Victor

1,022 words so this will be used for the following weeks: 1 ending 27 October 1 ending 3 November

Well this is quite a convenient theme week isn't it? As it happens, as someone who joined the league in S10 and registered for the S11 entry draft as a wee 13-year-old, the first decade of the VHL is what I would have had to write about anyway, which is also what everyone any older than that has to write about. So first decade it is. I've had the rough workings of a Media Spot for a while actually which basically looks at the VHL decade by decade and picks out the overarching trends of each decade both within the sim and in the forum. I have no idea if I'll ever get around to writing that article however, so I will use this opportunity to expand the 1 or 2 paragraphs I was planning to dedicate to those halcyon days of 2007 and 2008. Or perhaps those were not such happy times. The formative years of a sim league are absolutely its more crucial, as so many leagues have floundered because of various obstacles in those first few seasons, be it irresponsible simmers/commissioners, in-fighting or just an inability to build a large enough member base. Especially back in those days when sim leagues were something of a novelty, hitting double digits in seasons was virtually unheard of. That's not to say that once we got past S10 it was smooth sailing from then on in. On the contrary, the VHL's first big lull in activity came as a failure to recruit resulted in some fatigue amongst veteran members on their third and fourth players by S14-S15 and that could have been the end of the league as long ago as 2010. Instead, new leadership and more importantly some new blood powered the league through to around S45 when the first warning signs of the REAL lull (the 50s) began to show. But by this point the first decade was long forgotten because we had real glory days through the 20s, then expansion and for quite a few years after that. That, in my opinion is probably for the best. It's hard to quantify how much more of a toxic environment the VHL was back in its early days. It was a snippet of the high school mentality of the late noughties of course, but it really is day and night to what we see not only today but also throughout effectively 90% of the league's existence. You would expect the VHL's first seasons to be roughly in line with the rest of its history but no, in the grand scheme of things that first decade is the outlier and most of what we think of as the VHL today was shaped over the years that followed. It's quite amusing that we have (rightly) taken the moral high ground over time against our little brother league, the SHL, in that we are the mature version of sim hockey. In 2007, the VHL was as drama-filled as the SHL has rarely been. There is not enough space to cover every relevant example. Locker room conspiracy theories in places like Calgary and then Riga, “cool kids” clubs popping up all over the shop but largely in Avangard (the future Davos), a reasonably fair but also quite an immature commissioner in Scotty, an actual team dubbed the “Shortbus” (New York) in what was nothing short of bullying of that group of members, as a team and as individuals. Welcoming committee or recruitment team? Not a chance of that existing back then. A new member had a better chance of being accused of being a multi of the infamous Scott Anderson on one of the bi-weekly witchhunts than actually being assured of a place in the league. Yet somehow the VHL survived and even thrived. By S10 it was the shining example of sim league longevity (10 whole seasons!) and somehow kept attracting just enough new members such as yours truly to keep going. Maybe we did all have thicker skin back then.... damn snowflakes. But equally, you could probably pin the survival of the VHL, while sim leagues of all shapes, sports, and sizes faltered around it, on one man – original commissioner and simmer Scotty Campbell. He would later be accused of riggery during his year in charge, although long after he disappeared from the public eye, but it's not hard to legitimately see how he would have the best players in the league simply by having the most TPE at the time. And ultimately, sim success was just reward for the work he put in around the site as a whole. It's fair to say there would be no VHL today without Scotty and although countless others have contributed their fair share since, I don't think it's possible to say that about anyone else without a caveat. As activity league-wide took a dip around S14 as noted earlier, people started pointing out that those drama- and genuine rivalry-filled days were the driver of success and what we were missing hence the decrease in posts. Fortunately, that line of thinking did not gain too much traction and ultimately we found better ways to have fun rivalries without alienating half of the league's population. As I said, it's strange looking back that this is the same league as that one, with us now being on a 3rd website (the first one lasted til S23), although it barely is of course, with just a handful of members around who really experienced the VHL's first decade. Even I, in all my old age and wisdom now, do not consider myself part of that particular 'old boys club'. Yet we wouldn't be here without those early days and it's nice that there's still a contingent who can still tie us back to our roots. That more or less concludes my ramble fuelled both by nostalgia and relief. There was a time and place for the VHL's first decade and although I miss it ever so slightly (almost as much as I miss not having joined just a year earlier), I'm also glad we have long since moved on.

Week 3 of 3.

Well, it's been a good run. @Banackock, you still should have picked me 1st overall @hedgehog337, you're the best GM Cast had @Tagger, we did good @Beketov, you still suck I'll save all the accolades for the S69 HOF induction post.

Calgary before S10 and that’s about right. Vasteras before S2*

It’s not quite the all time record (fucking Scotty Campbell) but I’ll take it among mere mortals.

Captain Duddy! @Phil @Will

Bernard the win machine is no more.

Thank you sir. CLEGANEBOWL

Greg Clegane was from Ireland that’s all you need to know

I don't even know anymore

Literally my favourite VHL line ever. Stanned Helsinki so hard those years.

@Knight was the OG fucking prick

The GOAT

?

@Patpou22 what a performance

Eww history

Van Lagen also second in the same stat - Malmo clearly performing better than they have any right to.

Writing to Trump to move Moscow to North America right now.

Now on a 6 game winning streak ?

@Matmenzinger delivering the goods

In this shitshow of a season, a good performance by @Mr_Hatter

OMG everyone got both right answers, Alexander Pepper and Jonathan Matthias. 2 capped TPE for everyone!!!! Enorama @Enorama Snussu @Snussu GRZ @GRZ Poptart @Poptart DMaximus @DMaximus enigmatic @enigmatic Liberty_cabbage @Liberty_Cabbage McWolf @McWolf Sharkstrong @Sharkstrong HenrikZoiderberg @HenrikZoiderberg Midnite @Midnite Saelven88 @Saelven88 Donno100 @Donno100 DoktorFunk @DoktorFunk Blade Maiden @BladeMaiden Jtv123 @Jtv123 GustavMattias @GustavMattias Mr_Hatter @Mr_Hatter Acydburn @Acydburn 73MPL4R @73MPL4R Erik Summers @Erik Summers FonziGG @fonziGG cxsquared @Cxsquared efiug @efiug Apoc_Chaos @Apoc_Chaos Chad D @Chad D VanCanWin @VanCanWin Tbeezy99 @Tbeez99 JBeezy76 @Jbeezy76 monekywrench15 @monkeywrench15 Uphillmoss @uphillmoss Patpou22 @Patpou22 Tagger @Tagger SlapshotDragon @SlapshotDragon Jubo07 @Jubo07 Bushito @Bushito Smarch @Smarch Elmebeck @Elmebeck Siddhus @Siddhus MexicanCow123 @MexicanCow123 Greg_Di @Greg_Di CowboyinAmerica @CowboyinAmerica fever95 @fever95 Spyro @Spyro gorlab @gorlab nethi99 @nethi99 Jayrad28 @Jayrad28 DilIsPickle @DilIsPickle Berocka @Berocka Banana2311 @Banana2311 Kekzkrieg @Kekzkrieg Oilmandan @oilmandan Hulkhogan @HulkHogan Harpskii @Harpskii diacope @diacope JohnOQuinn @JohnOQuinn Telkster @Telkster Matmenzinger @Matmenzinger Bruins10 @Bruins10 sebster03 @Sebster03 Velevra @Velevra studentized @studentized Grape @Grape philliefan @Philliefan ItsMcLovin @ItsMcLovin TacticalHammer @TacticalHammer TukTukTheGreat @TukTukTheGreat TheLastOlympian07 @TheLastOlympian07 wcats @wcats KC Philip @KC Philip 11 Eleven @11 Eleven Tate @Tate majesiu @majesiu Tomato Soup @Tomato Soup Beketov @Beketov OrbitingDeath @OrbitingDeath Esso2264 @Esso2264 cartoes @cartoes Joubo @Joubo MMFLEX @MMFLEX NumberJ5 @NumberJ5 Matt_O @Matt_O Sixersfan594 @Sixersfan549 Zeno @Zeno Larry Five Hole @Larry Five Hole Tape-to-Tape @Tape-to-Tape Juddy @Juddy DollarAndADream @DollarAndADream BigBallerFromDownUnder @BigBallerFromDownUnder MacH @MacH R jubis @R Jubis Fire_In_Babylon @Fire_In_Babylon Edustava @Edustava bluesfan55 @bluesfan55 jRuutu @jRuutu Hughjas_ @HughJas_ Patrik Tallinder @Patrik Tallinder sebster03 @Sebster03 PotatoKing @PotatoKing Josh @Josh flyersfan1453 @flyersfan1453 Garsh @Garsh Anthony Matthews @Anthony Matthews Renomitsu @Renomitsu Cornholio @Cornholio Aye my name jeff @Aye my name jeff Frank @Frank Benson @Benson JeffD @JeffD Chillzone @chillzone hedgehog337 @hedgehog337 Krice13 @Krice13 .sniffuM @.sniffuM elrune1988 @elrune1988 eaglesfan @eaglesfan036 Peace @Peace MacH @MacH leafsman @leafsman Rayzor_7 @Rayzor_7 FrostBeard @FrostBeard omgitshim @omgitshim MWHazard @MWHazard sjs88speed @sjs88speed Phil @Phil 1 uncapped TPE: For Pepper question: @StamkosFan For Matthias question: @Quik

fucking millenials

Oh no we needed this.