Wow 25 years added to your Mac and wife name....

[Noll and Cowher teams no more]

Way to make us originals or almost original feel older......

Congrats Tim on the quarter century accomplishment. A lot of other Steeler sites have come and gone (including mine).

Lets hope we ALL are around for another 25!

[RaynorShyne]

AMEN!!!!!!

[mcmillenandwife]

Yeah, hard to believe. Kinda snuck up on me. I was chatting with one of our site contributors (Barry Blyler) earlier this week, and realized it's been 25 years. The site first went live sometime in 1997. I feel like I used to know the date/circumstances better, but I don't remember anymore. 

In those days, there was almost nothing out there. The web was still pretty much a baby. My favorite site at the time (circa 1996) was steelref.com, run by Eric Wagner. He initially digitized several of the Steelers team yearbooks (from '79 and '80, I think) and built a crazy-cool database for era. We became friends and I loved his site, but I wanted to out together something less clinical, more fun and with more color images and "humor" and conversation. I started by scanning a bunch of old Sports Illustrated (etc.) photos that had hung on my bedroom wall as a kid. A close friend/computer nerd showed me the basics of HTML, and off I went. 

Huge kudos to Bill Wischmann (aka, Bill from Hanover) and Michael Michael Irle (Steelerkraut). Without them, this site would've died in 2005 when I took the gig at Fender (which unduly dominated my life for a decade). 

The other thing that kept this site alive was a stroke of dumb luck. Or "immaculate connection."  Pittsburgh Connect used to host the site for free in return for banner ads on our site. It is literally the only "advertising" (if you want to call it that) we have ever done. They stopped hosting YEARS ago, but our site somehow still lived on, hidden away for close to 10 years on one of their servers. 

It wasn't until I decided I wanted to digitize the game library that they realized the site was even still there. I contacted them to get things set up so I could manage things with different FTP software, and the guy was like, "Uhhhh... we don't d this anymore. We're not even sure how you're still there." 

From there, I had to set up hosting and kind of start from scratch, which is when the site got a bit of a facelift (although it still rocks that primitive Tripod/Geocities look ) and I began to add MP4s of my video collection. Not sure when that was... 2015, maybe? 

Anyway... here we are, 25 years later.   Hard to believe I was still in my 20's (barely) when this site began. 

[sandfan]

Congrats Tim. Your efforts, as well as the contributions of a others, are appreciated. I'm glad I found the site and hope, God willing, to enjoy it for many more years.

[Rollers]

I've watched a ton of old games here. I love that. When I was in the hospital with cancer I watched them right after one another. It was a huge blessing to be able to do so. I wish we had more in here for conversation but I will never leave this site.

[Krunch]

Wow! What a great accomplishment Tim. I don’t post very often, but I do stop in religiously every day, sometimes twice. Don't know how long I've been on here, but remember having commented on Kneel O’Dummel and having my head handed to me by Sandy for getting on Krydell's case. Thank you a thousand times over for providing this great oasis for all things Steelers!

[RaynorShyne]

Wahts even MORe amazing is that you're still in your 20's now.....

[mcmillenandwife]

Wahts even MORe amazing is that you're still in your 20's now.....

In my mind, I am...

[Chucktownsteeler]

Congrats and way to go. I came on I think around 1998 or so. Didn’t know anything about the internet. I used to go to a chat room (can’t recall the name) and talk Steelers. I remember there was a simpleton there (Medione) that talked all trash about the Jaguars.

I stumbled on this site (made and met) some friends for life.

Thanks for making this happen, Tim and team!

[dbsfgyd1]

Tim,
A wholehearted congrats on this site. I’m not so sure how long I’ve been tuning in, but it’s got to be over 20 some years, of much enjoyment.