How did you discover SoSH?

[BlackJack]

By way of the Projo Red Sox Message Board with Art Martone....

Same here. I mostly lurked there with occasional posting. I was invited by Anni over to royalrooters (I think originally RedSoxnation.net) when projo was doing away with their message board. Mostly I heard about SoSH when someone would come over to rsn.net to breathlessly tell us that SoSH was offline…

I lost interest in message boards for a while after the proprietor made off with the charity money in 2005 and eventually joined SoSH in 2007

 

[SumnerH]

The steal is http://champagne.atspace.org/game_4_posts_3401_to_3450.html

Googling for celebratory fan reactions to bask in was what brought me to SOSH, via this thread. I lurked for a few months before creating an account.

 

[tmracht]

Oh man I have absolutely no idea. It says I registered in 09. But it think I was reading well before that but I have no idea if I could do that. I barely remember last week.

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

I was googling what type of thread to get on a baseball jersey...

I think it was Simmons, but was definitely before the Schilling Thanksgiving episode.

Lurked the summer of '03. Remember the first HOLY SHIT moment (for me) was John Henry's "some things transcend baseball" post re: The Arod saga.

 

[Traut]

Bill Simmons probably in 2003.

 

[kartvelo]

I became a member in August of 2003 but had lurked a while before then. I have no idea how I found this place, though.

 

[mikeot]

No clue how I got here. Had an MLB feed with my satellite dish package and was watching NESN out of market about the same time I became a member FWIW.

 

[jose melendez]

A friend of mine with whom I shared season tickets was a lurker and mentioned it to me. I lurked for a bit, then the day after the Boone home run, I needed a community.

 

[Revkeith]

Someone referenced it in the Red Sox live journal community back in 2003.

 

[bigq]

Simmons made a SoSH reference on ESPN Page 2 around February or March of 2004.

 

[doldmoose34]

Simmons… but way before the Schill Theo sit down. I’d discovered him on Digital City Boston as BSG when he was funny and shitting on everyone. I even made his mailbag a few times as Mosi.. this has to be ‘01 or so… he mentioned SoSH, I checked it out and 20’fucking years later here I am

 

[Tharkin]

I was a member of the Fan Forum at redsox.com in High School and heard about SOSH there. This must have been about 1999. By a couple of years later I was lurking here pretty religiously (and still do) but didn't get around to making an account for some years. After the Sox won in 2007 Nip posted that in celebration lurkers could become members by PMing him and promising not to be complete assholes. I said I wouldn't be a complete asshole, and that was that.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

Simmons… but way before the Schill Theo sit down. I’d discovered him on Digital City Boston as BSG when he was funny and shitting on everyone. I even made his mailbag a few times as Mosi.. this has to be ‘01 or so… he mentioned SoSH, I checked it out and 20’fucking years later here I am

And Melissa is happy you are here (for old time's sake):

 

[8slim]

Simmons first wrote about SoSH in early 2001. I joined in Feb 2001, right after he mentioned the site in his lunchtime links column for Digital Cities. Changed my user name in November of that year.

 

[jercra]

For me, that started it and then the A-Rod saga later that winter made SoSH essential reading. I did not become a member until many years after that, though.

This is exactly my story as well (though I became a member in 06)

 

[Devizier]

I was invited from another sports board some 20 years ago (not ProJo). I can’t even remember the name of the board, the theme/layout was green, though. @E5 Yaz was from the same, maybe he remembers.

 

[CPT Neuron]

The old ProJo site and Art Martone as well - I am pretty sure I made it over before I left San Antonio and headed to Dayton, but it may have been right after arriving in Dayton in 2000, regardless, I am old and feel like I've wasted most of my adult life on this site....

And I remember the Schilling Chat vividly - I was on call and in the Physician Lounge at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, OH. I logged on to see who was chatting and who was around at that hour - low and behold, there's a crew chatting up Schilling, surreal....

 

[nayrbrey]

Simmons here as well, sometime around the Free Agency pursuit of Manny in December 2000. Lurked for a long while and finally joined up to criticize Jay Payton for signing with the Sox.

 

[Granite Sox]

I had a work colleague who is a fellow member (he rarely posts anymore) tell me about it. I had recently moved to Fairfield County and positioned myself with Lanternjaw as an embedded Sox fan behind enemy lines. (I am also a NYYFans member under an acronym that was used to describe Gary Sheffield's clubhouse impact).

Months after being granted membership and after Schilling joined the team, I stumbled into the Chat Room the night Schilling came in boasting about how pitchers were going to screw up the steroids testing by pounding protein drinks with creatine powder and creating a bunch of false positives. What a toolbag.

 

[Spelunker]

L'affaire Schilling, although I just lurked until I made an account in '05.

 

[RG33]

I worked with a really old guy @FelixMantilla that was a member and that was super into polka-dot bikinis and he forced a membership on me circa 2005.

 

[donutogre]

Definitely heard about it sometime in the 2003-2005 timeframe from a Simmons column. I think I was aware of its existence for a while before actually coming on board. Pretty obscene that was like 16 years ago.

 

[terrynever]

I covered Sam Horn with the PawSox in the mid-1980s and even then he was talking about building an Internet website for fans. And a batting cage, too.

 

[wiffleballhero]

I mentioned this in the other thread about dating ourselves, but there was a joyofsox post that cited something here, I think, in the summer of 03. I used to read that blog religiously. I can't believe Allan still maintains the posting pace he does.

 

[Deathofthebambino]

@Lose Remerswaal gave birth to me, and became my SoSH Dad.

And here I am, almost 20 years later.

 

[bgo544]

I heard of it from alt.sports.baseball.bos-red sox, which I started frequenting in the late 90s when usenet was still a thing. Just found out that the group still exists, now as a "Google group". Looking through archived posts, first mention of SOSH I could find was in Feb 2001, when LJ dropped in to link to his new EZBoard site.

 

[DJnVa]

I can't remember although I know it was referenced by Schilling but I don't think I joined until I read some sabermetric article that referenced SOSH.

I remember that I became a member because I PM'd Philly Sox Fan about a clause in someone's contract and for whatever reason, he made me a member (he said, "Sometime that's how easy it is.").


At least some of the mash-up is still here: http://champagne.atspace.org/. I say some because one cell I clicked on gave me back a bad url response but two other links had the mash-up.

Hey, was just perusing this and I saw @Ramon AC has a NYYFans post in the Game 7 thread

 

[E5 Yaz]

I was invited from another sports board some 20 years ago (not ProJo). I can’t even remember the name of the board, the theme/layout was green, though. @E5 Yaz was from the same, maybe he remembers.

Fanhome

 

[jacklamabe65]

Like many of the early members, BSG. Joined in 2001.

 

[Ramon AC]

Hey, was just perusing this and I saw @Ramon AC has a NYYFans post in the Game 7 thread

And it got me banned.

I found SoSH via the BSG, who I was turned on to by Gammons. I lurked but signed up for an account, iirc, when some forums became password protected in 2002. Then in 2003 I got in a fight with Maalox about the NYC blackout (which I experienced with my good friend the late @I12XU). I said it was a uniquely positive New York event, especially less than two years after the last emergency that had people walking home across bridges en masse. Maalox accused me of all kinds of pro-New York crimes, and he was such a dick about it that I nuked my membership and kept lurking on the public forums. I12XU was kind enough to post for me in the Win it For thread.

It used to be great fun to keep a NYYFans account in one’s back pocket, and unleash a troll job at the right moment expecting to get scythed immediately, and that’s what that post was. I watched that game with I12XU and it is one of the greatest nights of my life.

Sometime later in 2004, or even in 2005? SoSH moved to a different message board platform, and all members had to reenter their login info to gain access to the new board. On a whim I entered my old login info and lo and behold I was a member again.

 

[Don Buddin's GS]

Some combination of Simmons and Theo’s pursuit of Schill. Lurked for a long time until I was offered membership in 2011 after posting something semi-intelligent that I cannot recall.

 

[bankshot1]

I was posting on an SI.CNN board in the late 90s , (great board, mostly Sox and MFY fans, CNN closed it '03-'04) , and a member who no longer posts here told me of SoSH. I lurked for about a year, and finally got the courage and jumped in late 2002.

 

[j-man]

i forgot to be honest i did lurk for a year or two mostly read the media part of the blog

 

[Jim Ed Rice in HOF]

I was a member of the Fan Forum at redsox.com in High School and heard about SOSH there. This must have been about 1999. By a couple of years later I was lurking here pretty religiously (and still do) but didn't get around to making an account for some years. After the Sox won in 2007 Nip posted that in celebration lurkers could become members by PMing him and promising not to be complete assholes. I said I wouldn't be a complete asshole, and that was that.

You had the same name on RSFF didn't you? I seem to remember your user name from there. There was a megathread on that site with a core group of posters, one of them was a SoSH member. For some reason it shows '05 as a member but I was definitely lurking before then because I'm in the Win It For book and I vaguely remember aspects of that Curt chat night (I seem to remember someone asking him to provide the names of his kids and/or pets to prove it was him?).

 

[FelixMantilla]

I worked with a really old guy @FelixMantilla that was a member and that was super into polka-dot bikinis and he forced a membership on me circa 2005.

If you think I was old then.....

Actually Greels, it began when you turned me on to Simmons at Digital City. From there discovering SoSH was inevitable.

 

[RG33]

If you think I was old then.....

Actually Greels, it began when you turned me on to Simmons at Digital City. From there discovering SoSH was inevitable.

That’s right actually. I vaguely remember resisting your early SoSH overtures saying that I didn’t want to fraternize with a bunch of old white guys who lived in their Mom’s basements. Boy, did I misjudge that . . . .

 

[Tharkin]

You had the same name on RSFF didn't you? I seem to remember your user name from there. There was a megathread on that site with a core group of posters, one of them was a SoSH member. For some reason it shows '05 as a member but I was definitely lurking before then because I'm in the Win It For book and I vaguely remember aspects of that Curt chat night (I seem to remember someone asking him to provide the names of his kids and/or pets to prove it was him?).

Yes, I was Tharkin there too. There was a separate private forum that I can't remember the name of with a small group of that core. I think it was you (with a different Jim Ed name, right? Unless that was someone else.) Toofar, Nina, TruBlu, and a couple of others, which I joined in on later. A handful of us met up at a Seadogs game long ago--I want to say you were were there but I might be mistaken. Someone in the group was wild about those ice cream cookie "Sea Dogs Biscuits" from the concession stand.

 

[Jim Ed Rice in HOF]

Yes, I was Tharkin there too. There was a separate private forum that I can't remember the name of with a small group of that core. I think it was you (with a different Jim Ed name, right? Unless that was someone else.) Toofar, Nina, TruBlu, and a couple of others, which I joined in on later. A handful of us met up at a Seadogs game long ago--I want to say you were were there but I might be mistaken. Someone in the group was wild about those ice cream cookie "Sea Dogs Biscuits" from the concession stand.

Yup, and the same Jim Ed name. I still keep in touch with a bunch of those folks either through Facebook or in person. I didn't do the Sea Dogs game but we had some interesting Sox game outings with like 20-30 of us back in the day.

 

[jacklamabe65]

My real name is Kevin Vahey.

Just kidding!

 

[AlNipper49]

I was on USENET, which was completely horrible at the time. I went on a search for a better place and came up with SoSH. At the time there were only a handful of people here, but was looped in by philly sox fan's regular threads.

 

[moondog80]

I don't remember. It might have been the old BostonSportsMedia website. I found *that* site because it was mentioned in the Globe sports section.

 

[Doug Beerabelli]

It says I've been a member since August of 2001. A few months after my first kid was born, a month before 9/11. I came because a couple big Sox fan friends of mine were members (Heinie Wagner, Clear Cleaver, Brohammer IIRC), and told me to check this place out. I asked about how it worked, and they said when you joined, "Come up with a user/screen name based upon a Sox player." I fancy myself a clever chap on occasion, and came up with this one. Alas, life has imitated art to a very unhealthy extreme at this point in that regard.

I certainly recall Thankgiving Schill chat room stuff. And certainly SoSH was very cool and unique content to ingest back in 2001. But the 9/11 thread, for better or for worse, really put a stamp on how this community was going to be different. The totally insane, scary, and tragic nature of those days lead to a bunch of strangers sharing factual updates, feelings, rumors, fears, tears, sadness, anger, and support for each other -- in real time. It stripped away the heistation and fear of sharing these things in such a forum. And it opened up this board to going far beyond just baseball, and just sports. It became a place to discuss...everything.

 

[Phil Plantier]

It says '02, but it was definitely earlier than that. A co-worker told me about Simmons and this site around 2000-01. I realized that I knew nothing about baseball (or anything else, really).

Of course, I disavow any post before 2015. Wasn't me. I found this user name lying around.

 

[graffam198]

survivinggrady.com They used to have links to other "blogs" and I was directed here. Back in the days of Chat, when Ringo, OJ, and Frat reigned supreme. Abs as well. I once bailed on a game to feed my then newborn daughter, and have worn "Pink Hat" forever more.

 

[RedOctober3829]

survivinggrady.com They used to have links to other "blogs" and I was directed here. Back in the days of Chat, when Ringo, OJ, and Frat reigned supreme. Abs as well. I once bailed on a game to feed my then newborn daughter, and have worn "Pink Hat" forever more.

Those were the days

 

[FelixMantilla]

The old ProJo site was pretty good too.

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

survivinggrady.com They used to have links to other "blogs" and I was directed here. Back in the days of Chat, when Ringo, OJ, and Frat reigned supreme. Abs as well. I once bailed on a game to feed my then newborn daughter, and have worn "Pink Hat" forever more.

It could be worse. You could've bailed on a bash game that ended with an Ortiz walk-off, all to drop someone off at the train.

I was some combination of hearing about it on other contemporary message boards, the A-Rod/Schilling drama, and seeing LJ on Outside the Lines once, back when ESPN was worth anything.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

The old ProJo site was pretty good too.

That was in cuneiform, right?

 

[Brand Name]

Sam Horn himself. I was doing a baseball camp and batting drills for a week about 10 years or so ago, and he had images of the homepage displayed right across from the front desk, right next to the TV. So you basically couldn’t help but notice it as soon as you came in, between that and the rustic baseball card vending machine for $1.25?- pop, with the affixed sticker: ‘EVERY FIFTH CARD IS A RED SOX’. Don’t think that building exists for those purposes anymore.

The initial room from a rugged outside looked like you would get golf balls or roller skates from a long gone era, but the cages and everything else was in excellent shape. Sam himself was always with a big smile and a happy teacher and wanted everyone to succeed. You can tell he did what he loved. A massive painted mural of Sam himself greeted you as you entered the turf, to let you know of your benevolent king’s domain. Was it possibly done by our very own Ripley? Similar art style in retrospect.

I think that Sam thinks this site is about himself.

 

[saintnick912]

Many of us met Sam at a party featuring the '04 trophy, I was displaced by his mass at one point and found myself suddenly not standing where I was just a moment before. Oil Can was there too, good times.

I first stumbled across this place looking for info when I heard Rickey Henderson might be joining the Sox. Lurked around for a while, eventually signed up/lurked and got membership after having some photos from Game 3 in St Louis.