Home Forums The History of Freaksforum The History of Freaksforum The History of Freaksforum Celebrating 25 Years!

I've been asked countless times over the years how Freaksforum came into existence. I've shared the story a few times but I don't think I've put it into a post. If I have I've forgotten about it. A lot can be forgotten in 25 years!

As of this post 12/1/2025, the forum is celebrating it's 25th anniversary. That's quite a long period of time and to have the same sole owner the whole time makes it even more incredible.

Think about this Freaksforum precedes, Facebook 2004, Youtube 2005, Twitter/X 2006 and tik Tok 2016.

The iPhone didn't come about until 2007! What would we do without our phones today?

Tesla didn't form until 2008, Bitcoin 2009 and let's go a little back further how about Amazon Prime in 2005.

Early on we had the unfortunate 9/11 attack in 2001, we've seen Brexit in 2016 and the rise of Donald Trump to President not once but twice.

We survived Covid 19 and the Pandemic from 2020-2022. Should we even mention Global Warming?

We had the first black President in 2008.

For those of you thinking about money, how about the S&P500 going up 357% from 1400 to over 6700. Remember Dow Jones 10,000? How about over 47,000 now? You said what about the NASDAQ it was the big winner so for from 2,600 to over 15,000! Just goes to show what technology has done since 2000!

We had the dot.com bust early in 2000-2002. The Global Financial Crisis in 2008 the Covid 19 Crash but also recovery in 2020 and we are currently in the AI and Tech Boom which started in 2023.

In 2000 the #1 song of the year was Breathe by Faith Hill....... Sorry but I'm stuck in the 80's give me some Let's Dance or I Don't Know !

We've had the unfortunate losses of David Bowie, Prince, Michael Jackson, George Michael, Tom Petty, Freddie Mercury, Ozzy Osbourne, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Ray Charles, James Brown, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson and recently Ace Frehley along with countless others not mentioned.

Back in 1995-1996 time frame I opened an account at sportsbetting.com now known as sportsbetting.ag they had a link that said click here to join our forum. For quite a long period of time I ignored it. One day I clicked the link and it used your sportsbetting account number as your user name and there was no way of changing it.

I read a lot of junk on the forum and decided to start posting picks with insights/facts and reasoning behind my selections. I grew a following and people would say dude your a freak, how did you get that info, how do you know this stuff, they kept calling me freak and it wasn't just one or two people it was good amount.

At the time a member of that forum decided they were going out on their own. It was none other than Chris Costigan. At this point the internet wasn't big, it was new. So he ended up on one of those freebie sites and he had a basketball contest called Whacky Lines. He would make up the lines for the NBA and you had to come up with 25 picks in a month.

His lines were indeed whacky and I was methodical on my selections and won the contest going 24-1 with the sole loss by half point. The prize was $200 each at two different sports books. At that point I thought to myself I could do a better job with a site and I figured I had some kind of following but didn't know how much.

I went and opened a freebie site like Chris did and advertised the url within my posts and blew up the first site. The owner of the bulletin board told me I couldn't be there anymore because I was hogging up their resources and bandwidth. They told me where to go and helped move people over which was nice. But I blew that place up and was in the same predicament.

One of the members spoke to me in private and asked if I had thought about starting a real website with a real forum and a domain name behind it. I'll admit I didn't know much about any of that stuff since it was still relatively new and to this day I'm as stupid as it gets to it. I'm lucky I know how to put up the images and banners LOL. It's true !

Gianni was his name and he went by Gianni The Greek and he lived in Europe. He also had a webmaster that knew how to create websites and the works. He offered to buy the domain name and wanted to know what I wanted to call the website. I had no clue at the time, I figured why not call it FreaksForum, since I could go back and say hey it's the freak and I have my own shiny new website that others pretty much named by dubbing me a freak.

That's how FreaksForum came to be. A fluke of hitting a join now button, posting picks with substance, building a following, being dubbed a Freak and the kindness of Gianni and his webmaster. It was a perfect storm that all came together in an odd kind of way.

I owe a lot of thanks to people that names were hidden under account numbers and a lot of selfless hours put into things behind the scenes by Gianni and his webmaster. If it wasn't for them, this never would've got off the ground.

People don't know that I gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars in sportsbook money in the beginning years. From The Greek to 5 Dimes to Royal, to WSEX and much much more. It was quite the time that will never come around again.

I wanted to take a moment and thank the moderators:

Sailfish - he's been around the longest and we have a great friendship outside of the forum. You should see the bucks that visit his home, especially this time of the year !!! Without any doubt he's the king of the horse racing section and I love getting his texts showing a big score at Los Al !!!

TINFW17 - he's also been around quite a long period of time and a little known fact, he's been involved in high school football for decades! He's also the king of the free play area and has provided so many free picks over the years, I've lost count.

Wayne1218 - Mr Don't Mess With Me or I'll Kick Your Ass !!! He came to us from a defunct forum and has done a great job in Statistical Advantages and Service Plays to name a few areas. Wayne if you get to know him, is a down to earth good guy but like me wants people to do things the right way and follow the rules. I don't think this is little known but Wayne is huge into sports cards! If you're looking for a specific card, he likely has it or can get it within reason.

Jpearl - He is the baby of the bunch but is no baby to the forum. I see a lot of me in him and he has a great head on his shoulder even if he is an Eagles fan. I'm teasin'!!! He has a total love of sports and let's just say Doc's Sports and their handicappers are tired of hearing from him. I think he has been blocked by more handicappers on Twitter/X than I know of. It is quite funny, but he calls them out as they should. Poor Vernon Croy LOL......... Jpearl and I chat with each other daily and we are definitely on the same page when it comes to the forum.

While writing this, I intentionally closed the forum to the public. I wanted the same uninterrupted focus I had when FreaksForum first came to life on December 1, 2000. The doors didn’t officially open until December 11, 2000, when our very first members — bloodhounds, The Boy, Stewman21, igor, King Bookie, kimm04, Grivas, Booby W, Teaser, and so many more — joined and began shaping what this community would become.

Over the past twenty‑five years, I’ve seen countless people come and go, and I want to thank every single one of you who has been part of this incredible journey. Twenty‑five years is a long time, and I’ve poured my heart and soul into this forum, sacrificing much along the way. I carry regrets, but time cannot be rewound. What matters now is ensuring that whatever time remains for FreaksForum is meaningful — that it continues to thrive as one of the best sports forums around.

Without your dedication, we wouldn’t be here today, celebrating 25 years and counting.

Thank you for your support — past, present, and future — as we move forward together into the next chapter.

With a lot of love, respect and humility,

FREAK

You know FREAK they say often imitated but never duplicated. This is a crowning achievement and I'm blessed and honored to have been and still a part of it after all these years. I'm hit and miss regarding being a frequent daily visitor and contributor but I for one appreciate what you've done and what you've sacrificed for all these years.

It shouldn't be taken for granted by anyone.

I hope you're around a long time and I'm here with you. Thanks for everything you have done to help people become smarter and wiser sports cappers and people in general, you sir are one of the last gentleman in this industry.

Here is to another strong 25!

dude i was an admin on that site, i think it was atsforum maybe it was called, had a burgundy skin on it

[quote=noddinoff]dude i was an admin on that site, i think it was atsforum maybe it was called, had a burgundy skin on it[/quote]
or atatalk it was called

it had a link to it from cappers access, thats how i found it, at 1st i wasn't even sure i could trust what was
posted, but after a week or so, i realized it was the real deal

The forum had no name as it was an add on from sportsbook.com. It was their forum and managed by them. It was a black and yellow set up as that's what their sportsbook colors were and still are today. Everyone outside the one admin had account numbers as names. Those sites you mentioned didn't exist back then, they were way later.

Congrats!

Thank you for sharing this Freak!! You have always been the most honest forum operator in the business! Loved this read and look forward to the next 25!!