It is only fitting that both the original Chip Kelly Oregon Spread Offense and the website FishDuck.com are fading from view right now; both will remain in some minor variation, but neither will ever again be the same. Coach Willie Taggart runs a Spread Offense, but it will not be what Chip began and what Mark Helfrich refined at Oregon, particularly through the memorable Marcus Mariota years.
The same is true for FishDuck.com; we will remain up as the Grizzled Ol’ Coach, myself and a few others will write an occasional article, but the steady daily feed of articles you have had over six football seasons (in just over five years) is ending. I just can’t do it all anymore.
How many times have I stopped and started again this website? This issue is always the same; it is a second full-time job that not only pays nothing, but has cost me a total of nearly $50,000 over five years to provide information and entertainment to other Oregon fans. I am 60 years old now, and cannot do two full-time jobs anymore (I am an Investment and Planned Giving Adviser) and you must trust me my friends … managing a website with all the writers, editors, consulting coaches and technology is a full-time job).
What do I want to do for YOU?
I enjoy both my businesses; serving my investment clients and setting up millions of dollars in Planned Gifts has made an impact on lives and is very satisfying. However–so is creating an article that helps thousands of fans understand a concept that I just learned, as it allows them to enjoy the game of college football that much more. I have learned so much in over five years … how to write, create videos, use amazing technology, and manage up to 100 volunteers at a time. It has been a fun, no, a great growth experience.
Let’s learn more football from videos!
I would like to put to work all that expertise acquired for the benefit of college football fans everywhere.
It would be fun to create a subscription website (modest monthly fee) that teaches the typical fan more college football that what he/she already knows in a way that is not detailed like coaching sites, but done the FishDuck way; a method that I honestly have not seen anywhere else. We would create informational analyses using game clips of the teams consisting of the five biggest college football fan bases (and Oregon, obviously), and thus would have a huge market to supply.
The problem is, of course, that it takes an enormous amount of capital to create the resulting significant revenue that such a project would require.
It also takes time. I cannot do both as full-time jobs. In other words, video creation and my full-time career are both all time-consuming passions.
The Three FishDuck Fundamentals
These three fundamentals have been proven to me over-and-over the last five years to the point of frustration, and in many ways inspired the revelation of a national opportunity to reach college football fans. The instructional videos market for all subjects is huge, and we all have used them to improve our lives. Wouldn’t it be cool to love college football so much more than you do now?
FishDuck Fundamental No. 1: Fans think they know more than they do.
Football Coaches run from a 8.5 to a 10 (out of 10) in football knowledge, and the typical fan thinks she/he is at a 7.0. The reality is that they are really at 1.50 and the only way they would believe that is to actually go through digital game recordings with a real coach, as I have. You get humbled very quickly.
FishDuck Fundamental No. 2: Coaches cannot teach fans.
GOC, Mike Morris, states the I “translate into FishDuckese.”
Boy has this been proven to me working with so many coaches! For a variety of reasons, coaches cannot transmit knowledge in a manner that fans can understand and learn from. Go to a typical coach’s website and watch the eyes of the usual fan glaze over. I have a coaching team of seven, and yet only two have supplied me anything this season because they just don’t get what I need. I show them examples of analysis articles (over 250 of them!) and in conversations can pull out three or four topics to research from them … yet they still don’t get it.
The vast majority, and I mean 99% of coaches are simply unable to help fans, and I have countless examples of that fundamental in action.
FishDuck Fundamental No. 3: the more you know, the more you will enjoy college football–win or lose!
I had no idea that I would live that very fundamental going into this last season–but it is absolutely true. Even when you are losing … you want to know why. When you are winning? You can enjoy the tactics and strategies you just learned and be thrilled for your team. What is the technique that just got that sack? All of these concepts are fun to learn, and when you apply them to your favorite college team? Your game experience and love of college football becomes richer and deeper.
These three fundamentals are why instructional videos about college football would help fans love the game and their team that much more.
The short 27-second video above is from the classic FishDuck Video, Outside Zone Read, and includes one of the most amusing moments shooting among the 50 videos I created. It was 92 degrees outside and my four-legged companion, Abbie, was loving the cheese I was popping to her in the multiple takes of this scene. She “chomped” on a piece of cheese like never before, and although I went off script–I tossed her another one and she gave it the biggest alligator chomp, which she had never done before, and has not done since. I could not contain myself as we were shooting …
Fun memories.
Those videos have been viewed 1.5 million times and watched an average of 14 times each hour in the last 28 days! The FishDuck YouTube channel still gets 15-20 new subscribers every month (over 5,800 now) even though I have not made a new video in years!
As we downsize, it is fun to reflect upon how Alexa.com (a respected third party source) confirmed last month once again that FishDuck.com was in the top 1% of all active websites GLOBALLY. The 56,000 unique readers were attracted to an all-volunteer site publishing only one article a day? Incredible. And it certainly speaks to the quality we’ve been able to provide.
Help us get Articles and Potential Future Videos to You!
I know you all will mean to check into the site once a week, but the reality is that once you get out of the habit? You’ll wake up a year from now and wonder how many great articles you missed because you were following your new routine. If we come out with videos? You will want to see these!
It is easy and takes seconds…
At the top left of this page (or immediately to the right) … put in your email. If you already have? No need to again, but most of you have not. Anyone on the list knows that I have not shared that list with anyone, and never will as I promised. It would be used simply to let you know when we have up a tasty new bunch of articles or videos. I repeat … no-one but ME will use that email list, but it will always remain, just to inform FishDuck.com readers.
Once you put in your email address above? You will receive a confirmation email. Click on the link in that email and you are done inside of 20 seconds. Easy-peasy!
I owe so much to hundreds of volunteers over the life of this site, and to all of you readers for giving us the opportunity to write and improve. We have helped so many contributors on this site get real jobs due to their experience gained on FishDuck.com. I am naturally curious about the new football staff, so keep checking here for new articles, and sign up for the FISHLETTER to know when you missed some.
Above is a short video (less than a minute) … the most emotional for me ever written, shot and edited. After waiting all my adult life for a Rose Bowl victory, the result was the first version of this video that was so raw with emotion that I could not bear to open myself like that to so many fans. This take (the third one) still has too much as it is–but it is genuine, heartfelt, and in common with all of you, my fellow fans of our beloved Ducks.
Let’s continue to learn more football!
Charles Fischer (FishDuck)
College Football Analyst for FishDuck.com
Eugene, Oregon
Top Photo from FishDuck Video
Disclaimer: Readers: Every writer on FishDuck.com is allowed to express their opinion in their articles. However, articles do not represent the views of the other writers, editors, coaching consultants, management, or the principals of FishDuck.com. Charles Fischer (charles@fishduck.com 541-915-4541)
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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…