A friend told me awhile ago that most new website companies do not survive their first year of operation, but I had no idea how bad it was until I googled the topic Sunday afternoon before writing this column.

I found a couple of sobering articles on the subject. One was titled "Why Are So Many Internet Start-Ups Failing Today?" Another was labeled "A Start-Up's Odds of Success are Very Low."

I'm glad I didn't know all that when we decided to launch the Metro Sports Report five years ago, but we probably would have jumped in and tried anyway just for the heck of it. I'm sure glad we did.

I'm delighted to report today that we've beaten the odds. We've not only beaten the odds, we've destroyed them. Mutilated them, kicked them in the fanny and sent them into cyber-space somewhere.

The Metro Sports Report - the little website that could - surpassed 5 million pageviews on Friday. As of 11:30 a.m. Sunday, the number had reached 5,006,243 and was climbing every minute.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When those articles talk about website failures, they are talking about companies whose entire business revolves around their website. Like us.

They are not talking about companies that happen to have a website, because most companies do have their own site. They are talking about companies that would not exist without their website.

For those of you who have been following us since Day 1, you know we launched in January of 2011 with coverage of the seven major high schools in Cedar Rapids and Marion. Since then we've added Cedar Valley Christian, Kirkwood, the Kernels, the RoughRiders, Coe and Mount Mercy.

We'd like to add more teams and schools, but we have to be careful and make sure our reach does not surpass our grasp. Heck, we'd like to franchise the Metro Sports Report to other communities. We'd like to venture into the business of live audio broadcasts. We'd like to cover the indoor pro football and pro soccer teams in town, but we're not ready for that.

Some day, perhaps, but not now.

We take great pride in offering a comprehensive package of stories about the high schools and small colleges in town. It's always fun to break a "big" story, like Amanda Ollinger changing high schools or Stephanie Jenks committing to Cal-Berkeley, but it's also satisfying to report on the daily flow of news that is more routine in nature.

Take Saturday, for instance. We covered the girls state swimming meet in Marshalltown, just like many of the other local media outlets, but we also had a long list of stories that did not make headlines anywhere else (or if they did, I missed them).

The 17th-ranked Kirkwood volleyball team won the regional title Saturday and made the national tournament. Kennedy grad Kyle Lamaak had a double-double as the 15th-ranked Mount Mercy men's basketball team won another game. The 6th-ranked Kirkwood men's basketball team cruised to a 4-0 start. The 6th-ranked Kirkwood women's basketball team also had an easy win. The Mount Mercy cross country teams had a good day at the Heart of America Conference meet and qualified for the NAIA national meet in two weeks.

That's good stuff that we were happy to report. And if you follow us on a regular basis, you know we provide information like that all the time. It's one of the reasons we attract new readers on a daily basis. It's one of the many reasons we've passed 5 million pageviews.

We've made lots of friends at the Metro Sports Report the last five years, which is one of the reasons we began the "Friends of Metro Sports Report.com" campaign last month. It's been fun - and gratifying - to have so many people express their support of our operation by contributing $25 and getting their own "Friends of MSR" T-shirt.

If you'd like to join the club, please CLICK HERE and follow the simple instructions.

We're just about finished with all the fall sports as winter approaches, but it will be great fun to see how the Kennedy Cougars fare in the semifinals of the Class 4A football playoffs against Bettendorf this Friday. I think Kennedy has a good chance to win that game and make the finals against Dowling or West Des Moines Valley with the title on the line.

We'll be there to cover the remarkable Cougars in the UNI-Dome, just as we've been there for every one of their 12 games this season. It's what we do, or try to do as much as possible.

Thanks again. We couldn't have done it without our loyal readers and generous sponsors.

With your help, we beat the odds.