looser
September 3rd, 2003, 6:23:56 PM
OK fans and members, here it is. The TRUE history of your favorite fan site, consistent winner of the Dick Butkus "Best Fan Site" award, the one and only, the amazing, the (imagine a drum roll here ) BuffaloBillsInsider (http://www.billsinsider.com/) and Buffalo Range. The cure for your Bills addiction.
As told to your sterling and erstwhile reporter, reeves84, by his eminence himself, originator of the Range, Billsman, huge Bills fan and Webmangler Supreme.
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Our fearless leader in his (un)natural habitat. Note shirt.
First, the Bills: What is your history as a Bills fan – where did you grow up and when did you become a fan?
I grew up in Dunkirk New York, right next to Fredonia, which most people over a certain age recognize as the old training site of the Bills. I remember going to every practice to try and get an autograph or a glimpse of the team, it was pretty exciting.
I guess I became a fan when my dad took me to the old Rockpile, which was located across from the Armory, where he worked. I remember the smell of cigars and a rowdy crowd that still exists in WNY to this day.
How did you get from New York to the Wilds of Arizona? And when you got there, how did you satisfy your Bills addiction?
Pony express. :). I left WNY, via airplane, in the mid 80's and moved to Tucson, where I lived for about 1 year. I couldn't find any Bills games so I moved up to Phoenix. Shortly after that I found a group of Bills fans that hung out at a place called Max's sports bar, we quickly out grew the small area they gave us and we started going to a place called "Nino's."
After several seasons of great food and football we outgrew the place and once again moved to a bigger location. I started a Bills chapter named the "Wild West Bills Backers" which is still going strong now. Again, the members out grew the restaurant and we split, I left with about 100 fans and started another Backers club named the "Phoenix Bills Backers," located at 2740 West Bell Rd. Both clubs are doing great and the fans are happy, what else could one ask for.. well, maybe a Super Bowl victory, which I believe we'll have real soon.
What is your best piece of Bills memorabilia??
My prized possession is my Buffalo Bills tattoo, which I never cover up. I get more Buffalo fans coming up to me and talking about it than you would know. It's a great icebreaker and a great way to meet other die-hard Bills fans!
Now: BBI and The Range
How did you first become interested in message boards in general?
I first got my start on message boards about 7 years ago when I ran the AOL Bills section. It started off as Real Fans, then it changed to Extreme Fans then finally CBS Sportsline took it over where I worked for them for over a year. We went from 10 members our first week running it to well over 600, all within a season! We quickly became the largest NFL fan forum on AOL. I had great help, as I do now, the sites wouldn't be what they are now with out all the staff you see every day - I can't thank them enough to be honest with you.
Are you related to Hammerin' Hank? And if so, did you get any radio experience that may have helped you in starting this up?
LOL. Yes, that is my uncle and I did things with him on the radio when I was younger. I learned a lot of general media stuff from him, and I still use some of it.
When and how did you set up the original BBI/Range, and was it the first Bills fan site?
The original Range was set up about 5 1/2 years ago. It was ugly! We all were learning HTML and the speed to get to the internet was very slow. There wasn't a lot of news out there like there is now; sites have it very easy today, you just type (Try google.com) in the words "Buffalo Bills" and 1400 sites come up. It wasn't always like that.
The Range wasn't the first Bills site - there were a couple others that didn't update their sites, it was more pictures and schedules than anything else. A site that we helped while we were starting was the Bills Coalition, now gone. That was fun and it started to show promise before it closed up. I bet I've seen about 100 Bills sites come and go in the 7 years of doing this.
Why did you start it? And what keeps you going?
1) When I started this, the BBI / Range wasn't always #1. Two Bills Drive kicked our butt and that bothered me. I promised that one day with hard work the BBI would be #1, and now it is and has been for about 4 years. I guess every new site fuels my fire a bit more to try and improve ours just a little bit more.
2) I always wanted to leave something nice for my son. My dream would to have this ol gal live forever, run by great folks like the current staff, and one day have my son, and hopefully all of our kids say, “My Mom/ Dad helped build that site."
3) Honestly, how could I end something or give up on something that so many people worked so hard on every day? They can’t and I can’t. I have always said that this is our site; ask anyone who has been here with me for a while. Many people poured their sweat and hours into as much as I did - ok, maybe about 5 years less..lol But you get the point....
A related question - how do you keep up your boundless enthusiasm for the site?
I would have to say the fans that visit the site. It's a good feeling knowing that people come to the site to get all their Bills news every day. After that, the staff, in all these years I have never worked with a better, more knowledgeable group of professionals, ever. When I start to get burnt out a little, they are always there to keep things running, day in and day out. There was a time that I took off 5 months, I had a lot going on in my life and wasn't sure if I'd be back or not. I was off and away from the PC for about 6 weeks straight before I came back to let everyone know all was well. I was surprised that there was no change; the site and message board was in great shape all due to the best staff on the net! I can't thank them all enough for all the hard work they've done. I know you've heard me say this before, but it's true! Without them, we wouldn't be here today.
Earlier you mentioned the staff at the site - how on earth did you get such an amazingly talented, dedicated, educated and hard working group of individuals such as the BBI staff to work for the site for nothing?
Pretty much a mixture of blackmail and bribery :D. I suppose I should be nice to them here, but they are a really a bunch of slackers!
How much time do you dedicate to the site every week?
Too much.
What changes on the board have you seen over the last 6 years?
Many changes in those years - you have better graphics, more sites to get facts and stories from, better code writers, faster connections, better message board, scripts, you name it. A lot has happened to improve things.
What's really nice is seeing more and more out of town (out of WNY) Bills fans joining in. Once they couldn't get any Bills news and if they did, it was always after the game. Now they can hit the BillsInsider.com site and get all the news they need every morning, lunch or at night and keep in touch with the team.
In the beginning this was just a Bills site. It now has a specialty Sabres section, sections on many other sports, and the “Asylum” and “Politics, Religion and Sex" section, both of which see lot of action, especially in the offseason. How did this come about?
It just sort of grew and grew. For example, when we getting too many non-Bills posts in the Hard Core football forum we created the Asylum, and later we split this into “Politics, Religion and Sex” and “The Asylum." It was the same with other sports, when there was enough interest we created special forums, and then SabresInsider. And then of couse we had to find more people to look after those forums, so the staff grew as well.
How is the site funded?
Initially it was all out of my own pocket, and boy was that hard! But now a large number of our regular posters contribute various sums to keep the site going – they are the ones that have the “Contributor” graphic under their avatar. Please feel free to contribute if you have not already (hint, hint). And Buffalo Web Hosting has been marvelous to us – the latest server rocks!
The more contributions we get, the more prizes we buy and the more contests we can have for our members (nearly 4,800 of ‘em at the last count).
What is the best time and the worst time you experienced during the years you have been running BBI?
The best time was when we had a Marcellus Wiley message board running off our site. To this day no other site has had this. I've had the chance to meet Doug Flutie, Jim Kelly, John Fina, Thurman Thomas and work with Frank Reich, Drew Bledsoe, Don Beebe, Chris Spielman and others all due to the BBI. We really broke new ground by getting involved with the players, something no other site has been able to do. Oh yeah, winning the Dick Butkus Best Fan Site Award so many times, that was nice! We beat out some very nice NFL sites to receive that award.
The worst? Maybe seeing our web site on another url! This other web site stole our entire front page and was trying to change it a little but they forgot to password protect it, so when some of our staff members went to this new sites url guess what they found? The BBI's front page, under a new www (url) address. Sites that lack originality really get to me, they use the same design, same message board, same forum names and same features that we've been using for years and they call it their own. I don't mind helping them out, just give our staff the due props for helping design their site.
To keep BogusTrumper happy, how often do you wear makeup?
Only when I meet her! LOL
What do you see as the future of the site?
To be honest, the sky is the limit. The site has a following of its own that grows each and every day. We'll soon be reaching the 5,000-member mark for our message board, which has never been done on any other NFL or Bills site to this date. What's really great is that while some sites add fake names to pad their members, all of ours are real people who actually post here.
We also have some new ideas ready for the 2003 season that we're sure the fans will love. I'd tell you what they are now but….it's a secret!
You'll just have to keep on checking the sites!
Go Bills!
As told to your sterling and erstwhile reporter, reeves84, by his eminence himself, originator of the Range, Billsman, huge Bills fan and Webmangler Supreme.
---- ------------------------------------
Our fearless leader in his (un)natural habitat. Note shirt.
First, the Bills: What is your history as a Bills fan – where did you grow up and when did you become a fan?
I grew up in Dunkirk New York, right next to Fredonia, which most people over a certain age recognize as the old training site of the Bills. I remember going to every practice to try and get an autograph or a glimpse of the team, it was pretty exciting.
I guess I became a fan when my dad took me to the old Rockpile, which was located across from the Armory, where he worked. I remember the smell of cigars and a rowdy crowd that still exists in WNY to this day.
How did you get from New York to the Wilds of Arizona? And when you got there, how did you satisfy your Bills addiction?
Pony express. :). I left WNY, via airplane, in the mid 80's and moved to Tucson, where I lived for about 1 year. I couldn't find any Bills games so I moved up to Phoenix. Shortly after that I found a group of Bills fans that hung out at a place called Max's sports bar, we quickly out grew the small area they gave us and we started going to a place called "Nino's."
After several seasons of great food and football we outgrew the place and once again moved to a bigger location. I started a Bills chapter named the "Wild West Bills Backers" which is still going strong now. Again, the members out grew the restaurant and we split, I left with about 100 fans and started another Backers club named the "Phoenix Bills Backers," located at 2740 West Bell Rd. Both clubs are doing great and the fans are happy, what else could one ask for.. well, maybe a Super Bowl victory, which I believe we'll have real soon.
What is your best piece of Bills memorabilia??
My prized possession is my Buffalo Bills tattoo, which I never cover up. I get more Buffalo fans coming up to me and talking about it than you would know. It's a great icebreaker and a great way to meet other die-hard Bills fans!
Now: BBI and The Range
How did you first become interested in message boards in general?
I first got my start on message boards about 7 years ago when I ran the AOL Bills section. It started off as Real Fans, then it changed to Extreme Fans then finally CBS Sportsline took it over where I worked for them for over a year. We went from 10 members our first week running it to well over 600, all within a season! We quickly became the largest NFL fan forum on AOL. I had great help, as I do now, the sites wouldn't be what they are now with out all the staff you see every day - I can't thank them enough to be honest with you.
Are you related to Hammerin' Hank? And if so, did you get any radio experience that may have helped you in starting this up?
LOL. Yes, that is my uncle and I did things with him on the radio when I was younger. I learned a lot of general media stuff from him, and I still use some of it.
When and how did you set up the original BBI/Range, and was it the first Bills fan site?
The original Range was set up about 5 1/2 years ago. It was ugly! We all were learning HTML and the speed to get to the internet was very slow. There wasn't a lot of news out there like there is now; sites have it very easy today, you just type (Try google.com) in the words "Buffalo Bills" and 1400 sites come up. It wasn't always like that.
The Range wasn't the first Bills site - there were a couple others that didn't update their sites, it was more pictures and schedules than anything else. A site that we helped while we were starting was the Bills Coalition, now gone. That was fun and it started to show promise before it closed up. I bet I've seen about 100 Bills sites come and go in the 7 years of doing this.
Why did you start it? And what keeps you going?
1) When I started this, the BBI / Range wasn't always #1. Two Bills Drive kicked our butt and that bothered me. I promised that one day with hard work the BBI would be #1, and now it is and has been for about 4 years. I guess every new site fuels my fire a bit more to try and improve ours just a little bit more.
2) I always wanted to leave something nice for my son. My dream would to have this ol gal live forever, run by great folks like the current staff, and one day have my son, and hopefully all of our kids say, “My Mom/ Dad helped build that site."
3) Honestly, how could I end something or give up on something that so many people worked so hard on every day? They can’t and I can’t. I have always said that this is our site; ask anyone who has been here with me for a while. Many people poured their sweat and hours into as much as I did - ok, maybe about 5 years less..lol But you get the point....
A related question - how do you keep up your boundless enthusiasm for the site?
I would have to say the fans that visit the site. It's a good feeling knowing that people come to the site to get all their Bills news every day. After that, the staff, in all these years I have never worked with a better, more knowledgeable group of professionals, ever. When I start to get burnt out a little, they are always there to keep things running, day in and day out. There was a time that I took off 5 months, I had a lot going on in my life and wasn't sure if I'd be back or not. I was off and away from the PC for about 6 weeks straight before I came back to let everyone know all was well. I was surprised that there was no change; the site and message board was in great shape all due to the best staff on the net! I can't thank them all enough for all the hard work they've done. I know you've heard me say this before, but it's true! Without them, we wouldn't be here today.
Earlier you mentioned the staff at the site - how on earth did you get such an amazingly talented, dedicated, educated and hard working group of individuals such as the BBI staff to work for the site for nothing?
Pretty much a mixture of blackmail and bribery :D. I suppose I should be nice to them here, but they are a really a bunch of slackers!
How much time do you dedicate to the site every week?
Too much.
What changes on the board have you seen over the last 6 years?
Many changes in those years - you have better graphics, more sites to get facts and stories from, better code writers, faster connections, better message board, scripts, you name it. A lot has happened to improve things.
What's really nice is seeing more and more out of town (out of WNY) Bills fans joining in. Once they couldn't get any Bills news and if they did, it was always after the game. Now they can hit the BillsInsider.com site and get all the news they need every morning, lunch or at night and keep in touch with the team.
In the beginning this was just a Bills site. It now has a specialty Sabres section, sections on many other sports, and the “Asylum” and “Politics, Religion and Sex" section, both of which see lot of action, especially in the offseason. How did this come about?
It just sort of grew and grew. For example, when we getting too many non-Bills posts in the Hard Core football forum we created the Asylum, and later we split this into “Politics, Religion and Sex” and “The Asylum." It was the same with other sports, when there was enough interest we created special forums, and then SabresInsider. And then of couse we had to find more people to look after those forums, so the staff grew as well.
How is the site funded?
Initially it was all out of my own pocket, and boy was that hard! But now a large number of our regular posters contribute various sums to keep the site going – they are the ones that have the “Contributor” graphic under their avatar. Please feel free to contribute if you have not already (hint, hint). And Buffalo Web Hosting has been marvelous to us – the latest server rocks!
The more contributions we get, the more prizes we buy and the more contests we can have for our members (nearly 4,800 of ‘em at the last count).
What is the best time and the worst time you experienced during the years you have been running BBI?
The best time was when we had a Marcellus Wiley message board running off our site. To this day no other site has had this. I've had the chance to meet Doug Flutie, Jim Kelly, John Fina, Thurman Thomas and work with Frank Reich, Drew Bledsoe, Don Beebe, Chris Spielman and others all due to the BBI. We really broke new ground by getting involved with the players, something no other site has been able to do. Oh yeah, winning the Dick Butkus Best Fan Site Award so many times, that was nice! We beat out some very nice NFL sites to receive that award.
The worst? Maybe seeing our web site on another url! This other web site stole our entire front page and was trying to change it a little but they forgot to password protect it, so when some of our staff members went to this new sites url guess what they found? The BBI's front page, under a new www (url) address. Sites that lack originality really get to me, they use the same design, same message board, same forum names and same features that we've been using for years and they call it their own. I don't mind helping them out, just give our staff the due props for helping design their site.
To keep BogusTrumper happy, how often do you wear makeup?
Only when I meet her! LOL
What do you see as the future of the site?
To be honest, the sky is the limit. The site has a following of its own that grows each and every day. We'll soon be reaching the 5,000-member mark for our message board, which has never been done on any other NFL or Bills site to this date. What's really great is that while some sites add fake names to pad their members, all of ours are real people who actually post here.
We also have some new ideas ready for the 2003 season that we're sure the fans will love. I'd tell you what they are now but….it's a secret!
You'll just have to keep on checking the sites!
Go Bills!