A dozen or so people sat around a long rectangular table in the summer of 2010 to talk about starting a new website company that would be devoted to covering local sports in Cedar Rapids and Marion.

Many of us were former newspaper people, looking to get back in the game. There was an advertising sales rep, a website expert, a potential investor and a few stragglers as well.

We did not have a name for the company, although that became fairly easy as time went by. We'd be reporting about sports in the Metro area, so Metro Sports Report became the obvious choice.

The idea for the website began to take shape. Reporters and photographers signed on. We found a talented local guy to build the website at a reasonable price. We put a small advertising sales staff together.

Within a few months we were meeting with a lawyer to form the new corporation. We found a friendly accountant. We met with officials from the seven major high schools in Cedar Rapids and Marion, who encouraged us to keep going.

And thus the Metro Sports Report was born.

We launched the MSR on Jan. 3, 2011 and just celebrated our fourth anniversary on Saturday. And speaking from the perspective of having spent 40 years in sports journalism, it's been a terrific ride, filled with plenty of gratifying moments and great people.

We thought we had a chance to be successful with local readers, but had no idea how much. The response, quite frankly, has been phenomenal.

We enjoyed more than 750,000 page views in the first year alone in 2011, then soared to more than 1 million in 2012. We've stayed above the 1 million mark ever since and begin Year 5 of our adventure with 4,105,318 page views so far.

We've had 461,132 unique visitors from all around the country and all around the world, proving it truly is the worldwide web. We particularly enjoy hearing from grandparents who have retired to Arizona or Florida and follow their grandkids through the MSR. That alone is worth the effort, now that I'm a grand-dad myself (along with being the owner, president, editor, a reporter and the guy who takes out the trash).

We began in January of 2011 by covering Jefferson, Kennedy, Linn-Mar, Marion, Prairie, Washington and Xavier high schools. We added Cedar Valley Christian that August when the Huskies joined the IHSAA and IGHSAU for the first time.

We began covering Kirkwood in the fall of 2012, then added the Kernels for the 2013 Midwest League season and the RoughRiders for the 2013-14 USHL campaign. We began covering Coe last January and added Mount Mercy this August, expanding our reach to all three local colleges.

We're currently working on two new projects, but it's too soon to say anything publicly about them. Soon, perhaps.

We'd be remiss in not thanking all of our sponsors and friends in the business world. They are the people who have keep us afloat and heading in the right direction. We thank them profusely and wish more companies would join the team.

Please join me in a toast to the Metro Sports Report on our 4th Anniversary. Many happy returns!