I believe that I fall into this category. I tried to explain it to ex Lady Nas over 10 years ago and she thought that I was insane and was sure that I was going to get robbed or killed. I imagine if the roles were reversed I would have thought it was dangerous too.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

"So the guy who runs this, uh, gluten intolerance support group I'm in has this idea to go to Alaska and pan for gold..."

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

My wife rolls her eyes at me but I’ve been on and off message boards for close on 30 years now back when you had to dial into an individual site. Usually never met people in person unless someone I knew already knew them back in the day but did visit with a couple people in Montana and South Dakota the last time I was out west. I don’t think I’d do that again.

I'm still about 40% convinced that this place is me and about 200 of Keeping Score's alternate egos...

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Was supposed to meet the Inebriated Rodent once (stupidly, I backed out) and when I tried to tell the missus who I was meeting, she got suspicious. "Oh, it's just this guy I know," I said.

"What guy?"

"Just this guy I know."

I felt weird saying it was related to "that message board I go on," which is our expression for this place. However, once I told her as much, she didn't care, and I was relieved and felt stupid. It's funny how meeting people online still has a stigma for some of us.

Also, our family has a group outing to a Sox game once a summer, and just before the outing two years ago, I heard JORR was going to be at the game, and so I went down to meet him. It was crowded--which means that it must have been the day the Sox retired Buehrle's number--and I spent some time looking, but I couldn't find JORR. When I got back to my seat an inning later, my oldest brother, who's kind of a tough guy, asked me where I was. I explained how "I was looking for a guy I met online," and my brother (he would pronounce it brudder) looked at me closely, trying to figure out if I was secretly gay. (I ain't--secretly, unsecretly, whatever.)

Speaking of stigma, I am real religious, and I have that stigmata thing. It's a good sign that I'm going straight to heaven but it's messy and not very practical.

You missed out on an elephant ear and lemon smash from the midway Tommy. That day was hotter than hell. My daughter asks me from time to time if “that guy” ever showed up. She cares enough to ask, doesn’t care enough to remember. Gets that from her mother.

Was Gary from Evanston in attendance that night? I swear I can remember either JORR pointing him out or saying that he's an annual attendee who wasn't there that night. Something to do with ye olde WYC legend.

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Oh yeah and there was one time I went up to Milwaukee with family for a Bulls/Bucks game and there just happened to be a "CSFMB North Meetup" at the same German pub in downtown brewtown that we ended up at. I just told them I was gonna go have a beer or two with some ppl from the sports msgboard and it was like "ok then" --- it's not like y'all are Pokemon go friends or Grindr conquests or anything especially embarrassing.

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I've never felt the need to lie or make up a story about this place. I met my wife on an online dating site and that has lost a lot of the stigma
attached that it used to carry. Easy way to meet up with people that have some similar interests and root for the same teams, etc.... The fact
that a lot of us are anonymous probably works in our favor. I am friends with a handful of people from here on Facebook but in most cases the
only time I see them is at a board outing.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I'm still unconvinced that JORR gave me his real name when we met.

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Gary was definitely there wearing his Expos cap. He even asked a question. R.I.P.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Who are you talking to right now? Who is it you think you see? Do you know how much I make a year? I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it. Do you want to see my W-2s? Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work? A message board more important than Facebook goes belly up. Disappears! It ceases to exist without me. No, you clearly don't know who you're talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Lady Nas. I am the danger! A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I thought you were gonna say opens his front door and gets a bag of skittles

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Had she met me, she'd be like, "Dad, do you still talk to that that freakin' weirdo guy?"

Never lied about the board - never had to.

I don't FB or Twitter so I consider this an electronic man cave to discuss, argue and have a good laugh about stuff with an emphasis on Chicago sports and media.

Mrs Fella just rolls her eyes and asks me, "Are we talking to strangers again?"... As she scrolls through her FB interacting with hundreds of her closest "friends".

Never knew the good Doctor Noisewater is from the Illinois Valley and the Inebriated Rodent is close by until I started posting more.

I would have bought Seacrest a beer at Sox Park if only I checked the message board before we left. We were both at the park on Italian Heritage Night but I wasn't aware until the day after. That would have went well... "Honey, I'd like you to meet a stranger I met online..."

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

"electronic man cave"

I like it

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Being across the Lake, I don't get to town often for the meetups, but I did get the "Come on out to the concourse behind section 107, I'll be there" invite from JORR before one of my rare Sox game trips. I went out there and watched people for a few innings, and may have narrowed it down to the guy I thought might be him, but, what do you do- walk up to a stranger and say "Are you JORR?", or "Hey Rod", or "Aren't you the bassist from Hazardous Youth?" Then that quick thought about "me plus 200 Keeping Score mults" kicks in and I have to tell myself not to fall for the old "does this A2000 smell like chloroform to you?" trick.

I thought “inebriated rodent” was great too.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Just say "Hey JORR" with some confidence and the right guy will turn around.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

SuperMario was from that way, too. Who else? I can't believe I'm forgetting, but there's a few others, no? hnd is from further west. Someone is from Ottawa or thereabouts, and it's bugging me that I can't remember.

I think them Seacrests must have a little Irish in them, the way they breed.

Agreed... well done, tommy.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

I want to say he had a KISS avatar or screen name?

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Kissrules

Ah, Christ. I just did a five minute search for that.

viewtopic.php?f=152&t=101487&p=2513805&hilit=ottawa#p2513805

One Post may be from that way as well, and Zippy is at least familiar with Ottawa. That's what I have learned.

Yep. He posted some videos he created for a class at IVCC if I remember correctly?

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Yep, he did....

I tell everyone I meet I am a well respected member of an online forum and I am most known for running a March Madness style tournament and a drunken post every Friday about how much I suck.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I can guarantee you that JOrr looks nothing like the bass player for Hazardous Youth

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This is sublime.

You should pen lyrics.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley