A note on the future of Panther-Lair.com

[Chris Peak]

For the last 20 years, the home page in my web browser of choice has been one site.

This site.

That’s a long time. And when you’ve spent that long in one place, it really does feel like home. It’s comfortable. You know where everything is. You know how to do all the things you want to do and you’ve figured out all the ways to work around things that don’t do what you want them to do.

You know the people. You know the places. You know the buttons to push.

But sometimes, a change is in order. Sometimes, it’s good to start over with a fresh approach and a new way of doing things.

As such, today will be the last day for Panther-Lair.com on the Rivals network.

There will be another time and place to talk about that change and where it will lead us. For now, I want to say something very simple:

Thank you.

Thank you for coming to this site every day for the last 20 years. Thank you for reading the articles and watching the videos. Thank you for responding to the things we post. Thank you for carrying the conversation on the message boards. Thank you for the praise and the push-back. Thank you for being driven by your passion for Pitt sports, so much so that you came here every day to read about it and talk about it and sometimes argue about it.

It has been a lot of fun.

We’ll see you soon.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

Who’s to blame? Trump or Biden?

 

[caleco's]

Do we get a refund if we paid a full year in advance?

 

[jivecat]

damn...now what?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Who’s to blame? Trump or Biden?

ELON!!!!!!!!!

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

Til we meet again. And if I’ve offended or pissed anyone off over the years,

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

ELON!!!!!!!!!

This must be. ELON AND DOGE found out too many government people were spending too much time on Rivals.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

This must be. ELON AND DOGE found out too many government people were spending too much time on Rivals.

Peak's Pantherlair contract with USAID canceled

 

[HopeandChangeforAntoons]

Weekly meet up at Breezewood Sheetz to discuss Pitt sports?

 

[HopeandChangeforAntoons]

Let’s take the Pitt convo over to Skype I guess… 🤷‍♂️

 

[NKSplitter]

So come tomorrow pittsburgh.rivals.com is still a Pitt site minus the Panther-Lair branding; or is no longer a Pitt site and redirects to www.rivals.com?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Weekly meet up at Breezewood Sheetz to discuss Pitt sports?

Works for me. Much better than the Bethel Park Sheetz.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

So come tomorrow pittsburgh.rivals.com is still a Pitt site minus the Panther-Lair branding; or is no jonger a Pitt site and redirects to www.rivals.com?

My guess is that it will go dark at midnight and will redirect you to rivals.com.

Is there even another message board site out there?

 

[pittchagg]

My guess is that it will go dark at midnight and will redirect you to rivals.com.

Is there even another message board site out there?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

View embedded media

I literally just did a Google search and saw this. Does this mean that Pantherlair is switching to 24/7?

 

[CJsE]

I literally just did a Google search and saw this. Does this mean that Pantherlair is switching to 24/7?

I mean, the other site's post literally says that they are adding a Pitt site on March 1...which is tomorrow...the day after Peak is saying today is the final day for him on Rivals...

So no, I'd say it's pretty unlikely.

 

[pittchagg]

I literally just did a Google search and saw this. Does this mean that Pantherlair is switching to 24/7?

The timing seems too coincidental for that not to be the case.

 

[NKSplitter]

I literally just did a Google search and saw this. Does this mean that Pantherlair is switching to 24/7?

My guess would be yes, and contractually with Rivals Chris can't say that here. Oddly enough I found that about the same time as it was posted because I tried going to pittsburgh.scout.com to see if that board still existed and it redirected there. I think I may have known years ago that 247sports took over scout.com; but if I did know that, I forgot I knew it. Lots of Pitt message boards have come and gone.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

My guess is that it will go dark at midnight and will redirect you to rivals.com.

Is there even another message board site out there?

Not one your cheap ass isn't willing to pay for.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

All of our posts are going away? But I've worked ardently posting 58 times/day for the last X amount of years.

 

[jivecat]

Epstein list released and now this is going dark? HMMMMM....Strange.

 

[PittPoker]

My guess is that it will go dark at midnight and will redirect you to rivals.com.

Is there even another message board site out there?

Chris and his staff are all headed to 247. A lot of the paid subscribers are gonna follow him there.

 

[HailToPitt725]

So are we all moving over to Peak’s new site on 247Sports then? I’ll feel a little less icky about posting a recruit’s rating from their site now.

 

[forbesfield]

No fully free sites over there.

 

[pittdan77]

Do we keep the same handles or should we mix them up and try to figure out who each other is? Will we face any sort of malice as "Lair Boys"? Should we warn them about SMF or is he already there?

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

No fully free sites over there.

I seem to recall they would have "premium" posts in the middle of a thread. Everything was kind of intertwined. Wasn't a big fan of the setup. I liked their crystal balls, Wiltfong was one of the best but I think he left for On3 maybe?

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

What's interesting....is I have been thinking about cancelling. Just this site originally was so recruiting centric, and now there is so little HS recruiting information. Not blaming Chris or the Lair, just it doesn't matter as much today. And the way college sports has gone. The ridiculousness of not allowing a coach or booster to buy a kid a pizza to now them receiving millions of dollars only to jump to another offer the next year. It is hard to take.

I cancelled my subscription last month. I reupped, but only month to month (smart move). But with OT posts being basically tic tac toe wars where nothing is resolved, no one even giving an inch that devolves into personal attacks and gang busting, I was done. Over the past few weeks with Pitt BB mostly it has become more interesting. And my god, the world.....and everything going on, Chris we needed a board where people could vent.

So it became less interesting. Pitt sports is nowhere near as interesting as when this site started. There exists this lack of hope...and that is the worst thing. No hope it will or if it even can be better than they are.

So the end of this almost feels like it has run its natural course.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Do we keep the same handles or should we mix them up and try to figure out who each other is? Will we face any sort of malice as "Lair Boys"? Should we warn them about SMF or is he already there?

I was talking to a young Pitt fan at work, he kind of laughed about message boards, says it is mostly for the older crowd, younger people talk college football on Reddit. So I really don't think there will be many different people "over there"

 

[pittdan77]

I was talking to a young Pitt fan at work, he kind of laughed about message boards, says it is mostly for the older crowd, younger people talk college football on Reddit. So I really don't think there will be many different people "over there"

You're probably right. I've checked out the Reddit stuff and I just can't get into it. I'm old.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

What's interesting....is I have been thinking about cancelling. Just this site originally was so recruiting centric, and now there is so little HS recruiting information. Not blaming Chris or the Lair, just it doesn't matter as much today. And the way college sports has gone. The ridiculousness of not allowing a coach or booster to buy a kid a pizza to now them receiving millions of dollars only to jump to another offer the next year. It is hard to take.

I cancelled my subscription last month. I reupped, but only month to month (smart move). But with OT posts being basically tic tac toe wars where nothing is resolved, no one even giving an inch that devolves into personal attacks and gang busting, I was done. Over the past few weeks with Pitt BB mostly it has become more interesting. And my god, the world.....and everything going on, Chris we needed a board where people could vent.

So it became less interesting. Pitt sports is nowhere near as interesting as when this site started. There exists this lack of hope...and that is the worst thing. No hope it will or if it even can be better than they are.

So the end of this almost feels like it has run its natural course.

yeah I remember watching for clues people would post on the recruitment of Hamlin....he was wearing Pitt gloves during a game, or an ND shirt another game. Now, I just can't get that excited about a 3-star from Texas that no one has heard of. Local recruiting is non-existent, even with very good classes that we haven't seen in the area for a long time. The state of college sports is depressing, I know it had to evolve, and maybe it still will, but currently it isn't in a good place

 

[HailToPitt725]

You're probably right. I've checked out the Reddit stuff and I just can't get into it. I'm old.

What I like about the message boards is that, although they more-or-less operate the same way as Reddit sites, it feel more like a community in the sense you know the personalities you’re discussing with pretty well.

 

[Las Panteras]

So, i gotta ask

Who is the all time leading poster?


My moneys on Souf....north of 40K posts?

 

[HailToPitt725]

So, i gotta ask

Who is the all time leading poster?


My moneys on Souf....north of 40K posts?

SMF is at 70K+… not sure who else tops that. Love him or hate him, you paid attention to him.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

So, i gotta ask

Who is the all time leading poster?


My moneys on Souf....north of 40K posts?

jtown has a large amount, but when a majority are his brady bunch replies it isn't difficult to rack up a big total

 

[BreakingPitt]

See you guys over on 247 I guess.

 

[HailToPitt725]

Also, my offer still stands to any Lair members who ever make it out to Kansas City… BBQ and beer on me.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

So no free site any longer? Subscribing to a pay site for Pitt sports just doesn't seem worth it. To each his or her own, I guess. Whatever it is, we'll all live.

 

[BreakingPitt]

So no free site any longer? Subscribing to a pay site for Pitt sports just doesn't seem worth it. To each his or her own, I guess. Whatever it is, we'll all live.

Hopefully with the million pop up ads on that site , they can add a free board.

edit
Inside the Huddle is still there.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Who’s to blame? Trump or Biden?

Had to be Gregg Berhalter.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Peak's Pantherlair contract with USAID canceled

That’s actually funny.