Somewhere on the first Syracusefan.com forum...

[CousCuse]

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.

Tell us some tales of the Tokyo nights Jim.

 

[IthacaMatt]

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.

Igor changed it a few times over the years, as he would get kicked off the forum from time to time.

 

[IthacaMatt]

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.

The newspaper board could have been great, but they wouldn't require people to register and use only 1 log in. All the media content (clips, interviews, schedule, etc.) was already there. But they thought it would limit clicks if people had to register. So many people started imitating other people and posting under other people's names (especially igor's, who I think was Goose around this time ...). It was bedlam. That's why Joyce and Tom started the "New" 20 year old board.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Man, I wish I could remember what my earlier handles were. OttointheGrotto was the handle I picked for the previous board, and I switched to OttoinGrotto when we migrated here because when we first came over it had a character limit.

I do recall joining this community on syracuse.com in the late 90s, then went to college and lived in Argentina for a few years and lost contact, then rediscovered the group a year or two after getting back. Maybe around 2004 or so?

 

[Cusefan0307]

Was on Syracuse.com in the late 90’s in HS. Lost the site for a few years while I was on Syracuse.com, then picked it back up on scout as a lurker and finally joined as a
member when the board migrated here mainly due to Tristans awful posts pissing me off.

 

[4evaOrange]

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.

Maybe you missedthe memo he’s Jim the USMC doesn’t make him, he makes the USMC.

Jim’s my idol!

 

[rrlbees]

The newspaper board could have been great, but they wouldn't require people to register and use only 1 log in. All the media content (clips, interviews, schedule, etc.) was already there. But they thought it would limit clicks if people had to register. So many people started imitating other people and posting under other people's names (especially igor's, who I think was Goose around this time ...). It was bedlam. That's why Joyce and Tom started the "New" 20 year old board.

the newspaper board could have been great, but the parent company wouldn’t allow it. I forget the name, began with an “A”, maybe Advance or something like that. They “owned” our site as well as the NJ.com one and probably others. They didn’t let us do anything. They were more concerned with quantity than quality. No deleting posts. No booting people. No registering like you said, etc. Those were things we didn’t know when we started to migrate.

Dave Liss and his boss, whose name I forget, had emailed me and invited me to lunch at DinoBBQ. They wanted me to help them build up their forums and increase the community. We talked about a number of ideas and then we started to roll. It was only later that I found out how oppressive their rules were. Dave and I fought with them tooth and nails but to no avail and the place became a cesspool. So obviously we left. I will admit Liss and his boss were cool guys who understood our issues and tried to help. And to this day they remain the only site that actually paid me. LOL.

 

[IthacaMatt]

the newspaper board could have been great, but the parent company wouldn’t allow it. I forget the name, began with an “A”, maybe Advance or something like that. They “owned” our site as well as the NJ.com one and probably others. They didn’t let us do anything. They were more concerned with quantity than quality. No deleting posts. No booting people. No registering like you said, etc. Those were things we didn’t know when we started to migrate.

Dave Liss and his boss, whose name I forget, had emailed me and invited me to lunch at DinoBBQ. They wanted me to help them build up their forums and increase the community. We talked about a number of ideas and then we started to roll. It was only later that I found out how oppressive their rules were. Dave and I fought with them tooth and nails but to no avail and the place became a cesspool. So obviously we left. I will admit Liss and his boss were cool guys who understood our issues and tried to help. And to this day they remain the only site that actually paid me. LOL.

Yeah, Dave Liss was a good guy.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Man, I wish I could remember what my earlier handles were. OttointheGrotto was the handle I picked for the previous board, and I switched to OttoinGrotto when we migrated here because when we first came over it had a character limit.

I do recall joining this community on syracuse.com in the late 90s, then went to college and lived in Argentina for a few years and lost contact, then rediscovered the group a year or two after getting back. Maybe around 2004 or so?

One of the funniest things I saw in recent years was a comment posted by someone about some issue on the Huffington Post website. I forget the topic.

But the post was signed "IthacaMatt's cow".

OMG, I laughed and laughed when I saw that. I'm "internet famous"!

 

[phillydad]

PeruFlaOrange, I believe.

Peru haiku!

Wasn't it vivaperu?

 

[cto]

Wasn't it vivaperu?

They were two different guys. I am still Facebook friends with VivaPeru. PeruFlaOrange sort of disappeared

 

[cliftonparksufan]

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.

That's good stuff. Lot's of great threads and comments. How about Jonny Flynn is the greatest PG in the history of ESPN and anything about Ethan Cole, another one of Iggy's favorite.

 

[OrangeDW]

That's good stuff. Lot's of great threads and comments. How about Jonny Flynn is the greatest PG in the history of ESPN and anything about Ethan Cole, another one of Iggy's favorite.

Syracuse having more talent than Miami(in football) in 2001 was an all timer.

 

[AZOrange]

Man, I wish I could remember what my earlier handles were. OttointheGrotto was the handle I picked for the previous board, and I switched to OttoinGrotto when we migrated here because when we first came over it had a character limit.

I do recall joining this community on syracuse.com in the late 90s, then went to college and lived in Argentina for a few years and lost contact, then rediscovered the group a year or two after getting back. Maybe around 2004 or so?

Funny I was just thinking “how did I get here”? Wasn’t there another board that Moqui had that merged into this one or something?

 

[orangecuse]

Igor changed it a few times over the years, as he would get kicked off the forum from time to time.

Ha. Back then I lurked for quite a while before I finally had the nerve to register & post. Igor brought me out of my shell after one of his zone "Tavern League" posts. My favorite player in my youth was Jimmy Lee, so that was my original handle. My first post was one in which I engaged him and I recall how he came after me like there was no tomorrow. And, then he belittled me some more on my spelling errors. Afterwards, I went back into my shell and again mostly lurked.

I do remember a board member (which I think was you) replying to Igor's remarks to chill out, and how that's no way to treat a fellow dedicated SU fan...or along those lines. Back then a 'newbie' was seemingly welcomed/treated somewhat differently than today as the cite was relatively still in its new frontier stages.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Ha. Back then I lurked for quite a while before I finally had the nerve to register & post. Igor brought me out of my shell after one of his zone "Tavern League" posts. My favorite player in my youth was Jimmy Lee, so that was my original handle. My first post was one in which I engaged him and I recall how he came after me like there was no tomorrow. And, then he belittled me some more on my spelling errors. Afterwards, I went back into my shell and again mostly lurked.

I do remember a board member (which I think was you) replying to Igor's remarks to chill out, and how that's no way to treat a fellow dedicated SU fan...or along those lines. Back then a 'newbie' was seemingly welcomed/treated somewhat differently than today as the cite was relatively still in its new frontier stages.

Well, there weren't very many of us back then at the very beginning, so yeah, you couldn't afford to chase people away if you wanted to have any other fans to talk to about SU sports!

 

[rrlbees]

Funny I was just thinking “how did I get here”? Wasn’t there another board that Moqui had that merged into this one or something?

don’t remember a moqui board but at some point, maybe after the newspaper board, we used a free board that millhouse found/set up.

 

[1040su]

Ditto, can't believe its been that long. I should have kept the window clings that were sold to keep the site up way back then.

Speaking of the window clings, a couple of weeks ago I finally got around to going through some boxes of "stuff" from when I moved 10 years ago. Figured it was time! Anyhow, in the bottom was a dried out, curled up old window cling! I should've taken a picture of it before I tossed it!

 

[Cheriehoop]

Igor changed it a few times over the years, as he would get kicked off the forum from time to time.

He got banned from the NBA Knick’s board - he went after them with a real fervor especially after John Wallace was drafted. I got a message from someone from the NBA board (can’t recall if it was on Prodigy or AOL) saying that they were going to ban him from the entire platform if he didn’t stop his constant critical posts. I had no idea how they got my name but if they thought myself or anyone could ‘control’ him was delusional.

 

[RF2044]

I discovered the boards around '95 or so timeframe.

At the time, I was starved for recruiting information, and a friend of mine [who is an infrequent poster on this site, but a massive lurker] told me to go check out the syracuse.com website for SU hoops info.

It's funny to think about it, but back then the internet is not what it is today. Today, it is very easy to search for content, and that's our first inclination. Back then, it was a revelation that something like that was out there.

So I found the forum, spent a few hours [at work, no less] reading through various recruiting threads, and then made a few posts.

Nobody responded -- all of the threads had tidbits of recruiting info, but mainly were arguments between random troll-esque posters -- until some stranger named "rrlbees" responded to one of my posts and suggested that I check out "...this other site" that he knew about, where the dialogue was better.

So I did, and the rest is history. I've been a daily participant of the site ever since.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Dave Liss. Blast from the past!

I used to go on the Newspaper board when I was in college. To this day that place was the most unregulated, miserable, toxic place I ever visited. The day we lost to Georgetown in the BET unleashed a tidal wave of bigotry and general sht posting I have yet to see replicated on any other media.

Liss had the worst job in the world.

 

[Oakland]

don’t remember a moqui board but at some point, maybe after the newspaper board, we used a free board that millhouse found/set up.

IIRC, Moqui ran a Cuse recruiting site called Orangefan.com (???), maybe 15 years ago. He quit that and changed his handle to Moqui.

 

[AZOrange]

IIRC, Moqui ran a Cuse recruiting site called Orangefan.com (???), maybe 15 years ago. He quit that and changed his handle to Moqui.

That’s it!

 

[LAOrange]

The political opinions that were expressed in those early days used to drive me nuts. People would get insanely violent over any issue, no matter how inconsequential. Someone had a stroke of genius and created an off-topic board. That one move made this board one of the best of its kind.
Thank goodness, people are mostly kept from personal attacks on posters and players...with the exception of calling JGIII fat... I guess that's okay with most of you.

 

[MGP]

IIRC, Moqui ran a Cuse recruiting site called Orangefan.com (???), maybe 15 years ago. He quit that and changed his handle to Moqui.

Jordoo, are you around? Was this the board we were on? You got me hooked up with this board, and I remember you had to vouch for me with the mods before I got approved, lol!