The 3rd Degree Timeline – Through 2007

I was digging around in some of the oldest files I have from the history of 3rd Degree and decided to throw together a timeline of the history of the site.  There may not be a whole lot of people curious about our history, but it was a fun exercise for me and I thought I’d share it.

And yes I wrote it in 3rd person.

The 3rd Degree Timeline

First week of Oct 1997	While looking for a job having just moved back to Texas, Buzz Carrick decides to make a website to learn basic HTML encoding.  He decides to make the site about a topic he enjoys, soccer, or more specifically the Dallas Burn.
2nd Week of Oct 1997	Buzz Carrick picks the name 3rd Degree and finds some space on a free web server site.
2nd Week of Oct 1997	3rd Degree goes on line with two or three pages, one of which is about the TV camera coverage of MLS games.
February 1998	The first ever Fearless Predictions feature is written by Buzz Carrick.
Early 1998	3rd Degree hits 1000 page views.
Late 1998	3rd Degree hits 10,000 page views.
August 21, 1998	The red circular logo debuts and Buzz Carrick starts to use Front Page to make the website.  Prior to that Microsoft Word was frequently used to make the site.
	Buzz Carrick buys the URL https://www.3rddegree.net/ and moves 3rd Degree to an independent server owned by a friend.  Server space is paid for by exchange for a simple ad on the site.
Early 1999	Buzz Carrick first goes to Dallas Burn training and the Practice Observations feature starts.
Feb 18, 1999	3rd Degree moved to http://3rddegree.webjump.com/ a site now defunct.
Early 1999	After writing the first ever letter to us from a reader and several more over the first years, Viking asks if he can write something for the 3rd Degree, becoming the second contributor to the site.
April 12, 1999	The funky circle logo makes it’s debut.
Mid 1999	Buzz Carrick buys the URL 3rddegree.net/ and moves 3rd Degree to an independent server owned by a friend.  Server space is paid for in exchange for a simple ad on the site.
1999	Sean Brockett asks if he can write something for the site, beginning a short-lived but controversial stint as a contributor with a series first called “Daisy Killers” and later “From Where I Stand.”
2000	Reader polls are added to the site, a feature that lasts through 2004.
	Sean Brockett asks if he can write something for the site, beginning a short lived but controversial stint as a contributor with a series first called “Daisy Killers” and later “From Where I Stand.”
	Buzz Carrick approaches Kevin Lindstrom, mainly because Kevin never agrees with him, and asks him to come on board as a contributor.  Kevin suggests that he write about some very specific subject and also suggests Parish Glover as a possible writer.
	3rd Degree switches over to a more complex Front Page set up with column menus on the side of the page for all our standard features.  This is the first modern 3-column set up that 3rd Degree basically still uses today.
	3rd Degree hits the 50,000 page views mark.
Early 2001	3rd Degree begins to track rumors, but that feature is abandoned after 2004 to focus on more professional quality features.
	Mike Jeffries is hired by the Dallas Burn and tells Buzz Carrick, “We read your practice reports in Chicago to get the Burn lineups.  So I need you to stop writing the exact lineup on Friday in your practice reports.”
Feb 16, 2001	Ryan Suarez writes a series of short pieces for 3rd Degree called “Inside Stuff with Ryan Suarez.”  It is the only recurring feature by an active FC Dallas player to appear on 3rd Degree.
2001	Top Ten lists make their first appearance on 3rd Degree; sometimes serious, sometimes funny, almost always a bit.
	Ryan Suarez writes a series of short pieces for 3rd Degree called “Inside Stuff with Ryan Suarez.”  It is the only recurring feature by a active FC Dallas player to appear on 3rd Degree.
	Dustin Christmann, a.k.a. El Jeffe, writes a couple of small pieces for 3rd Degree.
	Dustin Christmann, a.k.a. El Jeffe, writes a couple small pieces for 3rd Degree.
	3rd Degree turns down an offer to join Rivals.com over ownership of content issues.
April 2001	3rd Degree hits 100,000 page views for its lifetime and 50,000 page views on the year.
End 2001	Dallas Burn General Manager Andy Swift invites Buzz Carrick to come to the MLS SuperDraft in Kansas City.  The 3rd Degree Draft Day Chat Room is born.  Due to a server crash there is a window during the early rounds where 3rd Degree is the only online live source for draft coverage.
January 2002	Dallas Burn General Manager Andy Swift invites Buzz Carrick to come to the MLS SuperDraft in Kansas City.  The 3rd Degree Draft Day Chat Room is born.  Due to a server crash, there is a window during the early rounds where 3rd Degree is the only online live source for draft coverage.
2002	Rags Gardner starts shooting Dallas Burn games and allowing 3rd Degree to use his photos.
	Chamo Jones first joins 3rd Degree as a guest writer.
	3rd Degree agrees to enter a Co-op of MLS news sites that eventually evolves into the MatchNight Network.
	Michael Lamb first starts to create graphics for 3rd Degree, starting with the page header.  The debut of the 3rd Degree horse logo comes soon after.
Early 2003	The first Roster Dance appears on the site.
	Chamo briefly takes over Vikings “Fan the Passion” series.
March 2003	Burn GM Andy Swift offers Buzz Carrick a spot on the Burn Spring Training trip to Chile.  This is the first 3rd Degree Road Trip with the team for spring training.
October 2003	Jordan Stone writes a short series of pieces from the road with the U23 US National Team.  Jordan is the second active player to write something for 3rd Degree.
End 2003	Chamo begins his series of Hispanic-focused pieces, frequently written in Spanish, called “Quemando Fan.”
Early 2004	Buzz Carrick is notified that 3rd Degree’s current server host is being sold and 3rd Degree will have to move.
March 2004	3rd Degree Road Trip with the Dallas Burn to the La Manga Cup in Spain.
April 2004	Buzz Carrick is notified 3rd Degree’s current server host is being sold and 3rd Degree will have to move.
July 2004	3rd Degree joins the MatchNight Network and moves from a hand-coded HTML setup to a database system.
Oct 14, 2004	Steve Jolley writes a letter to post on 3rd Degree to reach Dallas fans in support of a local charity Dallas Scores.  Jolley is the third active player to write something that appears on 3rd Degree.
End 2004	3rd Degree does roughly 220,000 page views on the year, not including page views inside the MNN set up for the second half of the year.
January 2005	Buzz Carrick makes his first trip to an MLS Combine, this one in Los Angeles.
Early 2005	The 3rd Degree Bull Logo is born to coincide with the re-branding of the franchise.  The name 3rd Degree is retained despite the end of the Dallas Burn name.
	Ed Bazan starts doing Match Reports for 3rd Degree.
	DJ Walker brings his “Steam of Consciousness” to 3rd Degree, things will never be the same again.
	Jamie Fougerousee starts his “Behind Enemy Lines” series of game previews which runs through 2006.
March 2005	Gina Zippilli starts doing reserve game Match Reports.  Chris Murphy leaves ESPNsoccernet and starts writing his “Next Level” features for 3rd Degree
	3rd Degree Road Trip to La Manga Spain with FC Dallas
2005	3rd Degree does 508,797 page hits on it’s own in the year.  There’s likely another 100,000 to 200,000 page hits on the MNN pages of 3rd Degree content.
End 2005	3rd Degree does 508,797 page-hits on its own in the year.  There are likely another 100,000 to 200,000 page hits on the MNN pages of 3rd Degree content.
Early 2006	Kevin Lindstrom departs to accept a job with FC Dallas and Daniel Robertson takes over his “Power Rankings.”
	JT Elliott joins 3rd Degree and begins his limited but much admired “Who Is” series.
March 2006	The single biggest traffic month in site history to this point with 87,546 page views on 3rddegree.net, most likely due to the 3rd Degree Road Trip to Spain/England with FCD and the addition of Kenny Cooper to the team.
Late 2006	Jason Gulledge starts shooting FC Dallas exclusively for 3rd Degree.  He’s the first photographer to shoot exclusively for 3rd Degree.
	John Carlton starts contributing articles on a part-time basis including the “FCD Lore” series.
October 2006	Lee Smith decides to shut down the MatchNight Network and notifies Buzz Carrick he has until the start of the next season to find a new server.
End 2006	3rd Degree traffic begins to plateau, with 589,602 hits on the primary URL and perhaps another 200,000, give or take, on MNN.  3rd Degree accounts for roughly 1/3 of all traffic on the MatchNight Network.
January 2007	Buzz Carrick begins the build and implementation of a Word Press setup on a new independent server with the majority of the important, complicated work being done by photographer turned database manager, Jason Gulledge.
March 30, 2007	The most recent version of 3rd Degree goes live on our new server using Word Press & MySQL as the backbone setup and database. This move allows the creation of the “Under the Lamp” blog section of the site.
	Chamo Jones begins his FCD News Recap blog posts on 3rd Degree.  In addition to Buzz Carrick, Peter Welpton and DJ Walker also both blog from time to time.
April 2007	Ed Bazan has to depart for personal reasons, and Jamie Fougerousee takes over “Match Reports.”
April 6, 2007	Jason Benfield begins his “Matchday” series of game previews, replacing “Behind Enemy Lines.”
December 2007	3rd Degree Road Trip with FCD to T&T for the Shaka Hislop Tribute Cup.
Dec 31, 2007	3rd Degree does 617,476 page hits on the year on 271,388 unique visits.  The traffic is a combination of January to March on the MatchNight and March to the end of the year on the new independent server.