Housekeeping: State of the Nation
By bingofuel
14 years agoPull up a stump, younglings. Let’s take a moment to look away from the train-wreck of a team that we’re still punishing ourselves by watching and talk about YOU. And by YOU, I mean US: OilersNation.com.
This site is over two years old now, and like a drooling, irritating puppy that you just want to swat over the nose with your latest FHM issue, it’s as spunky as ever. Even though OilersNation’s second birthday has come and gone, and I spent most of it drunk of my ass and weeping, I’d like to look back on the life of OilersNation, which back in November 2007 was but a gleam in the eye of one Wanye Gretz.
That’s WAN-YE, by the way. Like Obi-wan Yay. Though it doesn’t bother him, for reason it drives me nuts when people call him Wayne. But that’s the difference between Wanye and I: I’m an uptight nerd, and he’s a suave, barrel-chested hobo with a website and a dream.
I’m not going to talk to you right now about how much we’ve grown, because we really have and I think it’s obvious to most just given the comment counts on articles. We’ve grown not just in terms of writers and content, but in terms of traffic as well… in spite of the beloved Oilers’ recent fortunes on the ice. Buoyed by this growth, we decided to try a few more things:
- We created some limited edition T-shirts which sold rather quickly (don’t worry, there’s more swag on the way)
- We created a Twitter account, so we could interact more intimately with you knuckleheads
- Wanye went away to Europe to find himself. All he found were a bunch of STIs. So he brought them back with him
- We partnered with Original Joe’s on Beat The Heat, which has raised over $4,500 for local women’s shelters so far
- We sent out a bunch of OilersNation stickers to fans on Twitter. They’ve started posting them to our new Flickr Photo Group (which you should all join)
- One of our readers created a rather fantastic DFF badge
- Willis managed to get a job at TheScore.ca because of (or in spite of) his work at OilersNation
- Gregor’s hair has miraculously started to grow back*
- Brownlee’s hair has miraculously started to grow back*
- OilersNation citizens sent Gregor to the 2009 draft AND raised money for a local charity
- We’re in the process of launching a pretty outstanding new site feature that you should see very soon
Just when you think things are in the tank, you can sit down, look back and say to yourself, "We’ve come a long way." Because we have. And we’re not stopping, oh my no. We’re letting Citizen Alpha, our code monkey, take a week’s furlough in Cuba so he can dine with Castro. But as soon as he’s back in sunny Canada, we’re going to whip his ass so hard, he’ll wish he’d defected to the Communist nation.
So, Happy Belated Birthday, OilersNation, you big slobbering puppy of a website. I hope you never die.
*This might be because of the hair tonic they’ve been using, but the Nation will take credit for it.
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