Today marks my 20th anniversary posting here on ITS. I had previously lurked on this board and one previous to it.
As I pause and reflect on that milestone of time, I hope you’ll let me thank a few folks.
First of all, my thanks to @Chris Harmon and @Larry Lewis and the stringers over the years for their great content. Without their independent view point, a lot about what we know about TU athletics simply wouldn’t be possible. At times, they have been key partners in recruits forming a relationship with the university. While that era may be coming to a close, I think they deserve a lot more credit than they get for what they’ve done to promote University of Tulsa athletics. What we have here is worth so much more than $2500 in subscription fees over two decades. On that note, I am thankful we were all able to put his kids through college on the Inside Tulsa Sports Scholarship lol.
I feel a deep sense of personal gratitude for the friends and colleagues I’ve gained over the years on this board. What began as jokes on this board has grown into productive professional collaborations that have made my life and the life of my family both better and more secure. While I’ve done my best to help those posters along in this life, I’m certain I have benefitted more than they have from our work together.
And I am thankful for the friends we’ve lost. Not just Catbird and the posters who have passed. While we feel their absence at times, I never really got to thank those that posted quite often, but the pressures of family, business, or simply growing bored of this forum caused them to move on in life. Names we’ve forgotten, like Novocaine, 2Poor, and many others. As well as folks who once posted regularly, and still lurk, like Sodapop and others. Or guys I know must have spent hours developing statistical posts or aggregating data like @JesseTU . I know a lot more about TU sports and sports in general than I did twenty years ago because of all of you.
When I started sharing more on this board, I never expected many of the outcomes, both good and bad. Do I regret teaming up with UCF posters to shut down the Louisville board 15 years ago? No. It was great fun until we all almost got sued. And I certainly enjoyed piling on while others took their turns taunting a Houston based journalist until it led to real world threats.
It’s been interesting the last twenty years, that’s for sure. I never thought someone would take the time to set up a fake/parody account of me on Twitter. Or presumably another person would contact the university and hysterically demand they try to silence or moderate ITS/me. It’s been a wild ride at times.
In an effort to respond to some of the frustrations and speculations about what I’ve posted lately, please allow me to say this again, because we have some new users.
I have never worked for the University of Tulsa, except as a work/study student. I have never had a contractual relationship with the University. I have never been an agent for a coach or a player or anyone with a contractual relationship with the University. Nor have I been an agent, directly or indirectly, for a coach or player seeking employment at the University. I have been active as a student and as an alumni in the past. I do have professional contacts unrelated to the university that do provide me with information from outside the TU “bubble” in addition to the truths and falsehoods I hear from campus. And I get it that it’s not always what you want to hear when I compare the two.
I appreciate all of you and your feedback, both positive and negative. During the next twenty years, I’m going to make an effort to moderate my posts in hopes that I don’t drive some of you away. Because I understand that could be happening as well.
For many of you, this board is an escape or a source of excitement about something you care deeply about. To the extent my comments in the past have overlapped or infringed on that enjoyment, all I can say is that I will try to do better over the next twenty years, God willing.
My intentions will continue to be to see the University grow and that you have access to information that may allow you to grow as a fan of the TU sports programs. And where incompetence, greed and indifference lurks, I will try to shed light on it in a more appropriate way that reaches more of you.
Thanks for reading. A happy, restful, and rewarding holiday season to all of you.
As I pause and reflect on that milestone of time, I hope you’ll let me thank a few folks.
First of all, my thanks to @Chris Harmon and @Larry Lewis and the stringers over the years for their great content. Without their independent view point, a lot about what we know about TU athletics simply wouldn’t be possible. At times, they have been key partners in recruits forming a relationship with the university. While that era may be coming to a close, I think they deserve a lot more credit than they get for what they’ve done to promote University of Tulsa athletics. What we have here is worth so much more than $2500 in subscription fees over two decades. On that note, I am thankful we were all able to put his kids through college on the Inside Tulsa Sports Scholarship lol.
I feel a deep sense of personal gratitude for the friends and colleagues I’ve gained over the years on this board. What began as jokes on this board has grown into productive professional collaborations that have made my life and the life of my family both better and more secure. While I’ve done my best to help those posters along in this life, I’m certain I have benefitted more than they have from our work together.
And I am thankful for the friends we’ve lost. Not just Catbird and the posters who have passed. While we feel their absence at times, I never really got to thank those that posted quite often, but the pressures of family, business, or simply growing bored of this forum caused them to move on in life. Names we’ve forgotten, like Novocaine, 2Poor, and many others. As well as folks who once posted regularly, and still lurk, like Sodapop and others. Or guys I know must have spent hours developing statistical posts or aggregating data like @JesseTU . I know a lot more about TU sports and sports in general than I did twenty years ago because of all of you.
When I started sharing more on this board, I never expected many of the outcomes, both good and bad. Do I regret teaming up with UCF posters to shut down the Louisville board 15 years ago? No. It was great fun until we all almost got sued. And I certainly enjoyed piling on while others took their turns taunting a Houston based journalist until it led to real world threats.
It’s been interesting the last twenty years, that’s for sure. I never thought someone would take the time to set up a fake/parody account of me on Twitter. Or presumably another person would contact the university and hysterically demand they try to silence or moderate ITS/me. It’s been a wild ride at times.
In an effort to respond to some of the frustrations and speculations about what I’ve posted lately, please allow me to say this again, because we have some new users.
I have never worked for the University of Tulsa, except as a work/study student. I have never had a contractual relationship with the University. I have never been an agent for a coach or a player or anyone with a contractual relationship with the University. Nor have I been an agent, directly or indirectly, for a coach or player seeking employment at the University. I have been active as a student and as an alumni in the past. I do have professional contacts unrelated to the university that do provide me with information from outside the TU “bubble” in addition to the truths and falsehoods I hear from campus. And I get it that it’s not always what you want to hear when I compare the two.
I appreciate all of you and your feedback, both positive and negative. During the next twenty years, I’m going to make an effort to moderate my posts in hopes that I don’t drive some of you away. Because I understand that could be happening as well.
For many of you, this board is an escape or a source of excitement about something you care deeply about. To the extent my comments in the past have overlapped or infringed on that enjoyment, all I can say is that I will try to do better over the next twenty years, God willing.
My intentions will continue to be to see the University grow and that you have access to information that may allow you to grow as a fan of the TU sports programs. And where incompetence, greed and indifference lurks, I will try to shed light on it in a more appropriate way that reaches more of you.
Thanks for reading. A happy, restful, and rewarding holiday season to all of you.
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