Something a little crazy...

[Ian]

I wandered in here the night after Comcast pulled the plug on Usenet Groups way back in the day. Is anyone here from the alt.sports.football.pro.ne-patriots group?

(Raises Hand) - although I was a lurker but it was part of what inspired me to start a discussion board.

 

[Ian]

Man ... that was a trip down memory lane for sure. I love the way this site has grown - both in looks and content, but seeing that old look again was great.

Hmmm ... maybe Ian can template the forums to look like they did in the past - run it for a throwback month maybe? You know, with all that spare time you have ....

That's actually a good idea. I'll definitely look into that, it might be kind of fun

 

[scott99]

Did a search for this board in the wayback machine. I wasn't a posting regular yet back then (I was a regular on the espn boards but was a lurker here) but how's this for a blast from the past!

PatsFans.com - The Ultimate Pats Fan Playground

PatsFans.com is the most active free fan discussion forum for Pats fans to come and discuss everything and anything related to their team. No membership is required.

web.archive.org

Wayback Machine

Browser Note
These forums have been built for Internet Explorer v4.0 or higher and Netscape v6.0 or higher.
LOL

Great stuff ! I think I found Patsfans in 2004 or 2005. I know it says I’ve only been here since 2014, but somehow I lost my login capabilities back in 2014, and Ian fixed it for me, but reset my stuff to 2014.

I think Patsfans used to be part of a network of message boards back in the day I believe. There used to be a message board called Draftfans, and then there was a drop box you could click on to select Patsfans. Maybe Ian can confirm. But I believe I found this message board via Draftfans. But I know I’ve been here since 2005, maybe 2004, I have a pic of my old laptop, and of course Patsfans was on it. Now I only use my phone. Ahhh technology.

But man I love these strolls down memory lane. The hockey forum I belong to, been there since 1997 I believe. Thanks for posting this stuff.

 

[oldrover]

Did Patsfans ever have another game grader?

No, he was our guy for over 10-years.

Okay, then I’ll chalk it up to bad geezer memory.

 

[Ian]

Okay, then I’ll chalk it up to bad geezer memory.

Not necessarily. Obviously, Steve Balestrieri does them during the season. But Grogan is the only former player we've ever worked with.

 

[Dragda]

I wandered in here the night after Comcast pulled the plug on Usenet Groups way back in the day. Is anyone here from the alt.sports.football.pro.ne-patriots group?

Yes I am Zook or GAZ and was on that group late 90s until spam and SAPguru ruined it.

 

[Wax Frog]

Here's another link with what Steve Grogan had to say after the game in a feature we did way back when called "Grogan's Grades":

Grogan's Grade: Final 2001 Grades - PatsFans.com

Former Patritos QB Steve Grogan gives his final grades for the 2001 season.

www.patsfans.com

Los Patritos?

 

[Ian]

Los Patritos?

LOL, good to know that's been listed that way for nearly two decades - but I just fixed it

 

[Wax Frog]

LOL, good to know that's been listed that way for nearly two decades - but I just fixed it

Thanks! I was in danger of a corn chip craving

 

[Ian]

LOL, apparently, that's a mistake a lot of people make:

patritos - Google Search

Some funny results in there. FoxSports still has an article from 2017 they didn't fix where it's in the headline:

Patritos tried to trade Jamie Collins to Texans for DeAndre Hopkins, Jonathan Joseph, per report | FOX Sports

Before sending linebacker Jamie Collins to the Browns, the Patriots tried to trade him to the Texans for wide receiver DeAndre hopkins or cornerbackJonathan Joseph.Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported on Sunday that the Patriots attempted to work out a trade with the Texans that would give...

www.foxsports.com

 

[Ian]

Great stuff ! I think I found Patsfans in 2004 or 2005. I know it says I’ve only been here since 2014, but somehow I lost my login capabilities back in 2014, and Ian fixed it for me, but reset my stuff to 2014.

I think Patsfans used to be part of a network of message boards back in the day I believe. There used to be a message board called Draftfans, and then there was a drop box you could click on to select Patsfans. Maybe Ian can confirm. But I believe I found this message board via Draftfans. But I know I’ve been here since 2005, maybe 2004, I have a pic of my old laptop, and of course Patsfans was on it. Now I only use my phone. Ahhh technology.

But man I love these strolls down memory lane. The hockey forum I belong to, been there since 1997 I believe. Thanks for posting this stuff.

It was. A good friend of mine who ran NFLFans(dot)com was who helped me get a board set up when I first put together this site. He had boards for every team and helped set up ours and then listed it there.

And you're right, this screenshot definitely brings back memories:



I actually have screenshots somewhere of what the site looked like after each Super Bowl win thinking that was history-making, so I did a print screen and saved it thinking that things would eventually end in a few years and I'd at least have those moments saved. Yet here we are all these years later after an unreal run. Pretty crazy

 

[Ian]

This was kind of cool (from 2005) - I remember doing the banner wishing Bruschi a healthy recovery following his stroke:

 

[InRodWeRust]

Hey Ian if you want to try and get more data off that hard drive you can try an old IT trick. Place the dead hard drive in your freezer in a ziplock bag for at least a few hours. When you pull it out of the freezer quickly hook it back up to your adapter and if it comes back to life start copying files as fast as you can. If it comes back to life you can usually get between 5-15 minutes before it dies again. You can try repeating the process over and over but eventually it will stop working. I can confirm I've tried this myself and it worked for me. When I tried it I sandwiched it between two icepacks to try and keep it cold while the data was transferring. Not sure if this actually helped or not.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

Ahhh memories. I was a member back in 2000ish...I was in college. For the life of me I can't remember that username. Was fun going back and seeing some old names. NEM, Bertil, Zedd etc.

Funny thing about Tommy is that he became Pats QB the year my wife and I got engaged. I literally grew up as a man woth him as the QB1 for NEP. Now I am 40, with 3 kids and he is STILL going. And I'm thrilled that Patsfans is also.

 

[LuRkeR1978]

Yes I am Zook or GAZ and was on that group late 90s until spam and SAPguru ruined it.

I don't know if I remember SAPguru or not. I'm pretty sure 2001 was when I first started reading the group because I was working overnight at my first tech/csr job, there wasn't many calls on that late shift, and I spent the majority of my nights lurking like @Ian

Then my schedule changed and I worked Sunday afternoons effectively missing almost the entire regular season that year. I monitored the games on ESPN gamecast, and read the group. I was only able to watch the Bengals opener, Brady's first start, Rams, and the playoffs/SB.

I haven't worked on Sundays since.