Infamous Rupp Rafters posters that don't post anymore.

willyclyde

All-American
Feb 25, 2007
5,917
8,898
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Never see former mod Blind Karl Hess anymore ?
Pretty sure he was the one who ran me off the board lol. It was either at the end of the tubby days or during billy G that we got into it because he was adamant that I was an IU fan and a troll (because my IP address said I was in Indiana he claimed) when in all reality I was sitting at my house in Lexington, ky. I never got back on until here recently thanks to karl.
 

Bluest Member

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
11,927
3,771
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Pretty sure he was the one who ran me off the board lol. It was either at the end of the tubby days or during billy G that we got into it because he was adamant that I was an IU fan and a troll (because my IP address said I was in Indiana he claimed) when in all reality I was sitting at my house in Lexington, ky. I never got back on until here recently thanks to karl.

I know he banned one of the Arkansas fans who was just joking around in the 2014 season,never saw him much after that,not that I minded because they were obnoxious,but the guy actually didn't do anything wrong except show up after a loss
 
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Orionorl

Senior
Apr 2, 2006
908
570
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...the picture of SmokeyPearl was at a get together of UK fans in Fort Wright, KY. This was back when UK played 1 game every year in Cincinnati.

I always thought he was one of those Cincinnati fans who live in Northern Ky. (They are the sworn brethren of Loserville fans, and hate the Cats as much as WiddleBrudder). I believe he followed the Bearcats in the 50s-60, and stayed a big fanboy, but he knew some basketball history. But he couldn't keep his Cat-hate bottled up and it began to ooze out as he got older. Didn't he implode into some sort of Indiana fan?
 
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TheAnonymous13

All-Conference
Feb 23, 2011
3,314
3,391
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Not on here often, but BlueSuave is a message board legend who owns one of the most unintentionally hilarious comments in Internet history.
During the "Billy Donovan is coming to kentucky" craze.... Suave had RR on pins and needles with his 'insider' intel, and downright giddy with his "done deal" report.
When the presumed Billy/UK marriage was revealed not happening... he was barraged by angry posters wanting answers.
He famously wrote something to the effect: "I am not sure how this happened. But I wIll find out and report back as soon as I am done playing Worlds of Warcraft."

Lmao!!!!
 
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NCAAUCoach

Redshirt
Dec 31, 2002
24,898
12
0
Not true saying he left wnen Cal came. He was still a regular until the heels became known as heels.

I stopped posting on most boards in 2012 (even UNC's). Went through a divorce, tough custody battle and started a business. I came back here last year when UK was undefeated to wish you well at a Final Four and Title run......and got blasted. Won't apologize for stepping away from "virtual" to address real life. This was always a fun outlet for me.

Posted a little on UNC's board this year and defended UK quite often actually. My opinion of UK is the same as years ago. Respect the program, coaches and players as an Elite (and best numbers of all programs) program.

As for UNC. My opinion doesn't change because it's my team. No problem with sanctions/penalties for anyone who gets caught. I said that from day one. I grew up a UNC fan and I'm still one.
 

brianpoe

Heisman
Mar 25, 2009
27,769
21,825
113
Is there anyone here with a good enough memory to reconstruct the UK message board evolution? I vaguely remember a message board from probably late '90's that pre-dated all these commercial websites. It was basically just a site some guy had set up on a free message board server. Was that the Rainman board?



Here you go:

 
Jan 29, 2003
18,120
12,185
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That was some fun stuff. Whatever happened to Johnny Ryall? He's the guy who used to talk about this other board called Wildcatchat. I decided to check it out one day and that was Rainman's original board.

The other guy I remember from there was Lord Crow. He shows up here once in a blue moon.
Yep, those were the days. Long enough now that most names escape me.....Crow. Ryall. eCat. Hedge Shall Not Be Shot. SuperDave. Irish guy that was a UConn fan. Brit that was a UNC fan, maybe ex Air Force? Stu (Stupid, also a UNC guy). Another cat fan who lived around Marion County. Too many, although I'm recalling more than I figured to....
 

brianpoe

Heisman
Mar 25, 2009
27,769
21,825
113
You guys are pissing and moaning about message board offenses. Let's talk REAL LIFE offenses against the entire BBN…

Who was the RR poster back in the early 2000's who got in trouble for contacting/interviewing UK football recruits? Had a UK fan website set up. Tried to set up a deal where fans could meet & greet the recruits or something like that. Believe it or not, he even sent out e-mails to other UK boosters asking them to help him recruit HS players. He wound up getting punished by the UK compliance office because he wouldn't stop. Was banned from all UK athletics for 2-3 years.

Did that stop him? NO!!! It was crazy. He was specifically warned and asked by the UK athletics compliance office on several occasions to stop…yet he blatantly put the program at risk by continuing to contact recruits and interview them even after his initial ban. I mean…Sandy Bell said, "stop or you will get the program in trouble". But the idiot didn't stop. So he wound up getting stiffer penalties. UK banned him from all UK athletics for like 30 years or something like that. Can't buy season tickets, can't talk to recruits, players, coaches, etc…for like 30 years. I can't remember the exact details. But i remember there being several articles on the subject…even made it to USA Today if i'm not mistaken. He was quoted in that article too. [laughing] Can't believe someone, booster or not, would blatantly put a UK athletic program at risk like that just to benefit themselves…and still call themselves a fan.

Pretty sure he still pontificates on this site regularly. Might even be one of the guys bashing other posters in this very thread for much, much more minor offenses. Anyone remember his name? Surely one of you jackals has a better memory than I.

Interwebz detectives activate…



This poster is a pitiful liar and I challenge him to contact me directly.

You have to be one dumbass to not know what really happened.

Dan Wetzel did. Lonnie Demaree did, Larry Vaught did, as they all worked for the company.


Lets not let lies get in the way of facts for you idiots that believe this guy.

Bigbluenation was absolutely before its time.

The first in providing videos and recruiting analysis.

Prior to BBN i was working with the burgeoning new recruiting network that we all rely nowadays - Jamie Newbergs and many others.

Scout and Bernie Kosar asked me to take the UK site, just as I was prepared to accept Mel's offer to take over Wildcatfaithful. Rivals had just gone backrupt and Heckman was trying to start another platform.

We were the first site to publish a full color monthly magazine choked full of recruiting, glossy photos with National writers, so much better than the Cats Pause, however i leaned on Oscar Combs for assistance in the editorial side of things.

We basically. took a bunch of posters like you guys and turned our group into a media company.

We were the first to have a weekly radio show on Clear Channel, the first to do pre and post game shows and Sunday call-ins.

Jm Tyree, Jim Masters and Pookie Jones worked for us and we had many other ex UK players on staff. Dougie Allen, Craig Yeast, and Neal Brown.

It was a young start up with former players, writers, techies,and fans.

We had a television show on 2 local cbs programs, as well as Fox News South and ESPN 2.


What we didnt realize is that college sports is big business first, with marketing and fanbase coming way last in priorities.


We made several mistakes.

Calling out Sandy Bell on screwing up a promising transfer and then blackballing him.

Out performing Host Communications boring coaches show, we were doing sports center highlights and recruiting videos on our show.




Lets address this stupid *** poster Kaiser's lies:


"Who was the RR poster back in the early 2000's who got in trouble for contacting/interviewing UK football recruits? "

Yes we contacted recruits, just like today, and we were the first, HOWEVER, we never contacted recruits directly.

We always went through the school or the coach.

We never interviewed any recruit without a coach present.

We never asked UK specific questions.

Unlike today where any person in their moms basement can call a kid and ask everything he likes about Kansas and why would he not go there.


"Had a UK fan website set up. Tried to set up a deal where fans could meet & greet the recruits or something like that."

Absolute POS lie. We held get togethers with fans and new coaches of of Hal Morris staff. They were trying to increase excitement across the state. Never any recruits or players, coaches only.


"Believe it or not, he even sent out e-mails to other UK boosters asking them to help him recruit HS players."

Another blatant lie.

2 sets of emails were issues for UK

1. The staff was lacking for scholarships after Mumme's punishment, they requested we ask for potential diamonds in the rough for potential walk ons or grey shirts. They didnt know all of the under the radar kids in the state.

The 2nd email that was such a violation was letting fans know where high recruiting targets were playing. Remember Matt Jones and KSR pushing fans to go watch Damian Harris? Same thing but on a much smaller scale.


Never received a warning from UK, that was mentioned much later that we never received.

We were not boosters, never gave one penny to UK, we were fans but we had more of a media company than the Cats Pause or another site as we had print, web, tv and radio.

We made the other entities look bad because our tech was new and our videos were awesome.

UK said we couldnt show highschool highlights of potential recruits... (continued)
 

brianpoe

Heisman
Mar 25, 2009
27,769
21,825
113
Unlike Kaiser, you guys should know the real problem UK had.

1. We made their paying media groups (Host Communications) look bad.

2. And the big one. I was the first to ever use BIG BLUE NATION in commerce.

That is right, I copyrighted it for our company name, our website, and our apparel.

Did I mention we had a 20,000 sqft apparel facility with NCAA rights and printed for the SEC tournament.


Also our mission was to provide a media hub for multiple college teams so others could produce magazines and TV shows from our central location.

We had Buckeye Nation, Gator Nation, Longhorn Nation, Sooner Nation.

This wasnt about just UK. We covered Lebron James as a Junior playing football and Clarett before he committed to OSU.

This was a huge IP legal battle. We had and proof we used it first. We simple could not keep up financial wise with UK in the courts.

Check the USPTO office if you want proof.

The other recruiting crap is simply false.

UK said Andre Woodsen was in danger of being ineligible becasue he was interviewed on CBS and ESPN with his coach and no questions regarding UK!

Pay attention to the questions nowadays and how the reporters really push their home school.


Is it any wonder that no sanctions or complaints came from the NCAA and made no mention of any violations about us? ZERO. UK was lying.



"But i remember there being several articles on the subject…even made it to USA Today if i'm not mistaken. He was quoted in that article too"

So glad dumbass brought this up.

UK's official reason for killing BBN is in this article:

Sandy actually said the internet is not considered media:

"The NCAA says that fan Web sites aren't considered media outlets, and that the school might be accountable if a representative contacts a recruit. Such contact might be an NCAA violation."


Of course our TV show, magazine, or radio show are never mentioned.
Wetzel a huge writer, Vaught, and our Fox Sports announcers and others are not mentioned.

see for yourself

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/other/2004-01-14-kentucky-booster-ban_x.htm


"Can't believe someone, booster or not, would blatantly put a UK athletic program at risk like that just to benefit themselves…and still call themselves a fan."

Unlike many people who contact recruits we were very conscious of UK's current situation and never once put UK in danger.


UK wanted to protect their paying media firms and they definitely wanted the trademark."

I offered the trademark for free use forever and UK said no.

The things UK did back then were despicable.

They destroyed a company with 30 employees with families, some of these well known sportswriters but many were just posters like you who wanted to be involved in sports and took a chance on a cool startup.

We never were afforded the access of a Matt Jones, I personally helped Jeff Drummond get started.

We had a cool start up that wanted to expand a ESPN multi media platform to all schools and provide fans to become more involved.

This was not just a UK thing.

Of course no matter how many times the truth comes out, idiots like the OP will believe every word Bell and Barnhardt issue. How a bout pulling a FOIA and seeing the real truth?


Unless you are a coward, contact me, lets hold an open forum and allow these posters to sit in and you can voice your uneducated POS views to me face to face and I can make you look very stupid in public.

Several people would be glad to put their 2 cents in that were there and experienced it.


One last note:

"He was quoted in that article too. [laughing] Can't believe someone, booster or not, would blatantly put a UK athletic program at risk like that just to benefit themselves…and still call themselves a
fan."

Kentucky wasnt a totally clean program but nowhere near a bama or Tennessee.

But I was a true fan and i understood the problems of someone spilling the beans on even minor infractions while on probation.

I also understood that the UK athletics and teams are separate entities; If i could have attacked Sandy, her staff, and Mitch's lies i would. But only if the teams were not affected. Impossible.

My loyalties were to the coaches and players, many of these could not stand the AA.


I hope this helps and I am very open to having a forum with this liar OP in front of everyone. I still have facts and witnesses to prove this guy and others an idiot liar.


Despite all that has happened to me personally, i lost my entire net worth, my dad lost over $60k, quite a bit for a retired fireman.

In the end I rebounded, did better than every and was able to repay dad, who i love more than anything for trusting in me and risking so much.

I was very young back then and learned many lessons that served me well the bast 16 years.

Mitch and I have since become cordial as our kids played in some of the same rec leagues growing up.

Would I have done things differently if given the chance? Of course but we all have this issue.

I enjoy being just a fan now a days and my bitterness has resided, but for anonymous strangers to attack me and my dad still pisses me off, especially when they hide behind users names.

All of this time I have always used my real name either bpoe or brianpoe. I still live in Lex and very easy to find.

I hope this helps clear the air.
 
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brianpoe

Heisman
Mar 25, 2009
27,769
21,825
113
To quote Butthead "Words".


Just ribbin' ya Brian.


Well then I'm stupid. Not unlike most, when my fathers name gets cast into the fray i become a bit defensive like many of my brethren here.


Apologize for those just ribbing me, I know @JasonSpear was.

Kaizer and Ed (-LEK-) not so sure of.

Very sad time for my family and the families of people just like you guys. We pulled together a couple dozen great posters who quit their jobs and helped build what we thought was a super platform and one that could be replicated nationwide. Our Parent Company was Nations Management - BBN, Raider Nation, Wolverine nation were all subs. Thus this was not even close to a UK booster site.

We had the SEC, the NCAA, Coke, Toyota, The Armed Services, CBS, Fox Sports, ESPN, WalMart, etc.

But we were young and naive, had no idea about the business side of college sports and the Athletic Association is a major corporation Football and Basketball are simply commodities of which they make money from.

Was great until it was a massacre.
 
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