I've seen some threads longing recently for the "good ol' days". Some posters have lamented the coming of the offseason. It got me thinking about the 3 previous offseasons I've witnessed on the net. It got me thinking about how lucky we are today that we've got a community together to enjpy with this time. I know it wasn't always like this. And still, that had me thinking even further about some of the stuff I've witnessed on the boards since I discovered them. I figured I'd cast a few thoughts out there about the past 3 1/2 years I've been around and see if anyone had some thoughts as well. I remember starting to lurk on the 360 BBS around May of '98. Man, I became addicted. That place was heaven. I remember lurking for about 4-5 months. I was not even intrigued with adding my own ****. I just enjoyed reading. The people on there were ruthless and exceedingly bright. ScipioTex, Spenser, CJD, SLX, HairyScotsman, BigDscot, III Horn, PhxHorn, beowulf, EyesOfTX, reesetex, bobr, texlarry, TTS, Alfredo, lam horn, and many others. I remember watching Spenser and Scipio rip dumbasses to shreds. It was gratifying and frightening all at once. It took a while to discern who knew their ****, who was moronic, and who knew how to write, cultivate conversion, and allow the brighter football guys with insight to expound. It was great fun. I remember aggiecutter (the original), 77077, WestCoastSooner, etc. I remember how much I hated those *******. I remember the texaus/tsd arguments and statements. cooldaddy with TV connections and his scoops. sure. with "Orange Houses" and ****. The discussion of legends even then was great. "santini", "Gotch Yarbrough", "I'm stunned, I'm pissed ...". Good times. And then, I remember this board being started. I specifically remember a post on 360 saying "Last one out, turn out the lights". I came over here, and was hooked at two sites, suddenly. I remember the Simms decommit to Tennessee and LHB almost giving up the goose over here and guys like SLX eating his throat for doing so. I remember him contacting the NCAA for Slocum naming recruits by name at aggie function in Houston. I remember the fervor it caused from them and the laughter it started here, and then the fear it caused here because he was making a boob of himself. LonghornBoob showed up at some point in this time on the 360 board. No one ******* writes like Scipio in sports netdom. No one. The 360 board was still vibrant. This board was too. At some point after this board was started, LHB ran off a number of the great 360 posters. They considered this board a ******* joke. A "rah-rah" board. It made sense, to a degree. Nonetheless, I remember reading stuff over here that I enjoyed. I remembered reading good **** over there too. I remember wondering why the two boards disliked each other so. It just seemed odd. It was like the whole Houston/Dallas dislike for each other. Kind of irrational. And then, LHB split. Things changed. Katy and Robert, today almost the Father and Mother of Longhorn Netdom, goaded some of the great 360 posters into coming over here. It turned out, while a ton of the rah-rah **** existed, people were actually talking football over here. Many of them have stayed to this day. It was good timing. The 360 board was becoming inundated with flames and political talk. There was literally a thread each day lamenting the lack of football discussion over there. I found it kind of sad, but to me, this board seemed like home at that point. I was violently addicted and the boards were my drug. While 360 was a nice fix, this board could be heroin at times. The texlarry scoops, jess neely, aggiecutter, TheMagicLoogie, "black knight", etc were all slinging things over here as the 360 recruiting board ******* died. Phx, Scipio, kchorn, SLX, UTBRAGG, HomerSimmsSon, etc, started throwing up some great **** on here. It was fantastic. Today, Hornfans.com is one of the busiest sports boards in the country not named "ESPN.com" or "CBSSportsline.com". Some of the same posters are still around over here. SLX and Scipio show up for sure. XOVER, TTS, Alfredo, bobr, etc. These guys come around. Some guys like Spenser and PhxHorn have all but disappeared. They make an appearance now and then, and we all surely enjoy it, but they're just not around enough anymore for a lot of people who remember the old days. Guys like HenryJames, scally, hollisdude and others provide the humor here now (to think of it, SpiderAg, MindControll and other guys providing the humor have even departed, more or less). This board has posters like Doperbo, AugieBall, Texasfootball, and others who could analyze the **** out of a game when it pleases them. We have invaluable guys like CarKev, Earp, and DWP giving us info, football takes, and links all of the time. Guys like pongo, texaus, and Excitable Boy are always looking to talk recruiting and slap anyone with a miserable take and a lost cause on the recruiting board. Many others populate this site that I can't name and still keep this readable. People taking up separate sides to an issue and still handling a discussion rationally (most of the time, either side) down to the nub like kchorn/GusMcCrea/boernehorn vs. many on the other side arguing their point just as violently. Sometimes the sides blur. It's become a fun board in many ways. The 360 board also saw the disappearance, relatively speaking, of the Phx, XOVER, TTS, SLX, and Spensers of the world. It hit them a bit harder. Guys like beowulf have fought valiantly to keep the board (that they consider home) a solid place. Unfortunately, the 360 board skipped a beat at some point. There was no moderation and that seems to have beaten it down. Ne'er do wells who know no better like brocko, JAYCAV, reesetex and others have basically overrun that site, along with the flamers. java, Kosciousku, and others remain over there. They fight the good fight as well, but it's basically a numbers game against them at this point. Nowadays, everyone who's been around for more than 6 months on either board wistfully longs for the "old days" at certain points. I guess it's human nature. I don't blame them. Nonetheless, I enjoy the here and now. Right, wrong, or indifferent, I can state my point here and 10, 20, 50 people will step up to agree and explain why, or disagree and explain why. This board has numbers. You still have to deal with insipid posts from flamers or people who simply fail to understand how many men can play on a side on a given down, but there is still solid football and recruiting discussion anytime I want to see it over here. The boards change and users change, but some things stay the same. I will still be fanatical about Texas sports and so will about 500,000+ other unique IP addresses that visit this board every 4-5 weeks. I remember the initial fear I had of posting on this board. The first 25 posts were the hardest. "Am I the only dufus thinking this?". "How hard will I be mocked?". After a while I realized "I can be a buffoon and I will be mocked.". Nonetheless, man, I was hooked. I still am. I look forward to the offseason discussions this year more than I ever have. Hope you guys do too. Hook'em
As a newcomer to the board, I would like to say how much I enjoy it. For a while, I felt each of my posts was a 500 pound gorilla -- as soon as I posted a topic or a reply it would sink to the bottom faster than Milli Vanilli. Recently, I have found my comfort zone, and I enjoy it much more. I appreciate all of the technical insights into the game, and I love to watch HS football. I'm glad that I have found others who share the same passion. My wife doesn't understand my addiction, and I doubt she ever will. I can't wait for the day that I have wireless internet access, and I can post while I watch a game. To some it may be a stupid dream, but for me, it will be the crowning achievement of my life. Thanks for making it great. I wish I had been around longer.
...the other day I was reaching up into a closet to pull something off the top shelf, and this thing slid off the top of a box, came crashing out of the past, and bonked me on my head. it was my external 14.4 modem. here's to posters past, present, and future who share a love of longhorn football. ...great post, you just left out the 'OU sucks' part.
horndfl: *Thank you* for your time and energy in composing an excellent post--having just read that I have to say that my day is getting off to a great start. I haven't been around quite so long, but I heartily concur with the strong chord of gratitude expressed.
i started at 360, right at the time hornfans was starting up. i was scared as crap to post anything, cause i thought i'd get ripped to shreds by the cognecenti. so i came here after lhb spilt and acted liek a goofball. sometimes i would say something about football, but thats not really why i come here. i find that my opinions are often as valid as anyones, so this is really like uncensored sports talk radio. opinions that i don't care about and the ocasional news bit. its the cactus cafe sub-culture that brings me back. in that circle, it is obvious i am a legend:
I was a "dweller" on this board for much longer than I cared to admit, but I'm trying my best to find my posting comfort zone this year. One thing's for sure... I don't know what I'd do without my daily dose of Hornfans... it really does allow Longhorn Football to be a 365 day a year obsession (and that's a very good thing)! Hook 'Em
I remember those good ole days. If I'm not mistaken, many came over here from the 360 boards due solely to that one bastard, the real aggiecutter. Man, that guy was unbelievable. Now we have fun asses to lovingly hate on this site, my personal favorite being creamy dean. But none of these current sooners/aggies/etc. that are so hated here today can even compare to that original aggiecutter IMO. He was the original evil, like Darth Vader, while guys like creamy dean are more like Regis; very annoying, but at times quite entertaining. It has been fun growing up with this board though. LHG, you rule. Absolutely. Unquestionably.
I have been here since the Tech/UT game this past season. I have made some good friends and enjoy all the football talk, and other happenings of the board. However I think that if we all do not keep a good upper hand on our internet addictions, we will all be in treatment in a year or so. Great post.
I was sitting thinking about the old sites . Can not recall which one it was .It must have been 360's talking about the Longhorns. I stopped on that one because I got tired of teenagers telling everyone what U. T. football was about. back 96 and 97
Good stuff, Horndfl - thanks for the reprise. Let's hope PhxHorn joins in for the long haul between now and the beginning of the 2002 season -- the topics will be there, and he contributes in a uniquely gifted way. Amen regarding Scipio and (although you didn't mention it) yourself. HSS is alive and well -- maybe we can get him to pitch in some thoughts this Spring. The "key" (imho) to our good life here is LHG -- she's got the gift. Of course, having Mack running the football program may relate in some small way to our esprit de corps. Hook 'em.
I'm changing my name. Buck wasn't recognizable enough, so I'm going to a different obscure pop-culture entity. Maybe now I'll be noticed by horndfl, especially now that he's getting so ******* mellow in his old age. He was even being nice to kchorn the other day.
Yeah, I remember those days. I think it was around late '95, early '96 that I first found the Horns on the Net. I remember sitting in my study carrel during second year of law school wasting away my study time reading/posting on message boards.
I was worried about posting because Scipio or SLX might fry my ***. Then Scipio and SLX fried my ***. It still hurts to sit down. But I ask myself "without Scip's and SLX's feedback, could I really hold my own with the Brocko's of the world?" "Pain is just the feeling of weakness leaving the body." Nice post, dfl.
I concur that THESE are the good old days. Not only do we have much better football to talk about, there is incredible diversity on this message board. I never posted at the 360 board because, frankly, the interface was nonsensical. This format makes SOOOOOO much more sense. I also didn't post there because I didn't know ****. I still don't, but people here are more forgiving.
Excellent post. dfl isn't giving himself enough credit, he's a large part of the very insightful and credible part of this board. I was referred to this sight by a friend in early '99. Prior to that, I had been abroad for a few years in a place that didn't have running water, much less internet access. I don't know if I could stay sane without it now. I don't know where some of you guys find the time to post so much, but I certainly am glad you do.
Don't forget about "Oklahoma_Sooners." I laughed for an hour after his post. I even printed it out and put it on the wall. For those who don't know, it's been recreated here. The Link
watching bullardhorn and dfl butt heads in the chat room every evening is definitely worth the price of admission. i highly recommend the chat room, if you've never been.
(hand on cheek, biting bottom lip) Awwww, look at ProdigalHorn! He's not even a moderator yet *sniff*!
dfl: Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I remember stumbling upon the 360 boards in 1996 and became immediately mesmerized by the vibrant community of Big 12 fans. That was the key to the fun back in those days -- it wasn't just Horn fans. Austin360 was the only game in town, with every team having its own board for fans to post on. To me, that's a big reason why it was so fun over there. It was kinda like MTV's Real World on crack -- "What happens when Big 12 fans stop acting polite and start getting real." Every team's board was an eclectic mix of fans, and if you were talking out your ***, you would be called on it immediately. Back then, if you posted "Corey Pullig is worst QB in A&M history," you'd be inundated with Aggie posts telling you how wrong you were. You dropped the names of some excellent anti-Horns posters from over there. I don't think there was one post by 77077 that didn't piss me off, but I wish he was still around posting somewhere. His flames were good ****. Mothershucker was a great Nebraska poster. cas87 was (and is) one of the smartest Aggie posters on the Net. jamey was ***, but a loveable *** in hindsight. Hell, even Baylor had some good posters, like bubear (I can still remember the Baylor fans and their "Shhh. Don't talk about it" crap about silent commits). To me, that board's downfall was when other Big 12 schools' fans started they're own separate boards, ie TexAgs, Aggtimes and the like. There no longer was a need for all Big 12 fans on one site. While it is great to have sites like Hornfans that cater to a specific schools' fans, in some ways it just doesn't measure up to what we had there for a couple of years. I'm in no way knocking this site, because it's the best on the Net presently. No, just reminiscing about a time that has passed by. Thanks for taking me down memory lane, StuckInOhio (aka JerSpoken on 360)
horndfl, I come to this site for information about Longhorn Sports and to relax. I enjoy the different opinions of people who care about UT and the people who make up what UT is all about. This includes the coaches, players, fans and of course the administration. I don't have much to add in the way of new information as I no longer have any inside information. I watch a few practices, take a few newsletters, read several boards, have over 100 games recorded but I don't really care about posting very much. I hope the very knowledgeable posters, ( I consider you one of those) continue to give us your insights and views on happenings around "The Forty Acres". I get upset with the negative postings, which IMO tend to hurt the efforts of our coaches and players who are building our program. Many loyal fans, after a loss or poorly played game, really dump on our coaches and players. And then, we have the fans of other teams fanning the flames, so to speak. I realize that I am a homer and although I have "suggestions" for the coaches, I keep them to myself when things are going bad. I appreciate the sports related topics and the posters who post their well intended thoughts on this board. I also stopped going to some of the other boards because of all the bickering, complaining and pessimism that went on at those sites. Our program is moving in the right direction but there may still be some bumps in the road. Many people will use anything they can to try to stop this progress. As the University of Texas becomes more successful it will just get worse. This a great site, let's keep it that way. Thanks to Katy, Bob and all of you who do so much to make this an informative, interesting and enjoyable site for folks like me.
Thanks horndfl for a great post, as usual. I do not post that often, but have been "lurking" since the website became LHG's alone. It is a great way to keep the "Longhorn Juices" flowing throughout the long offseason. Thanks again.
I am proud to say that I was one of the earliest posters on the 360 BBS, although it was under a different handle. I found that sucker in early 1996 and was instantly addicted. My favorite flamer back then was a guy who went by the name "ElPasoRed" and told every one to shut their "pie-hole" all of the time. Whatever happend to MegaDavidB?
I remember logging on HF to check the status of the LHG v. LHB grudgematch about every hour or so as if it were a damn football game. I remember the post where TheCorporateElbow officially changed his monicker to ThePeoplesElbow, a move that not only shook the web world, but professional wrestling as well, I remember a lonely fellow by the name of BuckeyeByBirth, who wasn't sure if he liked us or not, and likewise among the posters here.
