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That is really cool. I love this place. Great Community!
Spurs supporters use online message boards to meet people, blow off steam
Roy Bragg
San Antonio Express-News
The San Antonio Spurs, as the city’s most successful sports en y, have become the shared folder for the Alamo City’s collective psyche. And if scientists ever want a snapshot of that zeitgeist, they need only study the messages posted on Spurs Talk, a Web site dedicated to the most ardent Spurs fans, where the city’s soul is laid to bare on a daily basis.
Take, for example, the online, real-time diary of the Spurs’ first 2008 playoff game.
There, they would find 2,146 comments that chronicle a few dozen pre-game fears, predictions and boasts written 12 hours before Game 1 against the Phoenix Suns. Then they’d see a rundown of game action, peppered with expletives and non-sequiturs, all posted by fans watching the game unfold.
And then there’s 5:05 p.m., as the Spurs took the ball down court near the end of the first overtime period.
SpursBrazil: We need a big one.
TParks: (responding to a comment about Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni’s suspect abilities) Wow. D’Antoni is an idiot. What a newsflash.
G O D: Spurs are the men that triumph in the faces of their adversaries. Spurs fans, have faith and BELIEVE! V5.0
At this point, in the real world, on the court of the AT&T Center, Manu Ginobili had driven toward the basket, found nothing, and tossed the ball to a wide-open Tim Duncan, who launched a surprising 3-point shot.
Xylus: Absolutely (bleeping) amazing.
rAm: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Quiet Strength: hahaha timmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Most of the 33 comments that followed over the next 90 seconds were various expressions of amazement, some peppered with expletives.
Suns fans, who had been kibitzing and rooting their team on for the previous 57 pages, didn’t reappear until the bottom of Page 60, when Xylus typed: “Popovich just outplayed D’Antoni.”
The Spurs survived another wild day in the life of Spurs Talk, Spurs Report, Project Spurs and a handful of other Spurs-themed message boards set up to provide a podium to preach from and an ear to bend, around the clock and around the world.
Pick a team — any sport, any city, any country, any college — and there’s likely a sports forum (or two, or three or 20) dedicated to it.
A SENSE OF CAMARADERIE
Sports message boards have evolved from geek fests into tightly knit and tightly wound global communities, say site owners. Each has its own ebb and flow.
And of course, there’s conflict. The Internet, like a good story, thrives on tension.
“It’s like an online version of a sports bar — camaraderie and fan arguing,” says Kori Ellis, who founded Spurs Talk with her husband in February of 2003. “Sports message boards, more than anything, offer a lot of camaraderie and arguing. It mimics what goes on in a bar.”
Her users represent all corners of global society. There are plenty of San Antonio people from all walks of life, as well as fans from around the nation and from places as distant as Argentina, Slovenia, and China.
The group runs the economic and social spectrum. It also runs the emotional spectrum, from the casual fan to the clearly obsessed.
“There are people who are just jerks on the board, but in real life,” Ellis says, “they’re regular people.
“It’s easy to hide behind a computer screen and write stuff. Even I do it. I’m not afraid to be angry. In real life, I’m not sure I’d say that stuff. In real life, I wouldn’t tell someone to shut up. I do it online, but I’d never do that in real life.”
Spurs Talk doesn’t moderate comments very much. Ellis realizes the board’s value as a place to blow off steam if the Spurs play badly.
“I don’t do anything after a game,” she says. “I let it sit for a few hours, then I’ll go back in and clean up comments that need it.”
INVADING ANTAGONISTS
Not everyone on Spurs Talk is a fan of the silver and black. There are plenty of Sacramento, Phoenix, Dallas and Detroit fans on the board. So many, in fact, that Ellis has created separate forums for them to root for their own teams. The site gets 3 million views monthly.
Message boards targeted toward one fan base always draw fans of competing teams. These users usually show up to create mischief.
That’s the case at Texags.com, a board dedicated to Texas A&M and based in Bryan. Things got so bad there that the ownership group, led by Brandon Jones, formed an entire forum for opposing fans to spew venomous comments about the Aggies.
Generally, Jones says, he and his staff of 20 volunteer moderators (there’s also a handful of paid staffers who work on billing, promotion and other parts of the business) oversee 7,000 to 10,000 users who visit the site daily. Texags gets 1 million page views daily. Keeping the peace isn’t easy, and Jones says success is a double-edged sword.
“The more people you get into the boiling pot,” he says, “the more opportunity there is for dispute and conflict.”
Conflict, however, breeds community.
“Whenever you get to a certain size of community,” Jones says, “pretty incredible things start to happen because of the breadth of humanity that you capture.”
For Texags, the turning point was the Bonfire collapse in 1999, when 13 students died. Texags became an around-the-clock beacon for Aggies to connect, find out information and express their sorrow.
Ellis has seen her community develop, too. She routinely hosts get-togethers for playoff games or for important regular-season contests. She’s even hosted the board’s users at her own home.
“One time, we had tickets to the game so we put Big Zak (who asked not to be identified by his real name) in charge of the barbecue at our house,” she said. “And we left.”
BONDING BY WIRE
During its early days, Luddites and alarmists worried that the Web would make people more distant. Instead, it’s made them closer.
“It’s getting pretty well accepted now,” says Steve Jones, a professor of communications at the University of Illinois-Chicago. “There’s not a lot of stigma with it. The younger you are, the more acceptable it becomes. Every time we have a new technology, there’s some kind of moral panic about it. We’re concerned about our kids, and rightly so, but radio, television and the Internet haven’t had the detrimental effect on our children that we thought they’d have.”
Big Zak counts some of the other Spurs Talk users as his closest friends. They don’t replace his other friends, but rather form a second set. Others described it as a purer form of friendship since it’s based on a common interest rather than looks, economic status or geography.
“It connects people from around the world who have one thing in common,” said Bo Durkop, 24, who posts as Remington Bo.
“I’m a Spurs fan,” said Joe Ruiz, KSAT’s web editor. “I like to talk about the Spurs with other Spurs fans. And you end up being friends with people you never would’ve decided to hang out with. You would never have known them.”
Ellis has a background in forging real-world bonds on the Web. She met her husband, who posts on Spurs Talk as “Timvp,” via their messages on Spurs Report.
Another couple is currently courting after meeting at a Spurs Talk game-watching party. Mandy Simon and her fiancé were posting on Spurs Talk for years before that, though their romance didn’t start until the party.
She was among two dozen Spurs Talk users who gathered to watch the Spurs’ penultimate regular-season game, a brutal 106-85 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
It was a happy crowd, where emotions ran the gamut — pregame optimism, midgame intensity, and, finally, gallows humor.
Gung-ho fans began clamoring to see their favorite bench players. Others grumbled about coaching decisions or players mailing it in. One offered derisively to buy a round for the whole room if the Spurs hit 85 points. When DerMarr Johnson sank a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left, the crowd howled and the beer flowed.
Minutes earlier, another restaurant patron had wandered into the party room where Spurs Talk was gathered.
“Can I watch the game in here?” he asked.
“Sure,” someone in the crowd responded. “It’s R-rated.”
“There isn’t a lot of profanity used against the Spurs, is there?” he asked.
A voice snapped back.
“Depends.”
The room erupted into laughter.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...109c07912.html
Last edited by Kori Ellis; 05-16-2008 at 11:21 PM.
That is really cool. I love this place. Great Community!
wtf, this article is real? holy crap.
- Mars
Spurstalk jumped the shark.
badass
Congrats to timvp and Kori... RECOGNISE es....
Looks like he didn't use my quote calling whottt a dumbazz. I wanted that in the newspaper
That is fantastic. What a great article - and of course, fantastic site.
"non sequiturs"
Keep Up The Good Work!
that really is awesome
Xylus got a mention
good for him
Awesome!!
Congrats Kori and LJ this is great!! Thanks for everything you do for us all!
Xylus obviously must be the best suns poster ever cause he's mentioned twice.
i'm definitely tellin my friend who moved to SA to read this. SR can eat their heart out.
- Mars
wow I made the newspaper
first the state of the union bump in the club , now this
congrats and thanks to Kori and LJ
you should be very proud of yourselves
yes you did, Tparkswow I made the newspaper
Thank you for using one of my more intelligent commentsTParks: (responding to a comment about Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni’s suspect abilities) Wow. D’Antoni is an idiot. What a newsflash.
Hey, I'm there!
Ok I'm done.
this is an instant classic thread.
- Mars
Thank you for using one of my more intelligent comments
but you better grab the "Tparks" troll before it gets in the wrong hands
Gee, funny how some certain other Spurs board dominated by pussy mods didn't get mentioned.
trust me, i would love to see a quote from Highlowlobsforbig-50s in thereHey, I'm there!
Ok I'm done.
Nice piece. ST, Kori, and LJ deserve all the positive recognition.
Nice piece. ST, Kori, and LJ deserve all the positive recognition.
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