A DBR Update!

Periodically, even though this probably makes us goobers, we like to look at where our traffic comes from, so here's the latest
update on Global DBR.

 Some of you we know, like Daisuke from Japan, and the official DBR
Olympian Daniel Kowalski, an Aussie swimmer who is a massive Duke fan. It's
amazing to us that guys like Daisuke and Daniel can get the bug from so far
away, but then again, we certainly understand it, since we have it in a big way,
too.  

Some of the countries just get a peek, like Bosnia & Herzegowina,
and Jamaica.   Bosnia & Herzegowina has an excuse, but come on,
Jamaica! Keep those hits coming!

We were also very pleased that in July, we got over 100,000 unique visitors
and an average of almost 200,000 page views per day. That's pretty great, and we
appreciate everyone who takes the time to hang out here. You guys make this fun!

One caveat - we do not currently track individual users from places like AOL
and Earthlink, so the numbers for individual users are likely low since the IP
addresses are dynamically assigned and so used by numerous people.

Anyway, we mention this for a couple of reasons. First is we're still trying
to figure out how to secure our long-range future, and towards that goal, we
need to keep asking for donations.  We had a good run at the beginning, but
things have tailed off. We expect that to an extent in the summer, but we need
to keep that campaign going. We'll let you know when/if things get really
difficult.

We're looking somewhat at where we can go and what we can do with this site,
and all of us enjoy the friendships we have made, the stimulating contributions
from readers, and the sense of place that has developed.  We will overlook
people if we start trying to name everyone who contributes to this site, but Rob
Clough, who writes about the women's team for us, and Stickdog, who writes about
recruiting, have both been incredible, and Carlos, who writes game previews, has
been amazing.  Ping, when he was in town, did tremendous work as
well.  Arnie Schecter has contributed various columns about whatever has
caught his interest, and they are always interesting, witty, and well-written.
And we cannot forget the FITSter. Brief history: FITS began as a parody of a
mean-spirited Inside Carolina Column called Fly On The Wall.  FITS=Fly in
The Stall.  The IC column was more or less a knockoff of a Sporting News
column.  When the FITSter began submitting articles, we recognized his
satirical brilliance and turned the column over to him. Since then it has taken
on a life of it's own.

We get periodic contributions from readers, and we really appreciate them, and some players parents hang around too, notably DevilMomma and Carlos Boozer, Sr. They make things much, much more interesting.

People like Bill Brill, Jay Bilas, Mike Sullivan, Kenny Dennard, Dave Glenn
of the ACC Area Sports Journal (aka The Poop Sheet), Jim Sumner, the Court
Master, and Bret Bearup, and others who we've probably just offended by not mentioning have
contributed enormously, too.

We've also gotten some very nice support for our auction efforts, and we
really love that.  Our goal is to raise 50,000 for the Duke Children's
Hospital, and we're past the halfway point.

We can't tell you what they are
yet, but we have at least one and possibly two of our most startling auctions in
the wing.  You guys won't believe what they are. The first one is pretty
much set; the second is not yet confirmed, and we can't discuss either. But
trust us: they're very, very good.

Anyway, it's just a chance to measure our
progress as a site, to say thanks for the support, and to kindly remind you that
in the short term, at least, we'll need to keep asking for it.

We have one
idea we may ask your help with in the near future. It's a radical departure for
advertising, but we'll talk about that another day.