The "Paul Harvey" (the rest of the story) behind the Man Cave Group.

My Man Cave started in early 2004. We had only been in our house for a few months and I finally had a space where my wife would allow me decorating control. We had been married for about 8 years and in that time she had systematically removed virtually every piece of furniture and accessories I had prior to our marriage. I understand this is a common practice among wives. They want to purge anything from their home that another woman slept on, sat on, look at, gave or is connected to (real or imagined) from your home. They tend to assume that everything you own falls into this category so they want to see everything gone. I had an idea of a room with a collage of pictures. I had been saving my Sports Illustrated and ESPN magazines for about a year prior to moving into our house. Once the dust settled from the move I started the project of decorating the Man Cave. Once I broke down the magazines and pulled out the pictures of interest I found they didn't cover much wall space. I went on e-bay and bid on a couple of wholesale lots of magazines so I could get some different sports and older issues so the collage wouldn't just represent the present era.

Our house is on a corner with a partial basement. The garages are on the basement level facing a street. My wife has a double car side, mine is a single car side with additional finished area. This is my Man Cave. During this time we began to meet many of our neighbors. The Man Cave became a natural place for the men to retreat to after a day of swimming with the family. Once the word got out that men were hanging out at a place called a Man Cave, the women got suspicious. A wife's nature is to dislike anything a man enjoys that doesn't involve her. When they began to question what went on at the Man Cave we assured them it was a lot of talking, laughing and occasionally playing one of the bar games I have in the Man Cave. They were reminded them that not only were they welcome to come but we did have a "warden" on duty in the form of my wife. So it became acceptable for the men to hang out and we would often have a couple of the wives join us. They usually grow tired of our stories and leave early and then we share the stories you save for when you are in the company of only men. If we gather during the afternoon, we will have full families. This is where it helps to have the open air design of my Man Cave. You can flow in and out, the garage door stays open, music playing and if a game is available, it will be on the television.

I started building an email list so we could easily communicate an upcoming gathering. I used this an opportunity to help fill up my walls with pictures. I told the members that if they are just on the email list they would be a "honorary" member, if they brought a picture for the Man Cave, they would be a "made man". Well it worked, they started bringing some "cave worthy" pictures for display. Then something happen that I didn't anticipate. One of my buddies, Mark Tidmore dropped off a Roger Clemens autographed picture. I called him up and told him, this is too nice, I was just talking about something popped out of a magazine. He said, no just keep it. Then more items like that started showing up. My buddy Rocco Panaia didn't want to be out done so he got an old college buddy, Gregg Olson, who was the American League Rookie of the year in 1989 with the Baltimore Orioles to autograph a picture "To the Man Cave". I was blown away. This caused me to re-think the Man Cave hierarchy. I couldn't give them the same classification for the different levels of contributions. I utilized my years of watching the Sopranos to adopt a mafia style ranking. Now if you are just on the email list, you are a Wise Guy, if you make a donation you are a Made Man. If the donation is deemed of a superior quality you are a captain. If the donation is autographed to "The Man Cave", you are a Godfather. This has turned out to be quite a competitive bunch. There have been many contributions since then. Some of the notable ones are an Ozzie Smith (hall of fame St. Louis Cardinal) from Stewart Anderson, Phil Fulmer, UT coach, Jim Fassel, NFL coach, a couple of Christian music artists, TV personalities, cheerleaders from the Titans and Predators, Harley girls of Cool Springs and others that you can find on the Man Cave Members section.

The Man Cave Group has grown beyond just my neighborhood. There are members from not only the town we live in but all over the mid-state area. We have also picked up out of town members that just liked the Man Cave story. All are welcomed. to be a Wise Guy just take the "Make me a Wise Guy" link and get on the update list. I am making the Man Cave update web based so more people can receive it. I send it out 3 to 4 times a month. It is in its evolution. I send local interest items, announcements and make an occasional call for support for a fundraiser. I have many members send me jokes, clips and other funny items. I filter them for appropriate content and package them up with the message and give credit to each of the members that made a submission that is used. I look forward to receiving some from you!