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Any old guys here remember Rainman's UK message board,

When I moved away to NYC nearly 20 years ago the message boards were really the only way to follow recruiting/gameday updates. Had to find the one sports bar in the city who had satellite and would open early enough to see Saturday and Sunday noon starts. They always smelled like death/cleaning supplies inside.

Lord knows how much time I wasted fighting off LODs only to eventually realize we were both right a few years later. It got so bad that is why I started Sea of Blue in around 2004/5 to counter the negativity and constant bickering on everything. It worked. KSR got what it wanted and we made refuge that continues to grow today.

Lots of old names to recall here. Davekersey is still the only one -- UKFanInIndy, maybe? -- whose insider comments were mostly accurate. Greatest wrong insider ever? They dude who predicted that we would get Branden Wright. Fail.
 
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I posted all the time there. Can't remember exactly when I got on, but I remember 9/11. There was a thread titled something like "THE UNITED STATES IS UNDER ATTACK!"

I am Spoonman... Was katman2000 on there or did he not show up unt that board merged with Jeff's Rivals boards, before splitting off into KSR (the first KSR)
 
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I posted all the time there. Can't remember exactly when I got on, but I remember 9/11. There was a thread titled something like "THE UNITED STATES IS UNDER ATTACK!"

I am Spoonman... Was katman2000 on there or did he not show up unt that board merged with Jeff's Rivals boards, before splitting off into KSR (the first KSR)

I remember you katman2000!

AlohaCat
 
I was just thinking about how far boards like these have come in the last 10 years. Rainman, I think his real name was Steve, was from the Seattle area and a huge Cat fan. His board was one of the first UK boards, and was very good, probably because membership was strictly controlled. Just curious about how many are still around from those days.
I was a member of Rainman's board from the very beginning. He had an alternate identity that he some times used, i.e. Buzz Lightyear. It was a good board with lots of die hard U.K. fans.
 
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I remember the early boards, as well...Zeke Martins and Katman2000 were familiar characters. I also frequented the wildcat faithful boards for recruiting info...most of the info was great...before Twitter and other social media came along....the LOD crowd and TSFcrowds made it interesting!
Zeke and Kman 2K...I had forgotten all about those two crazy guys. Which team was Zeke a fan of? I forget.
 
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I have enjoyed reading this thread. It has brought back many good memories of years gone past....but still.....Go Big Blue basketball.
 
Zeke and Kman 2K...I had forgotten all about those two crazy guys. Which team was Zeke a fan of? I forget.

Zeke was a Tar Hell fan.

I also started on Microtek back in the day. Followed RainMan and Darrell around from board to board and even went to Kentucky Sports Report for a while, but the traffic was pretty slow, so I came back over here (for better or worse).

The thing I loved best about Steve's board was you really had to know your facts. If you got lazy and tried to make a post bashing somebody without some substantial evidence, they would call you on it. Brought the quality of discussion up quite a bit IMO.
 
No one started with the forums at the Herald Leader? I think there were some usenet sports forums but they were risky since there was no moderation. The Herald Leader forums were ruined pretty much single handledly by a single obnoxious UL fan. The Courier Journal forums back then were a sewer. I then found WildcatFaithful.
 
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With all the old names floating around I remember Blue Kel,JustWar, NYCatfan, and my old friend HiCatFan. I was on the old Prodigy board in the middle 90s and then discovered the AOL board. Back in those days you had to pay for AOL so after while I became a monitor for the free ride and love of UK basketball.
 
With all the old names floating around I remember Blue Kel,JustWar, NYCatfan, and my old friend HiCatFan. I was on the old Prodigy board in the middle 90s and then discovered the AOL board. Back in those days you had to pay for AOL so after while I became a monitor for the free ride and love of UK basketball.

Hangar1- WOW now that's a name and memory Blast from the Past!!! Where you been?

Hicatfan aka AlohaCat
 
Zeke was a Tar Hell fan.

I'm wondering if he is still alive. Hard for me to believe he would disappear if he still had any capacity to troll.[winking]
 
Who was the poster who used to defend Tubby to the death with an ungodly number of statistics? He had a great method, but managed to be a d*ck and got banned, I think. Could be wrong. Dark Tubby days, those.
 
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I was there and really enjoyed the board.I remember a poster who went by Doc who was a vet.He offered to let my daughter visit and observe his clinic.She didn't become a vet but she still remembers he cared.
 
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Loved Mel, but he was always looking for a way to monetize WF without pissing people off. He was having some financial hardships maintaining the site out of his own pocket along with the health issues.

He and I spoke often. He did care about his members more than any other board and the gatherings were wonderful and made the board an even better community.

I miss him a lot. A lot.

Sometimes your family can be your worse enemy. If only people knew what went down and how, but I digress..

As for Rainman....er.....Buzz Lightyear......
 
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No one started with the forums at the Herald Leader. I think there were some usenet sports forums but they were risky since there was no moderation. The Herald Leader forums were ruined pretty much single handledly by a single obnoxious UL fan. The Courier Journal forums back then were a sewer. I then found WildcatFaithful.
I remember the old Herald Leader boards. I was shocked the way people talked to each other there and how the Herald Leader let them get away with the trash talk. I wrote that site off in a hurry. Never posted three but did read it for a short while. I think some one there led me to Rainman's site. Any one remember the story of how Rainman chose that screen name? As I remember it, he was playing basketball in a pickup game and was "raining" down three pointers. At least that is what I remember him saying on line. He had a good site.
 
Wow! What a trip down memory lane. Remember all those names. I started around '96 or '97. Have always been some version of "Blueworld" on every board. The TSF vs. LOD war was epic. In the end EVERYONE had taken a side it seemed.
Lots of craziness on those old boards. Some were more heavily moderated than others. Some were like the Wild West, LOL! Seems a lot of trash talk from one board to another too. Dynasty Defenders stands out in my mind for some reason.
But, there's also been some wild goings on here as well. Most of it late at night and on weekends, LOL!
 
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I remember NYCatfan loved him some Pitino, of course we all did until he left and then was really pissed where he came back to.
 
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Was there as well and used to post almost daily....don't post much anymore....

Twitter has become my "go to" for instant news regarding the Cats....
 
Nice thread. It is interesting to see all the names, and relive some memories. Beginning in 1990 coinciding nicely with the dawn of the internet age the program continually climbed from the ashes
of probation, and once again rose to great heights. Participation, and the overall mood of the
boards climbed with it. Those were heady days. They continued into the first years of the 21st century before the program and the boards began to trend down eventually sinking into civil war. Some tried to stay above the fray, but it was hard not to get drug down into the bloody mud with bullets flying constantly from both sides. I myself just walked away for about 4 years. I came back the day Cal was hired. He rocketed the program back to the top, putting a team on the court his first season which could be argued to be his best, and has kept it there. Appears ready to do so for the foreseeable future. The guy I feel for is who follows him. It's going to be almost impossible for him to sustain it, and I fear when that time comes we'll again find ourselves at each other's throats. I sure hope Cal stays for many years to come!!!
 
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I got started on the Wildcat Faithful board in the 90s Loved that board and was very sorry to see it self destruct. I don't remember ever being on Rainmans board. I was using AOL as my internet service at the time.

Mel was truly Wildcat Faithful. Mel would have hated what they did to his baby.
 
Wasn't around for the Prodigy, Microtek, or AOL boards, but I must have hopped on shortly after. Some of the names you guys are bringing up, I haven't thought about in a loooong time. Lots of memories. :)

Some others I recall: CitizenBBN, dallen, catfanshan, Wildcatsfan, badrose, zorak, UKflounder(?), PJ4UK, glord. I know some of them left for the KSR board when it started and are still there. Some great posters, but still doesn't seem to be a lot of traffic.
 
I remember Rainman's board as well.

While I readily admit I went there for UK information and I thought it was about the best place to get it ( I think that was when Bret Bearup was posting regularly but that may have been the next generation board) I was not a fan.

The mods were way too aggressive - I was introduced to the term agenda poster which became an outlet for them to get rid of many people who provided thoughtful discourse. Discourse was not something they wanted back then.

CNNSI boards were a riot back then. I wish they were still around.
 
Bret Bearup was a regular back in those days on one of the boards. I can't remember exactly which one but, I wonder if he ever visits this board any?
Zorak and badrose....blasts from the past. Thanks for posting those names. Loving this thread.
 
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