Getting on board: Avid Husker fans flock to the Web
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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Kevin Cosgrove has ticked off Elvis. Annoyed him right down to his blue suede shoes, which are actually probably red.
Elvis got all huffy when he read in the newspaper that Cosgrove didn't return a phone call from recently departed Husker cornerback Fabian Washington. This incensed Elvis so much, he found the nearest computer and typed his thoughts about the Nebraska defensive coordinator.
After his writing was complete, he slapped it with the title: "Cosgrove is horrible." Cloaked under the screen name Elvis1403, he then posted his work on the huskerpedia.com message board, probably the most popular Husker football board in this state.
Near the end of his rant, Elvis wrote: "
I love BC and SP but I just hate Coz this is yet another example of his incompetence he can't even return a phone call now !! what next is he to busy to recruit or coach as well"
Full of loud opinions, low-brow squabbling, comedians, constant rumors and occasional breaking information, message boards have become a phenomenon too consequential to ignore.
Though often viewed with disdain by coaches and players, the boards have made anonymous reporters out of the likes of doctors and gas attendants.
Unfortunately, some spread false information about a player or coach just to make noise. But sometimes, as a coach named Mike Price can tell you, somebody named EagleKlaw can start your demise.
"I look at them a little bit each day to see what topics might be on there, and I know the media does too
" said Keith Mann, sports information director for Nebraska football. "They've evolved from just being a fan forum to a little more than that, I hate to say."
Message board passion is present everywhere, but it's especially noticeable in football-crazed Nebraska, where lasting friendships actually are cultivated daily in this world of anonymity.
During the important football recruiting month of December, Nebraska's Rivals site huskersillustrated.com reported 10.3 million hits, which led all other schools on the Rivals network. That site also led Rivals in hits in October and November, besting runner-up South Carolina's site despite a coaching change that involved Steve Spurrier.
"I may be on it hours a day. If I'm sitting at work between calls, I'll reach over and watch the screen," said 46-year-old Kevin Kean, a successful casino developer in Las Vegas who carries the handle of LouisianaHusker. "This is my fun time. This is my relaxation time. My hobby is Huskers. I don't do golf. I don't do a bunch of other things. I work out, work 10 hours, go to church and talk Huskers."
Anything else?
"I still have time to date every now and then."
JERRY RICE TO NU
I have it from a highly informed source that after Seattle loses in the NFL playoffs that Jerry Rice will retire from the NFL. Upon that happening, he will rejoin Bill Callahan as the receivers coach here at Nebraska. This would be a great hire in my mind, what do others think about it??
bigredmachine95 (1/02/05, 9:28 p.m. on bigredreport.com)
Huskerkid's favorite false message board rumor happened a few years ago.
This was back during the dank 7-7 season in 2002. Back when some message board posters were sure then-defensive coordinator Craig Bohl was the worst football coach they had ever seen.
Somewhere near the end of that season that ultimately would result in Bohl's departure, a message board poster wrote that he had seen former Notre Dame coach Bob Davie in Lincoln, surely a sign he was eyeing the place before he took Bohl's job.
Bank on it, wrote another poster. He had inside information that Bob Davie had indeed rented a moving van in Lincoln.
That's likely true, validated another poster, because Time Warner Cable had installed cable at a Lincoln house for one Bob Davie.
And perhaps it's true that a Bob or a Davie had cable installed by Time Warner at his Lincoln house. But Bob Davie, the man who once coached the Irish, never did. He's still a football analyst for ESPN.
"There's a lot of rumors that go around," said Huskerkid, a 29-year-old NU fan in Philadelphia who goes by the name of Scott Kuhn in public. "Everyone wants to think they're an expert, that they got their information from an inside source' and act like it's a fact."
To be one of the very few who truly has inside sources is to be a king of the message board.
If some new poster wrote that dismissed Husker offensive lineman Richie Incognito was picking fights with teammates in the locker room last fall, it is met with skepticism.
If, however, a king wrote that same thing, many regular posters will believe it to be true.
"It's kind of a hierarchy, you know. The more people give their insider info that turns out to be true, the more they build their credibility. I'm not one of those people," said James Conradt, aka DarthHusker. "It's funny. New people come along all the time and are naive and believe too much of what they read. A lot of people just post stuff to stir the pot."
That's what everyone thought an Auburn fan was doing on April 23, 2003.
Someone under the tag of EagleKlaw posted a seemingly meaningless message about then-Alabama head coach Mike Price on an autigers.com message board. Price had been hired by the Crimson Tide only months before.
As reported by Sports Illustrated, the message read: "Someone told me the night before the (Emerald Coast Classic Pro-Am) that Mike Price had lost his Visa card and was in a panic because of who he was with when he lost it. Has anyone else heard about this?"
The next morning, a fan using the name of TigerRat replied: "I hear it was a couple of working girls."
Soon, the topic was fodder on sports radio shows. Eventually, it was reported that Price had been at a strip club in Florida for several hours, spent hundreds of dollars on dances and drinks, and had a mysterious woman charge nearly $1,000 to his credit card the next morning for room service.
On May 3, just 10 days after an inquisitive message board post, Price was fired from his $10-million job at Alabama before coaching a game.
Re: Pederson to The Ohio State University
I really do not believe that SP is trying to destroy the NU football program. As many seem wont to believe, or feel.
Personally, i could care less if Saddam Hussein was the AD, as long as the football team is a competitive, winning top 5-10 program each year. With realistic shots at the NC on a regular basis.
I fully expect to see a change over at the Devaney Center before next season.
RedOption (1/5/05, 2:16 p.m. on bigredreport.com)
You mess with Pederson, you mess with Kevin Kean.
"I'm a hardcore, no ifs, ands, or buts supporter of Steve Pederson," Kean said. "There's no doubt in my mind that we have one of the best ADs in the country.
Some of these people complaining about him remind me of people asking for (former Husker coach Tom) Osborne to leave in '78."
While recruiting information rules the Husker boards, Pederson's job performance as Nebraska athletic director is also a popular debate item.
On the boards, Pederson is viewed much like President Bush. Either you think he's the greatest guy ever or you can't stand him.
Kean got so tired of all the Pederson bashing one time that he posted a message giving the job description of an athletic director.
He then provided his address to which people could send their resumes for the job, showing what makes them more qualified than Pederson.
"I didn't get one resume," Kean said triumphantly.
Besides the negative Pederson posts, Kean visibly gets angered when he reads messages bad-mouthing recruits who are not interested in Nebraska.
"When a recruit loves Nebraska and we think he's going to commit, we're all for him," Kean said. "Then, when we go somewhere else, we call him an idiot."
It is the advantage of being anonymous. You can call a man an idiot and not get your house egged.
"I think anonymity brings out the worst in people," Conradt said. "There are no consequences for saying what you say. I think that's probably where the whole concept of flaming comes from. They probably didn't have that in the old days around the coffee pot at work, the profanity-laced, ultra-negative outbursts."
It never will stop, however, for there are a share of posters that live for the fights. They get on boards with the agenda to mix it up with the people Conradt calls the "sunshine pumpers."
"The sunshine pumpers will say, Oh, the Huskers had a bad season,' but they'll put the spin on all the things (Husker coach Bill) Callahan had to do, and players adjusting to the system," Conradt said.
"Then, you got the people who are always negative. Even when we'll have a great season like 1999 or 2001 and we're close to a championship, they're still complaining about the way games were managed or something."
So how does it feel to be a teen-aged Nebraska recruit about to enter a world where people would like to know how many hairs are on your head?
Glenn Covey, father of Husker recruit Nick Covey, said his family paid some attention to the message boards while Nick was considering his school.
After he chose Nebraska, that ended.
"He doesn't read anything about himself," Glenn said. "Maybe that will change when he starts playing."
When asked what his reaction would be if he read a negative message board post about his son, Glenn said, "You just consider the source. There's absolutely no way to please everyone in this entire world, man.
"A lot of times stories are put out about people and they're not true. You got to take it for what it's worth. It's pretty easy to hide on message boards. You get a name and post something. What kind of credence is that?"
where to buy a house in Lincoln?
totally off topic here, but I'm commuting to a new job in Lincoln from Omaha, and the hour and ten minute drive each way completely sucks
I didn't like Lincoln at first, but it's growing on me, as is the job, so the plan is to sell my house here and buy one down there
Hskr8 (1/1/05 at 8:49 p.m. on bigredreport.com)
Re: where to buy a house in Lincoln?
Hskr8,
I couldn't pass up the chance for my first post. I may have a house for sale, by Pine Lake in South Lincoln. I will know about a job offer out of state this week and will put the house up for sale right away. Chances are good it will happen and if interested, I will post again to let you know more.
renegade23 (1/1/05 at 10:38 p.m. on bigredreport.com)
Most of the guys don't hit on Sharlette Schwenninger when she's typing football.
"Fortunately, I have a pretty innocuous screen name. A lot probably don't know I'm female," said Schwenninger, who became hooked on Husker message boards while she was living in southern California in 1998.
She was a cautious poster initially.
"I was more of a lurker," she said. "I wondered, Would they accept me? Would I be accepted into their fraternity of message boards?' "
Consider her frat worthy. She has several really good friends she's developed through the message boards. Sometimes, she will hit the town with them.
"As a female, it's given me good insight into the male psyche," Schwenninger said.
Like?
"Every man thinks every hot woman should like him."
Schwenninger's reason for getting on message boards is probably the most common. That is, she could discuss Husker football until her ears bleed and just wants to be in an environment with people who could do likewise.
It's the same thing that attracted Niton Gambahr.
"What intrigued me was all the different walks of life there are in terms of Husker fans," said Gambahr, who spends much of his Internet time on the Husker Power Hour site. "It's a place where Husker fans all over the country can be together. It's interesting when you're talking to fans from Houston, Dallas, New Mexico, even overseas."
Roam the boards long enough and friendships will form. Many board addicts start to hang out on weekends of games.
And next Saturday, Kean and about 200 message boards friends will travel to San Antonio to watch an all-star high school game that features several potential Husker recruits.
"We want these people down there to see what Nebraska people are all about," Kean said. "We're great people. We support our new coaching staff. People at the Alamodome are going to know Nebraska is back."
1976 internet posse?
It was 1 a.m., but coherbie wasn't even thinking about going to bed.
He had a good excuse.
He was thinking about the 1976 Nebraska football team.
If there were message boards back then, what would people have been writing about Nebraska football?
Hmmm
He began to type, and by 1:34 a.m., he had posted on huskerpedia.com a fine piece of wisdom that greeted Husker insomniacs littered about this country.
They would read his work and nod their approval.
Sometimes a man is at his posting best when the late-night infomercials own the airwaves...
If we all could have fired up our TRS-80's, Apple I's & II's, or Commodore PETs logged on & posted on HP for free (at least it should have been free back then) we would have talked how:
Bobble the PAT snap & start the season with a 6-6 tie?
3 straight games without a victory - first time since 1961?
Beat the Hoosiers (that Corso guy seems odd)
losing to Iowa State?
10 down in the astro bluebonnet bowl but rally to win (thank you Chuck Malito!)
9-3-1?
who is this tall, skinny, red-headed stepchild.
Fire his @$$
WE knew man, we were smart, sideburns, slacks, this cat just wasn't meant to be.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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