A Short History of the World with LJ and Kori Ellis

by Timothy Varner

If you have ever taken the time to sift through our comments, or leave one yourself, you know that Spurs fans are a dedicated and intelligent lot. They know their stuff. In fact, if basketball fans can be broken into class (I foresee a Rob Mahoney chart in our future), Spurs fans are something akin to the neighborhood’s spoiled little rich kid. Not Lakers rich. Not Celtics rich. But privileged. They’re like the 20-something indie kid whose retro tee silently heralds The Smiths as rock’s greatest band, thereby disdaining all those who foolishly, inexcusably disagree; they’re your snooty film buff friend who chatters you stiff with cafe exegesis that unpacks each and every allusion contained within last night’s Wes Anderson flick- “I’m surprised you didn’t see Francis Whitman’s strong Van Gogh overtones…”

A stuffy crowd.

But you know, I like people like that. Nerdy pretension is the new Fonzie Fonzarelli aloof. And that can be fun. There are a bundle of great Spurs fan sites out there. Just check the link list to the right. They’re all worth visiting. But for the purposes of this post, I want to draw your attention to SpursTalk.

SpursTalk is helmed by LJ and Kori Ellis-Kori is a freelance journalist who covers the Spurs. They were kind enough to field a few questions.

TV: How and when did SpursTalk come about? Specifically, you moderate the board as a husband/wife tandem. Did you know one another prior to SpursTalk?

Kori: We both used to post on another Spurs message board. At the time, I lived in Los Angeles and LJ lived here in San Antonio.

LJ had been posting on that forum for several years and I was fairly new on the scene.

We became acquainted with each other primarily in the site’s chatroom. In March 2002, the chatroom led to an email conversation where we learned a little more about each other. About a week after the first email, we decided to talk on the phone. The first night we talked for 7 hours. That pretty much sealed our fate.

Over the next five weeks, we would talk countless hours on the phone until I eventually came to San Antonio in April to meet “timvp” in person. By this time, both of us actually thought we would end up married (even though we had yet to meet).

I stayed in San Antonio for five days on that visit and by the time I went back to L.A., we were planning the rest of our lives together. For eight weeks I would fly to San Antonio on Friday nights and fly back to Los Angeles on Monday morning. Eventually LJ came to Los Angeles for a month, when we decided I would leave the city and move back to San Antonio with him.

In August 2002, I moved out here. We got married that December and began living happily ever after.

A few months after we were married, in early 2003 we decided to open our own Spurs forum. We opened in March of that year on ezboard (free forum software). At the time it was called Full Sport Press and we had a couple dozen regular posters. I posted between 100 and 150 times a day during the first several months to try to build the community and keep conversation going.

Obviously things have evolved over the years. We changed the name to SpursTalk for the 2004-05 season and operate on our own servers (two of them). We have nearly 15,000 members and we get almost 8 million page views a month.

TV: How did each of you become a Spurs fan?

Kori: I’ve been a big basketball fan since I was a kid. I became a Tim Duncan fan when he was at Wake Forest. I watched as many of his games as I could and when he landed in San Antonio, I followed him to the Spurs.

LJ: I’ve lived in San Antonio since I was six years old and have been a Spurs fan since I can remember. I’ve always loved basketball and I got hooked on the Spurs the first time I watched them play.

TV: I’m obviously a proponent of blogs and boards and such. One of the great things about boards, for example, is the ability to bee hive—to bring together multiple perspectives around a unifying principle that underlies the relationships, such as love for a particular team. In other words, you’re able to collaborate toward consensus. Have you seen this take place at SpursTalk? To what extent does a team-specific message board/blog comment thread function as a fan think tank?

Kori: We’ve been fortunate to have built a Spurs community around a group of core fans who really, really know the Spurs inside and out. There’s a big group of posters who have been around for a while who have an incredible amount of knowledge about the Spurs and an unquestionable dedication to the team. Because of that, the message board has always operated as think tank for the hardcore Spurs fan. No matter the subject, if it relates to the Spurs, chances are it’s been talked about and analyzed ad nauseam on the board.

And really, that quality “think tank” attribute has allowed SpursTalk to remain insightful throughout the years, even as the community grows bigger by the day. To some, Spurs fans arguing about the 15th roster spot for 20 pages may seem a bit crazy, but on SpursTalk that has always been the norm.

TV: In time, your active posters no doubt take on unique personalities. Some of our commenters have endured themselves to me in that way. I’m sure you love them all, but if you were forced to only name a few, which members do you really appreciate?

LJ: It’s really difficult to narrow it down to just a few people. I just checked and there are more than 500 people with more than a thousand posts on the message board, so narrowing that down to a handful is virtually impossible. There are literally hundreds of posters who deserve special recognition.

If you are going to force me to pick one individual, I’d have to say either Solid D or Marcus Bryant. Solid D is the best of the best, while Marcus Bryant is a Spurs Fan of legendary status. Oh and if we are talking unique characters, I can’t sufficiently answer this question without mentioning Mouse.

TV: Much like the Spurs themselves, your board has a distinct international feel. What does the presence of international fans add to the equation?

Kori: It adds a tremendous amount. First of all, the SpursTalk servers are hosted and monitored in Slovenia by a Spurs fan who we met through SpursTalk. Janez, aka Slomo on the message board, has really helped us out as SpursTalk has grown to ensure that it is always up and operational.

There have also been many instances when the international fans have broken Spurs stories and news. One instance that stands out was when one of the Canadian posters (JUUOT) heard on a French radio station that Tony Parker had signed his extension with the Spurs. Thanks to him, the Spurs fans on SpursTalk were able to get that news hours before any other American news source picked up the story.

The speed of which Spurs news travels when we have Spurs fans all over the globe on the forum is pretty astonishing. One time, a few Slovenian Spurs fans were watching Beno Udrih play for their national team and informed us that he got injured. So SpursTalk knew Beno was injured before the Spurs even did.

It’s really just unbelievable how many hardcore Spurs fans there are all around the globe. From the Philippines to Australia and Argentina to France, we have posters from just about every part of the world. Each month, we have people visiting SpursTalk from over 75 different countries.

TV: Sometimes the SpursTalk community meets up in time and space. How did the first GTG happen, and how have those occasions changed the board?

Kori: Get togethers have been a staple since the beginning. A lot of us knew each other even before the birth of SpursTalk so it was only natural to get together to watch Spurs games. Each year, especially in the playoffs, we have GTGs either at our house or out somewhere.

As a result of the GTGs, there are many people who have become friends in real life through the message board. Amazingly enough, there are even three couples who met on SpursTalk who are getting married in 2009!

TV: Your archives probably contain more news clips than one researcher could stand. In what sense, if any, does the board function as team chronicler? Do you feel any obligations in this regard or is it just some happy accident?

LJ: We definitely have some sense of obligation to the history. For that reason, we take extra steps to keep things organized and we avoid deleting posts at all costs. Besides, it’s a SpursTalk tradition to go back through the archives to point out who ended up being wrong and who ended up being right.

I admit to sometimes going back and reading some of the game threads to relive some of the games, especially during the summer when I need a Spurs fix.

TV: More than a factual archive, SpursTalk is something of an emotional archive. That is, it has chronicled the emotional reaction of Spurs fans to their team, even to the minutest of details, like Tony’s tux clashing with Eva’s dress. What are some of your most prominent memories of emotional reaction from board members to events in team history? Do you recall any remarkable “off the charts” moments?

Kori: It’s difficult to narrow it down because just about everything that happens regarding the Spurs creates an emotional reaction on SpursTalk. Obviously the three championship runs SpursTalk has been around for have been the most notable. But I have to say that .4 and the loss against the Mavericks in 2006 have to be up there as well.

TV:Â SpursTalk has a number of repeat threads, annual or otherwise. For example, every time I’ve peaked in someone has hatched a trade scheme that brings LeBron James to the Spurs for a package of international rights and Jacque Vaughn. And Ian Mahinmi has been compared to Wilt Chamberlain more than once. I’m guessing the most basic recurring thread is LJ’s Game Thoughts series. Folks seem to flock to those. How long have the Game Thoughts existed, and how many games has SpursTalk missed?

LJ: I’m not sure exactly how long it’s been, but at least a couple of seasons now. I previously did grades after games and gave each player a grade on their performance. And previous to that, there were other forms that eventually evolved into the current “Game Thoughts”.

TV: Why does SpursTalk host a Kings and Pistons board? Are you hedging your bets for the post-Duncan era?

Kori: Ha. Actually, you can trace the origins of those boards to the fact that the Spurs played each of those teams in the playoffs somewhat recently. We had the Kings board for a couple seasons but it never really took off. The Pistons board has been around since after the 2005 playoffs and flourishes. During the Finals series, fans from the Pistons flocked to SpursTalk. They were relatively respectful and very knowledgeable. After the series ended, a lot of the fans stuck around and have been at SpursTalk ever since.

TV: What is your favorite Spurs moment?

Kori: I loved the 2003 championship run. If I had to pick a specific moment it would be watching David Robinson exit the court for the last time as an NBA champion. Although I wasn’t a big Robinson fan before becoming a Spurs fan, my admiration of him grew when I followed the team on a daily basis.

LJ: It has to be the 1999 championship. After watching the Spurs come up short every year, it’s hard to put into words how awesome it was to finally see them win it all. Almost ten years later and it’s still hard to believe that the Spurs have a championship, much less four.

TV: Favorite Popovich moment?

Kori: Asking him a question in an interview session for the first time. He has a reputation for being “difficult” with members of the media and while he’s somewhat intimidating in person, I’m happy to say that Pop has always been friendly to me and answered my questions thoughtfully.

LJ: Pop celebrating during the 1999 championship river parade has to be number one on my list. His usual stoic persona was gone and he was dancing on the river barge for the entire length of the ride.

TV:Â And your favorite player moment?

Kori: Stephen Jackson’s three-pointers in the fourth quarter of Game 6 against the Nets. He was my favorite player at the time and to see him come up clutch when the Spurs needed it most was definitely memorable.

LJ: Memorial Day Miracle. Although special recognition goes out to Avery Johnson’s jumper, David Robinson’s final game, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili in Game 7 against the Pistons and countless other moments.

TV: You’re devoted San Antonio Spurs fans. You’re totally spoiled. Do you ever wonder what life as a fan will look like when the team is 4 years on without a playoff birth? I know, you’ll be thankful for the lack of trolls. But one can’t expect the Spurs to bat .700 forever, can they? Do you ready yourself to trek across parched earth after year’s of vacationing at sea?

Kori: Sure, SpursTalk will be fine. More than just a message board, it has become an extended family for a lot of us. While it might not be as wild as it is today when the Spurs are perennially lottery bound, I’m sure Spurs fans will find something to argue about.