New Era

Was the tackle out not your big exclusive?

Just continuing on the theme of a trip down memory lane, who recalls the early days with the likes of Glenn Hardaker, Bada Bing, Penny Samuels and one "Drinking party chick"? That's taking it back some! Every BBL team had its own sub forum, hell just about everything had its own forum then. Some people were meeting up at games and I think for a time you could even buy a whatsbev hoodie or t-shirt.

Also was Drunken party chick a raiders or Lions fan? I'm 95% certain it was one of them!

To be honest, yes Gonk may have done great in the past and thanks for all that but I think it's worth adding that his absolute disregard, disrespect and ignorance in planning to just delete the site and move on without consultation of 19 years worth of conversation with members is moronic and unacceptable.

I created a replacement site within hours of WhatsBev going down and in under 48 hours we'd built back up almost 20% of the member base again which shows how we can really come together when we want to.

As much as people might know the name 'WhatsBev' and it's easier to find this board through a Google search than the replacement, it might've been a good thing for it to disappear if Gonk's treatment of the site is any reflection of how other people view WhatsBev from the outside.

I truly hope the site improves and becomes a great place for further discussion going forwards but Gonk, if you do read this, it's not all "thanks" and cheering for you. Some of us think you're a bit of a cock.

Things going on or not, it's still entirely plausible to have respect for people you've shared conversation with for over a decade, think about them to a small regard and think they might want to continue even if you want to step back.

Cardinal sin, no... but lacks regard, respect and shows complete ignorance to everyone else who has shared this forum over a number of years.

@rsv, I really hope one of your top priorities in life remains an online basketball forum. If you can keep that up then you’ll be the envy of a large percentage of the basketball community I’m sure...

Life in bbl land isn’t always rosy. Myself and Gonk did similar with the Rocks Supporters Club. We shut down the website, Facebook and twitter within minutes after a very quick chat. Sometimes certain folk just push you to these actions. Folk who have absolutely no regard for anyone but themselves.

However, it’s all in the past now. Here’s to Whatsbev and thanks KO25 for taking on the task. I don’t envy you.

She was a Leopards fan!
There was some real characters around at that time & the site was really vibrant. People have made many friendships around the country due to this site & a fair amount of drinking has been done as a result of meeting up!!

I recall my first post being on the original site after a TV Tigers game v Brighton with a certain NBA Champion Coach at the helm......one of the Bears players (name escapes me) had a wife who was on breakfast or morning television and something happened that caused her to get on the court, handbag in hand in much the same way those old dears did with the wrestling in the 70s!! I heard somebody in the crowd say "That will be on whatsbev tonight"........and it was :-)
In those days I posted under Silent Bob....because that movie was on TV as I was online registering.

All good fun.

Well done to those involved in keeping the board open and going and for Gonk for his hard work after we left,it's a thankless task.Even though we don't attend games anymore,still keep half an eye on whats going on.

Drinking Party Chick (Donna) lived in Plymouth but rarely went to games,but posted regulatory in the lounge,we met up with her one year foe a drink in the pub that was opposite the Pavilions (slippers) think it is under a different name nowadays.

I am officially an O.A.P and spend a lot of my time reliving my youth watching and photographing bands on the rock scene in Manchester, Deb (Ole) is still working as well as having a sideline making and selling jewellery at some of the gigs I photograph.
Who knows, we may turn up at a game one of these days,but for various reasons the spark has long gone.

Rebel Rock (previously known as Roadgiant/Roadnix)

To an extent I agree with RSV. Gonk shouldn't have just shut the site down. He should have passed it on to others, clearly there are people willing to run it. If we run with the "no one died" theory, then nothing in basketball matters in the slightest, so we may as well shut WB.

But in the same way there's masses of things going on behind the scenes at Leopards that i can't discuss (although it's still a thrilling story as today's fortuitously timed blog will show), I'm sure he's had to deal with plenty of crap. There's a lot of people who can't take criticism and believe that people should never question them. And that's ignoring the fact that i presume Gonk also has a private life, maybe he has some problems. Maybe he doesn't.

I'm not sure what relevance the amount of people who flocked to the new site is overly relevant. It just proves people want a basketball forum. If my understanding is correct most (normal) people could log on with the WB ID. I imagine numbers would've been a lot lower if people had to re-register.

But it's water under the bridge, Bev's back. i think it would be good if RSV could get involved, but that's not my call. I'm off to think about something "interesting" to write about tomorrow.

I was indeed one of your team mates was it just 3 or did we have a 4th? It was over one summer I think back to that happier simpler time often.