| About the MWLNOW web site |
| The football/baseball site started as a hobby
site for the Sheldon Irish around 1999. There were two goals in
mind: |
In 2000, a feeble attempt to go district wide was made. The site progressed to it's height in 2002-2003. There's been a little slippage in football coverage the last two years as I am gone every weekend watching my stepson play QB for WSU. Still, the site is pretty much as it was it it's hey days, but without photos for football - still have them for baseball. I acquired a lot of my knowledge of other MWL teams by interviewing the football coaches and writing the MWL football predictions for OregonLive.com in 2001. I also coordinated all of the articles for the other 4A districts. An interesting sidenote is that I also had a contract job for OregonLive.com to kill bad posts. These were posts that were negative or personal in nature. OregonLive.com has since gone in house to do this, and the posts are much better, although in the off season a few things slip through until the sport starts up. Contributors Football. The Register-Guard still does quite a good job covering football, but there is still room for some whimsical, semi serious predicting. I usually take on the preseason prognostication. During the season I welcome others to take their shot at writing predictions for the upcoming games. RileyWrong, a football prognosticator in 2005, and others have contributed on a regular basis. Riley's son graduated and so Riley has moved on. If anyone wants to take over writing weekly predictions, please email me. Sign up to be a prognosticator here. Baseball. Stats, photos and game recaps contributors are the lifeblood of the baseball site. The Register-Guard just doesn't have the room in the spring to accommodate large articles for all of the spring activities, so it is up to us. We have been very lucky to have coaches and parents submit stats, photos and game recaps. Parents have chosen to have their name mentioned or to remain anonymous. It's okay either way. Written recaps have been as short as just the score, and who pitched and dingered, to as long as three or four meaty paragraphs. Sign up to be a reporter here. Photos As mentioned earlier, I shoot all baseball games at Marshfield. I usually also get photos from parents. 'The goal is to have one action shot of each player on each teams' page. I post pictures at reduced sizes for faster loading on the net. If you want a copy of a picture, email me and I will email the six meg original. Sign up to be a photographer or game reporter/recapper here. If you want to get a photo by a contributor, please talk to the contributor if they are from your team. If they are not from your team or are anonymous, please email me and I will follow up. Accuracy Stats come from the Register Guard. They are the holders of the official league records. This can result in numbers different than the school's stats. The Register-Guard doesn't have time to check film, so they go off of the game reporters sheets. The reporters are quite accurate as long as I am not bugging them on the sidelines causing them to miss a play. However, if the game announcers are off on a yard marker call and the reporter is at the other end of the field, the yardage might be off a little. I have worked closely with the Register Guard over the years and we have had occasional emails about accuracy if a player is in the top 10 for the year and especially if the player is in distance of entering the top 10 all time list. Special thanks to Steve Mims of the Register-Guard. If you see anything needing corrections, just email me. Offensive remarks. Even thought attempts are made to make all comments positive or neutral, occasionally a remark is offensive to someone. For example, in the 2006 football pre-season review, a player was referenced as having been an all league receiver even thought they had caught less than two passes a game. I thought that was an interesting observation. The parent, much bigger than I, thought of it as an insult. And even though the pen is mightier than the sword, it doesn't matter about the pen if the proximity to the sword is too close. I wisely change the verbiage when someone is offended, as I would have to worry about my safety when that person's team comes to Coos Bay. I do give the prognosticator's a little more room. Light hearted taunting without personal attacks is allowed. RileyWrong lived on the edge last year with his weekly pick articles. How can you not let out a little emotion for a Miller-Colt game? Want to have a comment rephrased? Email me. We have several requests (less than 10) a year and honor them all - you won't be the first. Profitability Profitability? I wish. The ads you see on the side don't generate income. They are from Geocities. Geocities provides server space for free in exchange for the ads. If I ever get my $5000 fast lens, I might try and figure out a way to sell photos, but I don't think that is going to happen. Gary Haliski Email
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