Bear Down Wildcats

Did not know where to put this but does anyone know what happened to Tracy? He has not tweeted or posted since around when the free boards went dark. I really enjoyed his pictures, tweets and insight.

Probably saw the writing on the wall and left.

btfd16 wrote:Did not know where to put this but does anyone know what happened to Tracy? He has not tweeted or posted since around when the free boards went dark. I really enjoyed his pictures, tweets and insight.

Know He's been using a non-goaz handle since then @Tracy_McDannald

Maybe we can pool some donations and pay him to come here & keep us updated about nothing just like he did on TOS ...

He's moved from AZ, so there's that.

Complete tool who was in over his head and thought he was somebody. Did I leave anything out?

chiefzona wrote:Complete tool who was in over his head and thought he was somebody. Did I leave anything out?

Reydituto wrote:Maybe we can pool some donations and pay him to come here & keep us updated about nothing just like he did on TOS ...

Man, you fellas are harsh. It's not like he was reporting for the Wall Street Journal. But yeah, mostly basic observations and marginal practice photos. Premium over on TOS wasn't worth much that's for sure.

BearDown89 wrote:

chiefzona wrote:Complete tool who was in over his head and thought he was somebody. Did I leave anything out?

Reydituto wrote:Maybe we can pool some donations and pay him to come here & keep us updated about nothing just like he did on TOS ...

Man, you fellas are harsh. It's not like he was reporting for the Wall Street Journal. But yeah, mostly basic observations and marginal practice photos. Premium over on TOS wasn't worth much that's for sure.

Yeah I guess as someone who only saw his free content and his Twitter feed I don't understand that level of hate. If his info behind the firewall was similarly nondescript, seems like the hate should be towards TOS for not ensuring value-for-dollar of premium instead of Tracy specifically.

I paid for about a year, the premium side behind the paywall was a ghost town for the most part, never saw anything on there I hadn't already seen on twitter. Best part was the war room.

Wait a second... The Mystery Admin kept telling us that they had the best premium info of any Arizona site. You mean I was being lied to?!?!?!?

Chicat wrote:Wait a second... The Mystery Admin kept telling us that they had the best premium info of any Arizona site. You mean I was being lied to?!?!?!?

Whaaaa...? Goazcats mystery admin lying? Can't be, they've never lied to us before.

With or Without Tracy, TOS is going to be hopping once football season starts. Things are already starting to pick back up over there. Just today, 1 thread has already been started that wasn't an official headline thread... and it's only 330 in the afternoon.

Alieberman wrote:With or Without Tracy, TOS is going to be hopping once football season starts. Things are already starting to pick back up over there. Just today, 1 thread has already been started that wasn't an official headline thread... and it's only 330 in the afternoon.

I don't know if I can restrain myself...

It must be strange for the people who take a break from the boards for the offseason to come back and it looks like the zombie apocalypse happened over there.

yeah at the rate they are going, by football season there might actually be like 15 posts a day and 1-2 threads a day with 10 people posting instead of the 0-1 threads and like 5 posts a day now.

I had both scout and rivals and the only reason I had a rivals subscription is because they come out with a lot more articles with recruits. Jason knew so much more than Matt/Tracy and Jason was always the first to break it.

The 3 guys that are still active contributors over there need to get with the program. I assume that all of them have been notified of where to go?

azthrillhouse wrote:The 3 guys that are still active contributors over there need to get with the program. I assume that all of them have been notified of where to go?

I don't understand that. It wasn't goazcats that made that place special it was the contributors and community, you go where the community goes. Yet they hold on, gotta admire their resilience.

catinfl wrote:I had both scout and rivals and the only reason I had a rivals subscription is because they come out with a lot more articles with recruits. Jason knew so much more than Matt/Tracy and Jason was always the first to break it.

What I used to like about them was that Matt/Tracy would engage in discussion on twitter. Scheer rarely does.

BearDown89 wrote:Man, you fellas are harsh. It's not like he was reporting for the Wall Street Journal. But yeah, mostly basic observations and marginal practice photos. Premium over on TOS wasn't worth much that's for sure.

Harsh? Naahhh ... maybe Chiefzona was a little more harsh than I was, but sometimes the truth hurts ... from what I saw, their "premium" efforts were marginal, mistaking activity for achievement as John Wooden used to say ...

azthrillhouse wrote:Yeah I guess as someone who only saw his free content and his Twitter feed I don't understand that level of hate. If his info behind the firewall was similarly nondescript, seems like the hate should be towards TOS for not ensuring value-for-dollar of premium instead of Tracy specifically.

I wouldn't call it "hate" - that's harsh - but it is criticism.

Here's what I was getting at above: Everyone else that ran or worked for TOS from its inception has engaged us hoi polloi on their free board. From Storey (in the beginning before he changed his views) to Hansen to Gershon to Scheer and several others, they made an effort to engage us, pass on some nuggets of info and discuss ongoing events. They appreciated, understood and milked the concept of a free board as it relates to the paywall component of their business model. It's not like Tracy's predecessors didn't face the same pressures from the owner of growing their premium site.

We were a captive audience for crissakes! We were pre-disposed to appreciate any efforts or consideration towards us, eager to gobble up insight, input, inside baseball, whatever, and as before, it would have borne fruit for them on the other side of the paywall. That model was already proven, despite what was being said at the End of Days on TOS. But like their boss, they didn't make the personal investment, and you reap what you sow. Whether it was personal reticence, or a directive from upon high, Tracy never got that (neither really did Matt Moreno, although he had a modicum of activity), hardly made an effort, and IMO paid the price.

jollything wrote:

catinfl wrote:I had both scout and rivals and the only reason I had a rivals subscription is because they come out with a lot more articles with recruits. Jason knew so much more than Matt/Tracy and Jason was always the first to break it.

What I used to like about them was that Matt/Tracy would engage in discussion on twitter. Scheer rarely does.

Twitter isn't enough. 140 characters at a time isn't really a meaningful exchange or discussion, like one could have on a message board. Scheer uses it more effectively IMO to dispense little nuggets, hints, and straight out info. If Tracy & Matt had put forth the same effort on TOS' free board as they put on Twitter, this thread wouldn't exist, and heck, maybe this board doesn't exist.

Reydituto wrote: Whether it was personal reticence, or a directive from upon high, Tracy never got that (neither really did Matt Moreno, although he had a modicum of activity), hardly made an effort, and IMO paid the price.

My impression (perhaps mistaken) is that Tracy & Matt simply didn't/don't have nearly the level of "insider" information to pass on that Scheer did/does - it's not laziness or business strategy, they just don't have the connections necessary to get the real scoop. Someone with no connection to the school dropped in from LBSU is going to have a hard time providing the same level of inside dirt as Scheer (or heck even Ace) even after a year or two on the job.

And hey, Tracy did at least play RAP last year. He was trying.

azthrillhouse wrote:And hey, Tracy did at least play RAP last year. He was trying.

And he was terrible at it.

Oh, the whole charade was deeper than y'all know. Much deeper. I love a lot of you guys and enjoy the discussion and banter but I won't waste my time on a poorly managed message board. GOAZ was and is just that. They need an enema before I decide to land there time. Scheer on the other hand has his stuff together. You want real talk....fly over there.

Good info on Scout premium (I lurk there) but participation is sporadic and pissing contests abound.

Sporadic is a word used in baseball. There is legit discussion going on the Premium Scout board.

Yeah guess I just didn't get to see the behind the scenes premium stuff.

azthrillhouse wrote:Good info on Scout premium (I lurk there) but participation is sporadic and pissing contests abound.

Participation is pretty sporadic on all Arizona football boards.

azthrillhouse wrote:

Reydituto wrote: Whether it was personal reticence, or a directive from upon high, Tracy never got that (neither really did Matt Moreno, although he had a modicum of activity), hardly made an effort, and IMO paid the price.

My impression (perhaps mistaken) is that Tracy & Matt simply didn't/don't have nearly the level of "insider" information to pass on that Scheer did/does - it's not laziness or business strategy, they just don't have the connections necessary to get the real scoop. Someone with no connection to the school dropped in from LBSU is going to have a hard time providing the same level of inside dirt as Scheer (or heck even Ace) even after a year or two on the job.

And hey, Tracy did at least play RAP last year. He was trying.

Not to belabor the point, I'm really not that butthurt over it: I don't think your impression is mistaken, and yet, he still should have made an effort. Like I said, captive audience, inclined towards his success. IN any event, I wish him good luck on his next endeavor, whenever he finds it.

Chiefzona knows what's up, and that's not a sporadic occurrence either ...

azthrillhouse wrote:Good info on Scout premium (I lurk there) but participation is sporadic and pissing contests abound.

On the FB board, it's really only one guy though ... BB board has a few more characters ... Scheer participates on a daily basis on premium, and his writers as well as the Scout National guys participate often as well.

Just my opinion but I think Tracy never felt very good about giving out info as a leader to gain subscriptions. As i understand it, he views himself as a true journalist (thus why you saw so many articles, which I enjoy over a lot of the inside scuttlebutt). Jason was always much better at this.

It was said that he had to go back to California for family issues which very well may be true but I also think that like many of us, he grew tired of the way ther site was being handled. His exit seemed to coincide to the issues on the free board.

Matt is doing his best but there are not many in premium (my subscription goes through football season) so I really have to wondr how the site is supporting itself at this time

So, what EXACTLY happened with TOS? I mean, I've always been a free member, and personally I appreciated but never expected whatever little interaction we had with insiders like Tracy et all. I go for the discussion, and the arguments, which 99 percent of the time are fun (and inconclusive ). Was it something that happened on the premium boards that caused the exodus, or was it something else about the free boards? I assume it was admin-related?

qwertyus wrote:So, what EXACTLY happened with TOS? I mean, I've always been a free member, and personally I appreciated but never expected whatever little interaction we had with insiders like Tracy et all. I go for the discussion, and the arguments, which 99 percent of the time are fun (and inconclusive ). Was it something that happened on the premium boards that caused the exodus, or was it something else about the free boards? I assume it was admin-related?

In a nutshell, after years of posters begging for an upgrade to the free boards, the GoAZCats Mystery Admin Overlord (MAO) finally consented. But he made it clear that we were all undeserving freeloading assholes that he'd sooner be rid of us because the free boards made him no money. He also repeatedly told us that when he got tired of us freeloading he would simply pull the plug on the boards and go to a Premium-only model unless we ponied up for premium.

Then he half-assed the upgrade, broke the boards, and didn't say anything about them ever getting fixed. In fact, MAO didn't say anything at all. Posters were not happy. Then UADevil and JMarkJohns decided that we didn't need MAO or his broken site and they developed this place and invited everyone. These boards actually worked and we could make them what we wanted them to be, so we stayed.

MAO realized that he fucked up, so he hastily reverted the old boards back to the way they had been and claimed that the botched upgrade disabled the Admin log-in (and must have disabled email and Twitter too) so he couldn't have communicated with us even if he wanted to (which he didn't). He called us freeloaders again, but by then he was pretty much talking to himself because 90% of the active community was gone.

And that's the sad tale of how one man's hubris, greed, and terrible people skills managed to turn a bright vibrant well of potential customers into a sad dead website. The end.

I've never been called bright or vibrant before. Thanks, Chi!

Chicat wrote:

qwertyus wrote:So, what EXACTLY happened with TOS? I mean, I've always been a free member, and personally I appreciated but never expected whatever little interaction we had with insiders like Tracy et all. I go for the discussion, and the arguments, which 99 percent of the time are fun (and inconclusive ). Was it something that happened on the premium boards that caused the exodus, or was it something else about the free boards? I assume it was admin-related?

In a nutshell, after years of posters begging for an upgrade to the free boards, the GoAZCats Mystery Admin Overlord (MAO) finally consented. But he made it clear that we were all undeserving freeloading assholes that he'd sooner be rid of us because the free boards made him no money. He also repeatedly told us that when he got tired of us freeloading he would simply pull the plug on the boards and go to a Premium-only model unless we ponied up for premium.

Then he half-assed the upgrade, broke the boards, and didn't say anything about them ever getting fixed. In fact, MAO didn't say anything at all. Posters were not happy. Then UADevil and JMarkJohns decided that we didn't need MAO or his broken site and they developed this place and invited everyone. These boards actually worked and we could make them what we wanted them to be, so we stayed.

MAO realized that he fucked up, so he hastily reverted the old boards back to the way they had been and claimed that the botched upgrade disabled the Admin log-in (and must have disabled email and Twitter too) so he couldn't have communicated with us even if he wanted to (which he didn't). He called us freeloaders again, but by then he was pretty much talking to himself because 90% of the active community was gone.

And that's the sad tale of how one man's hubris, greed, and terrible people skills managed to turn a bright vibrant well of potential customers into a sad dead website. The end.

The writing was sort of on the wall once Gershon and company accepted offers from Scout, Rivals' main, er, rival. That led to the downfall of premium memberships. This may have caused MAO some bitterness, as his income stream from the site dried up. It never recovered. Recall, TOS then tried to hire Javier Morales, I believe, but he lasted all of a week because someone told him some information about TOS that made him realize that being associated with the folks over there might destroy his career. Some shady stuff going on. I know more, but I'm not at liberty to discuss.

Bottom line, this site now exists, and we're all better off for it.

Reydituto wrote:
Chiefzona knows what's up, and that's not a sporadic occurrence either ...

I see what you did there.

Reydituto wrote:
On the FB board, it's really only one guy though ... BB board has a few more characters ... Scheer participates on a daily basis on premium, and his writers as well as the Scout National guys participate often as well.

ugh, that guy.....

azthrillhouse wrote:

Reydituto wrote:
Chiefzona knows what's up, and that's not a sporadic occurrence either ...

I see what you did there.

Reydituto wrote:
On the FB board, it's really only one guy though ... BB board has a few more characters ... Scheer participates on a daily basis on premium, and his writers as well as the Scout National guys participate often as well.

ugh, that guy.....

Haha ... Scout has a decent ignore feature, I've found it useful at times ...