Somewhere on the first Syracusefan.com forum...

[rrlbees]

Wasn’t it Moose?

yes

 

[rrlbees]

Wasn’t it Moose?

have you talked to his wife lately? Do you know how he’s doing?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Igor was WBonn back then, wasn’t he?

Also "ElBonn" and "Goose". He and I had some fierce disagreements about him using the board to encourage kids to transfer, and me saying that's not a good thing to post on a public board if you consider yourself a fan. This was back in the days of AOL. I was the first AOL moderator, and did all the Big East Boards at the beginning. I had to seed all of the boards with questions, interact with fans of each of the other schools, too. I had to be knowledgeable about all of the teams, which wasn't as hard to do back then. This was how I earned free time, back when they used to charge by the hour.

And then there was the "Supreme Court Case" of Zone vs. Man, and igor's insistence that you couldn't win a championship without playing man, because teams imposed their will on the opponent with man defense. igor invented the "Tavern League Zone" phrase, I'm pretty sure.

After I moved back to Syracuse in 2003 and connected with him, he turned out to be my JV football coach. Really fun, smart coach too. Great guy to play for. Taught me how to throw the screen pass, with great flair, as you might imagine. He used to get a kick out of changing all the traditional cadences you learn growing up playing football as a kid to call and start a play. When the defense got an interception, we were supposed to yell "Oskewawa!" Don't ask. LOL.

What a character. He also taught English to me somewhere in Middle School.

 

[Cheriehoop]

have you talked to his wife lately? Do you know how he’s doing?

No, last time was about 4 years ago. We went to lunch and he called a few months later and talked. Was thinking about him, I should call because my phone number has changed too since moving,

 

[Day2]

What a throwback. I remember first joining (under a different handle) back in either 99 or 2000 and some conversations around this. It's been so long I hardly remember what the pages even looked like other than the old threadview.

Why’d you get banned?

 

[rrlbees]

Also "ElBonn" and "Goose". He and I had some fierce disagreements about him using the board to encourage kids to transfer, and me saying that's not a good thing to post on a public board if you consider yourself a fan. This was back in the days of AOL. I was the first AOL moderator, and did all the Big East Boards at the beginning. I had to seed all of the boards with questions, interact with fans of each of the other schools, too. I had to be knowledgeable about all of the teams, which wasn't as hard to do back then. This was how I earned free time, back when they used to charge by the hour.

And then there was the "Supreme Court Case" of Zone vs. Man, and igor's insistence that you couldn't win a championship without playing man, because teams imposed their will on the opponent with man defense. igor invented the "Tavern League Zone" phrase, I'm pretty sure.

After I moved back to Syracuse in 2003 and connected with him, he turned out to be my JV football coach. Really fun, smart coach too. Great guy to play for. Taught me how to throw the screen pass, with great flair, as you might imagine. He used to get a kick out of changing all the traditional cadences you learn growing up playing football as a kid to call and start a play. When the defense got an interception, we were supposed to yell "Oskewawa!" Don't ask. LOL.

What a character. He also taught English to me somewhere in Middle School.

you moderated our grandstand board?

 

[IthacaMatt]

you moderated our grandstand board?

When AOL first did the boards, they asked me to moderate all of the Big East ones. I had been writing to them about it, saying I thought there was a community out there and it would be a good idea.

So yeah, for about 6 months (one season), but then it got to be too much work, and I just became a community member. I don't remember if the first one was called Grandstand or not, but that rings a bell. I ran up some huge bills on AOL when it was new.

P.S. - I was already a member of the WELL, an internet bulletin board service in San Francisco. It was how I followed the Grateful Dead, got set lists from shows, reviews, when are advance sale tickets going on sale. So I was kind of plugged in to the possibility of Internet community early on, and wanted to see a place to talk about sports on AOL.

The WELL - Wikipedia

They had started chat rooms, but as I recall, they could be random, and you took conversations "private", which quickly became sketchy for them. The bulletin boards were to be moderated to make sure they stayed clean.

They also had a lot of really interesting and not too public business content, like the Hoover business profiles and very specific industry news, salary information, all kinds of corporate info intended for investors. I used that for job searches successfully a couple times, and encountered a few times comments like "how did you know that about us?". This was before everything in the world was available on the Internet, if you can recall such a time.

 

[cto]

Looks like 2001 is the first entry of Syracusefan.com in the web archive
wish I could read some of those threads. The igor ones look amazing

Syracuse Basketball - Message Index

This site is dedicated to covering Syracuse basketball. There is a very active message board, info on recruiting, etc. Have a question you need answered? This is the place!

web.archive.org

Syracusefan.com ... was launched on January 15, 2000. I know ... because I am the one who launched it (along with two UConn guys, Temery and Fishy). Long story. If anyone wants to hear how it happened, let me know.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I still never understood Tristan's connection with Syracuse and CNY. He wasn't an alumni nor a fan that I was aware but somehow found his way to this place.

He was a fan of our high-flying, Monster Dunks teams. He liked when we played that way, but by the later 90s, specifically after the 96 run exclusively using the zone for a big but slow team, that was kind of the end of our running until around the time Jonny Flynn joined us. Then we ran again out of the zone, very effectively, until Tyler Ennis. He always pulled out of attacking the rim to slow it down and compose the offense. But it gave us so many easy baskets! We have never run the same way since.

 

[Orangezoo]

Why’d you get banned?

Oh I didn't - I had forgotten username and password and changed emails.

 

[Day2]

Oh I didn't - I had forgotten username and password and changed emails.

Yeah, that’s what they all say.

(I’m just kidding around.)

 

[orangefog]

I love seeing the old message board. I was strictly a lurker back then. I don’t even remember when I finally created an account and started posting. There was so much information and so many great posters. The Julius Hodge saga was amazing. So many of those names don’t post anymore. I was hooked the first time I found syracusefan.com.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

I joined the AOL board sometime in 1991 shortly after we moved to Michigan. That was as good as it could get for a far-flung SU alum/ CNY native like me. In those days, I could only follow a non-televised game, and only at night, by pulling my car out of the garage on a cold January night and listening to a superstation out of Rochester that would occasionally get walked on by a Spanish station from somewhere.

In those days, my screen name was my first initial, my last name, and a number. There weren’t many people at all posting in 1991 but I do recall that my first post got a nice comment in return by IthacaMatt. Funny the stuff you remember.

The atmosphere was nice in those days. Kind of Old School; very few personal attacks and very few attacks on the kids. Coaches were fair game, but the players were generally left alone.

As for igor, I thought he was Wbonn123. I suppose it could have been an L and not a W, but I don’t think so and I’m pretty sure about the number.

 

[LAOrange]

Joined sometime in 1997. I was rescued from Syracuse.com by Deano. Great group back then. I loved Stan, Igor, Raoul Duke and Jarhead Jim.

 

[4evaOrange]

Good times good times.

 

[sdorange]

I remember Peru Florida Orange or something like that and he talked in weird poetry. Also used to mention Fly Williams for some reason. Strange the things you remember.
The Stan v late Boca Doug battles were epic

 

[orange79]

I remember Peru Florida Orange or something like that and he talked in weird poetry. Also used to mention Fly Williams for some reason. Strange the things you remember.
The Stan v late Boca Doug battles were epic

PeruFlaOrange, I believe.

Peru haiku!

 

[JarHeadJim]

Good stuff! I think the first board I posted on was the newspaper sight in 1995. I was Jim in Japan. When I returned home I changed my name to JarHeadJim.

 

[NKR1978]

Looks like 2001 is the first entry of Syracusefan.com in the web archive
wish I could read some of those threads. The igor ones look amazing

Syracuse Basketball - Message Index

This site is dedicated to covering Syracuse basketball. There is a very active message board, info on recruiting, etc. Have a question you need answered? This is the place!

web.archive.org

Iterations of the same arguments! It's amazing.

 

[JoeCollege]

Great to see some of the board OG's still posting- The generous and always fun Godmother (CTO) and Godfather (Tomcat) and the 2 posters who seemed to be embedded reporters (Jake and Bees) along with DickinMI and Consigliere (Hall of fame posters for sure), IthacaMatt, Jar Head Jim, Cheriehoop and so many others. I re-united with a college fraternity brother via these boards, who it turns out worked with Cherie. Small world. Got to know Jake, TOL22, CTO, the legendary, crack snorting, Yugo driving Stevensen, and made some actual friends.

Igor was legend. BocaDoug AKA Frank Lagga leveraged the board to benefit the charity he founded- Go Out And Live Successfully. We had clings, we had donors. We had common enemies in Georgetown, Joe Paterno, and Bud "Opera Man" Poliquin. The KaiserUEO admonished us for going to little Cindy's swim meets or apple picking. MaxxyZ shared his carnal exploits, RaoulDuke prepared us for MONSTER DUNKS!!!!. The many iterations of Stan were epic- I actually liked the "character" and think I "got" the joke. SWC has written his doctoral dissertation on SU sports on the many iterations of these boards. And who can forget the bromance of Chip, Millhouse, and Lil' Joe? Everyone's favorite recruiting guru, DonnieManhattEn and his fascination with Lactivius Murray (as he for some reason always spelled "Latavius" wrong".)

I have mostly lurked here. Huge fan but not with the passion and knowledge of you all so didn't have a ton to contribute. But what a great resource this board has been for over half of my adult life. It was a fun place, reading about Jeremy McNeil's hammer toes, the Misadventures of MeShaun Williams, the Mike Hopkins/Dammit All Paul Niagara Falls Shuttle Service, Matt Gorman getting Boeheimed, Where in the World is Mark Konecny, and all of the other side dramas of this program.

And of course, the Tavern League Zone.

 

[Niastri]

Yup...when I got online in 1994 with a Packard Bell Pentium, my friend showed me the board...it was like crack serve at 33.6K. Bees was mythical

I found it hard to believe, but I had a few moments of nostalgia for that awful sound. But I didn't make it through 20 seconds before it went away.

 

[4evaOrange]

Good stuff! I think the first board I posted on was the newspaper sight in 1995. I was Jim in Japan. When I returned home I changed my name to JarHeadJim.

So you went from Japan to USA? What is this? Syracuse to duke back to syracuse??? What the hell broheim?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

So you went from Japan to USA? What is this? Syracuse to duke back to syracuse??? What the hell broheim?

You'd think the fact that his name is "Jarhead" would have told you that he's in the US Marine Corps.

You go where they send you.

 

[Forloveoforange]

Where's Townie? Maybe he's been busy.

 

[capeorange]

My first exposure to SU on the internet was Syr.com forums circa 2000.

Consider yourself lucky.

Mine too. I didn't know about this one until 2011.