Isn’t it interesting to see how life and sports can be so similar at times? Our beloved Ducks had a tremendous year with one setback, and it is amazing how FishDuck.com has experienced the same success path. Let’s take a minute to bring you up to date, look at some victories, and be realistic about our significant defeat at FishDuck.com, just as we analyzed the Stanford loss.
We have been on quite a roll! The interest in the site made it essential to increase our articles as we moved from one to two daily, with an occasional day of providing THREE to the dedicated Oregon fan. This required additional writers, (with more being added!) that have brought the number for this site up to TWENTY SIX, along with six Editors, and a Publisher to help manage it all. We have another fifteen people helping the site in such areas as technology, research, sales, photography, and my favorite … our consultant guest coaches who provide crucial expertise. If you’re counting them, then yes — it equals 48 who are helping the site, as the vast majority are volunteers who share our ambition to serve the “Next Level” Oregon fan.
Our biggest secret, the FishTank Video Archive, is unknown to most Oregon fans, yet we now have thousands of views in that area every week. We are in a reorganizing mode with the FishTank that should be completed by the New Year to allow more fans to easily find their favorite interview, analysis, or highlight video.
Jared Sawyer’s heartwarming interview of Cristin McLemore
Last spring brought about another victory for FishDuck.com, as we began the History of Oregon Sports section of the website to give tribute to Men and Women of Mighty Oregon from the earliest days of the university. It now serves as a library for all the great history articles and interviews presented on the site and is our gift to the players, the fans, and the university that is unavailable anywhere else. (This is an area of expansion in the future toward more non-revenue sports) Did you see the amazing historical photo archive that is part of our History section? It is interesting to see pictures from a century ago and wonder about all the stories that accompany those photos.
The summer brought us the Merchandise section which allows Oregon fans to buy the same items from us as other retail outlets, yet support the site at the same time. We also have FishDuck.com shirts, cups, and a ton of products I never thought possible a year ago. Thanks to you all who have supported FishDuck.com in this way!
The fall brought a major defeat to FishDuck.com as we learned that the Pac-12 would no longer allow the use of 2012 game footage for any sport. Would FishDuck.com survive after we had become unique in College football by providing video analysis from a “learning fan” perspective, now it was taken away?
What I realized over the next month though, is that if people want to learn, they’ll learn in any format. The numbers of people viewing the text/screenshot reports are now HIGHER than my video numbers! Nobody else can use game footage either, and we are among the few available sources that provide football analysis and have a track record for giving Oregon fans what they want.
The “Early” Days weren’t pretty
In November of last year we had 44,000 Oregon fans visit the site, while right now our 30 day prior total is over 125,000 visits! Now that pales compared to some national sites and newspapers, but for a fan site, or for the majority of sites on the internet, these are serious numbers. When we entered this market a year ago, there were already five well established UO sports websites, each having their own strengths. Our primary goal was to provide football analysis for the “Next Level” fan, who might not have the football knowledge of seasoned coaches but who wished to seek additional insight at an easily digestible level. In other words, this fan is just like the staff and I, and it has been fun to ponder an idea as, “wouldn’t it be cool?” and then see it emerge on this site a few weeks later.
Businessman Don Coates in a video commercial
So Advertisers…do you want to reach 100,000 “Next Level” Oregon fans in a month? Think of FishDuck.com like a retail store…would you like to have 3,000 to 4,000 a day walk through the store, the site, if you will? How about the videos created last year? They are still being viewed 30,000 to 40,000 times a month! The offseason is a big time for us because Oregon fans are hungry for football year-round, and we provide that information for them! We have added more recruiting information, and are embarking on a new feature on Fridays — “The Oregon Unknowns” that is unlike anything provided by any media source. We now have Official Oregon Media Credentials which allow us to have access to Press Conferences, Media Releases, and to place a reporter in the Press Box and a photographer on the field for the upcoming Bowl game (as we did during the football season) and Basketball season.
FishDuck.com is attracting great young talent like Josh Schlichter
Our coverage will continue to grow as we ramp up our articles about Oregon Sports history each week, current player interviews from our friends at Mighty Oregon, and the fascinating former player interviews. Our brand new section, The Inside Zone Read, is a great success at providing quick and timely information throughout the day! You’ll love our upcoming Podcast schedule and our other plans for the future. You see, we are not even close to my vision of the site yet, and we will continue to be innovative in providing what Oregon fans like you and I, want.
Truly the Best is Yet to Be!
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Charles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks, a season ticket holder at Autzen Stadium for 38 years and has written reports on football boards for over 26 years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports, and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He is single, has a daughter Christine, and resides in Eugene Oregon where he was a Financial Advisor for 36 years.
He now focuses full-time on Charitable Planned Giving Workshops for churches and non-profit organizations in addition to managing his two Oregon Football Websites, of FishDuck.com and the Our Beloved Ducks forum. He is a busy man!
He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More…