Showing our dedication
by Sofia, Kerstin & Emily
Is the love between Rafa and his girlfriend true love? Most of us saw the pictures of her supporting her boyfriend at Wimbledon and the US Open, but we - as fans - believe we can do better, of course we don't mean "true love", but more, our dedication for Rafa.
It's not just about going to a tournament, waving a Spanish flag, screaming "vamos", trying to get a picture with Rafa or just an autograph. It's a lot more…
If we look up dedication in the dictionary it tells us:
- hard work or effort that someone puts into a particular activity because they care about it a lot
- complete and wholehearted fidelity
- a ceremony in which something (as a building) is dedicated to some goal or purpose
- commitment: a message that makes a pledge
- a short message (as in a book or musical work or on a photograph) dedicating it to someone or something
So here it is, one example of our dedication to Rafa.
Last week someone (rudy3) mentioned a poll on the Tennis Channel and all the Rafa fans on VB went off to vote, from 170 votes in total at the beginning, we cracked it up to 73,613 in total in just a week (not all alone, but together with the Roddick fans).
The thread on our messageboard grow from 1 page to 50 pages and there were 'spies' from our biggest concurrent Andy 'Rodent' Roddick (in the poll, not on-court ^^) to find out what our secret is. So please don't tell everyone.
Sure, we all know we can vote more than once and we've used that ability so often that we've inadvertantly crashed the website, as we all got this message at the end of (European) evenings:
The daily view limit for this poll has been exceeded. Please revisit this poll tomorrow.
But that didn't stop us from voting the next day, the day after, some people almost put their health in danger, by almost breaking their fingers - "My finger hurts I think is broken" (Toti), others led their server company to cancel their accounts - "I think I crashed my computer voting so much..... Honest!!! I have spent the last hour on the phone... yahoo had blocked my screenname....... They thought I was sending spam or something... I had to explain to them that I was voting for Rafa........ lmao" (Cillyho).
From crashing websites to make them the most popular on the web, we do everything to keep our boy alive and kicking. What even motivated us more was to stay on top, above Andy, Marat and Roger, Rafa's biggest opponents. - "Maybe TTC will wake up and smell the "grande non fat latte" and add a monthly "Rafathon". An entire 24 hrs of Rafamazing tennis. 24 hrs of Rafalisious matches, interviews, & pictures. Hell, he could just sit in a chair for 24 hrs, and we would all watch it. Cool. And this my fellow Rafanatics is how TTC can thank us for making them the busiest tennis site on the web." (rudy3)
Even when we thought we lost it, when Andy got the number 1 position back, we kept on voting (thanks to the motivation pictures) and at the moment we are 3.5% ahead of Andy - which is 2579 votes -
We are women on a mission and nothing or no one can stop us, we're unbeatable! So don't forget to help us on our quest to make Rafa THE tennis hottie. Vote here for Rafa.
People call us obsessed, crazy, weird and Rafanatics, well maybe we are - "If Roddick is ahead by like 10% when that poll lets us vote again, I swear I will be raising hell. i have put my social life, *it's really just a joke now*, on hold for this poll. They can not mess this up for us or I will go over the edge" (Rafa_Freak). But we win (for now), that is what counts and no one can change that and as our member, Cincimini, would say: KEEP THE VAMOS TRAIN GOING! - "We must believe he can win, bundle out positive thought towards this worthy cause, positive vibes... oh what the heck just vote! It's soooo close!" (Belgian Baby)
That's our secret, our story of success...
It's not just about going to a tournament, waving a Spanish flag, screaming "vamos", trying to get a picture with Rafa or just an autograph. It's a lot more…
If we look up dedication in the dictionary it tells us:
- hard work or effort that someone puts into a particular activity because they care about it a lot
- complete and wholehearted fidelity
- a ceremony in which something (as a building) is dedicated to some goal or purpose
- commitment: a message that makes a pledge
- a short message (as in a book or musical work or on a photograph) dedicating it to someone or something
So here it is, one example of our dedication to Rafa.
Last week someone (rudy3) mentioned a poll on the Tennis Channel and all the Rafa fans on VB went off to vote, from 170 votes in total at the beginning, we cracked it up to 73,613 in total in just a week (not all alone, but together with the Roddick fans).
The thread on our messageboard grow from 1 page to 50 pages and there were 'spies' from our biggest concurrent Andy 'Rodent' Roddick (in the poll, not on-court ^^) to find out what our secret is. So please don't tell everyone.
Sure, we all know we can vote more than once and we've used that ability so often that we've inadvertantly crashed the website, as we all got this message at the end of (European) evenings:
The daily view limit for this poll has been exceeded. Please revisit this poll tomorrow.
But that didn't stop us from voting the next day, the day after, some people almost put their health in danger, by almost breaking their fingers - "My finger hurts I think is broken" (Toti), others led their server company to cancel their accounts - "I think I crashed my computer voting so much..... Honest!!! I have spent the last hour on the phone... yahoo had blocked my screenname....... They thought I was sending spam or something... I had to explain to them that I was voting for Rafa........ lmao" (Cillyho).
From crashing websites to make them the most popular on the web, we do everything to keep our boy alive and kicking. What even motivated us more was to stay on top, above Andy, Marat and Roger, Rafa's biggest opponents. - "Maybe TTC will wake up and smell the "grande non fat latte" and add a monthly "Rafathon". An entire 24 hrs of Rafamazing tennis. 24 hrs of Rafalisious matches, interviews, & pictures. Hell, he could just sit in a chair for 24 hrs, and we would all watch it. Cool. And this my fellow Rafanatics is how TTC can thank us for making them the busiest tennis site on the web." (rudy3)
Even when we thought we lost it, when Andy got the number 1 position back, we kept on voting (thanks to the motivation pictures) and at the moment we are 3.5% ahead of Andy - which is 2579 votes -
We are women on a mission and nothing or no one can stop us, we're unbeatable! So don't forget to help us on our quest to make Rafa THE tennis hottie. Vote here for Rafa.
People call us obsessed, crazy, weird and Rafanatics, well maybe we are - "If Roddick is ahead by like 10% when that poll lets us vote again, I swear I will be raising hell. i have put my social life, *it's really just a joke now*, on hold for this poll. They can not mess this up for us or I will go over the edge" (Rafa_Freak). But we win (for now), that is what counts and no one can change that and as our member, Cincimini, would say: KEEP THE VAMOS TRAIN GOING! - "We must believe he can win, bundle out positive thought towards this worthy cause, positive vibes... oh what the heck just vote! It's soooo close!" (Belgian Baby)
That's our secret, our story of success...