Hello all (~3 of my readers 😆).
I'm sorry I've been absent for a while. I could blame the fact that one of my childhood best friends collapsed at work with a double stroke and though he miraculously survived, will lose a lot of his abilities. That's been front in center of my mind for the past 6 weeks.
I could blame the fact that in my questioning Lundy and this mercurial Panther squad, I was apparently very publicly shunned by the UWMFreak board community (yikes, I didn't realize a few posters had it out for me with knives sharpened and seemed to be just waiting for the moment to pounce and label me a "geek" who doesn't know anything about or contribute anything to Milwaukee Panther Basketball, as well as a "clout-chaser"). Good grief I just want/ed to make some good Panther Basketball content based on discussions from UWMFreak.com.
I also can't shake the deep embarrassment and confusion I felt when I tried to promote a highlight video at the end of last season and was subsequently ridiculed by one of the members of the coaching staff (something to the effect of "we cannot even control our own program on Twitter/Fb/etc".).
It was a fan highlight vid, bro.
I thought Mick Jenkins or Big KRIT would be the people objecting to using their licensed material- not the team whose fans and prospective fans the video was supposed to be made for. Sorry? I guess? Not really sure what to be sorry for though..
We are our own worst enemy sometimes, guys.
For the record, I am a proud geek/skateboarder/father/husband/child/friend/software developer and amateur creator of all things Milwaukee Panthers.
I have never cared about my reputation within the Panther fan base or within the world at large. I've picked all the wrong fights along the way (mostly when I was a heavy drinker (I apologize again, to Jimmy (that was quite the epic stream-of-syllables, nonsensical screed post), and to Mr Knodl- that wasn't the person I should have been trying to be when I confronted you like a total asshole)), so it doesn't come as a total surprise, but it was surprising to only see a single soul seemingly understand what went on there and why I left the UWMFreak discussion board. (to be clear, and putting all (self-loathing?) bully posters aside- the discussion board's tone has become increasingly, oftentimes unbearably negative over the past few years).
And I'm a positive person. I cannot "not" be that way. I don't go for the 4Chan and Xitter crap when I want to discuss and read discussions about my favorite sports team.
Can we just be a little more civil and understand that we can be fringe friends through this common bond? I get the sense of like "teams" and "cliques" within an already small Panther fan base. We don't have enough fans to afford that. The virtual assassination of BBFran had this insane ugliness out in full display for weeks and in hundreds of posts (to be fair BBFran did some antagonizing of his own in his rebuttals... I don't know where or why I provoked Elton John and the Arizona guy, but I did).
To feel ostracized by an entire community (the hardcore Panther fans) sucks. I had heard the same about ostracization which is why I've always tried to avoid getting too close to any organization or group of people. But when you realize people really, reeeeeeally don't want you around, it does hit different.
I hope the few of you reading this understand. And I look forward to contributing somehow through this fan site. Game recaps are silly and redundant. But I hope to post a few interesting and/or thought-provoking stories about this (now-supercharged) '23-'24 Panther team and all the Panther teams into the future so long as I have breath and working fingers.
Watching us win 7 of the last eight has me very optimistic. Are we really going back to the Dance for the first time in 10 years??!! It sure seems like everything is lining up, just like Elton said.
"We're so back", as the modern lingo goes..
You might even say I have my head in the clouds.
Just trying to keep it up.
Keep it ó …“ðŸ’¯
go panthers.
PS: I've got nothing but love for all the Panther staff, Panther players, and Panther fans out there in this beautiful world. Even the ones who think I'm a clumsy, meddling idiot.
PPS: You may think my fragile feelings are wafer-thin and I'm a fool for posting any of this; but this is not about "me"- I was just a casualty/symptom of a greater problem. In the past 2-3 years I've seen countless over-the-line attacks that never happened before. There has always been heated debate on UWMFreak. But when our own fans start sounding like xtownfan, we have a serious problem that relates to civility in how we communicate online with each other.
'Good news is, if people being shitty to each other on the D-Board is our biggest problem, we are extremely fortunate. 😎
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