn't get started early enough last year to make this a reality, but everything is in place for a July launch this time around.

Also, look for redesigns at Coker College and Charleston Southern University!

Bang Bang

2007-05-30T22:29:00.000-04:00

No more squirrels frolic around the yard, thanks to the rifle. If they even pass through the yard, it must be before anyone gets up in the morning. In fact, I'm having to take aim at squirrels in other yards' trees.

Like the one I got today.

Things started when I fired from my deck at a squirrel in my neighbor's tree. It either struck him or startled him, because he leaped from a limb about 30 feet up and hit the ground with a thud. I never really saw what became of him, although I figured he had to be a goner. I did notice a rodent going up the same tree, so I figured that must be the same one that jumped.

Later, I walked over by the lake to get a better view of what was in the neighbor's trees, and I noticed probably four up there. One was sprawled out across some narrow branches and I had a view like a bearskin rug. Ready, aim, fire ... no sudden leap, no fall from the heavens ... I thought I'd missed. Until 15 minutes later when I heard crack, crack, and then saw a falling squirrel--not like the one flailing and attempting to land on all fours earlier in the morning--that looked dead already and landed on his side. The neighbor's dog was frightened by the dying/dead squirrel; ironic seeing how the coward barked at and ran squirrels that made a path through his yard.

I did my duty, scooping up the carcass and placing it by the lake. When I came back out after my shower, whatever likes to eat squirrel bodies had already carried it off.