TheBullsPen.com getting press!! Congrats Brad...

[S p e n c e]

One-stop sports talk in a click

Die-hard college fans are getting their news fixes on computer message boards, spending hours chatting up the latest gossip.

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer

Published February 15, 2005

TAMPA - Larry Bishop regularly catches heck from his wife, but then it's her fault.

"I didn't like reading and she was always like, "Read something you like,"' said Bishop, 35, a mentor to underpriviledged children and assistant high school football coach in Roanoke, Va. "I do love reading sports and I took it from there."

A few years back, he hunched over a computer keyboard, found a message board devoted to Florida State athletics, the school he began following as a fan in 1984, and discovered the joy of reading.

And writing.

Bishop unabashedly tells you he spends about a dozen hours a day on warchant.com, chatting away until 4 or 5 a.m. Going by the handle 1ChopCity1, he has nearly 11,400 posts since March 2002.

Do the math. That's more than 10 posts a day. Every day.

"I like to keep up with my team," said Bishop, who is subdued and polite on the phone but far more boisterous in cyberspace. "I like to know every little detail."

His wife, Tierra, can't say much. It's her doing and she's also a FSU fan. She had a baby girl last week and named her Semiya, news you could find on the boards, by the way.

"I'm reading out loud to let her know what's going on," said Bishop of Tierra. "It's kind of a Catch-22 for her. She likes it, but she doesn't like it."

Yes, his time commitment and zealous participation may sound extreme, but he's not talking to himself, even in the wee hours. He has company. Lots of it. Message-board populations are mushrooming in numbers.

Gator Country, the message board on the florida.scout.com site and one of two popular sites for Florida fans, has more than 10,000 regulars. During the days leading up to national signing day for football, there would be as many as 3,000 insatiable fans desperate for the latest tidbit, the juiciest rumor about who was heading to Gainesville and who was making, in their estimation, a poor choice.

USF doesn't have the history or tradition of UF, but thebullspen.com, one of two sites for the Bulls, has more than 1,300 registered members and more than 4,000 visitors per month. It doesn't require registration to post or read.

As for warchant.com, its owner and administrator Gene Williams said he has more than 25,000 registered users and several thousand subscribers who pay $9.95 a month or $99.95 for the year. That affords access to premium services, an especially coveted commodity during recruiting season.

"I'm amazed every year of the continued growth and how much people get into the message boards," said Williams, who jokes that some FSU coaches know him solely by his handle, Dot Com. "There's no way when I started it up I had any idea what this would grow into."

* * *

One of the lures of a message board is the convenience. There's all sorts of information supplied by countless sources from virtually anywhere and everywhere.

It's like a Super Wal-Mart, one-stop shopping.

Sometimes, it's the only stop.

Jim Leahy, a USF alumnus, has spent the last 13 years living in the San Francisco Bay area. When he wears a green and gold USF football jersey, sports fans there assume it's a retro University of San Francisco Dons' shirt. So, keeping up with the other USF in the local media isn't easy.

Hello, message boards.

"It really stems from the desire to learn what's going on and finding out news about the school you love," said Leahy, 42, who estimates he spends two hours a day messaging on both the usfbullseye.com and thebullspen.com.

The drawback for the information-starved is sifting through the vastness and trying to separate news from speculation or wishful thinking disguised as an inside scoop.

For more than a month after the 2004 regular season, warchant.com posters were sure coach Bobby Bowden would be reshuffling his staff and were naming who was leaving and who was coming. The rumors took on lives of their own. Almost all turned out to be wrong.

"There are some people, if that person posts something, there might be something to it or this person over here is usually full of it," said frequent warchant.com poster Eric Luallen, 36, a loan officer for a mortgage lender in Tallahassee. "If you spend enough time around it (the board), you learn who to pay attention to and who not to."

In his case, his posts carry some weight. He's a former FSU football player and is cognizant that he's accountable for whatever he may put out for public consumption. For unlike many who can chat uninhibitedly, secure in a blanket of anonymity, Luallen goes by his college and sports-talk radio show nickname, LuLu.

There's no doubt who he is.

"Certain people are going to say some things they wouldn't otherwise because they're hiding behind the anonymity of the keyboard," he said. "That can be both good and bad. From time to time, you might find out some stuff you might not have found out because of that anonymity. It's wading through what is correct and what isn't that can be a little difficult."

* * *

Besides providing a forum to share information, debate the water-cooler issues of the day or gain street credibility through posting an actual scoop, a message board is an electronic social mixer.

Ask Doug Hatch, 50, a USF alum who goes to the usfbullspen.com board "probably more than I ought to" and admits it's "obsessive for me, but it's not a preverse obsession."

A professor of education at Illinois State, Hatch has met fellow posters at viewing parties and games and formed a "kinship" with some. While he lived in Americus, Ga., he met another USF fan/poster, el-toro, who lived in Warner Robbins, Ga. The two would meet near the state line and carpool the rest of the way to Tampa for USF football fan appreciation day.

Those trips ended when he moved to Illinois, but the boards still are his link to USF and its extended family. He'll listen to football games over the Web and, at the same time, visit the boards to chat about what's happening. His boys, Daniel, 14, and Timothy, 12, huddle nearby listening and reading over his shoulder.

"It's the passing of the Bull Torch," he said, joking. "A passing of the cyber following to the boys."

I believe this is a first, very cool.

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/02/15/Sports/One_stop_sports_talk_.shtml

[Velcro]

AWESOME!!!! ;D

[mutt]

Killer !  Hopefully it'll create even more BULLS fans!   ;D

[bullwark]

Great Story and Great Press for all the work that Brad and others do to keep the board up and running, Thanks Guys.

[RJWGoBulls]

One thing I noticed is that the anyone trying to find thebullspen.com message board might get a little lost at the moment due to the www.thebullspen.com URL being used for the old board.  

Is there any way it can be setup for that URL to automatically forward the user to the current URL? or something like that so that potential new members are not lost.

Still great news

[Brad]

It is good publicity for this site and Dave's site...most importantly, it may draw new or potential Bulls to the site.  Once we get them here and get them involved, maybe we add a few more to the season ticket lists at USF.  Message boards can be addicting and if that addiction has a side effect of greater involvement with the Bulls programs - it's a great thing!!

Hats off to Brian Landman at the Times for including us in his story.  I spoke with him as did several others from the board here.  He did not include all their comments, but I thank those that took the time to talk to him.

As far as the old URL, I need to call the ding-a-lings at AllDomains.  It is clearly pointing to the new server and has been since the switchover, but for some reason it is not working right.  Thanks for the reminder RJW.

Ain't it great to be part of this?    Let's keep growing this online Bulls community and support our Bulls - everyday.

[BULLO12]

****...does this mean we all have to clean up our acts?  ;D

[E.T.]

AWESOME !!! Help keep BULL Nation Growing !

As far as the old URL, I need to call the ding-a-lings at AllDomains.  

Or you can get the "Go Daddy Girl"  ;D

http://www.candicemichelle.com/

Go BULLS !!!

[bulls96go]

wonder why super poster smazza 22k did not make the story

[S p e n c e]

wonder why super poster smazza 22k did not make the story

They must be planning to feature him in a follow-up.