DMD Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 A retrospective... One fact amazes me. I was an original poster on this board. I am on it literally every day. I have every reason to be here. And yet I am only the 41st person to top 10,000 posts. In case you were not aware, The Huddle started because both Whitney and I were in the same fantasy league at the company where we worked (EDS). I won the league in 1995 and as the scorer for the league, I would publish elaborate reports every Tuesday for the league all done by hand. In 1996 at the draft, Whitney - who I only knew of and did not directly work with - was chatting with me about the internet and such and he mentioned that we should open a web site because there really were not any on the internet at the time. We were both top owners in that league (he won that year). In what would become a telling difference between us, I would show up to the draft with just one sheet of paper for my cheat sheet and he would come with notebooks and highlighters and magazines. When he drafted he would make write down the bye week beside every player he would draft though it took us all a while to figure out what he was doing on the board. In January of 1997, Whitney called me up and brought up the idea of a website again. Our first big meeting was to decide on a name for the site when we met at a Round Table Pizza place between our houses. I wish I still had our lists of potential names, but easily the best one was "The Huddle" which amazingly was still available. In 1997, our web site cost us $39.99 a month and we took turns paying it every other month. It was coded using Hot Dog by Sausage software, which was basically handcrafting the pages with it helping on the html tags. We had to upload pages in order to see what they actually looked like. It was a happy day when tables were invented in HTML. Sadly the pages from 1997 are gone with the ravages of time. Our logo initially took up about the entire top half of the page. Unfortunately it was all the year before the web archives began so that is lost. I started producing the site on a 17" monitor with a 386-SX computer with a 30 MB harddrive I had custom made for me. One of the things that I really wanted on our site was a message board because there were none out there anywhere for FF other than the newsgroup. As has been brought up before, when we started out I would go out and pretend to be different people asking questions and then I would later return to answer them. Big Country was one of the very first people ever on the board, as were Roland and Skippy as I recall. This is an example of the type of message board we had in 1997. Some tidbits from the web archive: This is the way that the message board menu looked in 1998 Here is our message board in 2000 Here is the homepage from December, 1998. It may not look like much, but it was considered "the bomb" at the time and people were damn glad to have it. Home page in 1999 Home page in 2001 I have written the Tunnel Vision since 1998 - I just wrote my 150th one last Sunday night. They take me most of the day to do and are usually finished about 2 AM. Each year they include more it seems. The humble beginnings of the TV (as we call it): 1999 Tunnel Vision I have written the Game Predictions and Projections since the site started in 1997. The GP (as we call it) requires more work than you can imagine and I actually start the process of writing it on Wednesday of the previous week. Every waking minute every Monday and Tuesday are devoted solely to that - Basically I work three straight 16 hour days starting on Sunday morning. A 1998 Game Prediction In 1999, we were courted by Fox Sports. We supplied them with all their fantasy football content that year and we switched our message boards from our own UBB to one ran by the most reviled name in MB history - "Delphi". That little fiasco was but one of several negatives that came out of that year, some of which I am contractually bound to never discuss. Suffice it to say what was supposed to be a banner year ended up as one major headache after another, punctuated with the occasional black eye or a kick in the shins. We were the first FF site with a message board and the first with the UBB board that proved far superior. This year we will run the smackbowl for the tenth time. Things I have disclosed over the years on the message board 1. I hate ants after being bitten by one that gave me a swollen finger which made it hard to type. 2. I have been in accidents involving a car, train, motorcyle and boat. I have been electrocuted and almost drowned once. My parents were told I only had maybe a 50% chance of living after the train/car thing. 3. I like guns 4. I had a mohawk before. I really liked it but was it was not popular with significant members of my family. 5. My favorite movies of all-time are Groundhog Day, Red Dawn, Saving Private Ryan and The Count of Monte Cristo. Things you may not know 1. I love science and statistics and yet I am the most superstitious person that I know. 2. I will delete threads that I absolutely love because they do not belong on the site. 3. I actually have strong opinions on everything but it is not my place to discuss them here. And you'd likely be wrong if you guessed. I love debating things. 4. In 1998, there was a post by Gridiron Assassin about a note that he had in his pocket that was the first ever with 100 replies. We all thought that was astounding at the time. Now it is routine. 5. The message board is under an assault this year by spammers who I guess think posting something gets it picked up by a spider and gives them a higher ranking. I cruise new regiatrations daily and have probably caught over 200 so far before they could post. 6. If you think you know how long it takes to write the material on the site, multiply that by 8 and you might be correct. 7. I have written a book that is being published by Warner Books that is coming out next summer called "Fantasy Football: The Next Level" about advance strategy and FF analysis in general. 8. I was a speaker at a FF convention here in Dallas this summer and then drafted in the "FF Championship of Texas" afterwards with 200 or so other teams. With luck, I just may have a nice showing in the playoffs there. 9. I love to go metal detecting (I own three) but not for coins in a park, only for relics over 100 years old. 10. When I have the time, which is rare, I take tremendous entertainment from changing around the bad word filters just to see how I can contruct funny sentences based on how I think people may use banned words. I guess that's enough. Sorry for no pictures - not enough time in-season to scour the internet or post my own. I appreciate everyone here and the message board is more important to me than you could know. It has it's limits and restrictions, but overall it has been a lot of fun for the last ten years... and 10,000 posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted December 15, 2006 Author Share Posted December 15, 2006 11. And this is how late I sometimes stay up to get the work done... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spain Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackshi17 Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Thanks that was an interesting read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 DMD...DMD...I'm lost. Tell me again why I should know you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 10. When I have the time, which is rare, I take tremendous entertainment from changing around the bad word filters just to see how I can contruct funny sentences based on how I think people may use banned words. Id still say your best example of this is when you changed Bush to read "my president"..Congrats on 10k DMD and thanks to you and WW for providing us with a great place to not only get an edge in fantasy football but to interact with some top notch people.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Id still say your best example of this is when you changed Bush to read "my president"..Congrats on 10k DMD and thanks to you and WW for providing us with a great place to not only get an edge in fantasy football but to interact with some top notch people.. Actually "My Current President" and Clinton as "My Former President". So we had My Former President Portis. (Too late for Reggie My Current President). And interesting read DMD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big F'n Dave Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Well done, Dorey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_bone65 Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Congrats on running a top notch website DMD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easy n Dirty Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Groundhog Day? Really? Congrats on 10k, and especially on the site - it's gotta' be gratifying to see what you've produced here, in terms of both the content and the community, we're all indebted to you and to WW for both. Great job, keep it up...and thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuke'em ttg Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 ....... Hard work always pays off.......Great story...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footballjoe Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Well Done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonorator Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 whoa, this site tracks post count? one would never know ... thank you o' creator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hat Trick Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 (edited) In January of 1997, Whitney called me up and brought up the idea of a website again. Our first big meeting was to decide on a name for the site when we met at a Round Table Pizza place between our houses. Why is it that most ideas are discussed over pizza?I wish I still had our lists of potential names, but easily the best one was "The Huddle" which amazingly was still available. I have written the Tunnel Vision since 1998 - I just wrote my 150th one last Sunday night. They take me most of the day to do and are usually finished about 2 AM. This year we will run the smackbowl for the tenth time. Things I have disclosed over the years on the message board 1. I hate ants after being bitten by one that gave me a swollen finger which made it hard to type. 2. I have been in accidents involving a car, train, motorcyle and boat. I have been electrocuted and almost drowned once. My parents were told I only had maybe a 50% chance of living after the train/car thing. 3. I like guns 4. I had a mohawk before. Pic I really liked it but was it was not popular with significant members of my family. 5. My favorite movies of all-time are Groundhog Day, Red Dawn, Saving Private Ryan and The Count of Monte Cristo. Things you may not know 1. I love science and statistics and yet I am the most superstitious person that I know. 2. I will delete threads that I absolutely love because they do not belong on the site. 3. I actually have strong opinions on everything but it is not my place to discuss them here. And you'd likely be wrong if you guessed. I love debating things. 4. In 1998, there was a post by Gridiron Assassin about a note that he had in his pocket that was the first ever with 100 replies. We all thought that was astounding at the time. Now it is routine. 5. The message board is under an assault this year by spammers who I guess think posting something gets it picked up by a spider and gives them a higher ranking. I cruise new regiatrations daily and have probably caught over 200 so far before they could post. 6. If you think you know how long it takes to write the material on the site, multiply that by 8 and you might be correct. 7. I have written a book that is being published by Warner Books that is coming out next summer called "Fantasy Football: The Next Level" about advance strategy and FF analysis in general.Suhweet 8. I was a speaker at a FF convention here in Dallas this summer and then drafted in the "FF Championship of Texas" afterwards with 200 or so other teams. With luck, I just may have a nice showing in the playoffs there. 9. I love to go metal detecting (I own three) but not for coins in a park, only for relics over 100 years old. 10. When I have the time, which is rare, I take tremendous entertainment from changing around the bad word filters just to see how I can contruct funny sentences based on how I think people may use banned words. I appreciate everyone here and the message board is more important to me than you could know. It has it's limits and restrictions, but overall it has been a lot of fun for the last ten years... and 10,000 posts. I've been here for 8 of em and I truly thank you and WW for the site and everything you guys do. It's the best hands down. Good post, now get us some pics of that mohawk Edited December 15, 2006 by Hat Trick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhippens Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 well done! thank you & congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Big Country was one of the very first people ever on the board, as were Roland and Skippy as I recall. You do now realize that BC must have been about 13 years old back then. Good job, DMD. Looking forward to the next 10K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefjay Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 who are you? Seriously though. Good read. There is no way I could do your job, I mean if I absolutely had to of course I could but I would not want to. I love sports and fantasy sports but it's wearing on me I have to say. I used to write a 4-5 paragraph preview or review almost every week in my local, this year I think I did some version 3 or 4 times and I have no interest in doing one this week now that I lost by .14 pts in the first round. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'canes2004 Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Padder. Congrats DMD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSab Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarryTheRock Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Wow. Looking at some of those links the Huddle has come a long way. Reading some of the old stuff i was reminded about the Ditka years in New Orleans...I had blocked that out of memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grits and Shins Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 (edited) You'd think after all that time your projections wouldn't suck so badly. Edited December 15, 2006 by Grits and Shins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolv Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 10. When I have the time, which is rare, I take tremendous entertainment from changing around the bad word filters just to see how I can contruct funny sentences based on how I think people may use banned words. Id still say your best example of this is when you changed Bush to read "my president"..Congrats on 10k DMD and thanks to you and WW for providing us with a great place to not only get an edge in fantasy football but to interact with some top notch people.. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boilerdave Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Here is our message board in 2000 A thread started by Grid at the top - very appropriate. A thread titled "Peyton Manning=overrated?" - some things never change. DMD, no mention of Delp......nevermind I won't go there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted December 15, 2006 Share Posted December 15, 2006 You guys are just a bunch of sac-hangers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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