| By JEREMY HAKAMAA Globe Sports Writer There are many fans of Ironwood Red Devil basketball, but who is the biggest fan? You know who I'm talking about. That stereotype of the team's biggest fan, sometimes viewed as a little crazy. The person who watches all the games, knows the stats, and has plenty of passion for the team, with some to spare. Some people claim to be huge fans, but Tom Ruppe has some proof. He runs a computer Web site, devoted entirely to Ironwood girls' basketball, and the star of that team, Kristen Ruppe. Kristen, a senior for the Red Devils, is the younger sister of Tom, who graduated from Ironwood in 1998. Ever since the beginning of the 2001 season, Kristen's junior year, Tom has been running the Ironwood Red Devils unofficial Web site, at http://www.geocities.com/kruppe50/. "It started out to be a little thing for our family to follow Kristen," said Tom. "We have relatives in downstate Wisconsin and in South Bend." In the past year, the site has grown. It is now a team site, with a focus on Kristen. Early in its existence, the site was solely about the Red Devil star center. "I thought about it a little more, and I started adding things. It just grew from there, and now I have something for the whole team," Ruppe said. Tom has a background in computers, enabling him to take on such a daunting task. He is employed at Enterprise Computer Solutions, in Wakefield, working as network administrator. "At first Kristen was embarrassed about the site, but now she likes it. Coach (Pete) Lewinski really likes it, and some coaches actually said that they follow the team's games through the site," he said. There is always commentary on the Red Devils' last game, written by Tom. There are also game pictures from many of Ironwood's contests. Tom has only missed two games this year, both due to work. Building the site consisted of many hours of Tom's time, but once it was put together, the hours needed to maintain the site began to decrease. "After a game I will spend a little over an hour doing my write-up and uploading pictures," he said. Tom's write-up is a great place to read about the Red Devils, although he's a little biased toward Ironwood. Most of the trash talk on the site can be found on the tag board, where anyone can post a short message. "I don't take personal shots at anyone," said Tom. "I like to joke around with it and have a good time." There have already been over 2,900 hits on the site, and that number should build since Tom isn't shutting down any time soon. "I'd like to keep going when Kristen gets to college, but it won't be quite as in-depth. It will still be something to track her, although it will be harder since I won't get to as many games," he said. Being a super-fan can be hard, especially when every game is out of town. Those that are crazy enough to be running team Web sites have to realize what's overboard. That will translate into less material in the future, but the passion will still be there. Until then, Tom has an excellent high school team to cover. It's getting close to the playoffs, and finding out how the Red Devils did on Ironwood's unofficial Web site is a fun way to follow high school basketball. |
| This article appeared in the Ironwood Daily Globe. I would like to thank Jeremy Hakamaa for the great article. Tom Ruppe |