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Today is OTF Day of Remembrance...

Zizkov said:
We lost two great members of this board on this date, NFA and Kref.

Please share any thoughts, stories or anything about these two.

I met Andy one day in Columbus because he was looking at buying a jeep and wanted to see mine. Couldn't have been a nicer guy. I hope his kids are doing okay.
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I never met either of them but had several email exchanges with both outside of the OTF context. Both were really interesting with good stories, although from different eras and generations.

RIP guys. We could use some coach buttons right about now and miss you both.
 
Zizkov said:
We lost two great members of this board on this date, NFA and Kref.

Please share any thoughts, stories or anything about these two.

This song will forever remind me of Andy:

View embedded media
Click to expand...

Kref had a big OTF project in mind that it is a shame we never launched.....the OTF Media Project.

NFA has probably given Lacy at least two mix tapes already

RIP NFA and Kref!!
 
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Got to meet Andy at a couple of tailgates in the early 2000's with my brother and a few other OTFer's like Stunned Monkey. Great guy. Here you guy Aruss....
 
Joined Peegs back in 1999....lurked the AOTF for several years before I joined in on some conversations.....didn't think I was worthy enough to add my 2 cents. You guys had a tight knit group.....great banter.....felt like a fraternity almost....like you had to earn your stripes to join. I respected the hell outta this place.....still do.....lots of intelligent minds but "most" of you know how to joke around and not take life too seriously. :) And Kref and NFA were the trailblazers behind all of that. I didn't know them as well as most of you did....clearly never met them...but I thoroughly enjoyed the personas they exhibited here. If they were at least half as "cool" in person as they were on here, then they must have been exemplary human beings in real life.

Happy AOTF Day!
 
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Similar story to IUecho87 (hello!......hello!......hello!.....)

I lurked for a couple of years before I decided to post; first response was from TMP (probably BIODTL at the time) who immediately jumped my ass for my comment. And I probably deserved it...But, I remember respecting the feeling of community that the AOTF had, and no doubt that came from NotFadeAway. My main interaction with him was late nights, when many tunes were posted, and stories of concerts seen exchanged. Good memories.

Kref was before my time here, unfortunately - wish I had lurked earlier.
 
Both were funny, civil, good dudes...great fathers from what we're all told.

For Kref:




And I can't think of Aruss w/o thinking of Buffett:

 
Of course most of you know I knew NFA all my life. Heck, I knew him since preschool and then onto high school of course, but some of my fondest memories are tailgating and hanging out on Kirkwood after games. We tailgated in the same spot every single game and one game he brought a sign that read COLUMBUS on it and nailed it to the tree where we always parked. That was the kind of guy he was. Went all out and was proud of his town, his school and his family and friends.



Kref was before my time here I believe.
 
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The Story of Mike Kreffel, Pre-OTF Internet Freedom Fighter

I knew Kref way, way before there was an OTF or a Peegs.com. When we first met was on the old Star News forum circa late 1994-95. Not kidding: there was only a handful of posters back then. Myself, Kref, Randy, Bob H, Smokey, Native, Niteowl, Historian and Satchmore. Of that group 5 are now dead. Soon great posters like Solid Sender and Clubjockey came along, but so did a host of assholes: Gojko, Ducati, Mace, Minnesota Hoosier, etc aka the Loopers. If you are reading this, it is a shame you are still alive and Kref is dead. GFY to all of you, and please die soon.

If some of you pussies think TMP is bad (hi MaxCoke), you didn't experience Gojko and his bag of dickheads. They managed to chase off some great posters. Kref handled it all with humor. They never cracked him. Before the big schism caused by Knight's deserved firing, it was a true pain in the ass dealing with them. Several of us created alternate personas to troll the hell out of them, and Kref helped provide much of the material for our subversive efforts. While Andy and Etec hadn't created the OTF yet, that spirit was already alive and well.

Kref was a artist and dabbled in a bit of everything (some of his work was publishedin Playboy as well as other many other mags). Before what we know call memes, Kref was making stuff to troll Loopers.

Not many of you can imagine what it was like posting in those days. A few of us actually had Loopers calling our employers for posting on Peegs, or worse. The only comparable thing in the OTF era is when Seyton got snitched on.
Kref was rightfully worried about his job because of how spiteful these people were, so his efforts were never credited. You guys just knew him as the Coaching Buttons Guy.

Thankfully, the IIBF became Peegs.com and Peegs was forced to ban-hammer a bunch of guys that were once his "friends." Pegram went through a mess of shit back then as well. That's how bad the Loopers were: they turned a nipple-hating fascist like Mike Pegram into a sympathetic character.

Anyway, I will save my other Kref-lore for next year. I don't know if Trover still reads the forums, but he was a great friend to Kref as well. I always think of him as well today, though thankfully he is still alive and kicking.
 
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burnthemallralphie said:
The Story of Mike Kreffel, Pre-OTF Internet Freedom Fighter

I knew Kref way, way before there was an OTF or a Peegs.com. When we first met was on the old Star News forum circa late 1994-95. Not kidding: there was only a handful of posters back then. Myself, Kref, Randy, Bob H, Smokey, Native, Niteowl, Historian and Satchmore. Of that group 5 are now dead. Soon great posters like Solid Sender and Clubjockey came along, but so did a host of assholes: Gojko, Ducati, Mace, Minnesota Hoosier, etc aka the Loopers. If you are reading this, it is a shame you are still alive and Kref is dead. GFY to all of you, and please die soon.

If some of you pussies think TMP is bad (hi MaxCoke), you didn't experience Gojko and his bag of dickheads. They managed to chase off some great posters. Kref handled it all with humor. They never cracked him. Before the big schism caused by Knight's deserved firing, it was a true pain in the ass dealing with them. Several of us created alternate personas to troll the hell out of them, and Kref helped provide much of the material for our subversive efforts. While Andy and Etec hadn't created the OTF yet, that spirit was already alive and well.

Kref was a artist and dabbled in a bit of everything (some of his work was publishedin Playboy as well as other many other mags). Before what we know call memes, Kref was making stuff to troll Loopers.

Not many of you can imagine what it was like posting in those days. A few of us actually had Loopers calling our employers for posting on Peegs, or worse. The only comparable thing in the OTF era is when Seyton got snitched on.
Kref was rightfully worried about his job because of how spiteful these people were, so his efforts were never credited. You guys just knew him as the Coaching Buttons Guy.

Thankfully, the IIBF became Peegs.com and Peegs was forced to ban-hammer a bunch of guys that were once his "friends." Pegram went through a mess of shit back then as well. That's how bad the Loopers were: they turned a nipple-hating fascist like Mike Pegram into a sympathetic character.

Anyway, I will save my other Kref-lore for next year. I don't know if Trover still reads the forums, but he was a great friend to Kref as well. I always think of him as well today, though thankfully he is still alive and kicking.
Click to expand...


I remember those arseholes......was too wet behind the ears to engage them but used to read the exchanges between classes in college and laugh my ass off.

Where did WiscHoosier fit in? Was he included in that group? He used to have some fk'd up posts......took hrs to read. Wasn't he up BK's ass as well?
 
burnthemallralphie said:
The Story of Mike Kreffel, Pre-OTF Internet Freedom Fighter

I knew Kref way, way before there was an OTF or a Peegs.com. When we first met was on the old Star News forum circa late 1994-95. Not kidding: there was only a handful of posters back then. Myself, Kref, Randy, Bob H, Smokey, Native, Niteowl, Historian and Satchmore. Of that group 5 are now dead. Soon great posters like Solid Sender and Clubjockey came along, but so did a host of assholes: Gojko, Ducati, Mace, Minnesota Hoosier, etc aka the Loopers. If you are reading this, it is a shame you are still alive and Kref is dead. GFY to all of you, and please die soon.

If some of you pussies think TMP is bad (hi MaxCoke), you didn't experience Gojko and his bag of dickheads. They managed to chase off some great posters. Kref handled it all with humor. They never cracked him. Before the big schism caused by Knight's deserved firing, it was a true pain in the ass dealing with them. Several of us created alternate personas to troll the hell out of them, and Kref helped provide much of the material for our subversive efforts. While Andy and Etec hadn't created the OTF yet, that spirit was already alive and well.

Kref was a artist and dabbled in a bit of everything (some of his work was publishedin Playboy as well as other many other mags). Before what we know call memes, Kref was making stuff to troll Loopers.

Not many of you can imagine what it was like posting in those days. A few of us actually had Loopers calling our employers for posting on Peegs, or worse. The only comparable thing in the OTF era is when Seyton got snitched on.
Kref was rightfully worried about his job because of how spiteful these people were, so his efforts were never credited. You guys just knew him as the Coaching Buttons Guy.

Thankfully, the IIBF became Peegs.com and Peegs was forced to ban-hammer a bunch of guys that were once his "friends." Pegram went through a mess of shit back then as well. That's how bad the Loopers were: they turned a nipple-hating fascist like Mike Pegram into a sympathetic character.

Anyway, I will save my other Kref-lore for next year. I don't know if Trover still reads the forums, but he was a great friend to Kref as well. I always think of him as well today, though thankfully he is still alive and kicking.
Click to expand...

I was here back in towards the end of the IIBF days, too, and have great memories of Kref and Niteowl - and then the Haven. Thanks for the reminder of those names - a couple of whom are still around-ish. I'm not a prolific poster - wasn't then and am even less now - but I enjoyed the hell out of some of those folks you mentioned. Where is Trover, anyway...? Kref was always good for some artwork, too - cartoon, button. He was good people and helped to create the atmosphere that was the hallmark of the OTF.
 
TMP said: ↑
"Huh? I'm so misunderstood. "

I only named you as an example because MaxCoke was whining about what a meanie you are last week. No harm / snark meant.
 
"I was here back in towards the end of the IIBF days, too, and have great memories of Kref and Niteowl - and then the Haven. Thanks for the reminder of those names - a couple of whom are still around-ish. I'm not a prolific poster - wasn't then and am even less now - but I enjoyed the hell out of some of those folks you mentioned. Where is Trover, anyway...? Kref was always good for some artwork, too - cartoon, button. He was good people and helped to create the atmosphere that was the hallmark of the OTF. "

Sorry, my browser at work is outdated, making me resort to copy-paste:

I had totally forgotten the Haven. What an oasis that was. I remember trying to get Naremore to read Willa Cather (known for her brevity) in hopes he'd be inspired to cut down on the lengths of his posts.

Trover is, I believe, our original poster-turned- author. He may be working on another book, or equally likely, is frustrated at the current state of IU basketball.

Please post more, I always liked your posts, especially on the Haven.
 
IUecho87: I never talked to Agent Mulder aka WiscHoosier much. He saw black helicopters everywhere, imho.

I think he was a bit of an outlier of any group, but a lot of people took the bait every single time he posted.
 
burnthemallralphie said:
The Story of Mike Kreffel, Pre-OTF Internet Freedom Fighter

I knew Kref way, way before there was an OTF or a Peegs.com. When we first met was on the old Star News forum circa late 1994-95. Not kidding: there was only a handful of posters back then. Myself, Kref, Randy, Bob H, Smokey, Native, Niteowl, Historian and Satchmore. Of that group 5 are now dead. Soon great posters like Solid Sender and Clubjockey came along, but so did a host of assholes: Gojko, Ducati, Mace, Minnesota Hoosier, etc aka the Loopers. If you are reading this, it is a shame you are still alive and Kref is dead. GFY to all of you, and please die soon.

If some of you pussies think TMP is bad (hi MaxCoke), you didn't experience Gojko and his bag of dickheads. They managed to chase off some great posters. Kref handled it all with humor. They never cracked him. Before the big schism caused by Knight's deserved firing, it was a true pain in the ass dealing with them. Several of us created alternate personas to troll the hell out of them, and Kref helped provide much of the material for our subversive efforts. While Andy and Etec hadn't created the OTF yet, that spirit was already alive and well.

Kref was a artist and dabbled in a bit of everything (some of his work was publishedin Playboy as well as other many other mags). Before what we know call memes, Kref was making stuff to troll Loopers.

Not many of you can imagine what it was like posting in those days. A few of us actually had Loopers calling our employers for posting on Peegs, or worse. The only comparable thing in the OTF era is when Seyton got snitched on.
Kref was rightfully worried about his job because of how spiteful these people were, so his efforts were never credited. You guys just knew him as the Coaching Buttons Guy.

Thankfully, the IIBF became Peegs.com and Peegs was forced to ban-hammer a bunch of guys that were once his "friends." Pegram went through a mess of shit back then as well. That's how bad the Loopers were: they turned a nipple-hating fascist like Mike Pegram into a sympathetic character.

Anyway, I will save my other Kref-lore for next year. I don't know if Trover still reads the forums, but he was a great friend to Kref as well. I always think of him as well today, though thankfully he is still alive and kicking.
Click to expand...


Wonder what happened to Solid Sender?
McHoop
 
burnthemallralphie said:
The Story of Mike Kreffel, Pre-OTF Internet Freedom Fighter

If some of you pussies think TMP is bad (hi MaxCoke), you didn't experience Gojko and his bag of dickheads. They managed to chase off some great posters. Kref handled it all with humor. They never cracked him. Before the big schism caused by Knight's deserved firing, it was a true pain in the ass dealing with them. Several of us created alternate personas to troll the hell out of them, and Kref helped provide much of the material for our subversive efforts. While Andy and Etec hadn't created the OTF yet, that spirit was already alive and well.
Click to expand...

Hi burnie ... TMP is one of my favorite contributors here. His anti-alcohol, anti-football, anti-establishment, anti-you name it and his pro-cannabis, pro-GFD postings are entertaining. Just trying to join in on the friendly banter.

latest
 
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burnthemallralphie said:
IUecho87: I never talked to Agent Mulder aka WiscHoosier much. He saw black helicopters everywhere, imho.

I think he was a bit of an outlier of any group, but a lot of people took the bait every single time he posted.
Click to expand...

I used to get a lot of e-mail from Wisconsin Hoosier. I made the mistake of sending him some info on the Knight firing (I had an interesting view of the whole thing) and he wouldn't leave me alone.
 
burnthemallralphie said:
The Story of Mike Kreffel, Pre-OTF Internet Freedom Fighter

I knew Kref way, way before there was an OTF or a Peegs.com. When we first met was on the old Star News forum circa late 1994-95. Not kidding: there was only a handful of posters back then. Myself, Kref, Randy, Bob H, Smokey, Native, Niteowl, Historian and Satchmore. Of that group 5 are now dead. Soon great posters like Solid Sender and Clubjockey came along, but so did a host of assholes: Gojko, Ducati, Mace, Minnesota Hoosier, etc aka the Loopers. If you are reading this, it is a shame you are still alive and Kref is dead. GFY to all of you, and please die soon.

If some of you pussies think TMP is bad (hi MaxCoke), you didn't experience Gojko and his bag of dickheads. They managed to chase off some great posters. Kref handled it all with humor. They never cracked him. Before the big schism caused by Knight's deserved firing, it was a true pain in the ass dealing with them. Several of us created alternate personas to troll the hell out of them, and Kref helped provide much of the material for our subversive efforts. While Andy and Etec hadn't created the OTF yet, that spirit was already alive and well.

Kref was a artist and dabbled in a bit of everything (some of his work was publishedin Playboy as well as other many other mags). Before what we know call memes, Kref was making stuff to troll Loopers.

Not many of you can imagine what it was like posting in those days. A few of us actually had Loopers calling our employers for posting on Peegs, or worse. The only comparable thing in the OTF era is when Seyton got snitched on.
Kref was rightfully worried about his job because of how spiteful these people were, so his efforts were never credited. You guys just knew him as the Coaching Buttons Guy.

Thankfully, the IIBF became Peegs.com and Peegs was forced to ban-hammer a bunch of guys that were once his "friends." Pegram went through a mess of shit back then as well. That's how bad the Loopers were: they turned a nipple-hating fascist like Mike Pegram into a sympathetic character.

Anyway, I will save my other Kref-lore for next year. I don't know if Trover still reads the forums, but he was a great friend to Kref as well. I always think of him as well today, though thankfully he is still alive and kicking.
Click to expand...

I lurked a lot back in the old days... Hated the Star/News Forums. I remember most of the names and personas; always enjoyed Kref, CJ, Niteowl, Historian, Solid Sender, Satchmore, and many more whos handles escape me. Hell, I even enjoyed some of Gojko's trashing of Purdue and their fans! I had just started posting when the big schism happened. Then the forum changed and I never got another handle. Decided when Andy passed to get one and post a little. I usually don't have much to add so I mostly just pop on and lurk. Thanks for posting the memories!
 
Zizkov said:
I used to get a lot of e-mail from Wisconsin Hoosier. I made the mistake of sending him some info on the Knight firing (I had an interesting view of the whole thing) and he wouldn't leave me alone.
Click to expand...

His posts read like he was an investigative journalist. I remember he had one about Davis soon after he was hired....supposedly talked to several sources.....saying that after the Knight kids left the program would tank and recruiting would drop off significantly. Of course the '02 run happened and then he nailed a verbal from our next savior "Bracey Wright".....and all was right with the world. I thought WiscHoosier was full of chit......and then....well, we all know what happened next.....

I remember saving that post on my PC at the time....don't know why I did.....guess to reference it if those things ever came true. Dude was prophetic with that insight.
 
Zizkov said:
We lost two great members of this board on this date, NFA and Kref.

Please share any thoughts, stories or anything about these two.

This song will forever remind me of Andy:

View embedded media
Click to expand...

Kref and Aruss were two of my first cyber-friends here.
Back in the day, I couldn't post much during the day, and I was here late at night, usually swapping posts with them and Trover and a few other oldies.
The OG OTF was a close-knit bunch and venomous but good spirited attacks were routine.
If you took crap serious, you were in trouble here.

Kref was a hero.
The man had (allegedly) published cartoons in Playboy!
He was King of the Coaching buttons.
He was a vet (I think it was Kref who used to post an old battle report for an artillery unit from Nam on Veteran's Day) and had a vet's ability to not sweat the small shit.
If you made him chuckle or smile, he'd give you an "XLSMcQSEG".
RIP Mike Kreffle.
steve-mcqueen-louis-sidoli.jpg



Aruss was the guy who first encouraged me to post on the OTF.
He had a "smart ass" detector that must have gone off when he read my smart-ass stuff on the basketball board.
And he was - as is proper - a St. Louis Cardinal fan.
Met him "live" when he moved to Louisville to work for a few months.
Shared a drink or 2 at an OTF Tailgate.
My last argument with him was over Prince vs. George Harrison on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
He took Prince.

One for Andy Russell:
 
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burnthemallralphie said:
"I was here back in towards the end of the IIBF days, too, and have great memories of Kref and Niteowl - and then the Haven. Thanks for the reminder of those names - a couple of whom are still around-ish. I'm not a prolific poster - wasn't then and am even less now - but I enjoyed the hell out of some of those folks you mentioned. Where is Trover, anyway...? Kref was always good for some artwork, too - cartoon, button. He was good people and helped to create the atmosphere that was the hallmark of the OTF. "

Sorry, my browser at work is outdated, making me resort to copy-paste:

I had totally forgotten the Haven. What an oasis that was. I remember trying to get Naremore to read Willa Cather (known for her brevity) in hopes he'd be inspired to cut down on the lengths of his posts.

Trover is, I believe, our original poster-turned- author. He may be working on another book, or equally likely, is frustrated at the current state of IU basketball.

Please post more, I always liked your posts, especially on the Haven.
Click to expand...

You're spot on re: Trover - I think he's had at least one more published. Ha ha ha - Willa Cather. Oh yes. CJ's tomes. Good times. There were some great discussions and posts there. There were some really great travel threads, with photos. Terry, Satch - maybe Ash - posted some great family trip experiences. Maybe Ziz could get us rolling on that again.

NFA (who'll always still be Aruss in my mind) did a great job of encouraging reticent posters to jump on into the fray. But perhaps not The Fray, because that's not great music.

We need some whisky posts to chase all of those beer threads...
 
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burnthemallralphie said:
The Story of Mike Kreffel, Pre-OTF Internet Freedom Fighter

I knew Kref way, way before there was an OTF or a Peegs.com. When we first met was on the old Star News forum circa late 1994-95. Not kidding: there was only a handful of posters back then. Myself, Kref, Randy, Bob H, Smokey, Native, Niteowl, Historian and Satchmore. Of that group 5 are now dead. Soon great posters like Solid Sender and Clubjockey came along, but so did a host of assholes: Gojko, Ducati, Mace, Minnesota Hoosier, etc aka the Loopers. If you are reading this, it is a shame you are still alive and Kref is dead. GFY to all of you, and please die soon.

If some of you pussies think TMP is bad (hi MaxCoke), you didn't experience Gojko and his bag of dickheads. They managed to chase off some great posters. Kref handled it all with humor. They never cracked him. Before the big schism caused by Knight's deserved firing, it was a true pain in the ass dealing with them. Several of us created alternate personas to troll the hell out of them, and Kref helped provide much of the material for our subversive efforts. While Andy and Etec hadn't created the OTF yet, that spirit was already alive and well.

Kref was a artist and dabbled in a bit of everything (some of his work was publishedin Playboy as well as other many other mags). Before what we know call memes, Kref was making stuff to troll Loopers.

Not many of you can imagine what it was like posting in those days. A few of us actually had Loopers calling our employers for posting on Peegs, or worse. The only comparable thing in the OTF era is when Seyton got snitched on.
Kref was rightfully worried about his job because of how spiteful these people were, so his efforts were never credited. You guys just knew him as the Coaching Buttons Guy.

Thankfully, the IIBF became Peegs.com and Peegs was forced to ban-hammer a bunch of guys that were once his "friends." Pegram went through a mess of shit back then as well. That's how bad the Loopers were: they turned a nipple-hating fascist like Mike Pegram into a sympathetic character.

Anyway, I will save my other Kref-lore for next year. I don't know if Trover still reads the forums, but he was a great friend to Kref as well. I always think of him as well today, though thankfully he is still alive and kicking.
Click to expand...
I almost cried. I encountered all of those guys back in the 90s on the Star News forums. I spent many a cold weekend day jacking Gojko and his clan around.

what happened to BobH? HinK is Aloha Hoosier. He is still one of my favorites. Ed Roberts is still around, and he still cracks me up. Any bdmw sightings? Formally Wisconsin Hoosier? Jack Akin?

I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.
 
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