It’s official. It’s been exactly TWO YEARS since Kyle and I created the W&M Sports Blog and published our first-ever post. Funny enough, this anniversary also coincides with the 2016 Tribe Football Spring Game date! We’ll take that as a birthday present from Tribe Athletics to us–we’re sure they planned the game just for the occasion, right?

We wanted to start out by saying THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us throughout the last couple years. The outpouring of support has been truly incredible, and we never expected the WMSB be received the way it has been by all of you loyal Tribe super fans. And if you take the time to read this page on any sort of regular basis, you are undoubtedly a Tribe super fan. Truly, THANK YOU!!!

This time around, we thought it would be fun to share some statistics and tidbits about the WMSB with all of you, which will show what you all have helped us accomplish over the last couple years.

William & Mary Sports Blog’s Most Viewed Articles

The following is a rundown of our most viewed articles over the last couple years. The articles are all linked, so if any one piques your interest, click on it and check it out! A few will take you down memory lane, while others are timeliness classics, if we might say so ourselves. Roll Tribe Roll.

2014 Articles

Zable Stadium Renovations! – 579 views

Zable Stadium’s renovations were just announced and campus was alive with talk about what would change. This post included awesome mock-up drawings of Zable Stadium’s pending renovations…which will be COMPLETED for the beginning of the 2016 season! This article is worth a look if you want to get extra-pumped about the fall and some Tribe football.

2014 Preview: Quarterbacks – 326 views
There was a heated battle for the starting quarterback position in 2014, as senior Raphel Ortiz battled Christian Brumbaugh, Jhalil Mosley, and Steve Cluley for the starting job. The WMSB wrote an individual profile of each quarterback in this post, and provided our own analysis. In the end, we could have sworn the impressive senior Ortiz would get the starting job. But Ortiz had to cut his collegiate career one season short due to a shoulder injury, as then-Sophomore Steve Cluley took over the starting reigns. A role he holds to this day as a 2016 senior.

Preview: #17 William & Mary @ James Madison  – 317 views
For this awesome post, we recruited Rob and Todd of the JMU Sports Blog for an in-depth Q&A analysis of the 2014 JMU Dukes. If not for the JMUSB, our blog would never have had inspiration, and likely never would have existed. For this, we are forever indebted. Shout out to the JMUSB! If you haven’t read their stuff, give them a try. Even if it is about an in-state rival, their articles are always fun to read and offer plenty of great CAA analysis.

Bye Week Shenanigans – 316 views 
Our personal favorite, if there is one post you click on, click on this–it includes some incredibly hilarious pictures/memes of select 2014 Tribe football players. Well worth your time. Enjoy this preview:

2015 Articles

Tre McBride Shocks and Awes at the NFL Combine – 6,587 views
Still, by far our most viewed post of all time. And it’s not even close. The article detailed McBride’s ascent into the pros, as he checked into the 2015 NFL Combine at a svelte 6’2″ 205 pounds. McBride put forward in a head-turning 4.41 forty yard dash time, ranking him 7th among ALL wide receivers at the Combine, comprised of the best WRs in the country. This time was faster than Alabama’s Amari Cooper (4.42) and Maryland speedster Stefon Diggs (4.46). Relive Tre’s incredible performance with this article.

CAA Ranking: Which School has the Most NFLers? – 1,799 views
In the offseason, we at the WMSB decided to conduct a little research. We always heard of select CAA players doing it big at the NFL level, but it was time to set the record straight: which CAA school had the most alumni in the league? As of summer 2015, Tribe fans were delighted at the results.

2015 CAA CHAMPIONS – 1,355 views
It was a bittersweet day. The mighty Tribe had just lost at home to the lowly Drexel Dragons, who were without their star player Damion Lee. To add insult to injury, it was Marcus Thornton and Tom Schalk‘s Senior Days, and the Green and Gold were hungry. A win would have made the Tribe CAA Regular Season champs and given the team a #1 overall seed in the CAA Tournament. Our hearts were torn. But something happened later that night: Elon DEFEATED UNCW. Had UNCW prevailed, the Seahawks would have won the CAA outright. Elon’s victory secured W&M’s position as the 2015 CAA Champs, in a season that won’t soon be forgotten.

CAA Championship Preview: #7 William & Mary vs. #14 Richmond – 1,317 views
It was that time of year again. Season on the line, a playoff berth imminent, with the Tribe pitted against their hated rival, the Richmond Spiders. Winner would take home the CAA crown and secure a high seed in the FCS Playoffs. The hype before this game was incredible, as W&M had fallen to Richmond the previous two years. And despite an insane amount of fan enthusiasm, the Green and Gold again faltered against Richmond. But the Tribe will be strong again this year, and we’re expecting a different result. Keep the faith.

WMSB Accomplishments

• Interviewed on the John Fredericks show, broadcasted on three radio stations covering central and southern VA: WHKT in Chesapeake, WNTW in Richmond, and WBZS in Roanoke, as well as online.
  
• Profiled in W&M’s on-campus publication, The Flat Hat.
• Featured in several collaborations with notable sports blogs, including Villanova’s SB Nation, UVA’s SB Nation, and the JMU Sports Blog.
• Followed on Twitter by The Virginia Gazette, Tribe Athletics, FCS Football News, Flat Hat Sports, CAA Hoops, and the Tribe Club.
• Grossed over 68,000 page views, 1,500 Facebook followers, and 500 Twitter followers from people in 98 different countries in 2 years-including follows from several notable Tribe Athletes & Coaches, such as: Jerome Couplin III, Tre McBride, Steve Christie, Al Albert, Bill Bray and countless other current and former W&M players.

Conclusion

Like we said before, the WMSB would be absolutely nowhere without the incredible support of Tribe super fans like yourself. Interacting with you on Facebook and Twitter, reading your comments on our articles, and even meeting some of you in person–it’s been an amazing experience. We again offer you our sincerest gratitude, and look to run into all of you in the newly renovated Zable Stadium in the fall! Look for us, I’m sure we’ll be wearing our WMSB shirts. LET’S GO TRIBE!!!