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ES NOSTALGIA THREAD feat. Art, Die Hard, Henry, TK, PCS, Tarhog, and Karl Swanson

E33Green

By E33Green
in The Stadium

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Lombardi's_kid_brother

Lombardi's_kid_brother

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This all took place slightly before my time paying attention on this board, and it's really fascinating. I learned bits and pieces by things inferred in posts over the years, but this definitely fills in some blanks. A few things I had no idea about. Thank you for the ES history lesson.

 

I'm not an insider so I may get hit for this, but this board was probably the first tentative step into Snyder's plan of "controlling the message." I mean, what other reason possibly exists for a team buying a fan message board and incorporating it into their website. I think Karl's involvement was part of that idea that we will control the message, and the fans will love us. And having Art as the henchman's henchman was part of that plan.

 

I mean, didn't Synder do a Q&A here? That's just bizarre in retrospect.

 

I think they rather quickly realized that any message board is just a message board, and if you want to control the message, you need to control the media. You don't deputize online maniacs to attack the media. Now, we have stuff like Red Zebra and the partnership with the Washington Times and the partnership with all the local broadcast channels and so forth.

 

I would honestly like to know how many people at Redskins Park even know that they own a message board at this point.

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E33Green

E33Green

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Not Coles for sure but I think I remember him on here acting all smug predicting winning in free agency with signings like Archuleta, Lloyd, Randel El, etc before we bombed out in 2006.

 

This seems right to me. I also remember Andyman becoming somewhat of a "meme" here. When regular posters would question someone for purporting to know inside info, they would often say "Who do you think you are, Andyman?"

 

And during the head coach search after Gibbs retired in 2008, I remember cries of "Save us, Andyman!" in between posts of wild speculation.

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E33Green

E33Green

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It didn't help media relations either when you had ES moderator Art Mills, aka "Art"  physically intimidate NFL writer Len Pasquarelli in an NFL press box.   Then he boasted about it on ES(Confronting Len Pasquarelli in the press box. PRICELESS!!!!). Art was given press credentials as an ES moderator and represented ES and the Redskins with the usual bluster, bullying and obnoxious behavior we grew to know so well on the board here. McKenna's City Paper article touches on his behavior in the press box and how the media viewed having him there.   He was the embodiment of the obnoxious reputation that Snyder was gaining at the time. 

 

Very interesting take on Art and I have to say that I agree. While he was instrumental in the growth of ES into the best NFL fan message board on the web, I agree with your assesment that his behavior in the press box was out of line.

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RVAbrendan

RVAbrendan

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I most definitely remember andyman...his anonymity gave more allure to the whole thing. I was never THAT in tune to know who he may have been, so this thread was a little surprising when I learned of his true identity.

But to me, MSF will always be the #1 anomaly on this board!

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E33Green

E33Green

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This all took place slightly before my time paying attention on this board, and it's really fascinating. I learned bits and pieces by things inferred in posts over the years, but this definitely fills in some blanks. A few things I had no idea about. Thank you for the ES history lesson.

 

Glad you enjoyed. If you google "andyman extremeskins" you will find a decent number of articles and blog posts floating around now about the saga. It is usually mentioned among the litany of mistakes that Snyder had made since owning the team. You might also enjoy MTH's fantastic "History of Extremeskins" thread: http://es.redskins.com/topic/302648-history-of-extremeskins/

 

I didn't take a lot of brain power to know that andyman was Karl.

 

It was sort of neat, but I'm not sure what it said about the organization then that it was more concerned with posting smug messages to a few hundred die-hards on a message board than it was in having any kind of organizational coherence.

 

For sure, it was very odd and says a lot about the state of the Franchise at the time that their head PR guy/member of Snyder's inner circle was posting smug insider info on a fan message board. However, keep in mind that ES had over 30,000 members back in 2005 (no idea what the membership is today). That is hardly "a few hundered die hards." I do credit Snyder and Swanson for recognizing the potential power of fan message boards in getting their message out to fans without going through the traditional media. They were way ahead of the curve with regards to the other NFL teams when they purchased ES in 2005.

 

While Swanson and Cerrato certainly had different roles and Cerrato clearly impacted the on-the-field impact more, they had similarities. Snyder seemed to trust them and rely on them to a remarkable degree - despite the fact that neither seemed terribly gifted at their jobs.

 

I'm just not sure what the point was of having your chief pr guy be a "henchman." The only place more unstable than the front office during the first ten years or so that Snyder owned the Skins was the pr department.

 

I agree with this. Swanson and Cerrato were cut from the exact same mold: sycophantic "yes men" for Snyder that kowtowed to his every whim. I don't think the words "Dan, I don't think that is a good idea" ever came out of either of their mouths during their tenure here. I pray every day that Dan has taken the lessons of Swanson/Cerrato to heart and that good times are ahead. The hiring of Bruce Allen was a great move in the right direction, but the recent PR disasters regarding the name change controversy still give me pause that Dan hasn't fully learned everything required to be a top-tier NFL owner.

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Lombardi's_kid_brother

Lombardi's_kid_brother

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Very interesting take on Art and I have to say that I agree. While he was instrumental in the growth of ES into the best NFL fan message board on the web, I agree with your assesment that his behavior in the press box was out of line.

 

I wish I could remember what board it was, but my favorite Art moment is his going to another Skins board and trolling the owner of the site for not having the access he did while somehow acting insulted that the owner of said site had forced him to show up and be an ass towards him. It was the most Art thing ever.

 

How that dude didn't end up in pro wrestling is beyond me.

 

I was not here in the early early days. How did Art become the voice of this site in the first place? It was Die Hard's baby and Die Hard seemed completely cut out of the transition to the Redskins. Didn't he even get banned at some point?

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Riggo-toni

Riggo-toni

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But nothing any sportswriter writes deserves being physically threatened by a blustering bully in their place of work.  And physically threatening a writer in front of a passel of writers there to cover your team isn't exactly a brilliant PR move.

I wasn't aware that he physically threatened him (link isn't working for me), but I agree that that's completely unacceptable.

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The Dude

The Dude

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My favorite Art moment was when he and long-time poster MRMADD got into a dispute on weather Tyler Ecker (drafted in 2007) was a TE, as Art claimed, or an H-Back.  MRMADD kept claiming he was an H-Back in the Gibbs offense, and Art decided to ban him.  Permanently.

 

It's too bad the thread has been deleted, it was a classic.  Searching for it, I even found a Cowboys board discussing how nuts it was:

 

http://cowboyszone.com/threads/art-flexing-epeen-again.86054/

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E33Green

E33Green

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I wish I could remember what board it was, but my favorite Art moment is his going to another Skins board and trolling the owner of the site for not having the access he did while somehow acting insulted that the owner of said site had forced him to show up and be an ass towards him. It was the most Art thing ever.

 

How that dude didn't end up in pro wrestling is beyond me.

 

I was not here in the early early days. How did Art become the voice of this site in the first place? It was Die Hard's baby and Die Hard seemed completely cut out of the transition to the Redskins. Didn't he even get banned at some point?

 

LKB, I can't believe you have never read Mark's incredible "History of Extremeskins" thread:

 

http://es.redskins.com/topic/302648-history-of-extremeskins/

 

It will answer all your questions about Art, Die Hard, and more. Essentially, in 2005 the then-mods voted 6-1 to accept the Redskins' offer to buy ES with Die Hard being the lone dissenting vote. Very intersting to look back on that decision almost 10 years after the fact.

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jflow78

jflow78

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I liked andyman.  Had no clue he was connected with the team.  Most of his anti-media musings were spot on, though it might not have been a good idea for a team official to blast the media online.  

 

Ahhh, what do I care, I hate the media most of the time too.  

 

Wish andyman would come back.

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grego

grego

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Very interesting take on Art and I have to say that I agree. While he was instrumental in the growth of ES into the best NFL fan message board on the web, I agree with your assesment that his behavior in the press box was out of line.

 

 

while art rubbed some people the wrong way, not only would i pay to see a confrontation with lenny p, i'd probably side with art on that one.

 

journalists with a smug attitude and a god complex are some of the most annoying people on earth.

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jflow78

jflow78

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while art rubbed some people the wrong way, not only would i pay to see a confrontation with lenny p, i'd probably side with art on that one.

 

journalists with a smug attitude and a god complex are some of the most annoying people on earth.

Seconded.

 

Quick question for TK or one of the other mods.  Wasn't andyman given one of the really terrible profile pictures (the gimp, the clown, or the guy with his head up his ***)?

 

I can't remember for sure, but for some reason I have that image in my head under his name.

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Xameil

Xameil

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Seconded.

 

Quick question for TK or one of the other mods.  Wasn't andyman given one of the really terrible profile pictures (the gimp, the clown, or the guy with his head up his ***)?

 

I can't remember for sure, but for some reason I have that image in my head under his name.

His avi pic was the smoking man from X-Files

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