As an experiment when I was younger I implanted myself in a young Clutch's dream and planted the seed of starting up a website for the Houston Rockets. This was pre-Internet so I had to get really creative with my imagery and symbolism. After he started the site I waited until 1999 to register for fear of him recognizing me and then the whole thing falling apart. I can be honest about it now because he is so invested and doing well that he won't have a breakdown. If you think about it, though, he really owes me everything.
Amazing that when I joined, Clutchfans (Clutchcity at the time) had already mentioned in 2 ESPN The Magazine articles, and 1 Sports Illustrated article, and there were still fewer than 2,500 members. I owe having joined to Sports Illustrated. I was at the eye doctor and read the article mentioning them. I forgot the web address, and ended up going 2.5 years between posts.
I read Clutchfans for about a yearish before I joined. I had never joined a message board before and assumed this site was only for insiders. Wow have I learned.
Mango lurks on the board, and is an Op in chat. If you want to talk to him, just hit chat during games....I think he misses talking Rockets, so he jumps on the chance when good discussions come up after games. and as far as the topic...god knows we've been over this a million times before....got ahold of my first real internet connected computer back in 93-ish and spent alot of time on usenet newsgroups where I saw a reference on the Rockets newsgroup to Jeff's old site and from there to the original version of Clutch's site. I'd read some of the early posts on the forum, but didn't really read it everyday till he re-did it in 99. I waited for a while to register cause I wasnt real sure I could contribute anything of substance with so many smart posters. Some things never change..
Member #100 baby! I'm still around, at least off and on. Started lurking in '96 and registered not long after - way before the new site. All this time I've lived in six different cities, gone back to school twice, gotten married and divorced and remarried and had a kid. Feel like one of the old ones on this board now - hard to keep up with how those young people think. Wonder who else is in the first 100 or close, that is still around... I see RM95, Ace, and Turbo in this thread... and what ever did happen to some of those others?
Damn...forgot about the remarried, but did remember a kid of some sort. And you're a college professor or something like that too right? Anyhow, this community used to be so small that there were gatherings on the regular, whether they be at arenas, houses, or even strip clubs (way before El Hitman). Events that spiked clutchcity membership: Barkley (around when I first came in and heard about this joint on the radio), Pippen, Francis (when some teen at the galleria overheard Rockets brass talking about the trade before it was official), and then Yao mania. And still this place is peanuts compared to other joints like 2+2, so it still has somewhat of a familial atmosphere.
I moved from Houston right after the Championship years. Did a search on yahoo for Rockets blogs after getting fed up with spotty newspaper coverage, and this was leagues better than the rest...other blogs, chronicle, Rockets' own homepage... Stopped lurking after wanting to tank during one of those injury plagued (physically or in the head) Francis years... Doesn't revealing your secret create a time paradox of sorts?
What! What happened to Ferdinand? I remember those threads from back in the day! Good to see you posting. I do miss the old crowd.
Been here since '98. Lurked awhile, had a few accounts, but never really posted much until I made this account.
My history pretty much echoes this. I lurked quite a bit almost from the jump. There were so many times I couldn't get on, it discouraged me from trying for quite a while. I disappeared for a longtime before registering in 09.
