Renomitsu

1. In some weird way I think Davos/NY have potential to form a rivalry. They're franchises that were both legendary back in the day, had a long period of irrelevance, and in recent seasons have come somewhat back to relevance. They should form a rivalry just to see who forms a dynasty next between the two of them -- even if its dozens of seasons from now.

2. I... don't know what this means as someone who, after a decade of sim hockey, still does not know anything about hockey.

3. I'm definitely going to prank @samx and it's going to involve dino nuggets in some way shape or form.

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1. Your player gets an offer to play on the top line for their nation/national region. What do they say, and why?

2. For vets, who was/is your most successful player? For first gens, are you going to go the full 8-9 seasons or are you planning on retiring before all of the regression has set in?

3. If you could play a career either a) at the same length with 1% regression instead of the current regression starting with the sixth season  or b) with a couple of additional seasons (ie 11 total), but all of them have half of the normal regression starting with your sixth, which would you choose?

1. Nah, I'm going to be sleeping. I worked the last 12-13 nights in a row and am really not about to wake up in the middle of the day to look at the not-sun  

2. Oh man, where do I begin? The vaccine-autism thing, something about jet fuel melting steel beams, lizard people, flat Earth...

3. Ooh, ooh! The New Coke thing from the 80s is kind of interesting. Make a worse product temporarily to increase demand for your primary product. I still don't think it's true since they did make New Coke for like... 20 years, but I could totally see a sleep-deprived marketing department thinking that'd work.

1. What are your thoughts about AI? Are there any fields that you think it really shouldn't touch ever? What fields do you think it'd be most useful for? Are humans doomed to become lazy, uncreative folks reliant on AI?

2. @Enorama's offering lessons in League of Legends. Does your player take him up on his offer?

3. What do you think goes in to being a perfect draft pick for a franchise (outside of just earning the most TPE)?

So wait, the $150 I was spending per month to pay Josh to make Aloe Dear a Hall of Famer just went straight to his pocket???

1. I don't really know. I work so many major holidays that a lot of them have frankly lost meaning for me - and I don't usually get the weekends during or surrounding these holidays off either.

2. Usually the VHL. I don't think, conceptually at least, I should really be having the most fun in any of the minor/semipro leagues because my goal is to live out a player's dream of making it to the pros!

3. Uhh, I probably would choose not to teleport! You didn't say anything about being able to teleport back.

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1. Happy Easter -- if you celebrate it! Did you celebrate, and if so, how? If not, how was your Sunday?

2. We know being a pro VHLer takes a lot of dedication. What's the longest consecutive number of hours you've stayed up in any context, and what came of it?

3. You just got promoted at your job! What does that look like for you, and are you going to enjoy your job more than your last one?

Prague, Czechia - After a miserable rookie season where they managed just 25 points in 72 games and a pitiful -19 plus-minus, Spanish Moon Moth is on a road to relevance -- or at least is trying to. Through ten games, the winged hockey player has scored exactly ten points and is managing 4.5 shots/game. And while his shot blocks (8) and hits (5) aren't impressive by any means, it's been good enough to finally manage a net-even plus-minus. Unfortunately, being one of the team's top two lines also means added pressure - and the Phantoms have managed 14 points thus far, putting them in a tie for first place.

As we've often seen from the past, however, an early start does not necessarily portend good end-results for a VHL team of any tier - the pros, E, or M. Though some fans may try to rest easy with a plus-12 goal differential, early-season schedule can skew hopes high or low disproportionately. Let's have the season go another 30 games or so and we'll be able to see if we should truly be excited about the Phantoms.

In the meantime, the phans in Prague are just going to enjoy a good start.

1. What's poppin', Prague?! This week is season start week! How excited is your player?

My player's... kind of excited? I don't think we're making waves this season but I'm going to try my best to show out and bring us some success.

2. What has your player been working on in the off-season?

Mostly a bit of scoring and defensive attributes. I'm trying to figure out how much checking I want to do in-game.

3. What are some interesting things your player learned in Training Camp?

No comment. Gotta keep it a secret for all of the other teams, remember?!

4. Welcome to the Phamily, Rip Wheeler @ScottyP! The team has recently made a trade involving Wheeler and is eager to see him play. What are you thoughts on the trade (link)?

It makes sense if we're trying to win a season or two from now rather than this season/in 6 seasons. I'm fine with it.

5. Do you have any Easter...or perhaps April Fool's plans?

Nope, I'm working all the dang time.

6. What is one of your all-time favorite movies?

Ooh, I really loved the Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse movie (the first). I haven't had a chance to see the second but I really enjoyed how they sort of let the creative team go free for that movie.

On 3/12/2024 at 2:48 AM, Tetricide said:

 Prague Phantoms Press Conference

Week ending 17 March, 2024

Please do not do short 1-2 word answers. Put some effort into it!

 

1. What's poppin' Prague?! This past Saturday was the VHL draft and we welcomed our newest prospects goalie Ondrej Vencko @Mutti, defenseman Chuck E Cheese @a_Ferk, winger Jack Dickins @Mystery_boy98, and centerman Charlie Klepacki @chuck.hockey7! 

     Prospects: Are you looking forward to playing for Prague?
      Other players: How do you think we did this draft, and what could we have done differently?

 

2. We said our farewell to an amazing GM Acyd Burn @Acydburn and welcomed in our newest GM Leonard S. Kinnard @Tetricide. Going into season 93 his first time as a VHL GM, how do you think Prague will do this season?

 

3. With Prague veterans John Jameson @Frank, Nikolas Kauppi, and Matt Murdock set to retire after this upcoming season, what kind of future do you see for the team in the next few seasons?

 

4. Do you think Jameson will go into the VHL's Hall of Fame?

 

5. Are you like me and your allergies are really messing you up?

 

6. What are you doing for spring break? If you're celebrating it.

 

 

1. I think we did an awesome job! Love me some Ferk, and all of our other prospects look pretty promising. I wouldn't pick anything else specific in this draft, especially given our position.

2. Tet is just the worst according to @samx so I expect us to win the championship, thanks.

3. I'm not going to lie, I am a bit worried about the next 2-3 seasons after this one. We're going to have a rough patch for sure, so we had better bulk up in the draft so we can win a championship before I retire.

4. I think so. He's a pretty clear top 3 player for multiple seasons in his career, which normally secures HoF at some point. Whether or not he makes it first or second ballot remains to be seen.

5. Yep, I take an allergy pill every morning (fexofenadine). That's probably not going to change any time soon.

6. Spring break? Spring break? No such thing for residents hahaha

1. I think I might have been just right, if not a touch of a bust. I've already been traded once which is really unfortunate for a top 10 pick.

2. gorlab probably makes the best graphics of everyone.

3. Most likely Media Spots. I've never done graphics or podcasts.

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1. @Spartan was a GM in the VHL for a while and made FIVE finals but never won a cup. Is he cursed?

2. Who's your 'favorite' member in the league? How did you meet them?

3. Suppose you're a free agent. You have two clubs that reach out to you: one that's probably middle to lower end of the pack but has a bright future and a nice locker room, and one that's a pretty inactive locker room but are the favorites to win the cup for the next couple of seasons. Where do you go?

16 hours ago, Spartan said:

League nerfs skaters when I make a skater, then goalies when I make a goalie. Rigged shit smh

rekt

Awards voting has always been a point of contention for the Victory Hockey League. Back in the day, members would write lines upon lines espousing their one most-favored candidate for award X or Y, and it'd garner a bunch of views (relative to the size of the website, at any rate), and even within the last ten seasons folks have gotten a lot tamer with regards to getting upset during awards ceremonies. Members used to get really testy on the forum over one player or another getting AnFiByACiMo (if you know, you know).

This season's voting is far more clear-cut. Nearly 43% of voters have come out in favor of AK92 Wit da Hoodie, Riga's forward-extraordinaire who's tied for the lead in points, but with a commanding 15 goal lead and over ten times the hits (as well as more shot blocks) than the second best forward. In the VHL's new era of hybrid attributes this is challenging to come by, though certainly not as homogeneous as the ol' 99/40 split of several seasons ago. The two goalie candidates -- Helsinki's Fuukka Rask and Calgary's Merome Dilson -- are both excellent in their own right with nearly identical 93.5% save rates, ~2.3 goal against averages, and between 2250-2300 shots faced with 5 or 6 shutouts apiece. If we're talking about outstanding players, unfortunately they seem to hurt eachothers' cases - so congrats on the very likely win, Hoodie!

1. Since I know overall very little about hockey outside of these little attributes we upgrade on a weekly basis, I'd probably pick "Beginner's Luck" as a team name in hopes of making more experienced GMs squirm.

2. I generally enjoy theme week, but my time available to be able to contribute to it is pretty limited.

3. I'm definitely enjoying having less to pay attention to - it's a nice break even though I generally really enjoy my time here.

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1. What would you say are the biggest hockey stories of this VHL (or NHL) season to someone who doesn't regularly watch?

2. What do you think needs to happen for hockey to become as mainstream as things like American football and basketball in the United States? When do you think that will happen?

3. Do you participate in the league Discord? What channels are your favorites?

Prague, Czechia – With the retirement of Velociraptor Greg and the resignation of GM Acydburn coming just a week or two apart, the future of the Prague Phantoms remains in jeopardy. Its bimodal distribution of player ages – with the majority of their players living in the S84/S85 draft classes – leaves the team with some tough questions to answer in the next season or two. Namely, after S93 finishes, is the team going to pursue a retool for one last go at a championship, or is there going to be a further pursuit of a rebuild? Either situation leaves the team’s younger players in a bit of an awkward position. Indeed, currently the team’s prospects are a variety of sub-400 TPE players drafted 2-3 seasons ago, as well as Elle Aura Ashe, a 197 TPE winger from the same class as Spanish Moon Moth.

It’s becoming readily apparent that the team was coming to a difficult crossroads even before their general manager stepped down. Now that the team is also in limbo from a leadership standpoint, do the future Phantoms stand a chance against the rest of the league? Will they be too late to claim important free agents and adequately scout? These will be the questions the incoming GM has to be able to answer – and fast.

1. Uh, I guess I'm mostly hoping that the team doesn't totally fall apart. New GM, bunch of players retiring these next two seasons... a little worried I'm going to be all alone here on Prague.

2. I dunno. Probably would add another Scandinavian team since they're relatively prolific in hockey.

3. Knights of Cydonia. That bass line is something else.

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1. What's the most obscure/rare fact you know about hockey?

2. There have been a few punishments from the head office recently. What do you think about the Spirit of Competition ruling on Seattle?

3. If any one GM job suddenly became available, which opportunity would you leap for first?

Prague, Czechia – With their hopes dashed, the Prague Phantoms once again head home from the first round of the playoffs, the 4^th and 5^th seed matchup. Sadly, the series didn’t even require a full five games before the decision point was made. With Velociraptor Greg set to retire this upcoming offseason, a lack of playoff success this time around feels particularly deflating and saddening for the Phantoms, who will need to retool a bit with more retirements on the horizon. Season 84 classmates Faith Hope Love and Fred Thompson, as well as S85’s John Jameson and Nikolas Kauppo are set to retire over the subsequent two seasons – so if Prague wants to make a leap for the playoffs, they’ll need some rapid improvement from their current defenseman and a veteran pickup.

Otherwise, they’ll have to shift their focus to their S88-91 players while working with their total six first and second round picks and have to look more towards the next 5-6 seasons rather than the immediate future.

1. I don't think my player models their game after anyone in particular, he's a moth!

2. There aren't many, because I think lots of business just try to find their right time to start testing your patience. Costco might be the only one I think of readily, otherwise I try to shop around.

3. Spanish Moon Moth spends most of their paycheck on improvements to villages in the Isle of Man, and spends plenty of time working to improve communities for underserved kids in Prague.

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1. Your player is visited by the ghost of someone in their past to help guide them back to the right path - who is it and what advice do they provide?

2. Who's a player that's so old they should be washed up but isn't?

3. Do you participate in the General or VHL channels on Discord? If not, why? And if so, who are your favorite members?

1. Well, seeing as San Francisco is currently up 10-0 I guess I'll say them? I kind of have an unfair advantage though.

2. I would love my player to break the "most cups won in a career with the same team" record. Victor probably has a spreadsheet for that somewhere.

3. I would love to travel across Europe, in all honesty. I'm very poorly traveled -- whether it's Italy, any part of the UK, France, or Spain, I'd love to start with western Europe and make my way across.

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1. Way-too-early season prediction: Who's going to win the Stanley Cup this season? (and no, I don't mean the thermos smh)

2. If your team couldn't win the Continental Cup, which team would you be happiest (or least unhappy) winning in your team's stead?

3. Is the Victory Cup truly a curse for winning the Continental Cup? Why or why not?

"GREG GETS TO RETIRE TOMORROW

HYPE"

- @samx

Alas, as soon as Spanish Moon Moth finally makes their debut in the VHL, many of his best teammates face their last career battle with Father Time. S84 stalwarts Velociraptor Greg, Fred Hampton, and Faith Hope Love all have their last seasons soon-to-be on the books, though few have been as excited to leave Moth's presence as one Velociraptor Greg. Why, exactly, does Greg want to leave Prague so quickly after Moth was traded over? It remains a mystery, but the samx management agency has made their thoughts about the matter loud and clear.

Greg has amassed nearly 1,000 applied points this season and has a solid 40 points, just 13 of which have been goals -- a decent mark for a defenseman at this point in the season. What's been most impressive, however, is the team's first line plus-minus -- as Greg has a +29 and sits among a massive number of Phantoms in the top ten.

The Velociraptor will be sorely missed by Spanish Moon Moth -- but unfortunately it's not clear if the reverse will hold true.

S91's All-VHL 1st Team (per VSN)

Leandro Goncalves  - Scotty Sundin   - Molly the Cat  

Elias Lampi  - Skor McFleury

Jesse Teno 

It's awful lonely at the top. So lonely, in fact, that I don't think anyone from above's S91 All-VHL 1st Team is going to repeat. Don't believe me? Well, the decision's a little easier than you'd think.

Who Definitely Won’t Be Making the List

Jesse Teno - G -  

Joel Castle deservedly won the Kanou en route to a Continental Cup last season, far out-performing even his 42 regular season win efficiency to secure the giant trophy and ring. You could have made a pretty fair argument for regular season awards, too, as Jesse Teno had a 0.1% lower save rate and just 0.04 fewer goals allowed per game – but Castle’s lack of shutouts (3 vs Teno’s 6) probably clinched the first gen’s Shaw/Clegane combo over animal74.

Unfortunately, both Joel and Jesse have their work cut out for them. They've played 47 games this season – the second most of any starting goalie at time of writing – just 5^th in wins with 22 – and they’re not going to catch up to Malmo’s Ash Sparks. Jesse's save percentage (92.2%) also keeps him out of the top ten for the league and a half point under 5^th place (among starters), and similarly doesn’t register on the goals against average leaderboard. Teno sits at just one shutout, so unfortunately we can't make that argument, either. Unless he manages to absolutely stand on his head for the next ~15 starts there’s absolutely no way he makes All-VHL 1^st Team (or even sniffs 2^nd, for that matter). Sad days.

Leandro Goncalves – C –  

As excellent as Leandro was – winning the Slobodzian, Brooks, AND Szatkowski trophies all in one go while securing his second career Victory Cup – he unfortunately can’t make the All-VHL Team in any capacity this season.

Why? He’s retired. However, if this were twenty years ago when fewer things had been automated electronically, that probably wouldn’t stop some real-life fans from voting for him. Fandoms die hard.

Scotty Sundin – C –  

Another All-VHL First Team member, another retiree. Sorry Scotty, you’re awesome, but there’s unfortunately no reviving this glorious center for another award ceremony. Enjoy the Szatkowski and Campbell though.

Elias Lampi – D –

Yep, another first-teamer, another retiree. GG WP to the S91 Labatte and Wylde winner – truly a standout in a very competitive landscape.

Who Probably Won’t Be Making the List

Molly the Cat – RW –

Jcarson’s Christian Stolzschweiger winner and former VHL champion (going back to S88) is a stellar player – and that’s not just because he’s added exactly 1,337 TPE to the Cat at time of writing. Molly has never won an individual award since her debut season for the VHL, but was certainly a dark horse candidate after scoring 107 points including 52 goals, a full 23 of which were on the power play. It’s worth noting that the winger was a much harder/frequent hitter in her early career, having seen a steady decline from 275 hits in her sophomore season on a year-by-year basis. She’s on pace for just under 150 this season – which admittedly would be a tiny uptick from previous.

It seems as though I’ve got a lot of praise for the winger – and in fairness, Molly is 10^th in shots taken this season with 9 total power play goals. Sadly,  her 56 points leave her a full 8 out of the top ten this season, and unless she suddenly picks up a boatload of hits to put her in contention from a two-way forward standpoint this season, there isn’t much of a shot to make it on the All-VHL 1^st (or likely even the 2^nd) team.

Skor McFleury – D –  

The former Davos, Riga, and Malmo player hasn’t exactly had the most stable of careers – unfortunately being the subject of a full four trades throughout his career since creation. Indeed, McFleury was moved from the now-defunct Rush to the Express in S86, then after making it to the majors was traded rom Riga -> Davos (S89) where he won the Continental Cup (S89), Victory Cup (S90), and Valiq (again, S90). The carousel simply wouldn’t end, however, as McFleury was traded yet again in both S91 (to Malmo) requiring a waiving of his NTC, as well as S92 to his current team in Calgary.

I’ll make the argument that Skor has a fairer shot than Molly, however, as he’s currently fifth in points and has substantially more hits than both Pierre Emile Bouchard and compatriot Reese McFleury with a similar number of points. Let’s settle on All-VHL 2^nd Team upside, as Jacob Stone and Mark Calaway both have slight leads in points, hits, and shots blocked. 1^st Team is a bigger ask and, while we’ve got maybe a couple dozen more games to go, I’m not sure he can eat into those leads in time.

1. Uhh... I don't really follow the NHL in all honesty. I think I happened to watch the game where Alex Ovechkin got his 700th goal so I guess him? Alternatively, I saw that one zamboni driver guy be a goalie for a game years ago, so probably him.

2. My favorite memory is probably coming back. I was inactive when Hiro Renomitsu (way back in the first two dozen seasons) won my first cup, so that doesn't really count. I do remember coming back to make Apollo Hackett (who suuuuucked) and seeing a lot of familiar faces despite taking half a decade away from the VHL. That was really cool.

3. I'd probably change the earning system just a little bit to fit my lifestyle a little better -- more short tasks worth slightly fewer TPE so I don't feel the pressure of putting out a media spot every week.

1. Is VHL your first sim league -- and is it your only sim league right now? If not, where else are you simming?

2. 2023 was an historic year for gaming. Did you play any of the newest, coolest titles? If not, what were you up to?

3. Do you believe that a franchise and/or fanbase can be cursed? If so, what's your best example (and is your fanbase cursed)?

This player has ZERO points added to passing or scoring-relevant attributes and is already leading one statistical category in the VHL despite being only in their second season in the VHL.

Simons Worst Nightmare (no apostrophe).

Who on Earth is this player – who has ostensibly figured out something about STHS – and why on earth do they exist? In comparing their point production to other players, Nightmare has a comparable number of points to many of the league’s top rookies despite playing on a very future-focused Seattle Bears team, and a pace that is due to match, if not exceed, their 265 shot blocks from last season. zepheter’s S90 Draft create is a champion of Puck Handling and Defense, with each sitting at 87 at time of writing, and absolutely no stats related to scoring. He could just as easily have created a player with a bunch of checking and fighting to amplify his team’s shot at the #1 selection, but instead has a build with superior defensive capabilities and, honestly, pretty reasonable scoring abilities without having dropped a single point in the coveted wrist/slapshot and offensive vision attributes.

zepheter, what have you done?

1. Ooh, unfortunately I'm horribly traveled. Oddly, I loved going to Chicago and just walking around to bakeries, touristy stuff like museums and parks, etc. The Bean is awesome. There are obviously some places that aren't great in Chicago but I personally loved the downtown area.

2. Nope, I don't have the money for one at the moment. Hopefully that'll change very significantly in the next 3-5 years, because I would love to help the environment out.

3. My player would probably drive a Prius but try their best not to be snooty about it.

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1. What's your favorite party game? It can be alcoholic, non-alcoholic, word-based, board game, anything!

2. As someone who's never followed a hockey team before (yes, seriously), which franchise would you recommend to me?

3. Who's your player's rival, if anyone? How did it get that way?

The Isle of Man, a tiny crown dependency in the middle of the northern Irish Sea, has just five active players – including a sub-100 TPE legend, right winger beaubeau primetime, both Moths, Aeschylus Jigglejawns CXXXVII II (whom I’m eagerly anticipating being called “AJ Jr.”) and Season 87’s Reinhard von Kongming, a Kylrad classic defender that currently plays for Chicago. Historically, only a few other players have ever bothered to come over from the island of just 84,069 people, a nice, tiny population that allows for plenty of individuality.

The dependency’s lone player of true note was center Chad Magnum, a Season 70 first gen from Corco who achieved notoriety by absolutely stealing the S73 Scott Boulet out of nowhere, a season where Toronto unfortunately missed the playoffs. His best season only allowed for 89 total points and a massive 385 hits while accruing a +28 plus-minus.

There are so many “firsts” still up for grab for this tiny island nation – this is my formal call to have as many players as possible join us in the northern Irish Sea, so that one day, like Greenland, we can have our own tiny niche team with little to no further explanation.

Transaction ID: 0XW5511792961232S

Claiming Week Ending 1/21/24:

5 Uncapped

$1M Player Store

Claiming Later:

PT Doubles Week

Am I Washed?

Short Answer: Maybe? Long(er) Answer Below.

Woof. For someone who’s historically done well in sim sports leagues, Spanish Moon Moth’s career has not gone as I’d expect it to – at least not so far. And I have to say, thus far it’s deserved – a manager like Seattle’s Banackock, who has historically been shrewd, discerning, and resultantly very successful – does not take trading away an important asset and high selection very lightly. On December 23^rd, 2023, he elected to trade Spanish Moon over to Prague with an S93 second round selection from Davos in exchange for Steve Lattimer, a first, second, and fourth in that season’s draft. The team was clearly in rebuilding mode and hadn’t found what it wanted from my player in the first season or so after being drafted – and as a team that has to take a multi-season future view, that meant acquiring as many new resources as possible to get the rebuild back on track.

Perhaps part of my initial surprise at being traded was hubris. I like to think we both handled our respective ends of the trade professionally, and I’m quite excited to spend my career with Acyd as my manager. But the TPE rankings are what they are – and Spanish Moon isn’t doing as well as I have typically fared. As a result of a few busy weeks, in fact, Zetterberg’s Leif Reingaard has just hit the century mark over my player’s TPE. That hasn’t happened to me before, and certainly has never happened this early in my career. Both he and Daniel Janser are absolute terrors when it comes to earning. But this also isn’t the height of my sim league participation like 2019 and the greater part of the pandemic were, and obviously my place in life isn’t quite the same. Thankfully, I’m also not stuck being the same user I was during my year-long hiatus from sim leagues, working through an absolutely grueling second year of residency. I won’t make excuses: even after my second post-graduate year (PGY-2), I was not the best sim league user by the numbers.

It’s also tough to watch my player slip in the rankings (again, deservedly) as someone who has strived to be the best at everything I do. I was drafted fourth overall in the S91 VHL draft, and had slipped to tenth in VSN’s first VHL Future Watch. What hurt arguably more was Spanish Moon Moth’s further descent completely out of the rankings as a whole. Yeah, I know my class is stupidly stacked and even FrostBeard has dropped down to fifth in the rankings. Velv and tcookie have hovered around my player’s rankings too. It’s not often a top five player gets scooted over without significant interpersonal controversy – and there’s certainly no bad blood between Bana and I.

Ultimately, I wish I could have been a bit of a better communicator with Bana. You can bet, however, that I’m giving Prague my all, the very same I would have given any earnest, high-quality manager, titles that both Acyd and Bana obviously meet. I’m going to re-prove my worth to this league once more – even if that means running under the radar for a little while.

1. I hear that Wayne Gretzky guy was pretty good, but I don't follow hockey in real life very closely despite being part of the VHL for over a decade.

2. I feel like everyone has their rituals. I have a very specific meal that will remain unspecified in this thread I eat before every game, which is impressive because each sim day may include 2-3 games for a single team. There's a small collection of gameday underwear that I wear too; it's not a single set because that'd be... really unsanitary.

3. I follow the NFL and (peripherally) the NBA. I follow the MLB when the Orioles are close to or above .500, but when it's bad it's really bad.

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1. Do you sing in the shower? And only partially related, do you live with other people (SOs, roommates, dogs/cats/birds, etc)?

2. How often do you tidy your living space? And separate, how often do you clean your living space?

3. Who's going to win the Continental Cup this season? Who's got the most promising future, e.g. 2-4 seasons from now?