Boneyard inception?

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Wow, this thread (and Fishy) played it straight more or less. Kinda like the public service The Boneyard has always been. As Marshall Crenshaw once sang, " . . . my favorite waste of time."

 

[CAHUSKY]

She owns her own business and just got too busy to deal with the crazy people. Plus, the Kervicks migrated over here and they made up about 98% of the board's cumulative IQ so the maillist just started to degenerate.

i had forgotten about the kervics. If I remember correctly there were multiple generations of them on the mail list. I recall speaking with one of them about coordinating a group trip to the ncaa tourney since I'm in the travel biz. Or, maybe it was helping them Book a vacation in Tahoe? It's been a long time but I definitely remember them.

 

[huskyharry]

I've enjoyed reading and contributing a bit (not as much as many others though) since the 1996 Courant board.
Wow, 17 years goes by quite quickly!
I grew up in Mansfield Center but the Navy has kept me away for 28 years. It was particularly nice to get my UConn fix via the boneyard when deployed overseas...I thank you all.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I remember I found The Boneyard when it was on Scout.com probably around 2007? Not sure when I started to post, but I just remember when I initially stumbled upon The Yard and couldn't get enough of it. Truth be told, with the Conference Realignment saga, I definitely refresh this site way more than I would like to admit.

 

[Mike Honcho]

I spent a ton of time on the uconnbball mailing list. That was really active in the early to mid 90s. I don't remember when I found the boneyard exactly, but I do know soon after I joined, Tom and Fishy asked me if I might happen to have any extra memory laying around for their server that was being overtaxed. I think just before the move to Rivals. Mid 90s?

I was a regular on the AOL UConn message board with UconnHenry in the early to mid 90s as Chuck. RRLBEES headed up the SU contingent there. Anyone from AOL?

 

[WisePig]

I remember the site starting as an offshoot of the Hartford Courant in 1996. The original name at the time was "Husky Hardcores." I remember this because of a computer problem I had. The repairman looked at my history folder and saw it was filled with Husky Hardcore views. He looked me straight in the face and exclaimed "You know I love large women as well." I did not have the nerve to tell him it was a basketball site. I can imagine what he would have thought if it was "The Boneyard."

Anyways, whatever happened to the Oklahoma Eric?

 

[Fishy]

I was a regular on the AOL UConn message board with UconnHenry in the early to mid 90s as Chuck. RRLBEES headed up the SU contingent there. Anyone from AOL?

Holy crap - yes.

I don't even remember the handle I used back then.

That's amazing. I actually thought Bees was the last one from those days left. (Bees goes back before AOL to Prodigy - we used to joke that he started the internet.)

 

[Mike Honcho]

Holy crap - yes.

I don't even remember the handle I used back then.

That's amazing. I actually thought Bees was the last one from those days left. (Bees goes back before AOL to Prodigy - we used to joke that he started the internet.)

Ha - I was on Prodigy too, though I don't recall a UConn board there. Henry and Bees are the only ones I remember... JKul used to keep us up to date on all the recruiting gossip. I posted a lot more back then. I was a fiery little pre-teen. 'I bleed husky blue' was my sig.

 

[Mike Honcho]

While we're taking a trip down memory lane, years ago ESPN ran a poll for the best town/city in college basketball and someone on the Boneyard developed a program to stuff the ballot box for Storrs. Can't remember what it was called but damn that was funny. We inched up from behind Lexington and Durham to take the lead if I'm remembering right. Anyone have more details on that?

 

[Gurleyman]

There was an old UMass rivalry board too, which died once UMass died. It might have just been called bball.com or something generic, so people would find it who wouldn't even care about either team. I might have wandered into that sewage pit before finding a link to the Boneyard. I can't remember.

Hard to believe now that there was actually an entire website devoted to UConn vs UMass. These days it would make as much sense to have a message board rivalry with Albany. It is also a state school for a bordering state, and they even gave us a good battle in the NCAAs. And so did Fairleigh Dickinson.

 

[zls44]

And the day Tom died. That was very sad. So sad.

Oh G-d, now I'm actually laughing so hard I started crying. What a memory that was.

Kids today...they don't even know. I've only been watching since the 02-03 season and I feel like I missed out on most of the fun. I remember there was a guy on the Pitt Rivals site who was convinced Emeka Okafor was the most overrated player in college basketball. That was amusing, especially as the season wore on.

Oklahoma Eric.

Never has one photograph yielded such a torrent of mojo. Kelvin Sampson is STILL calling timeouts to try and slow that run.

 

[zls44]

Here's a look at the place from 1998: http://web.archive.org/web/19980524082316/http://www.uconnfan.com/

If I could impart something to the newer folks, its that people like Tom, Nan, Fishy, Bees, cto, alexd and probably ten-twenty other folks I'm forgetting (definitely not me btw), have actually invested a lot of time in this place. On the Syracuse side too. Money, time, humor, creativity, philanthropy. All of them came out of this...thing...we've got. Wherever we've been.

It's always been fun.

I think that's part of why the conference realignment stuff stinks. Besides UConn's predicament, it has a bit of a St. Elmo's Fire feel to it.

People like EssexEd and Tom shouldn't die, UConn and Syracuse shouldn't be in different conferences, we should be wondering why Jim Calhoun cant develop an inside game and we should all stay in college forever.

 

[Fishy]

While we're taking a trip down memory lane, years ago ESPN ran a poll for the best town/city in college basketball and someone on the Boneyard developed a program to stuff the ballot box for Storrs. Can't remember what it was called but damn that was funny. We inched up from behind Lexington and Durham to take the lead if I'm remembering right. Anyone have more details on that?

You have a great memory - I had forgotten.

I don't remember what we called it, but the guy who used to post as "x" was a freaking genius and he wrote a script that automatically registered votes every time someone loaded a particular link - people from Duke or Kentucky who were just trying to find out what we were up to ended up tallying vote after vote for Storrs.

We won going away.

 

[zls44]

Three other things:

1. I think Fishy posting Odds and Ends was why 25% of people logged on. It was a mix of a recap and harsh criticism of any and every team in the country. I appreciate those posts as the years have gone on and fatherhood has made the man lose his marbles. He's gone from buying Marist season tickets to just hanging around Poughipsiee. It's sad, really.

2. As I understand it, a board volunteer effort putting postcards on parked cars at Gampel Pavilion played a role in UConn going FBS. Posters put the cards on people's windshields with names and phone numbers of various state legislators to call and push the football upgrade. Didn't hurt.

3. The 2004 title commemorative Sports Illustrated ad was basically all Boneyard posters who were filmed walking around the Alamo.

"I get the shirt...AND THE HAT?!?!?!?"


99.99995% of message boards on the Internet are worthless crap. Maybe I'm wrong, but I really think that this place through the years is that other 0.00005%.

 

[temery]

That was "x" who set that up. Haven't seen him since '99.

While we're taking a trip down memory lane, years ago ESPN ran a poll for the best town/city in college basketball and someone on the Boneyard developed a program to stuff the ballot box for Storrs. Can't remember what it was called but damn that was funny. We inched up from behind Lexington and Durham to take the lead if I'm remembering right. Anyone have more details on that?

 

[HuskyNan]

i had forgotten about the kervics. If I remember correctly there were multiple generations of them on the mail list. I recall speaking with one of them about coordinating a group trip to the ncaa tourney since I'm in the travel biz. Or, maybe it was helping them Book a vacation in Tahoe? It's been a long time but I definitely remember them.

Maybe you mean the Husky Road Crew. Brett and I took the trip to Philly to see the men play Villanova at noon in the Wachovia Center (Okafor with a ginormous block with 2 seconds left in a two point game) then the women played on campus that night. The 'Nova fan threw beer bottle at our bus at the Wachovia, but we may have been a tad obnoxious.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I was a regular on the AOL UConn message board with UconnHenry in the early to mid 90s as Chuck. RRLBEES headed up the SU contingent there. Anyone from AOL?

I was originally on AOL 20 years ago, and remember JKul and Vuce posting frequently; I used my screenname, because I didn't know there were any other options. Think I kept the same name until Scout. My recollection is returning home from a southern California trip to visit my girlfriend's family and printing out & reading a huge number of posts from the 1999 NC & days afterward, having been confined to simply commandeering the den and leaving an odd impression during the game itself.

Shortly thereafter I made the migration to each successive BY location, and still miss the days when it seemed like browsers allowed exverything and chatroom access was free and universal. Then again, it was challenging to watch the game while glued to a desktop monitor with a bulky TV in aother part of the room. And was I really on dialup?

 

[temery]

I was originally on AOL 20 years ago, and remember JKul and Vuce posting frequently; I used my screenname, because I didn't know there were any other options. Think I kept the same name until Scout. My recollection is returning home from a southern California trip to visit my girlfriend's family and printing out & reading a huge number of posts from the 1999 NC & days afterward, having been confined to simply commandeering the den and leaving an odd impression during the game itself.

Shortly thereafter I made the migration to each successive BY location, and still miss the days when it seemed like browsers allowed exverything and chatroom access was free and universal. Then again, it was challenging to watch the game while glued to a desktop monitor with a bulky TV in aother part of the room. And was I really on dialup?

The kid Chuck, or Joyce's friend Chuck?

 

[temery]

Pretty much all of the BY's major names showed up for the BYC's of past and it was a pleasure meeting everyone. Hopefully a reunion of sorts on a golf course nearest to you will happen in the future!!

Best BYC moment - first time I ever played golf ... had to use one more of my drives, and I bounced my lefty slice off CinderellaJone's son's chest, right onto the fairway... for the win.

AAAB and Iron Mike pretty much carried the team.

 

[BobbyG]

The kid Chuck, or Joyce's friend Chuck?

I remember Vuce and seeing the old screenshot previously posted reminded me of Revrat. Question: Did McD's pre-exist the Boneyard? I remember going there for news articles and info before becoming a professional Yard lurker.

 

[mauconnfan]

Best BYC moment - first time I ever played golf ... had to use one more of my drives, and I bounced my lefty slice off CinderellaJone's son's chest, right onto the fairway... for the win.

AAAB and Iron Mike pretty much carried the team.

That would be 2nd to Connvict and his little buddy Rip rolling a cart on #13 at Quarry Ridge and the amount of alcohol on the ground thereafter was more than Team Fishy had total in 2 years (which is still amazing and maybe not but......)............and he wasn't done yet as he then took on the defensless pansies and shaved their tops near the pro shop which led to our inability to bring the horror show back to the Ridge!!

Good memories with the crew all sitting behind the 18th green chanting obscenities!!

 

[AtlHusky]

I was a regular on the AOL UConn message board with UconnHenry in the early to mid 90s as Chuck. RRLBEES headed up the SU contingent there. Anyone from AOL?

I found the Boneyard after first finding the AOL board soon after moving to Atlanta and firing up my first PC. I don't recall being on there very long before this came my home for everything UConn hoops.

 

[upstater]

While we're taking a trip down memory lane, years ago ESPN ran a poll for the best town/city in college basketball and someone on the Boneyard developed a program to stuff the ballot box for Storrs. Can't remember what it was called but damn that was funny. We inched up from behind Lexington and Durham to take the lead if I'm remembering right. Anyone have more details on that?

I wrote about this last week. It was a trojan horse program back in 1999. It was an ESPN poll that was remarkably easy to game. You could also vote repeatedly by clicking submit 100 times. Storrs did finish way ahead.

 

[Frank06830]

What a great stroll down memory lane. It seems not too long ago the Courant decided to try and fix something that didn't need fixing in 1996. Fisjy's and Temery''s recall of events is right on. I found myself a UCONN fan once my daughter became a student and cheerleader at UCONN in '95. I was immediately sucked into the board by the knowledge and insights posted by the board's denizens at that time. I happened to be in charge of an interactive group at an advertising agency at the time. It was 1996 and not too many people in the ad business gave a crap about this thing called the Internet. So I was running this start-up interactive group with the agency trying to get clients to build websites and run ad banners. So I was in a position to get a couple of web developers and designers in the group to do a quick work around the Courant problem getting some hosting, plain board functionality and catchy board and. the uconnfan.com UrlI. I was such a Husky fan by that time, no one questioned the allocation of agency resources to my new found passion. It was, as they say, as simpler time then. In any case,thank God Temery''s and Fishy approached me at a time the board was growing too large and clients at the agency seemed to understand the potential of the Net, I was happy to make the transition over to more capable hands.
The rest is history. 3 national championships, a lot of great memories as a fan made more special by this board. ...

 

[upstater]

You have a great memory - I had forgotten.

I don't remember what we called it, but the guy who used to post as "x" was a freaking genius and he wrote a script that automatically registered votes every time someone loaded a particular link - people from Duke or Kentucky who were just trying to find out what we were up to ended up tallying vote after vote for Storrs.

We won going away.

I actually took a screenshot of this.

Must be on my old Dell laptop!

sorry, it would take many man hours to find it, but if I ever find the time to transfer some files (the reason I still have it) then I'll grab it.