Writing has been a dizzying blur of activity recently
Several larger projects in stages of development, interrupted by “breaking” events, PLUS subscriptions are becoming a thing
When I first began this online writing venture of Gilman On Sports approximately 16 months ago, I wasn’t sure where it was going to take me—or what the work load would look like.
There has been quite a learning curve. Heavy sports seasons (football, basketball) have dominated my time in the fall and winter—and even in the weeks of summer leading into the prep gridiron season.
It is a little early, but have already pulled together my broadcast schedule for KBZY—having to give up a big local contest due to an Oregon State contest, and stubbornly admit that it will be an issue most years in the future. All the preparation for gridiron action, followed by hoops in the winter, is just par for the course.
Spring sports are hit and miss from year to year. Baseball and softball advanced to the quarterfinals locally. Track and Field was very successful in 2023 with a third-place boys team finish for West Salem boys in the 6A championships, and some individual titles for some local athletes as well.
Summer is a season all its own. And that makes it both fun and hectic.
Last year, South Salem’s 12U team advanced to the Cal Ripken World Series in Missouri. Will that happen again in 2023? I can only shrug my shoulders. Pretty sure I will hear from parents if it transpires.
Feature sports stories tend to blossom in the summer. The just released piece on former McNary High and Willamette University footballer Chris Calaycay as a big time American football coach in Europe is a prime example of a cool storyline. It is a project that Chris and I talked about six months ago, but it fell through the cracks on my end. But when it finally happened, it was fun to write. I am still amazed by the connection between Oregon and Europe when it comes to American football.
Longtime McNary coach Tom Smythe was a pioneer in growing the American game overseas. He kept coaching there for decades, and his teams kept winning—especially the Vienna Vikings.
Those Vikings have had an Oregon component at different levels. Smythe was the pioneering planter of enthusiasm for American football—and former Western Oregon wide receiver Cam Frickey was an American player who fanned those flames of enthusiasm with his years of exciting play for those same Vienna Vikings and further spread the game as a longtime coach of the Vikings women’s squad. Calaycay—in the recent article—represents the next step in American football growth in Europe. After a couple of decades since the NFL abandoned its European wide conference—the natives have picked up the concept and are running a continent-wide league with 17 teams from nine countries. Calaycay represents the success of this era with last year’s EFL championship. Chris truly is royalty in Europe’s American Football World.
Although I have never been to Europe, I know plenty of folks who have played some football there. My two great nephews by marriage—Jordan and Tyson Giza—former Sprague players from Willamette and Linfield respectively—spent a couple of seasons in Germany playing American football. Another local athlete—ex-West Salem and Western Oregon footballer Caleb Singleton—also invested some time playing football in Poland.
There are other Oregonians who have made appearances in the European football theatre—helping to stimulate interest in the American game. Calaycay told me that American football is second only to soccer in terms of fan interest in Germany. It has been a rich source of storytelling for me.
Other writing projects “in que” for me include the “stable values culture” in small towns sports locally, and motivation from a non-traditional sport that has helped a former athlete shed pounds and become a potential star-in-waiting.
There are other such features in various stages of development. Much of the work involves research about the subject and/or the person in the story, the search for photos, and interviews to help piece together the storyline. Sounds a little boring perhaps, but it is a source of inspiration and excitement. I have no production timeline set—but do maintain some contact with the sources, letting them know they are not forgotten.
When the story is done, and has been properly fact checked with the subject (trust me, it is a needed step), there is a certain measure of relief in finally publishing the finished work. Of course, there is always some fine tuning even after the story is posted—catching undetected typos or dropped words, and other errors that sometimes leak out due to being your own editor.
Sometimes, a story gets enough attention that some other media members might want to share it. An Eastern Oregon newspaper reproduced my story—thanks to prodding from a friend—on the death of longtime San Francisco 49er Dave Wilcox—who played his college ball at Oregon, was a star at Vale High and was a Hall of Fame inductee in 2000. Sort of a nice bonus for sharing my work in other locales. Similar sharing may take place with the Chris Calaycay story. Stay tuned.
This rather verbose column is also aimed at finally launching a “for pay” subscription option for this website’s stories/columns/features. As I have said before, I put in many hours producing the items you all read here—all without making one red cent. As you might imagine, my lovely bride has taken issue with my endless supply of altruistic energy—pointing out that my writing skills do have value. She isn’t wrong.
My paid subscription plan is not crazy expensive. A year’s worth of articles for just $50. That equates to less than a dollar a week. Sign up and you will miss absolutely nothing from Gilman on Sports. If you can’t afford to take that hit all at once, a slightly more expensive option is a monthly charge of $5. Five bucks. Still very reasonable from my perspective.
I move forward with this paid subscription option with my eyes wide open. At present, there are over 400 people who have chosen to subscribe for free to Gilman On Sports, but there are typically another 100-150 people who read each feature. I stand to lose some people when they aren’t allowed to read everything on the page. My plan is to put up paid subscription articles that cover an especially important/popular topic. There will be plenty of free articles still available, but paying customers get the bonus coverage for good reason. I hope everyone understands this move forward into the paid writing world.
Thank you for your loyalty to this site. Look for subscription options at the bottom of the stories that you read or when you log in. If you aren’t quite sure how often you might read stories, sign up for a month to see how it works for you. If it isn’t worth it, then you lost a smaller cup of coffee for your trouble. I get to also experiment with how much of a story to tease for those looking to pay up. It will be a slow process.
Keep on reading my friends.
Sounds like a no brainer. I will be signing up.
Respectfully, it's past due to be paid for what you do. We all reap the family discount benefit of your reporting. That recent story on Calaycay was another great example of telling the whole story. Now if you can get a weekly radio talk gig you could be a Mark Gilmanzano.
You're helping my diet as I redirect my $5 burger budget to you. All the best, my friend.