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Blog Updates Now at Fastpitchwest.com
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010Final Chapter for The Morning Brief
Monday, November 29th, 2010
Well, here it is. The last Morning Brief post. Post number 4,943. The final chapter for our daily news blog on men’s fastpitch. We thank all of our readers, many of whom have been with us since that first post back on March 1, 2004. We have enjoyed it, more than you could know.
-Jim Flanagan
Editor, Morning Brief
Morning Brief on your newsreader
Sunday, September 5th, 2010Just a reminder that you can get the Fastpitchwest’s Morning Brief blog posts via RSS, on your cell phone, newsreader (including Google Reader) or on your Google homepage. You don’t have to understand RSS to get it – just click the buttons on the page linked below.
To Add to your Google Reader or Google Homepage:
Click here to add to yours.
To Add to Your Cell Phone or other Newsreader:
To add to your cell phone, find your “NEWS” application button (e.g. on your iPhone or Android), and click “ADD”, and type in:
http://fastpitchwest.com/morningbrief/wp-rss.php
You will then find the Morning Brief in your “News”.
To Add to Microsoft Outlook, MyYahoo or Bookmark:
You can also add the Morning Brief feed to Microsoft Outlook, MyYahoo, or via Bookmark. Copy
http://fastpitchwest.com/morningbrief/wp-rss.php
and paste the URL into the address bar at the top of your browser, hit enter, then follow instructions.
ISF World Championships on Twitter
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009Need to catch up on the XII ISF World Championships ?
Click Twitter logo below and scan the headlines.
Not familiar with Twitter? Read more at our earlier post “Tweet Tweet”. In short, it’s short messages with fastpitch news – which you can read online, respond to, and/or get directly on your cell phone’s text messaging system.
(click logo to visit the official ISF XII World Championships website)
Fastpitchwest’s Tournament Calendar for 2009
Saturday, February 14th, 2009
We have updated the Fastpitchwest Tournament Calendar for 2009.
Click here to view , or use the “Calendar” menu button the main page of Fastpitchwest.
The calendar was created using Google’s Calendar, so you can view the list of tournaments on a “Month-at-a-Glance” style calendar. Click the little arrows in the upper left to move from month to month, and any tournament listed for details. You can also click the “Agenda view” and see the tournaments in linear fashion. Anyone can view the calendar, just like any other webpage; you don’t need Gmail or anything special.
If you are a Gmail user, you can add the calendar to your own, by clicking the “Google Calendar” icon at the lower right hand corner of any page of the calendar. (Have a Gmail account, but never used the built in calendar? Just click the Google Calenedar icon on the lower right of our calendar and it will auto-open and add the Fastpitch tournaments to it.)
The calendar works as an “overlay”, so you can click it on or off at your wish to see it with your own personal calendar, or without. As an extra bonus, if you add it to your Google calendar, you can search for any item you wish.
Don’t see a tournament listed on this calendar ? Send us the info and we’ll add it: jim (at) fastpitchwest (dot) com. We’ll send it along to Al’s Fastball as well. Have information that needs to be added or corrected, like a tournament website link? Send it along to us. Please put “Tournament Calendar” on the subject line to catch our attention.
Official Tournament Calendar at Al’s Fastball
Remember that the tournament page at
is the official list for all tournaments in men’s fastpitch, so be sure to check there for the complete, official list, and if you are a tournament director, be sure to submit your tournament information to Al Doran, fastball (at) pmihrm (dot) com. Al Doran has been posting the complete list of tournaments at Al’s Fastball since 1996.
3000
Saturday, January 10th, 2009Morning Brief’s 3000th post:
I just noticed that our post on the 19u teams in Australia was Morning Brief post number 3000. The news blog was started in March 2004, almost five years ago.
It appears that the first 7 posts back in 2004 were test posts, as the oldest remaining post is post # 8, from March 1, 2004, entitled “Lord of the Rings”.
From the “History Repeats Itself Department”: That post mentions the ISC World Tournament MVP for that year: Jody Eidt. Eidt, of course, won the award again this past summer, helping to lead the Hallman Rivershark Twins to the 2008 ISC World Tournament title.
The Morning Brief news blog uses the “Word Press” technology, a widely used platform which simplifies the process of posting new items to the website, permitting us to do so from any computer, or, even a cell phone.
Readers can peruse the Morning Brief Archives by the month, by clicking the links at the right hand side of this page under “Archives”, or can search all of the posts by using the search box in the upper right of this page.
16.9 Million, and the Hits Just Keep on Coming
Saturday, January 6th, 200716,916,337 – that’s the number of “hits” at www.fastpitchwest.com during 2006. (that’s “hits” on the site, not at the plate)
From time to time, we hear people say that fastpitch is dying out, but the remarkable increase in traffic at Fastpitchwest suggests anything but. For those interested, here are some of the internet “traffic numbers” at Fastpitchwest over the past four (4) years.
Year Hits
2003 3,715,047
2004 10,764,048
2005 13,969,123
2006 16,916,337
Add to these numbers, more than a million hits over at Maddy’s Photo site, www.maddysphotos.com or roughly half million hits at Ballparkradio, www.ballparkradio.com in the last half of 2006, taking the trio to more than 18 million hits.
One of the best measurements of the growth is in what is referred to as “unique visitors”, which measures the number of different people (computers) visiting the site, as opposed to just the number of hits on the website. Those numbers have quadrupled since 2002.
Year Unique visitors
2003 39,441 annual/3,286 avg. per month
2004 77,641 annual/6,470 avg. per month
2005 106,023 annual/8,835 avg. per month
2006 160,186 annual/13,349 avg. per month
We humbly say “thank you” for your continued readership and loyalty.
—
Jim Flanagan, Editor, Fastpitchwest
Maddy Flanagan, Photographer
2007 – Fastpitchwest’s 10th Anniversary
Saturday, January 6th, 2007
Hard to believe, but 2007 will be our tenth (10th) year on the internet, starting with those early days in 1998, when the site consisted of little more than a few pages of local news and standings, operated as an adjunct to my law firm website.
A brief look back:
In 2001, we moved the site over to its own domain, www.fastpitchwest.com.
In 2002, we added our email newsletter, “Thefastpitch”, that so many of you still subscribe to, and greatly expanded our photo galleries, thanks to Maddy’s handiwork. We also served as the Official Website for the 2002 NAFA World Series, in Salem, Oregon.
In 2003, we rolled out the “new look” site (the current black and olive design), with improved navigation buttons, and reorganized the content, to make the site more convenient for our readers. The reader response to that was nothing short of amazing. We continued our start-to-finish coverage of the 2003 NAFA World Series at Chippewa, WI, where we undertook our first ever live audio broadcast, streaming the championship game of the NAFA “AAA” World Series over the internet. “Maddy’s Photo Galleries” became the most frequently visited pages at the website. Late in 2003, we also added the “Free Agent Central”section to the Fastpitchwest Forum, to assist teams to connect with players and players to find teams to play on.
For 2004, we added the “Fastpitchwest Forum” bulletin board where our readers can post their comments and announcements directly, and created FPWN, the “FastPitchWest Network”, expanding our live audio broadcasts to three dozen games during the course of the season, including the AAU International Tournament in Orlando FL, Red Rock at St. George UT, Rose Cup at Portland OR, and the ISC II Tournament of Champions at Fargo, North Dakota. 2004 also saw the addition of what has become one of the most popular original content features, “Morning Brief”, our own blog for miscellaneous news in the world of fastpitch and the musings of yours truly, as well as “The Deuce”, our special blog devoted to coverage of ISC II competition. The year also saw Fastpitchwest feature stories published by Softball Magazine, the “Sports Illustrated of Softball”, including photo layouts by FPW’s own, Maddy Flanagan and four full page fastpitch covers in the magazine. Finally, for 2004, we rolled out our first FPW “gear”, T-shirts sold online and elsewhere.
In 2005, we rolled out our companion website, “Ballparkradio.com”, providing an online home for streaming audio broadcasts of fastpitch/fastball games, making it easier than ever for fans of the game to find the broadcast links. We were also honored to serve as the host for the archives of Al’s Fastball, everyone’s # 1 site for men’s fastball, which we affectionately refer to as the “Holy Grail” of Men’s Fastball.
In 2006, Maddy’s Photos overflowed into her own website, “Maddysphotos”, www.maddysphotos.com culminating with hundreds of shots from the ISC II Tournament of Champions, and a bit of photojournalism at the ISC World Tournament. In 2006, Fastpitchwest also served as the host for the ISC forum, separate and distinct from regional Fastpitchwest Forums. The year concluded with the Illinois Forum moving to a new home at Fastpitchwest, where is remains, along with California Forum (spearheaded by the ever-popular moderator “Sledgehammer”) among the busiest forums around.
2007, our Tenth Anniversary season promises some new and exciting projects, so stay tuned. We are humbled to hear from so many people all over the world, appreciate all of the kind words, and hope you will continue to enjoy our trio of websites covering the world of Men’s Fastball.
Are You Getting the “Morning Brief” by Email?
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006As the year winds to a close, we wanted to remind our readers that the Morning Brief has a “Feedblitz” service, which automatically emails you when a new item is posted. Never more than one email per day, and only when new items are added. It’s a great way to stay up on all the latest in the world of Men’s Fastball.
For more info and to sign up, click this link.
And if you’re a fan of the ISC II, there is a similar list for our ISC II blog, “The Deuce”.
Sledgehammer”s Rumor Central Tops 60,000 Page Views in 2006
Thursday, November 16th, 2006Sledgehammer22’s “Rumor Central”Among Fastball’s Favorites
A Note from the Sledgehammer22:
To all the Forum faithful. The 2006 Rumor Central topped 60,000 views recently, shattering last year’s total. It has been a great year filled with the most BS I’ve heard in a while. Since there has already been a 2007 Rumor Central started, I will think of a new page to bring to the table in hopes of stirring the pot and providing some laughs. Have a nice holiday season and good luck in 07.
Sledgehammer22
Editor’s note: We invite all readers to visit the Fastpitchwest Forum. You can post your own comments by registering as a member. Just an anonymous handle and password will do it. But you need not be a member to read the posts of others. Drop by anytime you like.
While we’re on the subject of the Forum, we should also tip our cap to the folks in the Illinois section, which has become one of the busiest at Fastpitchwest, in a short period of time, with daily postings on men’s fastbal in Illinois and the midwest.