…and thanks for all the fish.
Howard and Grant
I registered the domain name Ay-ziggy-zoomba.com on March 31, 2001… almost 11 years ago now. Not a month later, on April 27, 2001, the number 1 member, BGHoward, passed away. That really became the driving force behind my developing, growing and pushing forward with this website. For those of you who don’t know, BGHoward was my dad, and the reason for my love of BGSU as an institution and as a sports fan.
The site itself has been a roller-coaster of pride, shame, frustration, elation, and any other number of descriptive adjectives for the past few years. It’s given me the opportunity to meet some wonderful, truly WONDERFUL, people. It’s connected me with people I’d lost touch with and allowed me to meet other friends I never would have otherwise. I’ve met coaches; Urban, Dan, Curt, Denise, Louis… been called out by coach Brandon, and even been called on my cell late at night by coaches who are pissed off at something on the website. I’ve gotten to work pretty closely and forge relationships with SIDs and athletic directors. I’ve met people who run other websites, been interviewed on TV and radio, and have had newspaper articles done on me and the site. We did the podcast a few times… I got to meet and work with Ryan Autullo and Maureen Fulton, great journalists from the Blade over the years. (Maureen is almost a lawyer now, btw… OSU law school!!) I’ve met and worked with too many great people to mention everyone… All because of this site. Truth be told, I probably have my current job because of this website!
Some of "The AZZ Crew" in Anderson - with Andersyn
I’m proudest of the friendships that have been forged because of the Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com. I saw a picture on Facebook over the weekend of a group of a half-dozen people going to a BG hockey game… they all knew each other BECAUSE of Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com – THAT is amazing to me, and it’s what I brag about more than anything when I talk about the site. I think that is what my dad would appreciate most and be proudest of as well.
As I mentioned in a previous post though, things change, priorities get re-aligned, life happens, and other clichés… My family has grown by one and if you’ve ever had a 3 year old, you know how they consume all your time. I don’t see that changing for years either. Because of this, some of my maintenance and “active” moderation of the site has gone by the wayside. I don’t create content anymore; hell, I don’t even read the site much anymore!
For this reason (and some others), it’s time for me to step away before things slide too much farther. When I made the above-mentioned post back in November I was almost immediately approached by “one of our own” who expressed an interest in taking over ownership of the site for all the right reasons. He respected the history of the site, he was a regular reader and sometimes contributor to the conversations, he’s from NW Ohio originally, was a member of the BGSU Falcon Marching Band, and made me feel “right” about the move without being pushy or off-putting.
Tailgate Flag
Jeff Sankovich and I have signed the documents to make the sale of Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com official. He will be taking over the site and moving it forward again. Jeff is “Bassdrummin” on the message boards, was born and raised in Fremont and works as a web developer both in his “real job” and also in his side business, Midnight Developers. As part of the agreement, he’ll be keeping Todd Pavlack as the official photographer, and will also be providing me with a blog and a section that talks about the history of this site and its connection to me and my dad. After much deliberation, I’m very comfortable with this decision.
So, I won’t be going away… but I also won’t be responsible for the site anymore. I ask that you give Jeff the same respect you’ve given me going forward. 99 percent of the interactions I’ve had because of this site have been civil and positive, so I have no doubt Jeff will experience the same thing.
To EVERYONE who has ever interacted with me because of this site, via posting on the boards, guest blogging, commenting on a blog post, coming to a tailgate, supporting my charitable causes, supporting the site monetarily, etc… thank you from the bottom of my heart. You’ve all made it fun!
And since I was using it here YEARS before the athletic department embraced it as a slogan… I’ll close by just saying, Roll Along you BG Warriors… and thanks for all the fish.
Sad to see you step away, but glad to hear things will continue. This site has led to so many great friendships and memories for me. I’m so grateful for all the work you’ve put in over the years, and good luck to Jeff in picking up where you left off. Roll Along!
I knew the name Jeff Sankovich sounded familiar, and I could have sworn it was from a school thing. Once I read he was from Fremont, I realized why the name was so familiar. I was a percussionist in high school at Fremont Ross, and Mr. Paul Reed would always talk about Jeff when telling us how we were supposed to act and play. He also had some excellent stories to share.
Congratulations, Jeff. I look forward to continuing the AZZ.com spirit with a Little Giant and Falcon at the helm.
Grant as someone who is not real tech smart, I am still looking for a rotary phone, I appreciate all you have done. This site was Howard’s retirement plan and dream. You made it happen for your father. I don’t have to say this but you know he would be very proud of you. I am proud to say I had Howard for a friend and I feel the same about you. Roll along!!!
John wins for making the first tears of this “ordeal” happen. Glad to have your friendship, John. See you Saturday!
Grant- your dad would be (is?) very proud of you. That and Go Blue! are two things we can agree on.;)
-Dave
I, too, have found myself on here with much less frequency than when I was younger for the same reasons. Despite this, I was so sad to see that you decided to sell because I was afraid it would be the beginning of the end for this incredible website. But reading this, seeing that Sankovich is going to be the one to take the helm, has literally brought tears to my eyes. I can think of no better person for you to pass the baton to (Jump drive? Joy stick? What’s a good technology analogy?), and I am now completely at ease about the transition. Grant, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. The people I have met through this site have truly changed my life for the better and you’re the reason for it. Now I have to stop typing before I turn into a blubbering idiot in front of my 1st hour class. Love you all! Roll along!
Grant, as a father fo two girls, 9 and 11, this site has been a chance to stay connected to BG athletics and all that is good about college sports. It provided a respite after a long night of getting little ones to sleep or a chance to catch up on all that is good about BG sports when a little one would awaken in the middle of the night and drift back to sleep, only to have their daddy wide awake at three in the morning.
Your passion and commitment has been admirable and while BG athletics can be frustrating, the passion and the connection for those hundreds of miles away from the flatlands of NW Ohio could still be felt from a visit to Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com.
My only wish for you and all of us would’ve been an NCAA berth during your owneship of the site. But we will always hold out hope and I know that one day we’ll have that dream come true and the site will be even more alive than during the Urban Meyer term and we’ll all be as giddy as a three year old daughter when her daddy comes home from work!
Till then, Roll Along Grant, Roll Along!
ZuluWarrior
Grant, this site has been my fave for many years now…I can talk BG sports and othe BGSU related stuff with BG people anywhere, anytime. The site brings so many to a single place. Thanks so much for starting and maintaining the site all this time. It is great hearing another FALCON will be taking the controls. Falcons born and bred, Falcons til we’re dead. Nuff Said. Roll along my friend….
Grant…thanks agian for creating this site…it’s been fun meeting and interacting with so many other BG fans over the years. I’m glad to see it’s staying with “one of us” as opposed to Walmart…Clear Channel…or some other conglomerate. Hopefully…having a chance to get some distance between you and this will lead you to come aqround a little more in the future. You’ve ben missed.
I am curious about one thing…short of being accused of child abuse or some other heinous act, what could possibly motivate a coach to call you about somehing said on this site? It seems so…diva-ish…
Grant,
Just to let you know, as perhaps the “TRUE” SENIOR CITIZEN on AZZ, we just returned from visiting Joyce’s friends in Tucson….. Fortunately, her friend has an I PaD…so I was able to keep in touch with AZZ while almost 2,000 mi. away!!!!
Thanks for creating the BEST fan site! I’ve never had the chance to interact with so many BG people until I discovered AZZ!
Dennis
Class of ’61
Thanks for everything you’ve done to make this wonderful place for us BG faithful to talk, share, laugh, and cry together. I’m not on as regularly as I used to be, but I’d like to think that’s because I’ve gotten just a tad less foolish since I joined the site. Thank you, Grant!!
Thank you for creating this site. It has really helped me reconnect with BG. I have enjoyed the interactions with fellow fans and finding out BG sports items that are not found elsewhere.
A post of mine even got me called out on a local Indy radio show by my real name within minutes of me posting.
The site apppears to be in good hands. Thank you again for sharing BG.
Roll along.
Grant, I’d like to thank you for all that you have done in building and preserving not only a webpage, but a whole community of fans drawn to Bowling Green State University and its athletic programs. You have always been a class act, which is more than a lot of us here can say, myself included. Good to hear that the webpage will remain in good hands.
Grant, Fall of 2001 was my freshmen year, and I found ay-ziggy-zoomba.com pretty quickly. Your idea certainly contributed towards the fanatic falcon fan that I have become, and also more largely a fan of the MAC. When I graduated and moved out was exciting and sad altogether , but besides my degree and all the great memories of my time in BG, this site is the best thing I can take anywhere with me from BG (so to speak.) Thank you.
Grant. I never really knew you, I’m just the quiet(!) fan behind the home bench at AA and now near center court in the Stroh Center. I came here about 7 years ago and stayed. We were all concerned when you pulled the plug on the message board last year, and I thought you might give up. Yeah, the phrase “Nobody knows you’re a jerk on the internet” doesn’t apply so some posters on AZZ
Anyway, thanks for keeping BGSU fans and sports talk alive all these years and it sure was fun to see Greg Brandon commit suicide in a post game interview LOL
If I’d have known there’d be this outpouring of love, I’d have sold the site years ago!!
Truly, it’s humbling to read all the testimonials from you people… Thanks right back at all-y’all!
Grant, You will ALWAYS have a very special place in my heart because of creating this message board. I now have lifelong friends thanks to AZZ.com. The Faceook pic you referred to above was taken at the Saturday night hockey game against Northern Michigan. Major Falcon, Mrs. Major Falcon, Tech 83, and Freak all came in for the game (from Columbus, Dayton and Akron areas!) that night with family members. It was SOOOO much fun having all these special friends together and the outcome of the game was secondary (ok, yeah, I freakin’ HATE losing in hockey….) to the great time we had seeing each other!! We’ve had a blast at football games and tailgates, basketball games (yes, I need to go to more of these…) and hockey games. And thanks to you, it will continue for years and years to come. We’re now watching each others’ kids grow up! You created this site out of your love for your Dad. That love will never die thanks to the lifelong friendships that have been created through this message board. I never met your Dad, but from the kind of incredible person YOU are, he must have been pretty special to raise such an amazing son. Thank you, Grant.
Thank you so much….
Thanks so much for a-z-z.com. I firmly believe that it was the use of this forum that saved BGSU hockey and everything else related to the Ice Arena. It’s great that you began this adventure as a tribute to your dad. The legacy will live on.
Well, that’s a tribute to all of YOU!! I keep thinking, if I hadn’t started this site, SOMEONE would have… but in any event, I’m glad I did. Especially when I read testimony like that, Bill!! Thanks.
Coudn’t agree more, Bill!!! AZZ saved Falcon Hockey!!!
Well I feel compelled to comment on here even though I really don’t have anything to say that hasn’t already been said.
Count me among those that would have probably gone back to being an OSU fan and only casually following BGSU sports after college if not for this site. I found the site during the Dakich WVU schism, and I’ve been a daily visitor ever since. I can’t tell you how excited I was to find a place to come and talk BG sports with people who seemed to enjoy them as much as I did.
Since that time, unfortunately, the sports I care most about have fallen on hard times. Neither basketball, nor football, have gotten back to the level they were at the time I first started visiting this site, but still the community here grows and we continue to make new friends. The ONLY reason I still go to watch our football team is because I love the group of people that we’ve assembled for tailgates. No matter how lousy the on the field product has been over the years (and times it’s been pretty bad) I still want to go out and see the great friends that I typically only see a few times a year.
And basketball? What can I say? For the past 5+ years I’ve enjoyed watching basketball games with the best group of people I could imagine and I wouldn’t know any of them without this website.
It may just be a little website to you Grant, but I’m sure your dad is beaming when he sees what this site has done. It’s helped forged relationships not only with our alma mater, but with fellow alumni. You may have gotten backlash from people like Dakich & Brandon at times, but what those guys failed to realize is just how much of their long term fan support actually comes from the existence of this site. They should have been singing your praises when there were still people there to watch the train wrecks that some of their teams had become, because I assure you that I wouldn’t have been there if not for the devotion that grew from my time on AZZ.com, and I doubt that I’m alone.
“For the past 5+ years I’ve enjoyed watching basketball games with the best group of people I could imagine and I wouldn’t know any of them without this website.” Agreed! And thanks…
I completely agree as well. I may not have followed the sport so closely if it wasn’t for having a place to discuss it, mainly because the games are televised as often as, say, OSU. I would have gone back to the Buckeyes, but I’m so glad I didn’t.
Thank you so much for all your hard work. Good luck to you and I look forward to supporting Jeff in the days and years ahead.
Damn. This “Jeff” sounds like a decent guy…
*puts The Flipper Manifesto away*
Everyone else has said it perfectly. As someone who is usually a “lone ranger” on my trips back to BG, it’s great to have a group I know I can look up for tailgate festivities before a game and seats during.
Roll Along!
Thanks for the time, effort and energy you put into this site Grant. I met a few posters in Mobile when we got waxed, but that weekend was just a joyous blur except for the game. Regardless, I still enjoy checking out the site and though I lurk a lot more than post I appreciate everything you have done for my favorite school, my alma mater, my Bowling Green State University.
I wish you well. I am a proud alum. Your site has kept me in touch with BGSU and all the good meories I experienced there. I never posted but read with interest. Thanks to all the posters who keep me up to date on the goings on at BGSU.
Hope this site continues to be great. Remember, thousands of of people may read it and never say a word. But i’m sure alimni appreciate it. And it will continue to grow if nurtured.