jack

VHL Talks #1
featuring @boubabi
Run time: 1h36m
Please leave feedback on the podcast in this thread, thank you and enjoy.
 
 
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PODCAST SUMMARY
Introduction & General VHL Talk
Who is boubabi? Players, TPE, Awards, Activity, Graphics, Logos, GMing, VHLM Magazine, Graphics Resources, Draft Projects, Past VHL Talk, Future VHL Talk, state of the league.
 
Question Period (there are more questions and discussion throughout, just a basic overview here)
Some questions asked – In-depth discussions of various other topics occur throughout. All VHL related. Thanks to those who asked questions on discord.
1.    Do you still keep tabs on the forum?
2.    Are you active on any other simulation leagues?
3.    Are you still doing graphic design?
4.    How do you feel about the league using your logos?
5.    What are your thoughts on the indefinite ban since it happened 16 months ago? Do you take any accountability for what happened? Looking back do you think it was justified?
6.    Do you regret what happened in the S59 Slobodzian Trophy voting thread?
7.    Did you feel like you were attacked by different people at the same time and had to defend yourself?
8.    Your side of the story, why did things get so toxic?
9.    Should there be an appeal system for bans after X amount of time?
10.    Would you ever join under an alias?
11.    What was your finest moment in the VHL? Why did you enjoy it?
12.    Members that you miss?
13.     LISTENER QUESTION: Do you remember the all-star game sims? ( @Beaviss)
13.    LISTENER QUESTION: What would you tell people that weren’t around 16 months ago and have joined the league since you were banned about yourself in the league? ( @GustavMattias)
14.    Do you want to comeback?
15.    LISTENER QUESTION: If he re-created, what kind of player would we see him bring into the fold?
Does he have a preferred destination? ( @Tate)
16.    Would you be able to play nice and water under the bridge?

Hello ladies and gentlemen, what a week it has been!  Your Ottawa Lynx are number one in the VHL.  There is lots of news to cover not only with the Lynx but the VHL as a whole.  As far as Ottawa goes, it has been a very successful week!  Ottawa has overtaken Philadelphia for first place, leading the VHLM by 4 points with only 8 games to go.  If Ottawa wins 5 out of those 8 they lock up the number one seed in the playoffs.  Can they do it?  What does this mean for their championship hopes?  Will they get revenge for last season?
 
                 As far as players go, Zeno Miniti still has the lead in points with 127.  Thorny Underyew is second with 110 while Anthony Hawk has 99.  Ottawa also has the league’s top 3 goal scorers, Underyew has potted 55, Miniti has scored 50 and Hawk has netted 46.  What a season these guys are having.  Finnegan MacBurn has snuck into the top 10 in points for defenseman, putting up a 5 point game this week.  The biggest storyline is what has been going on with Raymond Bernard?  He has been getting less and less starts as the year goes on.  While backup Samuel Ross has been playing great, he is certainly not the superstar in making that Bernard has been this season.  I have heard from sources though that it’s just rewarding Ross for working hard as a backup.  I have it on good record that the reason Ross started against Philadelphia (which Ottawa won in a shootout 3-2) was to show that Ottawa had the tools to win no matter who was in net.  There doesn’t seem to be any grumbling from the locker room, so I doubt this will be much of an issue heading into the playoffs.  We will see.
 
                As for the big VHL news, word from the league is that it is expanding to 12 teams.  The board of directors, overjoyed at the amount of VHLM players trying to make the jump, voted last week on the expansion.  My sources say it will be one North American team and one team from Europe or Asia.  Expansion teams usually start out slowly in the VHL but this year does have a strong crop of rookies.
 
               So where exactly will they expand to?  Right now there are a lot of major US cities without a franchise.  Do the directors try to tackle some of the bigger leagues for fans?  Should they try a small town with no competition?  How about a non traditional hockey market? San Diego and Mexico City have VHLM teams and while both are not super successful in the standings, they seem pretty strong financially.  I highly doubt it is enough to move a major franchise in.  Personally I would like to see a Kansas City franchise.  The KC area has had successful franchises in other sports and seem to have great fan presence every year.  If the team is successful, the fans will show up.  People in Kansas City don’t need a championship to come out, as long as the team plays well, they will support well.
             
              On the European side, that is kind of a tough one.  A lot of the major European cities have a franchise.   Do you really want to put a team in soccer crazy Rome, Spain, or London?  Cologne has already had their shot.  Would Berlin be any better?  Paris is soccer crazy as well.  Most of the major hockey crazed cities have franchises.  I propose Prague.  Prague has a rich history with hockey and has produced great players before.  I think it would be close enough to Germany to get some fans from that area.  Another bonus is that it is close to Riga and could be a great rivalry to the Reign.
That’s it for this week in Lynx hockey.  
 
           Next week will be the playoff preview as the Lynx try to bring home another cup.  It’s still too early to call who they will be playing as there are lots of leap frogging that could take place!

I know, isnt it a pretty low move to make a nice sig and slap your own name on it
 
 

the chemistry is bubbling over  

Draft Interview
 

 
ECN is returning this season with another round of Pre-draft interviews with highly valued prospects. Season 68 VHL Entry draft is showing great promise for many teams willing to stack up on players in the draft. Expansion teams and everyone else, get ready for one of the most flashy and interesting players in VHLM this season. One of the reasons why Ottawa is doing so great - their highly valued centre Thorny Underyew. He has shown many, truly many reasons why a team needing a centreman should pick up T.Underyew. He is clearly one of the best offensive players in VHLM this season.
 
ECN called Thorny Underyew right before his morning practice.
 
- Huge thanks for freeing up some time for an interview. To start off, how would you rank this season for your player?
- This season has completely exceeded my expectation. I was warned that it would be difficult to adjust to the North American pace, and it definitely took me a while, but I think as a team we are completely rolling right now. Everybody is contributing and I can't wait to see how we finish this off.
- What do you believe is the best part of you as a community member and LR presence?
- I bring a certain style to the community and to my teammates. I'm certainly one of the more soft-spoken players in the league, but people do turn their heads when they see me. I like to look good and I like helping my teammates look good too.
- Now to the current draft. Which are the teams that you would like to join in VHL with the help of the draft?
-  I've always liked the idea of playing in Seattle. But to be honest with you I'm just happy to play hockey at the highest level. There are also two new teams coming into play. Who knows where I'll end up!
- What is more important for you - success no matter what or building a legacy with one team?
- That would certainly depend on the team. If I'm somewhere that I love, I won't want to leave. I'll want to grow there and attempt to establish myself as a stalwart of the organization. If the fit isn't right though, I wouldn't be opposed to moving on to pursue my own goals.
- In the end, what do you believe will future bring for you and what is that you want to say to GM's looking at you as a potential draft pick?
- You'll be seeing a lot more of Thorny. And maybe where you least expect it!
- Thanks for the quik interview Mr.Underyew, good luck for the rest of the season!
- Oh, I will be having the best season I have ever had!
 
The clear #1 Forward prospect this draft with great scoring ability and fairly nice defensive game considering how many points Thorny Underyew is able to get throughout a quality season with good teammates. We are predicting that Mr.Underyew will be selected in the Top 2 this upcoming draft as players like him are truly hard to come by. 
 
Everyone on the staff of ECN wishes Mr.Underyew to have the best possible time at the draft and share that beautiful moment of getting drafted with friends and family!
 
People mentioned @jack

A 5 point game for MacBurn Let's go!
 
@jack Yes I did assist Thorny Underyew on his hat trick goals and I appreciate the reciprocation on mine good sir.

If we do this there damn well better be a graphics equivalent too (maybe this is how VHLGFX can finally be worth TPE?).

I've got a couple of you on Facebook that would have seen this already. Just wanted to share it so everyone here is on the same page. I have every intention of keeping my usual level of VHL activity but obviously that could change so we'll see how things go. I just wanted you all to know about it.
 

@Bruins10

rock Louth

You said we would do sig for sig. Well, i put my end of the bargain up first. Your turn
 
@STZ
 

Alright, so I decided for this week's theme to write the profiles of the 2 GMs. @diamond_ace and @Enorama are two of my absolute favourite sim league members so it should be easy enough. Part I - this media spot - will be about Jason Glasser, d_a's GM persona. Later this week, I'll write Part II about Eno's GM, which we'll call Eno Rama for now (scratch that, his GM player is George Washington). This one will be a VHL.com article because, let's be honest, there won't be as much to talk about when it comes to Eno compared to d_a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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S68 EXPANSION GM PROFILES, PART I
A love letter to diamond_ace
 
GM Experience
If I counted well, Glasser had 3 stints in the VHLM (Ottawa from S20 to S25, Oslo from S43 to S45 and Ottawa from S59 to S64) and a single one in the VHL. If this only tenure as a VHL GM is any indication of the future, we might stuck dealing with Glasser as a GM of this new franchise well into the 80's, as he managed the Calgary Wranglers for a then record-breaking 16 straight seasons (from S26 to S41), a record that has since been beaten by Banackock, who's currently in the 19th season of his tenure with the Seattle Bears. 
 
He only has one Continental Cup to show for his 16 seasons with the Wranglers, but he put his name on the GM of the Year award no less than 3 times during that span. I wasn't here for that time so I can only imagine how it all went down, but the fact he was voted best GM 3 times tells me he made good moves and had great rosters 3 times, but ran on some bad case of Simon luck. Sometimes, the engine just doesn't want the better teams to win, which is what keeps it fresh as members of the league, but it can also be very frustrating when you're a GM and you feel like you're banging against the wall, never being able to go the distance despite dressing the best lineup in the VHL.
 
GM Style
I had the pleasure of playing under Glasser (with Enorama, too, fun coincidence) in my first season in the VHL. He led our Ottawa Lynx to a Founder's Cup in S62. He seemed to me like he was an experienced GM that knew what he was doing. From the draft, he had a plan in mind and he stuck to it. Many discredited us from the start because our team was built around first-gen members with low TPE numbers (Wilinsky, myself), with very few high TPE players returning from S61. Glasser took risks, but he was patient with us and only traded for more firepower (Kastelic) when the price was right for the team and it all paid off in the end.
 
I was then blessed the next season, when I was offered an AGM role on the very team with which I won the Founder's Cup. My player went on to pursue his pro career, but I stayed as d_a's helper. I only stayed there for around a season, before pursuing a GMing opportunity myself, but I got to see another side of Jason's personality that really impressed me at the time: how respectful he was towards his players. We had some great players (Dahlberg, Gebauer, Davison, Svoboda, among others) but lacked the depth to truly be able to compete with the better teams. The GM offered our players to trade them to better teams if they wanted to chase a Founder's Cup. It would have made more sense for the team to sell everyone and go for a big year in S64, but he respected everyone's choice. Some people wanted to stay with us because they'd get more time every night and more opportunity to put their names on the scoresheet in Ottawa than with a top team already filled with capped players. It didn't make sense with the team direction to keep more than half of our top players, but it was their wishes and he honoured them all which I thought was honourable from him. We ended up upsetting the first-seeded team and moved on to the finals, but there we truly saw how better the other team was and lost in only a few games to Saskatoon.
 
Team Identity Prediction
Ever since my stint in Ottawa working with him, d_a and I have talked in private about life stuff and all. We became good internet buds. He even invited to join another league he's a part of at some point (which I also abandonned during The Great Burnout of '19, sorry engi, it was fun but I went too big for the time i actually had to invest in simleagues). Well, in this other league, he was a GM for a team he chose to move in Czechia. And it might not be a known fact to some people, but some others know that he's been pushing for a Czech VHL franchise for a while. I'm not a betting man, but if I was, I'd put a 20 on the fact that Glasser takes control of the 6th European franchise and he places them in Prague.
 
Now, for the name and colours, I'll admit I have no idea what he's up to. So I'll just take a very wild guess and say the team will be called the Lions and will wear black, red and gold jerseys. I don't know why, i feel like it. Prague Lions. Sounds good, no?
 
Conclusion
People can expect good things from Jason Glasser as the GM of the yet to be named 6th European franchise. I'm sure he'll again be a charm for players he manages and he'll still look to put competitive teams on the ice every season. He won't be scared to trade if he feels this is the direction the team has to take to succeed short or long term, but he won't be the kind of GM to send trade offers to each of his colleagues every other day for the simple fun of overhauling his own roster. I realized having a good competitive team is everyone's goal, but still, to me, d_a is a perfect candidate for this job and I'm excited to see the team name he comes up with and what kind of team he'll try to lead to the highest honours of lifting the Continental Cup in, hopefully for him, a near future.
 
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So, once again, congratulations @diamond_ace, you deserve this team. I'm happy for you, bud.
 
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1,089 words
Claiming for weeks ending on Aug. 18 (along with the bonus from the Theme Week) and Aug. 25 (along with the lottery double week)

No can do! I need that spot!

good tournament, unfortunate ending

stay back!

Thoughts
I created a logo, but I figured I'd also add a couple comments about the upcoming draft. I think it is very exciting to see the VHL at the state it is in right now. When I left VHl had just did their contraction, and the thoughts were we would be luck if we could ever get back into shape to bring us back to 10 teams, and hopefully we wouldn't have to go less than 8. Now only 8 seasons later, a generation for one player, and the league has not only regained the two teams they lost, but are adding another two. The important thing is that the expansion is NEEDED. This isn't an expansion for the sake of expansion, but there are literal outcries of people who are qanting more ice time, that are held back due to the lack of teams. That is such a positive sign for the league, and it's really made my return to the league that much more exciting.
 
The expansion draft looks to be held in the off-season with S68 being the inaugural season for the two unannounced teams. I remember when Cologne and Quebec were announced the draft class was very top-heavy. You look at the draft class in S68 and there are almost 40 players at 100 TPE. To put that into perspective, I remember my first player was drafted 1st OV in S30 with 175 TPE. There are future cornerstome players with highly prestigious members such as @CowboyinAmerica @Green @jack @Sixersfan549 @.sniffuM and a number of high earning TPE guys that I don't recognize (only because I've been back for a week). I'm not sure if this draft class will be available for the new expansions but if so, nabbing one of these guys could shoot you into relevency immediately.
 
Looking ahead to S69's draft, I'm very excited to go through a brand new experience with my new player. I feel rejuvinated and inspired again with the VHL. It hasn't been since my first player where I was actually excited for the draft hype and build-up for which teams had interest in my player and where I was going to land. I know there are a number of great GM's I'd love to play for, but also a lot of new GM's I haven't actually met (which might be the more exciting thing). 
 
Congrats to @diamond_ace and @Enorama, our two new GM's. I know Jason will do great, he has immense experience with the league and as Calgary GM. Not familiar with Enorma, but I love that there's a fresh face being given a chance.

0.0 - Introduction
 
To begin, I'm not calling myself the god of sigs, but I do think I have improved a lot since my return to the VHL earlier this year. Hopefully this thread can help out some people struggling to consistently create nice sigs.
 
Here we go.
 
 
1.0 - Composition
 
The difference between a good sig and a fantastic sig often lies in its composition. That is, its layout of the elements, and its flow. There are a few key things to note in this category, and these things are easy to do.
 
1.1 - Rule of Thirds
 
The rule of thirds states that interesting elements and focal points should be on the intersecting points of a 3x3 grid.
 
In the following sig, the render's face and logo are on an intersecting point, as well as the text.
 

 
The main thing to note here is that you shouldn't put stuff in the dead centre.
 
1.2 - Depth
 
Depth in a sig is what makes it seem complete. To create depth, you will usually need a combination of stocks and effects. 
 

 
In this sig, the foreground is the render and the some surrounding area. The background is a bit of the left and the rest of the right. The depth comes from the "bokeh" effect, or simple stated, the blur. An easy way to create depth is to make a layer on top of everything else when you're done, and Gaussian Blur it between 1px and 2px. Erase (or mask) the parts that you want to be in focus, mainly your render and the text.
 
 
2.0 - Stocks
 
Stocks, put simply, are photographs or digital images of anything that you put in your sig to make it look cool.
 
This is one of my sigs without the render or text.
 

 
Some of the stocks in there are splatters, c4ds, or lighting effects (Click those links to find thousands of examples.)
 
Other stocks include landscapes, patterns or just cool pictures.
 
Many often get messed up with the sort of blend modes they're supposed to use for a stock. Best advice here is to experiment, but the most common blend modes are Soft Light, Overlay, Screen/Lighten, Multiply/Darken and occasionally Color Burn/Color Dodge. 
 
A good trick for when a stock is too intense is to play with its Levels instead of its Opacity. Hit Ctrl+L (Cmd+L) when you are on that layer and adjust the middle slider until it looks good. And never be afraid to erase ugly parts!
 
 
3.0 - Text
 
Text is often the biggest issue for sig makers. Many simply don't put in enough effort, and many don't know what effort to put in.
 
One simple thing to do is give it a background.
 

 
This will give the text some substance, and make it easier to read.
 
Don't be scared of hiding some of the text with the render. As long as it is still readable, it can work.
 

 
Never be afraid to spice up the text with some flare. Add a bunch of periods or 'x's. Maybe even some small gibberish that is just for aesthetics.
 

 
Final tip for text: always try multiple versions. Do three totally different attempts of text on each sig you do, with different fonts, spacing, effects, colouring etc. This is the number one way to improve your text.
 
 
4.0 - Assorted Techniques
 
4.1 - Displacement Maps
 
Duplicate your render. Go Filter > Distort > Displace. Hit OK or choose some different numbers. Locate an old .psd of yours. This will distort the render into some cool looking formations.
 

 
It might look weird here, but if you put it behind your render, it can give a nice effect.
 
4.2 - Gradient Maps
 
Seems pretty obvious for experienced sigmakers but it took me a long time to realise Gradient Map didn't mean use the Gradient tool. Hit the Black and White circle at the bottom of the layers panel and choose Gradient Map or go Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map. A Gradient Map will map colours to your sig based on the light. 
 

 
The render on the right has a purple to orange Gradient Map on it set to Soft Light. Mess around with different colours and blend modes to find some interesting effects.
 
4.3 - Shapes & Lines
 
Using polygons and lines is one of my favourite techniques. Draw the shape with the polygonal lasso tool or use the Shape Tool.
 

 
The triangles in this sig were made using the shape tool and various colours.
 
 
4.4 - Color Dodge Dots
 
Create a new layer and set it to Color Dodge. Choose a soft brush (circular) and set it anywhere from 15px - 100px. Turn on size jitter if you're feeling funky. Choose a color that is on the darker half of the spectrum (halfway down inside the colour picker window). Now just click a few times in spots that need some brightening up.
 
This. 
 

 
To this. 
 

 
(Also did some blurring to this one).
 
4.5 - Clipping Masks
 
Clipping masks are using in many different ways. You can use them to isolate an adjustment layer to just on layer, blend in splatter effects, create nice backgrounds or make nice text. Here are a few examples.
 
A clipping mask, in its basic form, has the colour of one layer aligned to the shape of another. The colour layer is on top of the shape.
 

 
In this example, the circle layer is beneath the army pattern layer. To create this, you make the circle layer directly underneath the army pattern layer. Then, right click on the army pattern layer and select 'Create Clipping Mask'.
 
In this example, the text has a clipping mask of the render.
 

 
 
While in this example, the splatters at the bottom-right and bottom-middle have clipping masks applied to them. The goal of this effect is to have it blend better with the rest of the sig.
 

 
 
Finally, in this sig the large circle is a clipping mask from the left side of the sig.
 

 
 
5.0 - Final Touches to Sigs
 
There are a few things that I do to nearly every sig I make. These are almost universal to sigs, and should improve many sigs.
 
Starting point:
 

 
5.1 - Hue Layer
 
Make a new Gradient Map. Make the first colour whatever colour suits your sig, and your second colour black or white (doesn't matter). 
 

 
5.2 - Exposure Layer
 
Make a new Exposure layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Exposure). My settings are: Exposure: 0, Offset: +0.0164, Gamma Correction: 0.89.
 

 
This makes the dark less overpowering.
 
5.3 - B/W Layer
 
Sometimes some coloured parts of a sig should grab less attention. An easy way to fix this is making that part black and white. Make a new layer and set it to Color. Brush in black anywhere that is drawing too much attention from it's color.
 

 
5.4 - High Pass
 
Make a new layer. Select all (Ctrl + A/Cmd + A) then hit Ctrl + Shift + C/Cmd + Shift + C to copy the entire sig. Then, paste it on the new layer (Ctrl + V/Cmd + V). Then go Filter > Other > High Pass and set it anywhere from 10px to 100px. Set this on Soft Light or Overlay and mess around with its Opacity.
 

 
5.5 - Blur
 
Finally, to create some depth, I again go through the steps of copying the whole sig and pasting it (another way to do this is making a new layer and going Image > Apply Image). Then I go Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set it between 1px and 2px. Erase the render and text and other details that should remain sharp.
 

 
 
6.0 - Conclusion
 
Hopefully this helps some people in their sig making. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reply. I will likely add to this later as well.

The race for third on this list is heating up big time.

proving myself on the world stage.
 
way to go team!

6 and 0 let's go

We've got that Eurovision!

Another 3 pt game no big just trying to please daddy @McWolf and make him notice me