TOS Discussion

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:03 pm

Don't look now but one of the First Team All-Controversial posters just signed up here.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:07 pm

UAEebs86 wrote:Don't look now but one of the First Team All-Controversial posters just signed up here.

I would love it if he comes back and sticks around.

SCCats · Post by **SCCats** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:09 pm

Is it UDUG??

ghostwhitehorse · Post by **ghostwhitehorse** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:10 pm

SCCats wrote:Is it UDUG??

It's my boy the killervibe!!!!! YEAH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JMarkJohns · Post by **JMarkJohns** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:17 pm

Damn this thread is a trip

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:24 pm

The "Ban ScrewHansen" thread was a classic.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 8:38 pm

Man it would've been good to be on during the glory years. It wasn't until I was about 3 years out of college that I stumbled upon TOS looking for a community of cats alumni/fans to talk sports with.

I was under the impression that a lot of the early pioneers where friends or college mates IRL. Curious for the earlier members, to what degree is that perception true?

(Like the early days where a core group that knew each other at the U, and got connected at TOS to bridge geography, and then it spun off from there).

catgrad97 · Post by **catgrad97** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 8:44 pm

My first regular contribution to the internet. Ever.

It was an independent venture--and, on many days, still feels like it is.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 8:49 pm

CalStateTempe wrote:Man it would've been good to be on during the glory years. It wasn't until I was about 3 years out of college that I stumbled upon TOS looking for a community of cats alumni/fans to talk sports with.

I was under the impression that a lot of the early pioneers where friends or college mates IRL. Curious for the earlier members, to what degree is that perception true?

(Like the early days where a core group that knew each other at the U, and got connected at TOS to bridge geography, and then it spun off from there).

I was introduced to TOS by a friend from UA (AtlantaCat) who only lasted as a poster for a few months. I was hooked early.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 8:52 pm

I started lurking in the fall of 2004 as a freshman at uofa and started posting in early 2005. Just found it through random googling.

JMarkJohns · Post by **JMarkJohns** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 9:07 pm

Alieberman wrote:I also had a very similar conversation with my wife.

"Are you on GoAZCats?"

"No, are you kidding me? Fuck GoAzCats"

"Really, why?"

"They suck, we started a new site of our own, we all left and formed a Cats Co-Op."

"Is it the same people?"

"Yes"

"Are you discussing the same things?"

"Yes"

"So you're on GoAzCats"

Sigh....

Does your wife finally understand?!!!!

Wow. I can't believe I re-read up to this post. I've laughed, I've cried (from laughing), I've raised my fist in the air in triumph.

Congrats to all of you. Incredible that we few, we "unhappy" few, we Band of posters, we did it. It's not all it even can be, and it is everything it needs to be.

You all are everything.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 9:14 pm

My college roommate, Schnebly, told me about it in November 2002. I started posting with the handle Belvedere, warning everyone that Kirk Walters did not have good hands, as advertised by Ben Hansen. Later, I started posting with my sock Longhorned in May 2003. After a couple years, people thought Belvedere was the sock. Eventually I had to kill him because Gato Salvaje hated him so much.

JMarkJohns · Post by **JMarkJohns** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 9:20 pm

I joined GoAZCats the weekend I was unable to attend my cousins funeral because my colleague and only backup wouldn't forego his UCLA tickets (was October 2004, so UCLA football likely sucked) and let me go to my 22 year old cousin's funeral out of town. I was so low. Desperately low.

I had been a contributor to ESPN and AZcentral since 2000, and Scout since a few months prior, but never felt a connection.

I finally joined that lonely October weekend at the very beginning of what would be a 6 month depression and insomnia as I dealt with cold hard realities of "life" where my 22 year old cousin, a 20 year old HS friend, and a 19 year old HS friend all died from 2003 through 2004. 15 months, 3 deaths ages 19-22.

I was a page designer and statistician for a local paper, had early am deadlines and couldn't sleep. Late night threads with Gershon, Jason, Diehard Dave, Merkin, Walk-On, Budd1e Lee, a few others, and of course, Klaudija, saved me.

That board was more than sports. More than posts.

It was and remains a community.

I take this shit hard.

When we have disagreements, it bothers me greatly. Because I know we are family. New digs, but family.

A lot has changed. So many ups and downs.

As an aside, Next Sunday I will be in Phoenix celebrating my 2nd Cousins 2nd Birthday. He's the son of the younger brother of my 22 year old cousin who passed.

They share a name. A legacy, even.

What you love never truly dies if you fight to preserve the legacy.

Here's to you all...

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:27 pm

Speaking of Auercat, what ever happened to Officer Craig?

I still can't believe what a shit he was hitting on Mrs. WOW.

Alieberman wrote:Where did you find that Merkin?!!!

Forgot AAA's real name, so searched for: goazcats aaa

and that old link showed up.

Kept in touch with WMU for a bit after he was kicked off. Sad situation, ended up passing on, don't remember the circumstances.

killervibe · Post by **killervibe** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:52 pm

Merkin wrote:I still can't believe what a shit he was hitting on Mrs. WOW.

To be fair, Tina is really hot and Jeff was a terrible husband (even worse provider). If I had been single I'd have given it a shot too. She recently remarried and is much happier.

Forgot about Auerbach but enjoyed threatening to FedEx copies of his chats with Tina to his wife. That effectively chased him away forever as that moniker, though I'm sure he returned with a sock.

Didn't know about WMU.

I wonder what happened to Auti.

I started at Cattracks in the late 90's, jumped to GoAzCats a few weeks after Jim started it. Lost my taste for it all when GoAzCats collapsed but I was rarely posting during the last couple of years it was active so never really missed it, until earlier today.

FreeSpiritCat · Post by **FreeSpiritCat** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:57 pm

I came over from CatTracks, which morphed into WildcatAuthority. At that time Doug Carr, Ben Hansen, Brad Allis, yand John Schuster were the writers. It was owned by Doug Carr, who also wrote a CatTracks paper that you could find around campus, and released every month.

Jim Storey pulled Ben Hansen (WilltheThrill32)away from CatTracks to write for GoAzCats. Then he hired a couple more people who posted in the forums, people who you know. AzCat07 or Josh Gershon, and NobodyBetter or Jason. Josh gave up a career in MIS to pursue a sports writing career.

I wouldn't say that GoAzCats was as much a family as a break off of many CatTracks posters.

GoAzcats was independent for awhile before they moved to Rivals. They kicked off AFO from Rivals. Probably because AFO was a group of friends who created a forum for themselves and didn't have sports writers.

It's a shame what happened there because if Jim Storey, errr....Mao would have treated his visitors better BearDownWildcats wouldn't exist and GoAzCats would still be the premier site, IMO, with so many quality posters.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:03 am

Auti followed her dream and became a Special Ed teacher for TUSD.

Lando05 · Post by **Lando05** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:19 am

Stumbled upon it as a sophomore at Mesa High School in the fall of 2003. Even though I never got to fulfill my dream of an undergraduate degree from U of A, this community from the beginning til now has made me feel a Wildcat everyday of my life because of this community. Thank you to all who have helped challange me, shape me, offered words of wisdom, and the lucky few of you I have had the pleasure to meet in person. This is the best community of sports fans I've ever found or been apart of. Can't believe I've been a member for half my life now, time flies.

KaibabKat · Post by **KaibabKat** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:44 am

Was WMU TheCatDude?

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:47 am

Lando05 wrote:Stumbled upon it as a sophomore at Mesa High School in the fall of 2003. Even though I never got to fulfill my dream of an undergraduate degree from U of A, this community from the beginning til now has made me feel a Wildcat everyday of my life because of this community. Thank you to all who have helped challange me, shape me, offered words of wisdom, and the lucky few of you I have had the pleasure to meet in person. This is the best community of sports fans I've ever found or been apart of. Can't believe I've been a member for half my life now, time flies.

Haha you were a sophomore at Mesa High when I was a junior or senior.

EVCat · Post by **EVCat** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:16 pm

I lurked from the old Rivals days, had a different name on that site, and it was one I used on other sites.

I wanted a clean break and not to hash out any battles I had with people on other sites, so I changed handles. It was a great idea...where I have socialized with others at other sites, and made some really good friendships, here I am able to just post, not worry about old history or old beefs (I have never understood online grudges), and quite frankly, share information I have access to from sources without worrying who (including media) would know immediately who I was and where it came from.

My first internet was on the old ESPN site, and I mean old...like 1995-1997. I made friends with a crazy Syracuse poster who went by Otto the Orangemen, a UConnCrazy, and someone others, but mostly a group of like 4 or 5 die hards. We did the whole exchange realtime info and pictures, etc, and it felt like this entire world was open that had never been open before...talking hoops with fans of other schools, other regions. I posted as Bear Down or FUCLA for those years, and the conversations regularly extended past hoops. But the internet became the internet in time, and cross-region or cross-team discussion became pointless and then, literally, dangerous. I used to post on ASU sites too...I honestly didn't learn to really hate them until the internet era due to some of my experiences with their people.

I was all in when you guys moved over here because I did not like goazcats or the people who ran goazcats or the history of goazcats in the internet community, etc, etc. So I went from lurker/sometimes poster to quasi regular when the insurgence happened. I loved it...it was everything I thought internet fandom should be. Fuck recruiting site affiliations and premium content...

Puerco · Post by **Puerco** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:21 pm

Jesus, I feel like a newb because I've only been around since 2006...

MrBug708 · Post by **MrBug708** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:32 pm

Longhorned wrote:When did Flipper stop coming around?

Can't believe I didnt even make First Team All Rivals. I guess I came around in 2005?

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 6:04 pm

MrBug708 wrote:
Longhorned wrote:When did Flipper stop coming around?
Can't believe I didnt even make First Team All Rivals. I guess I came around in 2005?

I made #68 of Auercat's list of top 70 posters.

killervibe · Post by **killervibe** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:22 pm

Longhorned wrote:
MrBug708 wrote:
Longhorned wrote:When did Flipper stop coming around?
I made #68 of Auercat's list of top 70 posters.

Which one? I'm pretty sure he released a new one monthly. The lemmings flocked to them to find their names. =)

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:26 pm

killervibe wrote:
Longhorned wrote:
MrBug708 wrote:
Longhorned wrote:When did Flipper stop coming around?
I made #68 of Auercat's list of top 70 posters.
Which one? I'm pretty sure he released a new one monthly. The lemmings flocked to them to find their names. =)

That was the average I calculated over a three year span. I kept a spreadsheet, which I printed out because I liked to pick it up and fondle it.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:36 pm

Longhorned wrote:
MrBug708 wrote:
Longhorned wrote:When did Flipper stop coming around?
Can't believe I didnt even make First Team All Rivals. I guess I came around in 2005?
I made #68 of Auercat's list of top 70 posters.

And he's holding spot #69 just in case Gronk ever joins the board.

Lando05 · Post by **Lando05** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 1:25 pm

scumdevils86 wrote:
Lando05 wrote:Stumbled upon it as a sophomore at Mesa High School in the fall of 2003. Even though I never got to fulfill my dream of an undergraduate degree from U of A, this community from the beginning til now has made me feel a Wildcat everyday of my life because of this community. Thank you to all who have helped challange me, shape me, offered words of wisdom, and the lucky few of you I have had the pleasure to meet in person. This is the best community of sports fans I've ever found or been apart of. Can't believe I've been a member for half my life now, time flies.
Haha you were a sophomore at Mesa High when I was a junior or senior.

Yup, class of 2007.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 2:01 pm

Lando05 wrote:
scumdevils86 wrote:
Lando05 wrote:Stumbled upon it as a sophomore at Mesa High School in the fall of 2003. Even though I never got to fulfill my dream of an undergraduate degree from U of A, this community from the beginning til now has made me feel a Wildcat everyday of my life because of this community. Thank you to all who have helped challange me, shape me, offered words of wisdom, and the lucky few of you I have had the pleasure to meet in person. This is the best community of sports fans I've ever found or been apart of. Can't believe I've been a member for half my life now, time flies.
Haha you were a sophomore at Mesa High when I was a junior or senior.
Yup, class of 2007.

wouldn't that have made you a freshman in the fall of 2003? mesa high only had 10/11/12 grade then. I was class of 2004.

97cats · Post by **97cats** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:07 pm

was on premium from the get go -- 02 i believe.

was asked to post on the main board and finally did so in 2005.

that was an amazing site -- tons of great memories.

Daryl Zero · Post by **Daryl Zero** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:12 pm

Longhorned wrote:
killervibe wrote:
Longhorned wrote:
MrBug708 wrote:
Longhorned wrote:When did Flipper stop coming around?
I made #68 of Auercat's list of top 70 posters.
Which one? I'm pretty sure he released a new one monthly. The lemmings flocked to them to find their names. =)
That was the average I calculated over a three year span. I kept a spreadsheet, which I printed out because I liked to pick it up and fondle it.

Wouldn't that give you multiple papercuts?

RichardCranium · Post by **RichardCranium** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:17 pm

I found it because one day sitting at my desk having a discussion with a Kentucky grad, i was suddenly hit with a where are they now moment for Coneil Norman and Eric Money. A quick search found a hit on the "Old School" thread.

I miss that thread. That was the greatest loss of "intellectual capital" in the switch.

Well that and the "see through dress" thread.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 5:00 pm

RichardCranium wrote:I found it because one day sitting at my desk having a discussion with a Kentucky grad, i was suddenly hit with a where are they now moment for Coneil Norman and Eric Money. A quick search found a hit on the "Old School" thread.

I miss that thread. That was the greatest loss of "intellectual capital" in the switch.

Well that and the "see through dress" thread.

Great Walk-on images in that Old School thread. Lost forever now with Walk On no longer in possession of them. Probably ended up in the fireplace.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:26 pm

I came from CatTracks within a week or two after GoAZCats started. I enjoyed CatTracks but got tired of the site when Triangle and Two and Triangle and Too would continuously go at each other. I was pretty sure it was one person fighting himself. I was originally Zona90, the poster who riled up asu posters. I continued that name on GoAZCats for the first few years and then changed to my current name. Change is inevitable but I'm hoping this site will be here for a long time.

Btw, the one thread I am glad I can't read anymore is when the Basketball team lost to Illinois in the Elite Eight. All those cocky Illinois posters that invaded the site after the biggest collapse in UofA history is the reason I despise the University of Illinois sports program.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 8:02 pm

Irish27 wrote:I
Btw, the one thread I am glad I can't read anymore is when the Basketball team lost to Illinois in the Elite Eight. All those cocky Illinois posters that invaded the site after the biggest collapse in UofA history is the reason I despise the University of Illinois sports program.

Take solace. They're all dead.

walk-on-wildcat · Post by **walk-on-wildcat** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:47 pm

Merkin wrote:Speaking of Auercat, what ever happened to Officer Craig?

I still can't believe what a shit he was hitting on Mrs. WOW.

Lol hehe. That's a blast from the past! Now ex-wow is married to another rich older fat guy! Wow I can't believe I just found this thread. I didn't know what TOS was....

walk-on-wildcat · Post by **walk-on-wildcat** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:53 pm

Merkin wrote:
RichardCranium wrote:I found it because one day sitting at my desk having a discussion with a Kentucky grad, i was suddenly hit with a where are they now moment for Coneil Norman and Eric Money. A quick search found a hit on the "Old School" thread.

I miss that thread. That was the greatest loss of "intellectual capital" in the switch.

Well that and the "see through dress" thread.
Great Walk-on images in that Old School thread. Lost forever now with Walk On no longer in possession of them. Probably ended up in the fireplace.

I found some of those pics on my old laptop. That stupid bitch knew how much I loved those old programs, books, old newspaper articles etc.... As soon as I found this site I sent Merkin a message asking wtf happened to the TOS. So sad and disappointing. She didn't even give me back my baseball signed by CSM and the entire 2012 baseball team and Miles Simon.

pokinmik · Post by **pokinmik** » Wed Mar 01, 2017 6:54 am

Lol who hits on a random woman on a message board? I think that's about when you need to take a step back from the internet.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Wed Mar 01, 2017 9:54 am

pokinmik wrote:Lol who hits on a random woman on a message board? I think that's about when you need to take a step back from the internet.

Yeah but what if you a really bad rash or something that covers your entire body? If you use an old pic or a photoshopped pic on Tinder, they'll call you out on it as soon as you meet them at Denny's with your craggy, pustulating face. On Goazcats, you could pretend like anyone looked like you'd hope, and they could do the same, and then you couls run back to your blow-up doll or your fireplace poker and just imagine.

Lando05 · Post by **Lando05** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 8:38 am

scumdevils86 wrote:
Lando05 wrote:
scumdevils86 wrote:
Lando05 wrote:Stumbled upon it as a sophomore at Mesa High School in the fall of 2003. Even though I never got to fulfill my dream of an undergraduate degree from U of A, this community from the beginning til now has made me feel a Wildcat everyday of my life because of this community. Thank you to all who have helped challange me, shape me, offered words of wisdom, and the lucky few of you I have had the pleasure to meet in person. This is the best community of sports fans I've ever found or been apart of. Can't believe I've been a member for half my life now, time flies.
Haha you were a sophomore at Mesa High when I was a junior or senior.
Yup, class of 2007.
wouldn't that have made you a freshman in the fall of 2003? mesa high only had 10/11/12 grade then. I was class of 2004.

Scumdevils your right I'm off by a year, found cattracks in 03 GoAzCats in fall 04.

JMarkJohns · Post by **JMarkJohns** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 3:46 pm

In a google search for "Arizona Wildcat message boards":

This community is now third, behind just 247 and Scout, who will be merging at some point in the near future, both of whom have national media backers.

And we sit above GoAzCats and Rivals.

Congrats to all those unafraid to cause a bit of disorder in order to put your feet up and call something you own.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:22 pm

I think this is awesome, but it begs the question...

Who "wins" and what happens to the board when someone comes to buy us out?

JMarkJohns · Post by **JMarkJohns** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:37 pm

CalStateTempe wrote:I think this is awesome, but it begs the question...

Who "wins" and what happens to the board when someone comes to buy us out?

UADevil would win. This is his baby. We need to in the next year look at options to make the site pay for itself.

And I don't think UA is looking to sell.

When I get some free time I have some ideas I'll bounce off him and a few others before bringing it to the forum.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:37 pm

eh no one will buy us out since we don't offer anything besides a couple hundred dopes sitting around and talking and arguing. we don't produce content or have media contacts or any existing advertising.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:38 pm

i still doubt that will happen any time soon. there are only 51 posters with more than 1000 posts here. those 50 people probably make up about 2/3 of the site's content currently. we're a great community but not quite large enough to really draw dollars i don't think.

JMarkJohns · Post by **JMarkJohns** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:42 pm

scumdevils86 wrote:i still doubt that will happen any time soon. there are only 51 posters with more than 1000 posts here. those 50 people probably make up about 2/3 of the site's content currently. we're a great community but not quite large enough to really draw dollars i don't think.

It's about eyeballs.

If the traffic specs suggest heavy viewership, there may be some money to be made. Maybe not. But maybe.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:46 pm

Now if we could just get some writers, and someone to hide in the bushes with a digital camera...

Question about TOS: Why was Storey called MAO?

I only recall O being "overlord", can't remember the rest.

JMarkJohns · Post by **JMarkJohns** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 4:47 pm

Merkin wrote:Now if we could just get some writers, and someone to hide in the bushes with a digital camera...

Question about TOS: Why was Storey called MAO?

I only recall O being "overlord", can't remember the rest.

Mystery Admin Overlord

Nobody was certain MAO was Storey.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 5:13 pm

JMarkJohns wrote:
scumdevils86 wrote:i still doubt that will happen any time soon. there are only 51 posters with more than 1000 posts here. those 50 people probably make up about 2/3 of the site's content currently. we're a great community but not quite large enough to really draw dollars i don't think.
It's about eyeballs.

If the traffic specs suggest heavy viewership, there may be some money to be made. Maybe not. But maybe.

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/beardownwildcats.com" target="_blank

JMarkJohns · Post by **JMarkJohns** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 5:25 pm

scumdevils86 wrote:
JMarkJohns wrote:
scumdevils86 wrote:i still doubt that will happen any time soon. there are only 51 posters with more than 1000 posts here. those 50 people probably make up about 2/3 of the site's content currently. we're a great community but not quite large enough to really draw dollars i don't think.
It's about eyeballs.

If the traffic specs suggest heavy viewership, there may be some money to be made. Maybe not. But maybe.
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/beardownwildcats.com" target="_blank

I tried comparing that to other fan sites and couldn't. PGU doesn't register, and Wildcat Authority defaults to Scout.com, so that's skewed.

Punched in Spurstalk, and they kick our ass, but they've been around for a long time and the Spurs are an international team. Much moreso than NCAA sports.

Not sure what I'm looking at. For a forum only, those numbers seem pretty solid. But that's hope and ignorance talking.

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