I remember TodtheBod. I discovered CC.net in 1999. I registered a year later to ask a question (like most of us) When I dug up the Swift thread, I was surprised to see how short the threads were. I kind of miss the days when a thread rarely went more than two pages.
I remember some of those users. I was a lurker (didn't register) at the .com site and this one for a year or so. I looked up the .com one on yahoo.com and then found my way to the .net site via that site. I started reading posts on clutchcity...err clutchfans, when I was 15. I'm 21 now.
I used to live at this site during the fall/winter of 1998, during the lockout year. I had visited a few times before, during Barkley's first year in Houston, but stuck in a dorm room with no NBA and a high speed connection for the first time in my life -- let's just say I spent way too much time hitting the "F5" button while looking here, ESPN "Sports Net," and Yahoo's NBA page. Oh yeah, and "Hey Partner," that cat used to post a TON. Good stuff, too.
Before I was a paid one. I was writing for OnHoops.com back in 1997. I didn't start getting paid until 1999 when I started doing scout work, and didn't get paid under my own byline until 2000 when I started writing for a crap fiesta called "Hoopstv.com" Some of the guys at OH used to have legendary battles with Rocket fans, but I don't think it was anyone at this site. It may have been the sites Clutch mentioned, but I could have sworn I remember Matt and Steve going back and forth with guys from a site with "Clutch" in the title. MnS predicted the 1997-98 Rockets to only win like 48 games or something like that, Rocket Nation begged to differ. Of course, I think they only won 42 that year, but I won't quibble ...
For those of who signed in 99, we never lived up to our potential. Maybe with some of the rookie posters we can go the distance.
I am not sure, but I think I came to clutchfans.net through the "Launch Pad" site...is that possible? I never knew it was our poster Deuce who ran that site.
See, I knew I wasn't crazy. I remember in 1996, I was commuting to school from Houston to Hunstville twice a week. It was my last year of school and I had a layover from 11-2 between my classes. Being that the internet was still very new, I would spend the whole time in the computer lab. I remember spending most of that time on a site called Clutch City something or other but I was never sure if it was this site or another one because I was under the impression that this site wasn't around until 1997? Maybe Marvin's site was the site I was on? My memory is fuzzy, but I remember doing a Netscape search for 'clutch city' every time I'd get on the site. To this day, I'm still not sure if it was this site or not. At home, I spent a lot of time on the AOL Rockets board.
Is that verified, or just a recurring rumor? heypartner was a prolific poster, and I enjoyed his takes, but I think he got the boot for some reason. I've seen him hanging around on another BBS. I've been around since the early days and recognize all those names. I also remember when Rocketman West announced his move back from LA and changed his name. I remember when Clutch's site was part of a Rockets web ring -- I think Ace and AntiSonic had sites on the ring. In fact, I might have found ClutchCity that way. Eventually I stopped visiting the other fan sites 'cause they just couldn't keep up (no offense guys). Also I think "I RockIT" was IROCit (like the car)... and I could swear I'd seen his name pop up again recently. I came to this site to keep tabs on my favorite team after moving away, but I think I'm more addicted to it now than ever, even though I'm back in Houston. Go figure.
LOL! I just remembered that I used to surf the sites with my free internet connection. Damn, those were the days. I think I was using Lycos or NetZero free dial up internet.
I can't imagine who that was Well, I don't remember legendary battles (plural), but I wrote one, good long article there that they published that took exception with their Rockets call and it got a lot of pub -- I got a lot of email for it and it had a link in it to Clutch City '97. Picked up a lot of trolls as a result (that's how "schwa" found the place). It was funny because they would add the little "OnHoops" comments inside your article. Loved that place. I remember being excited to go there and see a new article. One of the things I remember most about that article was I mentioned ESPN analyst Don Leventhal's analysis of the Rodrick Rhodes pick, and that Rhodes was showing it up. Of course, Leventhal had died -- sadly of reported suicide -- after the draft but before my column, so I must admit it wasn't very classy to mention him. Rhodes' career also ultimately justified Leventhal's analysis. "This could be the most shocking first-round selection I have seen in the 13 years of my NBA draft report. I did not anticipate there was any chance Rhodes would go in either round. Whoever made this selection is suffering from some sort of malady." Speaking of Rhodes, that reminds me how I used to have a sound clip for every Rocket player (in .wav format) that site visitors could download. I couldn't find squat on Rhodes as far as sounds went... nothing. So I actually made one up ... what the hell I was thinking investing time in that I don't know, but it bothered me that I didn't have one so I took some Madison Square Garden background noise, faked and tweaked my voice for some play by play and mixed it all together. Man I got to find that doozie.
The thing about Roderick Rhodes that everyone forgets is that he wasn't a bad pick. Like you said, he was really productive for us that year. After tearing a chest muscle before the '98-'99 season, he didn't get the minutes he wanted competing with Pippen and Dickerson. He and Rudy had a shouting match, and the rest was history. Though a shocker, he wasn't a bad pick at all, and we certainly didn't release him for lack of production. (Though he was probably the worst shooter I've ever seen.) Rudy gets a lot of unfair criticism on that one. I joined the site in 1999, so I'm not akin to the infancy years, but even then when I joined, it was a pretty well defined community. I kind of miss that. There were just some people you knew would take a certain stance. Dreamshake, if I'm not mistaken, you were probably the only person on the site who bashed Rudy as regularly as I did. And of course, there was TheFreak to defend him. I guess some things never change. Whatever happened to Sir Scarvajal? He was one of my favorite posters at the time.
At the risk of offending that poster who might be posting under a different user name now: Sir Scarvajal is the one poster from back then who I really disliked, if I am not confusing him with someone else. I seem to remember that he made some really ignorant comments, which irked Jovi and me a lot. Jovi, by the way, seems to have become more of a Mavs fan in the meantime. Edit: I did actually confuse two guys - it was "sirhangover" who I disliked. Sir Scarvajal was a great poster. Looks like he posted the last time in 2002.
Is there anybody still around that was subscribed to Clutch Mail? Before the BBS heyday, it was a good idea, but there is no way something like that would work nowadays, it was fun while it lasted though. Y'all remember when the opening page would play a different .midi file every week? I remember it was a b**** trying to find one of the Rockets starting lineup song to put on the page but I think Clutch wound up making one up himself, if I'm not mistaken. Fun times. . . -Turbo
I feel like such an outsider. I'm so behind the times I never had even logged onto the internet when you guys were posting. Clutch 96 must have been one of the first fan sites around.
Yeah, those were the days. You had an awesome site. I always had plans for my little page, but never got around to any of them. I think it's a real testament to Clutch's dedication that he is able to maintain the world's best team site while having to juggle it with an actual family life. Damn, some great name dropping here. The only ones I can add are DREAMer and Rocketgirl. Oh and there was another Rocketgirl who went by "Tishanna" or something. A proto-Macbeth if you will that modeled for Playboy, IIRC...
I was wondering the same thing. Before I found this place I used to post on the Houston Chronicle Rockets Forum. Sir Scarvajal was a regular on there. It was a fairly active board at the time. It went downhill fast, sadly, as kids took over. The Chronicle shut it down after that. I found this place soon after and Sir Scarvy was posting on here.
Yea, I think he was like a psychiatrist living in California. As an aside, it's amazing how much the internet has changed sports reporting and information in general. I remember back in those days, Sportsbeat on Newsradio 740 was where I got all of my Rockets talk. Four hours a day of hoping someone would call in and not want to talk about the Oilers/Cowboys and Astros long enough to rant that Kenny Smith as a starting point guard was just not going to cut it. 740 did sports updates every hour at the 24 and 54. That's where I got all of my sports news. No kidding. I remember fumbling around with the AM dial long enough to pick up on some idiot in '97 suggesting that we trade for Mitch Richmond. That idiot was Jim Rome. That was how I found 610. One day Lance gave a plug for a "clutchcity.com" and I decided to check it out. When I entered the main forum I thought to myself "you have got to be kidding me..." I was like a kid in a candy shop. I think I posted 20 times in every thread in the first page that day. When Clutch's first ever "1000 post club" came out, I was the first member to 2000. I literally think I did all 2000 of them in that first month. Like I said earlier, the thing I miss most about those old days was the controversial threads. The first page wasn't just plastered with asinine trade suggestions. It was like, every day, someone said something pretty bold, and then "the $#!+ hit the fan", so to speak. "Would you trade Hakeem and Charles?"..."I agree with Scottie, Rudy is the problem." You could see it coming from a mile away. And you knew who would side with who, every single time. LOL. Every singe post it seemed was well thought out in those discussions and there was some real "friendly-hatred" in some of those rivalries.
