RIP, Igor ...

[AlaskaSU]

Everyone I assume is familiar with the zone as “tavern league” but imo the best was when he would go to practices and rave about how so-and-so was doing. Because you know he was setting up later posts during the season to rip Boeheim for keeping said player on the bench.

Matt Gorman would be All-Big Ten!!

The Deadman from Maine.

 

[phillydad]

I had the pleasure of meeting Igor 20 years ago this month at a Boca Doug event in Syracuse. Great guy and very knowledgeable. Of course he was complaining about how we stayed in the zone 2 1/2 years earlier vs Mich. St.
Condolences to the family.

 

[djcon57]

Gave the world Tavern league and Boeheim’ed

A legend of the board.

 

[djcon57]

Everyone I assume is familiar with the zone as “tavern league” but imo the best was when he would go to practices and rave about how so-and-so was doing. Because you know he was setting up later posts during the season to rip Boeheim for keeping said player on the bench.

Matt Gorman would be All-Big Ten!!

Ethan Cole was his best work.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Ethan Cole was his best work.

This is definitely true and I’m not really sure I’d even know who Cole was if not for his posts lol.

He also had to somehow reconcile the Zone being Tavern League and winning the title. So of course Melo became the “greatest player in the ESPN era!” To be eclipsed only a few years later by Johnny Flynn.

Truly blessed to have the two best players in the ESPN era play for SU

 

[OttoMets]

It's crazy when the pieces fall into place - I remember seeing Moose at practices at Manley; I thought he was close to the program. Wild that years later he turns out to be the famous StudIgor!

Condolences to his online and in-person family, sounds like he was an interesting guy.

 

[MGDCuse]

This is definitely true and I’m not really sure I’d even know who Cole was if not for his posts lol.

He also had to somehow reconcile the Zone being Tavern League and winning the title. So of course Melo became the “greatest player in the ESPN era!” To be eclipsed only a few years later by Johnny Flynn.

Truly blessed to have the two best players in the ESPN era play for SU

To this day, I still don't know if he really believed everything he said about Cole or if he was just trolling all of us. He would also go on some legendary rants about how Boeheim would never win a championship playing the zone, as others here have alluded to. An absolute legend on this board. So sad to hear of his passing.

 

[SUGIANT]

One of the true characters in the history of Syracusefan.com. Igor could be a curmudgeon, he could get people angry, he could cause the admins to throw up their arms. But no one could doubt his love for SU basketball. He suffered a severe stroke a few years ago and stopped posting. I, for one, missed him.

He will always be remembered here by the annual Iggy Awards for basketball predictions.

Warren Bonnell Obituary (2022) - Skaneateles, NY - Syracuse Post Standard

View Warren "Moose" Bonnell's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

obits.syracuse.com

Wow, married 54 years. That’s just great. Igor was always entertaining. I was wondering why I never saw his posts any longer. Sorry to hear another original gone.

 

[Oakland]

I had problems with him when I took him seriously, but I enjoyed him greatly when I took him as a comedian. He was involved in some great threads.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I had problems with him when I took him seriously, but I enjoyed him greatly when I took him as a comedian. He was involved in some great threads.

Bless him, he could say some truly outrageous things to be provocative. For some reason he loved stirring the pot, getting people riled up. It wasn’t just the SU board, back when Prodigy, AOL were the platforms pre 2000, he managed to get permanently banned from both the Knicks board and the Yankee boards that he was a major fan of. He told me SU was his only remaining team that stuck by him. As I said, he could make me laugh all while groaning at some of his posts.

His true personal kindness was readily apparent with BocaDoug, who was left a quadriplegic after a car accident in his late 40’s. He not only was a big supporter of Doug’s philanthropic G.O.A.L.S. Foundation but while Doug’s wife, Nelda, his wonderful caretaker, fought and eventually passed away from cancer so young, Igor was a true friend helping him through so much tragedy. He visited Doug & Nelda in Florida before, during and after Nelda’s untimely death helping a severely depressed and disabled man till Doug’s own death at only 62. There’s a place above for Igor and such selflessness.

 

[IthacaMatt]

One of the true characters in the history of Syracusefan.com. Igor could be a curmudgeon, he could get people angry, he could cause the admins to throw up their arms. But no one could doubt his love for SU basketball. He suffered a severe stroke a few years ago and stopped posting. I, for one, missed him.

He will always be remembered here by the annual Iggy Awards for basketball predictions.

Warren Bonnell Obituary (2022) - Skaneateles, NY - Syracuse Post Standard

View Warren "Moose" Bonnell's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

obits.syracuse.com

Such a great guy. Such a pain in the @ss on the board! LOL

My high school football coach, and English teacher in middle school. As a coach, he had such a delightful way of taking everything "traditional" and putting his own special spin on it. He was a great teacher, both as a teacher and as a coach.

For probably ten years, while we argue constantly on the Board, he and I didn't know that we knew each other from years before. But then when we got reacquainted, I found out that he had already moved down to Florida.

RIP Warren. You were an original.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Bless him, he could say some truly outrageous things to be provocative. For some reason he loved stirring the pot, getting people riled up. It wasn’t just the SU board, back when Prodigy, AOL were the platforms pre 2000, he managed to get permanently banned from both the Knicks board and the Yankee boards that he was a major fan of. He told me SU was his only remaining team that stuck by him. As I said, he could make me laugh all while groaning at some of his posts.

His true personal kindness was readily apparent with BocaDoug, who was left a quadriplegic after a car accident in his late 40’s. He not only was a big supporter of Doug’s philanthropic G.O.A.L.S. Foundation but while Doug’s wife, Nelda, his wonderful caretaker, fought and eventually passed away from cancer so young, Igor was a true friend helping him through so much tragedy. He visited Doug & Nelda in Florida before, during and after Nelda’s untimely death helping a severely depressed and disabled man till Doug’s own death at only 62. There’s a place above for Igor and such selflessness.

I banned him on AOL several times, always for encouraging talented freshmen to transfer! LOL

 

[DoctorBombay]

One of the true characters in the history of Syracusefan.com. Igor could be a curmudgeon, he could get people angry, he could cause the admins to throw up their arms. But no one could doubt his love for SU basketball. He suffered a severe stroke a few years ago and stopped posting. I, for one, missed him.

He will always be remembered here by the annual Iggy Awards for basketball predictions.

Warren Bonnell Obituary (2022) - Skaneateles, NY - Syracuse Post Standard

View Warren "Moose" Bonnell's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

obits.syracuse.com

RIP to the late, great Studigor.
May you never get Boeheim’d in that great Tavern League in the sky!

 

[SUMinistry]

RIP. Wasn’t posting here when he was, but I surely remember reading his posts for years prior to becoming an active member. Definitely could tell he knew the game.

 

[FrancoPizza]

It’s a shame that voice-to-text wasn’t an option for him. Or maybe a podcast if typing was the challenge. He had a cult following. Beneath the hyperbole he spoke the unpopular truth.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Wow, in the internet can be an interesting place category;
Just reading this thread and finding out he was my modified basketball coach. I had no idea all these years of reading his posts that was coach Bonnell. Very high energy guy, he would come in the locker room yelling before practice, he had a loud/low/powerful voice. He was a short stocky guy.

I've mentioned it before on here, but my favorite thing he did that always sticks out in my mind; he'd make us play defense and he'd act like he got the rebound in the paint, snap the ball with both hands and turn into you, bowling you over while making the put back. He'd yell, "If I can do that to you, what are you gonna do when Gorilla Monsoon comes down on you?!" I had no idea who he was talking about, but didn't need to as you knew he was talking about some big bad ass dude. Well, a few years back posters on this board told me that Gorilla Monsoon was a pro wrestler way back in the day, that was 6'7" from Rochester. I never saw a response to those posts from Igor, he would've known immediately I was a former player of his.

With all his loud, almost intimidating energy, even at that young age, I knew he was a great guy with a great heart.

RIP coach Bonnell...

 

[rrlbees]

Wow, in the internet can be an interesting place category;
Just reading this thread and finding out he was my modified basketball coach. I had no idea all these years of reading his posts that was coach Bonnell. Very high energy guy, he would come in the locker room yelling before practice, he had a loud/low/powerful voice. He was a short stocky guy.

I've mentioned it before on here, but my favorite thing he did that always sticks out in my mind; he'd make us play defense and he'd act like he got the rebound in the paint, snap the ball with both hands and turn into you, bowling you over while making the put back. He'd yell, "If I can do that to you, what are you gonna do when Gorilla Monsoon comes down on you?!" I had no idea who he was talking about, but didn't need to as you knew he was talking about some big bad ass dude. Well, a few years back posters on this board told me that Gorilla Monsoon was a pro wrestler way back in the day, that was 6'7" from Rochester. I never saw a response to those posts from Igor, he would've known immediately I was a former player of his.

With all his loud, almost intimidating energy, even at that young age, I knew he was a great guy with a great heart.

RIP coach Bonnell...

Loved this post. It’s funny how a couple of you here had actually played for him.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Wow, in the internet can be an interesting place category;
Just reading this thread and finding out he was my modified basketball coach. I had no idea all these years of reading his posts that was coach Bonnell. Very high energy guy, he would come in the locker room yelling before practice, he had a loud/low/powerful voice. He was a short stocky guy.

I've mentioned it before on here, but my favorite thing he did that always sticks out in my mind; he'd make us play defense and he'd act like he got the rebound in the paint, snap the ball with both hands and turn into you, bowling you over while making the put back. He'd yell, "If I can do that to you, what are you gonna do when Gorilla Monsoon comes down on you?!" I had no idea who he was talking about, but didn't need to as you knew he was talking about some big bad ass dude. Well, a few years back posters on this board told me that Gorilla Monsoon was a pro wrestler way back in the day, that was 6'7" from Rochester. I never saw a response to those posts from Igor, he would've known immediately I was a former player of his.

With all his loud, almost intimidating energy, even at that young age, I knew he was a great guy with a great heart.

RIP coach Bonnell...

My favorite experiences with him as coach were when he called me and 3 or 4 other promising 9th graders up to the varsity at OCS. I was his back-up QB, and I loved the way he taught us to sell the screen pass, sell the tricky ball handling in the backfield, with counters and hidden ball stuff.

I was also one of his kick returners. He taught us to be fearless, and that if we deliver the blow harder, the impact will go to the other guy.

You know how you grow up saying, "down, set, hut" on offense? Well, he changed that to "Down, ready, cut", for no discernible reason. LOL.

And on defense, if it was a pass play, everybody was supposed to call that out, "Pass (if the QB was dropping back), Ball (when you saw the QB release the ball ), and if you intercepted the ball, you were supposed to yell out "Oskewawa" to let your teammates know to begin blocking for you on the return.

What a lunatic! Lovable guy.

 

[Boozercrook]

I missed him when he stopped posting and now I miss him again. Rest In peace.

 

[albanycuse]

Poor guy. I genuinely liked him. We were both great at rubbing people the wrong way. Rip man..

 

[jgeorge322]

Rip from one pita to another.

 

[SWC75]

He was definitely the straw that stirred the drink around here. We've had some other 'negative' posters but they weren't anywhere near as entertaining as he was or as fun to joust with.

Igor, on the occasion of Jim Boeheim's 600th victory, (in 800 games):

"If I were a fighter and I'd lost 200 fights, would you think I was much of a fighter?"

Me:

"If you were a fighter who'd lost 200 fights, you'd probably make a post like that!"

RIP, but it might not be easy...

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

I remember him terrorizing the old Syr.com message boards back in 1999. He was frustrating as hell sometimes, but he was a real fan that was never in doubt.

RIP absolute legend.

Teenage lurker EnviroSciGuy living in his mom's basement was in awe. We used to discuss some of his posts at lunch in the JE cafeteria the next day, with some folks that are probably at least still lurking here.

 

[bryanradams]

Wow. Rest in peace, Igor.
There were so many replies to his posts that I never sent over the years. He just got my dander up so! I never met him, never spoke too him, but there was a good three year stretch that he stayed on my mind a little too much, haha. I had imaginary arguments with that dude. But once I calmed down, I could see he was just a passionate fan that wanted excellence, like we all did.
Since his stroke, he was missed here and now he will truly be missed.

Condolences to his family and loved ones.

 

[All4SU]

A very longtime and legendary poster of many handles, I never stopped thinking of him by his AOL name in the 1990’s. RIP WBonn123

Ha! I never knew he was Bonn… gosh I think I got into it a few times with him.

RIP.