Pack Pride vs The Wolfpacker

General Media You Write The Story56

This is a topic that we have never discussed here on SFN and it is time to get it out there as my premium subscription to Pack Pride has recently expired and I cannot decide if I am going to renew it. I have severely limited familiarity with TheWolfpacker.com because of (1) my historical ties to the old StateFans.com that evolved into Pack Pride and (2) how bad TheWolfpacker.com used to be years ago.

A very quick glimpse of the two sites indicates that the message board community at Pack Pride is significantly more vibrant than the Wolfpacker – but, is the multitude of stupid people and the biased moderation of many of the personal attacks allowed on PackPride worth the ‘vibrancy’?

I am not going to say anything else right now…but, I would welcome some detailed input from the community on what you perceive to be the strengths and weaknesses of each site relative to their content, layout and message board communities.

Thanks!!!

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General Media You Write The Story

56 Responses to Pack Pride vs The Wolfpacker

  1. Sw0rdf1sh 06/11/2008 at 8:42 AM #

    I actually started getting more into Wolfpack sports online from SFN. That just fed my itch to get more up to date and breaking news as soon as I can. I added many different blogs to my browser favorites and then headed over to both The Wolfpacker and Pack Pride for some quick trials.

    I decided on Pack Pride for my paid subscription offering due to some of the early article and football recruiting information they were providing from the moderators/writers.

    I typically only post in the Premium boards over there because if you check it out the free board is full of what not.

    My two mains sources are SFN and PackPride and then I have to sift through the online newspapers and the ESPN, although the latter almost never has any Wolfpack news. (I must give them props for their Marcus Kuhn based article recently though)

  2. sf59 06/11/2008 at 8:43 AM #

    Thewolfpacker often lacks in any vibrant discussion. If a thread is over 2 pages its because there is a new “Herb- i told you so debate”. But the war rooms on Friday are good and Jacey the B-ball mod has a lot of good insight

    You will get more over all info from PP of course, but dealing with the trolls and leaniant mods does get old. The insiders post there more frequently and if you can figure them out/ what they are saying/ and filter the idiots.. its ok

  3. StateFans 06/11/2008 at 8:53 AM #

    Do you see much difference in the level/value of their recruiting coverage?

  4. Noah 06/11/2008 at 9:03 AM #

    I don’t. When someone commits, you learn about it pretty much at the same time. It’s not like if Joe Shmo is coming here you find out at one board two weeks later.

    And, I say this as a recovering recruiting addict, why does anyone give a damn if we’ve offered Player X, the 6-3, 200 pound receiver from Naples Florida? Who cares? We offer a couple of hundred guys.

    I don’t even keep up with the “who leads” discussion anymore. Players have gotten so savvy and they get so many phone calls from the various recruiting sites that they just give the same answers. They love everyone and everyone’s even and they’re all going to “shock the world” when they announce (as though “the world” gave a damn).

    Tell me whose visiting and I’ll be interested. I can get that from either site. Tell me who committed and I’ll be interested. Tell me how those guys are “ranked” (there really needs to be a better word for that) and I’ll be interested.

    Recruiting is the futures market of college sports. So, I’m interested. It’s just you can get lost in the minutiae and be no more informed.

  5. PAPacker 06/11/2008 at 9:23 AM #

    The Wolfpacker/rivals and packpride/scout tend to have pretty different recruiting information. For instance, wolfpacker has us even with three other schools for Lorenzo Brown whereas Packpride has us as the leader. The opposite is true with John Wall where we are in the middle of the pack whereas thewolfpacker has us as head to head with a jillion schools. Derrick Favors and others, the deal is similar. I know all this ranking of schools is a crap shoot, but it would be good to get a sense, if anyone has one, of which site is more/better connected and with whom. The Wolfpacker used to be the bible of Wolfpack sports, way back into the 1980s or earlier.

  6. PAPacker 06/11/2008 at 9:27 AM #

    By the way, we have to sign Hawatha Bell, just because he sounds like he would knock the hell out of people.

  7. tvp1 06/11/2008 at 9:42 AM #

    I largely agree with Noah. I also let my subscription to PP lapse recently. I do not think I will renew at either site. Steve Williams’ recruiting insight (first at the Wolfpacker then later at PP) was worth paying for, but now neither he nor anyone else can get much information out of recruits.

    The larger issue is that I’m no longer comfortable with supporting the recruiting feeding frenzy that Scout/Rivals have spawned. The rankings are a joke anyway – James Henderson constantly makes fun of them now with his “STAAAAAAAAARS” schtick. While his honesty is appreciated, it made me feel like an idiot for paying money for this information. Really, why should we care how a Carolina homer with no legitimate scouting experience like Miller Safrit evaluates players?

    Besides recruiting, the only benefit to the subscription are tips from “insiders”, but most of these insiders (particularly on the basketball side) are largely mouthpieces for the administration. I get more objective “insider” type information here.

  8. Noah 06/11/2008 at 9:47 AM #

    The “star” “ranking” “system” has been a thorn in my side for a long time.

    There are what…120 schools that play D1 football? They each sign between 20 and 25 players a year? So there are around 2,500 D1 football commitments and probably about 3500 D1 “recruits”?

    And we’re going to rank all of them on a scale from two to five?

    Huh?

  9. happypackdad 06/11/2008 at 10:00 AM #

    There are a few “insiders” on PP that make it worth while IMO, especially for bball recruiting.

  10. RAWFS 06/11/2008 at 10:02 AM #

    I’ve just let my PP subscription expire as well. And I agree with Noah 101% on his take.

    James and Steve do a great job over there, but the premium news is nowhere as “inside” as it used to be. That’s because slowly but surely the powers-that-be have tightened up info access and PP is less inclined to go out on a limb the way they used to.

    Look at the basketball and football coaching searches: SFN really drove a lot of the leading edge news, not PP and not TWP.

  11. Hot Sauce 06/11/2008 at 10:02 AM #

    Every messsage board is going to have their “bad apples”. I’m a big fan of the Pack Pride premium board and I think James and Steve do an excellent job over there.

    The Wolfpacker magazine comes with your wolfpack club membership, so I just read that when it comes out for their info.

  12. Ed89 06/11/2008 at 10:15 AM #

    I like PP more, but that ain’t saying much. Both are about 50-60% accurate. Some stuff is right on…some not so much. Who knew we were even “recruiting” Scott Wood until about a week before he committed? Evidently neither PP or the WP did…some things are better being kept a little more secret. That being said, I wouldn’t mind hearing about Wall, Favors, or Brown giving us a verbal sometime soon.

  13. Classof89 06/11/2008 at 10:17 AM #

    I rarely post or read on PackPride because of the trolls and bashers. Since I have never been a recruiting junkie (due to nearly 30 years of hearing about the “next great player” who never seems to pan out). I agree the recruiting internet mania has gotten out of hand. Your attitude, work ethic, and personal integrity are just important as your raw talent for success in big time athletics, and the recruiting analysts can’t rank any of that stuff.

  14. DiverDownBrian 06/11/2008 at 10:19 AM #

    I’m an addict and subscribe to both.

    A few thoughts:

    – PP chat pwns Wolfpacer chat … but the lack of noah participating has reduced the number of discussions on how great Joe Namath truly is

    – There seem to be more “unofficial” good sources on PP.

    – In terms of unique content, as someone mentioned above, there isn’t much. If anything breaks, it usually shows up on both sites within an hour or two. Maybe Jacey and James are alias’ for each other.

    – The noob-i-take-something-far-too-personal factor is MUCH higher on PP.

    – One negative on PP is the Cubs fans. It really drags down the entire site.

  15. Cardiac95 06/11/2008 at 10:26 AM #

    Totally agree on the recovering recruiting junkie comment. After investing WAY too much time & energy into following this in the early days of the internet, I finally figured out that while recruiting matters, its hardly a great predictor of success.

    Subscribe to neither site & visit here more often.

  16. Clarksa 06/11/2008 at 10:59 AM #

    As others have already said, your not really paying for “premium” content anymore because it leaks to the whole world within the hour. I like the Wolfpackers consistant “war rooms” on Friday, the “inside” information and chat on PackPride. If I were actually busy at work all the time, everyday, I wouldn’t have a subscription to either site.

  17. choppack1 06/11/2008 at 11:26 AM #

    I’ve debated on doing this stuff. But the bottom line is that I haven’t really heard too much that it isn’t out there somewhere else or doesn’t break too soon. I’d definitely like to know where we really stand w/ Wall, Brown, Favors and Kelly – but I’m not sure anyone knows.

    Recruiting is one of those things that’s fun to follow when you’re reeling folks in. If I was a Tar Heel fan, I’d love to follow their b’ball recruiting. If I was a USC football fan, I’d love to see who they are recruting too.

    I do like to follow folks who we are interested in – when I have the time….and if we’re not in competition w/ folks we’d likely lose to. In other words, I would have hated to spend a lot of time following Donald Williams, Jerry Stackhouse, etc…

  18. Noah 06/11/2008 at 12:13 PM #

    I would have hated to spend a lot of time following Donald Williams, Jerry Stackhouse, etc…

    Yyyeah…that sucked pretty hard. I think I’ll always remember the morning I found out that Stackhouse was going to UNC. I went out and got the paper and it was in huge type right up front. I just said, “Ohhhhh SH*T!”

    I stomped into my roommates room (fellow State fan) and sorta burst in. He popped up, “Huh?” I just held up the paper and he proceeded to break a couple of the 10 commandments.

    Also, Joe Namath was the most overrated player in NFL history. Reggie Bush comes in a close second.

  19. Ed89 06/11/2008 at 12:21 PM #

    A friend of mine who keeps up with recruiting, but doesn’t blog, told me we are close with several “high” profile recruits, and that he thinks we’ll end up with a very good 2009 class. The 2010 class is shaping up pretty well also. I’m not sure if a blog would end up helping or hurting our chances on a recruit if, for example, it would be rumored that we had a great chance with the #1 ranked PG and the #1 ranked C for 2009. Again, a troll could get on here and say this and that, and a general negative tone would have a negative effect. However, if there was a ton of positive publicity/comments about the possibility of landing (2) of the top 3 players in a class w/a sharp-shooting Scott Wood, I think that would help. I have no idea personally, and since I live in Hickory, I don’t get quite the newsprint coverage that I might if I was in Raleigh. But, I’ll add my friend does live in Raleigh, and usually gets good info.

  20. happypackdad 06/11/2008 at 1:06 PM #

    Very good chance we’ll get 2 of the 3 big-time players for ’09 (Wall, Favors, Brown).

  21. Noah 06/11/2008 at 1:09 PM #

    I think there is a very good chance we get one of the three. I think there’s a reasonable chance we get two. I think there’s *a* chance we get three.

  22. Rick 06/11/2008 at 1:31 PM #

    I had a subscription to PP premium for a while but noticed all I used it for was the premium message board. So I cancelled it.
    I go to PP for the Birckyard and here for NCSU news.

    As for recruits, I love to watch them and do whenever I can. I disagree with the scouts alot so I prefer my own opinion to theirs.

  23. 66pack 06/11/2008 at 1:47 PM #

    While we talk of our maybe recruits UNC has gotten 5 committs for 2009 a very good class.

  24. Ed89 06/11/2008 at 1:56 PM #

    Believe me, after the top few, most coaches disagree with the scouts, too! However, it’s pretty widely agreed that Favors, Wall, and Brown are all very good. Very good chance that both Favors and Wall would be “one and done’s”. I think we’ve got a good chance to land 2 of the 3, and actually a fair shot at all 3 – wouldn’t put any money on it, but it could happen. That class (coupled with a good season) could literally put us back on the map.

  25. happypackdad 06/11/2008 at 1:57 PM #

    we’re not unc

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