princetonbasketball.com Fall 2007 fundraising email.
I hope you'll take a second out of your day to read this post from start to finish. We are just under a month away from the start of the 2007-2008 college basketball season, and the time has come for this year's first princetonbasketball.com fundraising post. The schedule is out, the roster has been released, practice is underway and we're gearing up for another exciting season of Princeton Tigers basketball.
Over the past ten years princetonbasketball.com has continued to grow in leaps and bounds from a small group of five friends trading carbon-copied emails to a web site and listserv with over 600+ members from all over the globe. We have readers who check this site anywhere from inside Jadwin Gym to Europe to Iraq and just about every time zone in between. As the princetonbasketball.com network has grown, we've tried to bring you even more exclusive content and information than ever before to keep our readers informed about the extended Princeton basketball family and the Ivy League.
First, some boasting. princetonbasketball.com has covered the last NINETY-NINE CONSECUTIVE IVY LEAGUE GAMES in person. What other news outlet or web site can say that? Not one. There is only one person who can say they have seen each of these ninety-nine conference games: princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon. We've also been on-hand for every Princeton postseason match-up since 1983. princetonbasketball.com continues to be your best source for keeping track of the Tigers.
If you haven't given to us in the past, I hope you'll take the opportunity to help keep this service going in this, our tenth year. If you have given in the past, I hope you will renew for another season! There are some big changes in store this season for donors, which I have detailed below.
What does your donation go towards? Well, in 2006-2007 princetonbasketball.com brought you...
Daily News: Each morning a post appeared on this site with links to that day's articles from local and national papers. If it has been published on-line, we've found the article and passed it along to you.
Premium Postgame Content: This past season princetonbasketball.com provided you exclusive on-site postgame audio from Coach Scott and select players after every one of last season's games, including all fourteen Ivy contests. This is information that was not available anywhere else. You could also read detailed same-night recaps of all of the season's games, along with full box scores and cumulative team and player statistics. We'll be live from Hawaii for the Maui Invitational this season and plan to cover a minimum of twenty-seven of this season's games in person.
-Twenty Minutes with Joe Scott: princetonbasketball.com produced a weekly donor-only interview program that featured a new in-depth discussion with Coach Scott sixteen times over the course of the season, looking back at the previous week's games, previewing upcoming contests and talking about the state of Princeton basketball. This show also offered you a forum to ask Coach Scott your questions. We hope to tape similar interviews with new Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson each week this season.
Recruiting News: Here at princetonbasketball.com we tracked the incoming Tigers on a daily basis. We provided pictures of players you had only heard about, provided quotes from their high school coaches and were able to confirm rumors of commitments long before this news reached print media.
Alumni Updates: You'll always be kept up-to-date on the professional basketball (and baseball) careers of former Tigers through princetonbasketball.com, even those players playing in foreign ports of call. This Summer princetonbasketball.com tracked Judson Wallace's second season in Germany, Scott Greenman's Israeli adventures, Chris Young's ongoing successes in San Diego, Will Venable's championship season at San Antonio and Mason Rocca's career in Italy. princetonbasketball.com was also on hand to watch current Tigers play in the 2007 Princeton Summer League.
All in the Family: Not only has princetonbasketball.com covered Princeton and the Ivy League this past season, but we were able to provide extensive information on Coach Thompson's Georgetown Hoyas, Coach Mooney's Richmond Spiders and Coach Carmody's Northwestern Wildcats. We were courtside at the Big East Tournament and in the locker rooms at the Final Four. This will continue in 2007-2008. princetonbasketball.com will feature games from these teams in our daily news and offer bonus postgame coverage when scheduling allows.
Gameday Photographs: We brought photographer Stephen Goldsmith into the fold last season, providing readers with exclusive photographs of the Tigers in action that helped further round out the Princeton basketball experience for those who couldn't see the games in person.
The Blog: in February 2004 we unveiled the princetonbasketball.com blog, the "wry, dry and pleasing to the eye" kid brother of the original princetonbasketball.com web site. Here we were able to display exclusive game photographs, detailed pictures of visiting gyms and far too many bad puns. We also offered player diaries, exclusive footage of some never-before-seen moments in Princeton basketball history and other treats. We interviewed Bill Bradley, asking questions submitted by donors. This summer we started a weekly series of scans featuring trading cards of former Princeton players who made it to the NBA. Just a little something to further enhance the Princeton basketball experience.
Schedule sync: We're the only web site to offer an iCal schedule you can sync with your computer's calendar that has details on every Princeton, Georgetown, Northwestern, Richmond and Denver game.
Ten years in, princetonbasketball.com's basic level of access continues to remain free, but it costs money for us to operate and manage this web site on a daily basis. To make all of this possible, princetonbasketball.com relies on your donations to cover our costs of web hosting and reporting on the games we all care about so much. How much you choose to give is up to you. No donation is too big or too small. Every dollar helps and is greatly appreciated.
As Princeton prepares for a new era under Coach Sydney Johnson, we're also preparing for a new era at princetonbasketball.com. This season princetonbasketball.com will be expanding donor-only content on our web site. All postgame audio, all archived video and all weekly interviews will continue to be available only to princetonbasketball.com donors. Starting this season, you will also need to be a donor to comment on articles, read full recaps, read full posts, post news to our listserv, contribute to Q&As and access daily news links. We also hope to offer more archival video and audio on the princetonbasketball.com web site this season that will also be available exclusively to donors.
Anyone making a contribution of $30.00 or more this season is entitled to a season-long password for access to donor-only content. Current students can gain access to princetonbasketball.com's donor-only content at the reduced rate of $15.00 for the season. Renewing now will assure a smooth transition for last year's donors. You don't want to miss out on any of the coming season's premium offerings.
To sign up on-line and become a donor using our secure payment portal, click here.
Please email us if you would prefer to pay by check.
I welcome your comments, suggestions and ideas about what you would like to see on princetonbasketball.com in the future.
Being part of this community and the extended Princeton basketball family remains my genuine pleasure.
Warmly,
Jon Solomon
princetonbasketball.com
