BEST of the BETS

Thats it then, the end of an era for me at least. 23 years eh, bloody'ell whats become of the people we used to be. At least the forum will continue thanks to Brian who will now own it, so I hope eveyone continues to support the forum and hopefully restore a bit of the former glory. If it hadnt been for the dedicated hardcore TTC'ers, who turn up and play every day then the forum would have closed years ago. So a shout out to all the daily players and those that turn up in every pay-2-play TTC, I salute you.

So taking a trip down memory lane for those that dont know, and for those with good memories probably better than mine, BOTB emerged from the ashes of the old 365 forum a lively place to say the least, a bit too lively for some and a tamer place was required. I setup BOTB and a few followed me over.

Cant remember too many names from back then but janej was one, then we had derbypub, berniethebookie, Mabbs, Arthur Collins, EC, Mick Taylor, Keyboy, airmike, Rocky, trainbairn, to name but a few. I really was quite a time to be a punter, with online betting and exchanges taking off and plenty of good information being exchanged in the forums. It was very different landscape than it is today where social media and the follower obsessed crowd has taken over from the early betting forums which were never called social media back then. I think there was a lot of community spirit in those forums, and now I just see fame hungry attention seeking individuals on twitter etc looking for likes and views to promote themselves. I think back in the day I think we all just wanted to tip a winner and hopefully get some thank yous from those that had followed you in. And what a great feeling that was.

There has been plenty of craic over the years, the pay-2-play comps where a great success and The Rider Cup was an annual highlight on Breeders Cup night where BOTB took on the might of the e-ponies USA forum and came out of top more often than not. I recall. We had comps for World Cup Soccer and even F1 one year along with The Coolerking Cup to remember a forum member that was no longer with us. Im sure we have lost many along the way and we will never know for sure, but The Unknown/TU123 and Rodeo made it clear that they were not in the best of health and then when you realise they havent posted for a few days or weeks that they must have passed away. Its quite a hard one to take and we did make a donation to the place where Rodeo was being treated. The latter did hit me quite hard because he was such a likeable forum member and you hope that he did get a lot of pleasure from following the horses and posting on the forum every day.

There are so many people that have contributed positively to this forum over the years and I cant name them all, but Doubler has been immense in helping out with the scoring on the TTC's over the past few years and I'm sure will continue to do so. And thanks to malcolm and MrForce for stepping forward as scorers to secure the future of the daily TTC's.

I will be in the background checking in from time to time and might even post up some sports bets when the new season starts, but for now its time to switch off and its going to be a luxury to be able to take holidays and not have to worry about whats going to happen to the forum and the TTC scoring.

Thank you all :clap:

Thanks mugz :up: for all you have done over the years . Without you there wouldn't have been a forum . Enjoy your time and relax going forward.

Yes, thanks for everything Mugz. All perfectly illustrated by Terry and Bob too :-)
Enjoy your retirement from BOTB!

A big thank you Mugs. Enjoy.

Thanks for all you have done keeping the forum going Mugz. Enjoy your free time. :up:

A huge thanks to you Mugz for all you have done over many years - enjoy your break :up:

Stand tall and be proud young man :strong: you brought many people togeather over the years :heart:

Happy retirement

Thanks for all your hard work over the years. You even put the odd decent tip up :grin: GL

You even put the odd decent tip up :grin: — Stevie Wonder

When you've been posting tips for 23 years I think the law of averages kicks in ! :up:

Stand tall and be proud young man — Kneeejerker

Not so bad once you're up ! :sparkle:

Thanks for the mesages, first holiday starts tomorrow in wettest North Wales, lovely :pray:

Classic Likely Lads. So old I remember it first time round :roll:

well done boy good job thanks

Hope you have a good holiday Mugz thankx for everything youve done .

Enjoy, Mugz!
Thanks for all you've done.

Well Done Mugs and thanks for everything.

Thanks chaps :up:

Well done Mugz and thanks for all the hard work you have done in running the site.

Pleased that Brian has stepped in to continue your hard work.

Enjoy your holidays. :clap:

JT