Cheech Tremendous

I always loved that. The US champ and IC champs were the no. 1 contenders no matter what. It always gave an extra bit of legitimacy to the belts regardless of what was happening on tv. The symmetry between seeing a guy get a push on tv and then seeing he was, say, the no. 3 contender, was always comforting. Along the right hand margin they had rankings for a bunch of indy promotions. I specifically remember that one company had a guy named T. Rantula who was champ for several years. I was always perplexed as to why he didn't end up in WWF or WCW if he dominated his company in such a way. He eventually showed up on WCW Nitro as a fat, out of shape enhancement talent. It wasn't until a little later on that I found out that T. Rantula ran his own two-bit vanity promotion with him as owner, booker and champ. PWI played it off as if it were some legitimate company. Ha. WWF had their own mag and thus didn't need Apter. PWI used to work very closely with JCP, and there was a lot of crossover promotion. Apter used to rig a lot of the big awards so that they ended up in the hands of guys that were getting a big push. As a reader, I just always assumed that both promotions had equal sized fanbases. Seems ridiculous now given the size of their crowds, but whatever, I was just a naive mark.

Well, temporarily ignoring the fact that the first couple of sentences are plagued by bad grammar and spelling, the anecdote itself makes little to no sense. You indicate that you ask your friend for the score, to which he replies that the game is over. This makes you angry. Why? Is it because the Phillies won? That you missed a close game? We've already established that you chose shitty horror movie night with Sara over the Series. What changed between that decision and the conclusion of the ballgame? Secondly, we must address this mysterious text message that ends up in Sara's hands. If you wanted to respond to your friend's text, why not hit reply? Who goes back into their phone book to compose a new message? That's drunk texting 101. Finally, the message that ended up in Sara's inbox. What was so embarrassing? It even sounds cute. You chose a night with her over a stupid ballgame. Chicks love that shit. It's not like you sent a message that said "I'm going to try and hump this slut."

I don't know what it is, but I just didn't get into this Series. Maybe I'm just a bad baseball fan that falls into the trap of wanting Boston/NY/Chicago/LA. Or maybe it's the fact that MLB has developed a playoff system that is completely anticlimactic after a great regular season. Oh well, congrats to the Phils and the Rays. Philadelphia had a fine squad this year and that city was about due for a title. The Rays have a tough division, but I have a sneaking suspicion they'll be back in the Series before too long.

I think Bruiser's still drunk. This is his most incoherent post ever.

This board is filled with twenty-somethings that grew up as professional wrestling fans. Long before we ever got our Smark Cards and started rehashing every Meltzer tidbit, we read the Bill Apter family of magazines. I would go so far as to say that the monthly trek down to the local newsstand to pick up Pro Wrestling Illustrated was just as important as watching WCW Saturday Night or Prime Time Wrestling. Let's talk about our memories of PWI, The Wrestler, and Inside Wrestling. Looking back, what they did was truly remarkable. Taking a journalistic approach to kayfabe seems so bizarre now, but I never thought twice about it back then. To me, those PWI 500 and Awards issues were gospel. Whatever Apter said was the truth. I also get totally nostalgic for the little quirks the magazines had. The rankings in the back that always seemed to perfectly match with the storylines and pushes on television, the "interviews" with wrestlers that all sounded the same, the house show reports that reprinted the same cards a half dozen times and the "letters" that all seemed suprisingly coherent for pre-teenage wrestling fans. Does anyone still have their old issues around? I know that I have a box somewhere at my parent's house (if they haven't disposed of it). It would be great to pull out some of those old issues and talk about the articles.

I didn't really post enough in the old days to have those guys register with me. I don't think anyone on my list is that new anyways. As for you picks... Anglesault sucked and he got banned. I think the banning was lifted recently, but no. I don't remember the other two. If you want to nominate them, go right ahead.

Czech (TCS) Slayer (TCS) Agent (TCS) Kinetic (Graphics & Testing) AlKeiper (Sports) VitaminX (Sports) bob_barron (WWE) Venkman (WWE) 909 (Sports) Milky (LSD)

Ideally, this would only last two weeks. One for discussion and nominations and one for the actual voting. But, hey, if you're against it who am I to argue?

We've tried this on multiple occasions to no avail. The last attempt in 2007 sputtered out before the nominations even finished. Well, not this time because Cheech is steering the ship. We are going to actually immortalize our favorite posters. Besides, it will kill some time between now and the Poster Tournament '09~! Rules are simple: 1. Nominate up to 10 individuals. The five posters receiving the most nominations will then be voted on individually. A 75% approval is necessary for enshrinement. 2. Posters have to have been registered three years, or have 5,000 posts to qualify. No rookies here. 3. Banned posters are not allowed. You fail at TSM, you fail at the Hall. In many sports there is a debate as to which hat or jersey the player will wear once he enters the Hall. I'd encourage you to suggest which folder your nominee should represent in the Hall. Thread is open until next Monday. Make us proud.

As we move into late October, the sports world is at a crossroads. Baseball has ended for everyone not in Philly or Tampa Bay. The NFL is in full gear, but we've all figured out who the contenders and pretenders are. The NBA just started last night, but there are only five or six teams with a legitimate shot at actually winning the title with their current roster. So, TSM, what does your favorite team need to do improve? Does your team require a certain something to get over the hump, or is a complete overhaul necessary? Put on your GM hat for a moment and discuss what your team needs to do. This could go from simple to extremely complex. Perhaps it's just a player that will represent the final piece, but maybe the entire front office needs to be overhauled. Is a new stadium the fix? Ownership change? Let your voice be heard.

It is just a foot sprain, but let's keep in mind that Oden has never been healthy. He had the wrist at Ohio State, the knee last year and the foot now. Too early to make any sort of statement regarding these issues, but he hasn't yet shown that he can stay healthy.

According to the always accurate TSMpedia:

Not to turn this thread into fantasy booking, but what would you have done with the title back in 1995? Keep in mind that Bret hadn't exactly set the world on fire in 1994 and had mostly run through all the viable challengers. Where do you go? Do you build to a Diesel win at Rumble or Mania? Have Shawn take the title as a heel and spend the year defending against Diesel, Ramon, Taker and Bret? Put the belt on someone else entirely? I just don't know how many other options there were out there. The Diesel reign sort of sucked, but I doubt that we could have ended up with anything better.

I've made a list of the ten biggest names who will likely change addresses this offseason (either through free agency or a trade). Anyone want to take guesses as to where these players end up, and what sort of package it takes to get them (either in terms of money or prospects)? CC Sabathia Mark Teixeira Matt Holliday Jake Peavy AJ Burnett Manny Ramirez Ben Sheets Francisco Rodriguez Pat Burrell Adam Dunn If there is anyone else you'd like to throw in, go for it. Plenty of other names out there (Lowe, Furcal, Cabrerea, Fuentes, Atkins, etc.).

The NBA will hold the 2010 All-Star game at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. The announcement will be made tonight at the Mavs season opener. It sounds like an interesting idea. Link

One of my all time favorite memories as a kid was turning on Raw that evening and seeing footage of the Diesel squash. I know that you don't make money by hot-shotting title changes and doing nonsensical things, but everyone once in a while it's great to do something that no one expects. That vision is burned into my memory. In hindsight it may have seemed like a bad decision, but I don't know how much money there was in Diesel chasing Backlund for the title anyways. As for his reign, it didn't work, but I hardly pin that all on Nash. They neutered his character and put him up against a terrible cast of challengers. Rest of the card was really shitty in 1995 too. I think that he would have been a monster star in the Attitude era had he hung around after Mania XII. His tweener character was basically Stone Cold before we had even seen Stone Cold.

That was pretty funny. Man, Portland looks bad so far. First quarter of the first game, but still. I could have made some of those open looks.

I wasn't aware that the Bears got any praise at all. It seemed that everyone was picking them to lose 12 or more games this past offseason. They certainly aren't that bad, and might even win the division, but who's talking them up?

I've long thought that Warrior should have been brought back in the early '00s as a heel, sans makeup and Warrior garb. He could have played a character based on his real-life conservative lunatic persona. I think a nutjob character deriding the fans for being into steroid monsters and the "old" Warrior could have worked. Think of something like Right to Censor, but with a wrestler fans actually cared about.

Can we use this as an opportunity to bitch about MLB extending the season into late October/early November? There's no reason that they should be playing games this late into the year. Go back to the 154-game schedule and ax the divisional round. That would go a long way in fixing these problems.

Rick Rude is the classic example of a guy who had to a heel. That cocky, smarmy attitude just drippd with contempt for the fans.

1. How often do you visit TSM? How long are you here on a typical visit? How many minutes, or hours, do you spend here daily? I probably stop by a dozen or so times a day. Most of the visits last no more than a few minutes. I do most of my boarding at work. I like to drop in and check out what's going on. Keeps me sane during the daily grind. 2. Which folders do you spend the most time in? Why? Which ones do you skip over? A typical visit will start in Sports. When I'm done there I'll check TCS and General Wrestling. The amount of time I spend in the other threads is usually dependent on the active threads at the time. A few weeks ago I was in Current Events. Recently its General Chat. I skip over the TNA and Overseas folders. Never really been in Comics either. 3. Who are your favorite posters? What makes a poster "good"? I'd really hate to start naming people and fail to mention someone, but there are a few who deserve recognition. For instance, Venk and Kamala are good in the wrestling folders. Al is quality in sports. Kinetic and Slayer are the funny ones. Czech's the most interesting. I get along with Dandy the best. There are a lot of posters I like. Basically anyone who can bring a quality thought now and again. Humor doesn't hurt either. 4. Who are your least favorite? Why? It's not necessary to call anyone out by name. Basically, I have a problem with those who try and create a message board persona. Oh, and posters who use their stupidity to derail threads. 5. Who is your favorite mod? Can you actually name the mods we have? I can name all the mods, but that's probably because I used to be one. I like all of them as posters, but Al does the best moderating. He keeps his folder in order, solicits feedback and stays above petty disputes. It works well. 6. What brought you to TSM in the first place? Do you still come for the same reasons? Do you still watch wrestling? It's hard to recall how I got here in the first place. I started reading Scott Keith around '99 and followed the board's origins from Rantsylvania. At some point I joined one of the boards (it was yellow I think), but mostly just lurked and eventually left. I came back in the summer of 2004 mostly because I wanted to see what happened to the place. I stopped actively following wrestling in the fall of 2004, but kept tabs on what was going on. I haven't watched a minute of WWE since the Benoit incident. Anything I know about today's product comes from what I glean from the WWE folder. 7. When was the board at its best? Unlike some people who cite certain eras, I can't remember anything that happened more than a week ago. It sort all runs together for me. 8. What is the one thing, above all else, that keeps you coming back here? Honestly, it's mostly habit at this point. I left the board for six months or so earlier this year. One day I dropped in and ended up posting about ten times in a baseball thread. I've been around ever since. Coming back for new posts is an addiction. It's hard to stay away because things are always evolving. I am always interested in seeing the latest posts. 9. If you could change one thing about TSM, what would it be? I've spent more than my fair share of time complaining about the board in the past. Are there things I'd like to change? Sure, but for the most part I enjoy the experience when I log in. It's just my nature to want to try and improve things, but I'm trying to lighten up on that. 10. How much longer will TSM be around? My first inclination is to say that it will just stick around forever. There will always be someone who cares enough to keep it going. In reality, it'll probably just up and disappear one day when those in charge decide it's not worth keeping afloat.

This might be the winner.

Didn't you think my real name was Travis? Wait, do you still think my name is Travis?

So, I'm conducting a little research on the posters that frequent TSM. Perhaps we can use this information to keep the board from dying a slow, painful death. Answer the questions to the best of your ability. 1. How often do you visit TSM? How long are you here on a typical visit? How many minutes, or hours, do you spend here daily? 2. Which folders do you spend the most time in? Why? Which ones do you skip over? 3. Who are your favorite posters? What makes a poster "good"? 4. Who are your least favorite? Why? 5. Who is your favorite mod? Can you actually name the mods we have? 6. What brought you to TSM in the first place? Do you still come for the same reasons? Do you still watch wrestling? 7. When was the board at its best? 8. What is the one thing, above all else, that keeps you coming back here? 9. If you could change one thing about TSM, what would it be? 10. How much longer will TSM be around?