For a while there I was looking at all of the controls available to the administrator and I thought, "Jeez, how did Bret keep track of all of this?" Eventually I started to actually use some of the controls and found that it was not such a big deal and nothing to worry about. Much.

I did say in my last column that changes to the site and the forums would be coming, and some of them have already taken place. For those of you who haven’t noticed, here is what has been going on in the past month:

• Moderators: one of our mods chose to step down earlier this month. Greg was here from the beginning and he will be missed on the staff. However, we were able to fill his spot fairly quickly with someone who has garnered a lot of respect amongst the populace here at PCF. I am pleased to announce that Crewe has been extended an invitation to join the moderating staff, and that the invitation has been accepted. Welcome aboard Crewe.
• New look for the download section: I had been thinking about re-tooling the download section for a while now, and I finally sat down one day determined to do it. I hope that the new look makes it easier to find things in that section, as it has been divided up easier into different games and sections.
• FBPro’99 BOA’s now have a new permanent home: I was finally able to get all of the BOA’s that I have in my collection up onto the site. That’s 161 files in all folks! If you still have this Sierra game like I do, you will be able to search for the BOA you want by conference or league. If you have any BOA’s you would like to send us for upload onto the site, feel free to send them to us.

Having said all of that, there are a few other things that the ownership group has been talking about doing that will soon be implemented. One of the things that we have been talking about is the closure of some of the rooms on this site. Yes folks, we do have rooms on this site that were started up that are not visible to everyone. But for various reasons those special areas have been gathering a lot of cobwebs as of late.

Two of those areas were dedicated to talking about the antics of the administrators at MP and MM, in other words Andy and David. Lately those areas save for a posting from romeshomey about a conversation he had with David, have been dead for the past month. As of late there has not been much to gripe about in either room, and since the ownership group and many of you have expressed the wish that we would move into a more positive direction and clean up our reputation, we are going to take the first step.

Originally I was going to shut the doors on those two rooms at the end of this month. But, due to some personal issues that I have had to deal with I am now going to move the closing date to July 4^th. In a way I think it is kind of fitting that I should choose that of all days to close those rooms. It is our way of finally, once and for all, declaring our independence from MaddenMania, MaddenPlanet, and any other site out there that says we are nothing more than some fringe splinter group that is just out to make trouble. So at 11:59 pm Pacific Time on July 4^th, the doors to those rooms will be closed.

Now this isn’t to say that you can’t talk about MM or MP on this site. You can. This is still a free speech site and we will still encourage the free exchange of ideas here. But we would ask that you didn’t put anymore fuel onto the fire by talking about how they screwed you or how you were unjustly banned from their sites. Look, we all know what has happened in the past with these two. It’s out there for everyone to read, and I have shone a bright light on David’s antics several times. I will keep all of those columns up in the archives lest anyone forgets what happened. But it’s like someone from the ownership group has pointed out – it’s not like any of this is going to change them or what they do on their sites. David has certainly shown that he is not going to change his ways, and Andy’s site is now a virtual ghost town because of his banning spree a while back. Someone has to be the adults and stop the feud sometime. So we may as well be the bigger men (and women) and say enough is enough.

Originally the rooms were a place to come to so you could rant and rave at the injustices that were heaped upon you. Well it seems to me and to a few others out there that both of those rooms have served their purpose. We were able to get all of our feelings out into the open, and now we can breathe a sigh of relief and let them go. Honestly, for me the Banned from MaddenMania room was good therapy for me and for a lot of other people as well. Now it’s time for the next step in our recovery – getting on with our lives and the business of promoting the game of Football on the PC.

But lest you think that I will just erase everything in those rooms, trust me – I won’t. There are some items that I want to hold onto for my own personal reference. One of the reasons I want to hold on to some of these threads is that I want something to refer back to and use as a lesson in how not to be an administrator. In other words, I want to use David as an example of "don’t you start pulling this crap yourself".

Oh, and by the way if any of you out there do start seeing signals in me that I am being infected with "Branda Syndrome", you have full permission to slap me upside the head and tell me to snap out of it.

One of the other reasons that I want to keep some of this is because I would like to incorporate it into the quotes wing of the new PCFootball Hall of Fame that I would like to start.

Yup, that’s something new that I am working to bring about. I got the idea one-day that we should honor all the people who have tried to bring the game of football to our computers. Not only the people, but also the games that they devised for our entertainment. So coming soon to a thread near you will be a space for you to nominate people you want to see in the builders category, and games you would like to see hung up in the Games wing. Hopefully someday soon you will see the new page for the HOF up on the site paying homage to those who have kept us on the virtual gridiron all of these years. Once we have a list of people and games that we would like to honor, then construction on the hall can begin. The we will all have a place to go to so that we can finally honor the likes of John Madden, Lance Haffner, Patrick Cook, Robin Antonick, Charles Owen and other builders.

This is one of the steps that I feel will show people that we are striving towards a positive direction. But before we launch off into this new venture, there is something that I need to get off of my chest. I know that I have said that we need to keep things positive around here, but believe me when I say that this will be the last time that I mention the name David Branda in my column. My motivations and intentions for doing so and the reasons for advising all of you do follow suit in the forums will soon be made clear, so bear with me.

On June 17, 2003 David Branda contacted romeshomey by ICQ. During the course of the encounter David said something that has to be seen by one and all in order to be believed.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but to me David Branda crossed a line that night. By saying that romeshomey should abort his unborn child is not only a new low, it is a violation of an unwritten code that all good men should follow. That code says that you can talk smack about another man all you want, but you do not bring his family into it because they can not defend themselves. For anyone to break that code is the ultimate act of cowardice, and should never be forgiven. And yes David I can hear you working it, "I wasn’t serious, it was a joke."

Since when is the execution of the unborn a joke David? Abortion is not something to joke about. It is a serious issue among a lot of people in this country, both pro-life and pro-choice. It is one thing for someone to say that they want women to have all the options open to her, which includes abortion and adoption. It is another thing altogether to openly advocate the ending of a life because you don’t happen to like the person who sired that life! That has to be the most idiotic thing I have ever heard anyone say in my life. On my own website I have instituted the "Piece of Crap Hall of Shame". Congratulations David, you have just earned yourself induction to the Hall of Shame because sir, you have been, are now, and will forever be a piece of crap! Your plaque will now hang next to such luminaries as those "great American Patriots" Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, L.Brent Bozell III and pronographer and wannbe pro wrestling tycoon Rob Black.

The unfortunate thing about all of this is that David is smiling right now because he now has what he wants from me - my attention. I wrote not too long ago that I thought David only does the things that he does because he wants to be noticed. The more we talk about him, the more attention he gets and the more visitors and new subscriptions his site gets.

No more.

A few years ago, NBC made the mini-series "Merlin" about the legendary wizard. In it, there was a character by the name of Queen Mab, who wanted to preserve the old ways of magic. At the end of the mini-series she has one final confrontation with Merlin and a room full of followers. Merlin tells her that she has hurt so many people that it has to end, now. Mab prepares for a battle but Merlin tells her no, there will be no battle. "Well then how do you propose to defeat me Merlin?" "Simple, we will forget you, Mab." Then one by one, starting with Merlin, they all turn their backs on Queen Mab. As they walked out of the room you could see Mab slowly, painfully begin to physically fade away. She continued to fade away until the last person left the room – and Queen Mab was gone.

That is the one thing that I want to see happen to David Branda – to physically fade away into oblivion, just like Queen Mab.

So from here on out I will not be mentioning the name of David Branda in this column, nor will I say his name in the forums. I will not be giving him the attention that he has been gorging off of in order to stroke his own ego and make him feel more important that he actually is. Because in the final analysis he is just not worth wasting all of that energy over. In the past few months I have enjoyed not having to write columns detailing the various misdeeds he has committed. I want that feeling back.

My advice to the rest of you is this: don’t waste your energy on this pathetic excuse for a human being any longer. He is only at his happiest when we are angry with him, and talking about him. The more we talk about him, the more publicity he gets. The more publicity he gets, the more traffic his site gets, and the more traffic his site gets the more members he can recruit to inflate his artificially boosted numbers. Ask any celebrity in Hollywood and they will tell you the same thing, the worst publicity is no publicity at all. It hurts him more to be ignored.

Talk about his site all you want. Tell everyone about all of the positive features to be found at Maddenmania.com. But leave David to the fate that all cowards such as him deserve. Leave him alone, unloved and unremembered until that day finally comes when he will slowly, painfully begin to physically fade away.

For what he said to romeshomey, he deserves nothing less.

Until next time….