Been out of the Loop History of SPS(ADMIN NOTICE Please Read)

[Orange-SkyVolFan]

Bob,

You did a great job with SPS and according to your critics, it must be an easy pair of shoes for them to fill.  You did a lot of work and spend a lot of time on it and it showed.

Thanks for the old PM's which I just saw.  Thanks for asking about L.  It has been a rough 2-3 years for her and me and our loved ones.  We cared for her father, a dementia (vascular) patient, for almost a year and a half before he died of it in March in a memory-care assisted living home.  We had him double teamed and then L got sick (cancer).  While we were adjusting to that shock and her surgery and treatments--some in the Thompson infusion with one of Pat's point guards from the late seventies or early eighties (she has been very kind to L and very supportive)--my mother was showing a lot of signs of dementia herself.  Fortunately, my wife guided us toward a geriatric specialist who is a neurologist and she diagnosed her with "early" to "mild" Dementia (Alzheimer's).  After seven months in assisted living, she is gaining some of her weight back and is walking much better with a rolling walker.  Dementia is a cruel disease and from what I have experienced, it never seems to take a day off.  My heart goes out to Tyler Summitt and anyone who will be the responsible care giver for a dementia patient.  My favorite aunt, a UT fan and big supporter of mine and L's, died in May after suffering from lung cancer for 2.5 years.  It has been raining for sure.  I gave a eulogy for her at her funeral.  I never thought I would see all the great UT contributors leave the stage in such a short time and I never thought all these illnesses would attack all these close family members at one time.  

L is doing better, but is still experiencing the side effects of chemotherapy--the numbness in her feet is about gone, but she is still taking medicine for the pain in her fingers.  Thankfully, she has had the strength to fight it.  Her hair is back and it and she look good.  I admire anyone who faces it.  It would not have taken much for me to turn and run from our first chemotherapy visit.  You were kind to keep asking.  I just got buried by the speed of events and have not done a good job at responding or informing for that matter.  We have found that there are many kind family, friends (several on SPS), and caregivers over the past 2-3 years.  We are moving on and looking forward to a more-normal routine.

My advice to anyone dealing with a loved one's cancer or dementia is to not be afraid to help.  They need it and you will not catch either disease from them.  A pat on the back goes a long way, too.

[Orange-SkyVolFan]

Thanks for all the effort to maintain a free and independent SPS sports forum--especially from the Basilio mindset.  Those kids who left with the molester were NEVER EVER going to let you or the board be in peace--that is what molesters do.  My guess is that to this day, they are still obsessed with you and some other posters on here.

[CD]

Hello and Happy New Year PV and all.
A pretty thorough history, PV. But since you are calling it a “history”, one detail requires correction: SPS was actually created and yes, went “live”, on Christmas Day evening, not December 29th, 2000. I remember that evening well.
You know how sometimes Christmas Day starts so early, and it is so fun and enjoyable, with wife, children, family, friends, the opening of gifts, maybe a traditional meal, etc., but then by evening you’re just tired, and well, bored? That was the case for me that day.
I had had it in my mind to maybe attempt to create a new board to replace the 1040 board that had recently come down for unknown and unstated reasons. (I was a regular listener to Basilio’s radio program on 1040, and a participant on the 1040 board.) I knew that many of Tony’s listeners missed the board. Some callers to Tony’s show had asked about the board, why it was down and when we could expect it back up, but Tony would never clearly answer those questions. I heard a very impassioned plea from you, PV, to Tony about the 1040 board, and that just confirmed for me the necessity of a new board for so many good guys, a number of them genuine characters.
So that Christmas Day evening, with nothing else to do, I sat down at my PC with the idea of creating a new board for the guys. I was not particularly computer or Internet savvy, and I knew that others would be more adept at the task than me, but someone needed to do it, so I sat down to do it. I found Network54 for free hosting, thought up the name Sports Parlor South, and SPS was born. It really was that easy.
I had contact info for only one other 1040 board member, TNBigAl (TBA). He had contact info for a few other guys, and it just spread quickly from there, with many helping to get the word out about SPS. Soon we had a very active sports board.
About the name, logo and color. At the 1040 board, we had developed two rival camps, one of which was called “The Parlor”.  The Parlor had an imaginary image of the good guys, cigars, camaraderie, etc. So I used that in naming the new board. I used “South” because I wanted it to be regional, and not just another UT club. Also, I knew that while many 1040 board members were UT fans, other schools such as Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Kentucky, Syracuse, Ohio State, Michigan State (me) and others were also represented there. So while it would be natural and expected that UT would be the most common topic of discussion on a Knoxville-based sports board, I tried to avoid an explicit UT identity for SPS. That’s also why SPS did not originally have orange as the board’s color (and no, it wasn’t green either). It was an orangish-red color, not representative of any particular school’s colors that I knew of.
A personal crisis forced me away from active involvement with SPS later in 2001, and SPS continued to grow and improve under the able guidance of others.

[Boca Vol]

Plumber,

Thanks for posting the history of the board and the various projects the memebers were involved with. I think I first came here in 2002 or '03 as OBX Vol. I've had several different names as I've migrated South (and the board crashed causing us to re-join). 

I've been wondering what happened to OSKY and Magnum. I'm sorry to hear about the issues they've been facing. Hope everything turns out OK for them and their families.

Brian Atkins

[MRM]

Glad to see comments from CD and OSVF.

[The One Man Gang]

I remember Sky and CD's posts over the years.

Glad to hear both are still above the grass.

[badbob]

 

Well, well, well. What a long-winded bunch we've all turned out to be. That was some good history plumbervol - I will admit I had forgotten most of it. Still, I remember I used to have a lot of fun here, in my mind, thanks mostly to you. As Tricky Dick told the staff on that last day, "Au revoir. We'll meet again."

Let me know if there's a party.

 

[The MOUTHPIECE]

The early days were a blast.  Sps has been a great medium over the years.

[whinervol]

I really need to get somebody to edit and clean up Bob's posts.

[Gustoly]

Sky I had no idea what you were and are going through.  God Bless you old friend.  I moved back to JC to take care of my Mom (Alzheimer's).  I took care of her for almost 8 years by myself, being an only child.  My eyes were opened by this horrible disease.  And I have a D-I-L battling cancer so my thoughts and prayers will be with you and L for what you are going through.  Never forget:  prayer works !!!   Blessings............................

Gus