DoktorFunk

My very first recruitment graphic and one of the very first graphics I ever made. I remember being really into putting color gradients over pictures of cities at the time, and I also remember that the text looks the way it does because I pressed random things until it got that way. I then proceeded to ask what I did, so I could hopefully do it again, and learned that this isn't the greatest graphic in the world and that no one else had any idea either.
 
 
Way back in S66, the VHLM expanded--again. I was part of the league's (at the time) historic S66 draft class, which was already given a good amount of room to work with by the addition of Houston and Philadelphia in S65. Heck, I was even part of the very first Houston team, even though that's not something I'll get into here. In S66, the league brought in Mississauga, Mexico City, and San Diego. And it was here that I would get hired, after just one season in the league, to my very first GM job...the very first GM of the Mississauga Hounds.
 
For the next 4-plus seasons, the team would be mine. I grabbed an old Houston teammate of mine in @Radcow as my first AGM, and off we went--the S66 Hounds team alone would feature names like @DoktorFunk, @Rayzor_7, @Hogan, and of course, current Wild GM (and longtime AGM of mine) @Berocka as first-gens. And that's not even mentioning Scottish legend (and VHLM points leader) Callum MacElroy and eventual AGM-of-a-couple-teams Cody Smith. From the very first season, the Hounds were a very special place. 
 
Other first-gens who originally called Mississauga home in my time and built one or more solid careers upon it include @Telkster, @Cxsquared, @Patrik Tallinder, and 4th-round pick @Ricer13 (whose draft slot I initially traded into targeting someone else I didn't realize had been picked. Although, good riddance--I don't even remember who that was because they went IA immediately, and we got Ricer!). And, of course, I have to give an honorary mention to @DarkSpyro, whose career began as a waiver signing in Ottawa but whose activity we watched explode with the Hounds. We'd all come together to create something that was beyond a team and was even almost a community in itself. Our locker room was talked about around the entire league, and that isn't just my own GM bias. Do you know how hard that is to achieve, especially when you're just a VHLM team and no one is supposed to care about you? We did that.
 
Together, we would build up a team that made the playoffs in its very first season, took a step back, and made two very serious runs at the championship in S68 and S69. In fact, we'd make the finals in S69, but lose to a borderline unstoppable Saskatoon team. In a season where I'd banked more mid-late picks than anyone else (a range where I'd typically excelled in drafts previous because I'd scout the absolute heck out of them), it was just our luck that there wasn't a single active to be found outside the first round and a half. Sometimes I wonder what may have changed with a draft class that looked more like the ones before it, but at the end of the day...I can be proud that we made the very first finals appearance in franchise history.
 
But anyway, hello everyone. Perhaps you're wondering why I'm pinging you--this certainly isn't the very first time I've reflected on my time as GM, and it's been almost four real-life years since I ran the Hounds. But since there's a general lack of VHLM awareness, I thought I'd let you (and maybe a lot of others) know...
 
...that for the very first time in franchise history, the Mississauga Hounds are Founder's Cup Champions.
 
You got that right. It took over 4 years to get there, it took a long list of GM changes, and it took a whole lot of hard work through countless rule changes and VHLM stuff, but at long last, the GM who can claim the title is none other than @vincentlg2007, in his very first team management gig. The team is still fighting through it all, wins are still being chased, and in what I can tell you is nothing short of an administrative miracle, the exact same server that I created as a college freshman is still up and running.
 
And isn't it nice to look over the list of Hounds past and imagine what the future might hold for the franchise? Heck, this team just did what I couldn't, even with the names I had. And while I'm generally obligated to be impartial and spent most of the season neither knowing nor caring how the Hounds were doing, seeing the outcome of the Cup still gave me a sense of pride. It's not my team anymore, but it was my very first as a GM and I'll never forget the time I spent there, much like I hope you won't forget the best of your early-VHL experiences.
 
Until next week!

Love ya man! Thanks for having me! It was magical! 
 
Excited to get to know Helsinki!

Love ya man! Thanks for having me! It was magical! 
 
Excited to get to know Helsinki!

Love ya man! Thanks for having me! It was magical! 
 
Excited to get to know Helsinki!

Helsinki receives:
Chip Stone

Seattle receives:
S89 VAN 1st
S90 VAN 2nd


This trade has been accepted by all parties and is pending league approval.

Thank you @DoktorFunk for coming to Seattle with another player. I appreciate and love you, brother. Hell of a run. One win away from another.. maybe we will get another one day tofether!! Somehow.. 
 
Thanks for the talks Rayz

Damn guitar players. If I were better at it and in your area I’d help you out; the world needs real music. 
 
Good to see you still hanging in there and best of luck as always!

Had some family in town but I’m trying to be more active here!
 
Da Bears are off to an absolutely absurd start. I never imagined we would be this good this year, but I can’t say I’m exactly surprised. I just hope I don’t fuck up my build by adding too much into him.
Speaking of fucking up, my team in the NHL can no longer reach the playoffs. Feels bad man. I wonder how these playoffs are gonna shake out. I REALLY wonder if anyone can even come close to beating Boston.
Been working on a lot of music. That has been a CHORE. It’s been fun but god damn, we’ve had like three guitar players quit because they don’t want to do any of the promo work. What is it with people? There’s serious money to be made; you can’t just show up and expect to play guitar and nothing else. 
 
IDK man, life is hard. Hope everyone here is doing great!

Had some family in town but I’m trying to be more active here!
 
Da Bears are off to an absolutely absurd start. I never imagined we would be this good this year, but I can’t say I’m exactly surprised. I just hope I don’t fuck up my build by adding too much into him.
Speaking of fucking up, my team in the NHL can no longer reach the playoffs. Feels bad man. I wonder how these playoffs are gonna shake out. I REALLY wonder if anyone can even come close to beating Boston.
Been working on a lot of music. That has been a CHORE. It’s been fun but god damn, we’ve had like three guitar players quit because they don’t want to do any of the promo work. What is it with people? There’s serious money to be made; you can’t just show up and expect to play guitar and nothing else. 
 
IDK man, life is hard. Hope everyone here is doing great!

21. First of all, that's ridiculous. Second, a shit ton of shots
22. Not surprising at all. We've been hot for like 20 seasons now. I think we just have a great GM!
23. I like how Chip has started! It's made me want to contribute more!
24. Fur Coat by Bear Skin Cologne
26. Too early to tell in my opinion. 
27. "Stone me, Chip daddy".

Hi DeGroot
 
 
This Booberry guy is pretty good. Maybe that’s why Seattle traded for him?? Makes sense now!
 
BEARZ

BERRZ

@Hogan
@Berocka
@dlamb
 
For being three stars, your next donation is on me. Let me know when you want it.

Putting this here:
 
The owners of whatever players are the 3 stars of the VHL all star game will have a max donation made by me for them whenever they choose.

Hi Everyone! The VHL All-Star Game is back and better than ever! The game will be live streamed this Thursday night by @DoktorFunk and @DarkSpyro (Time TBA)!
For the initial selections 3 players from each team were nominated with one of them going straight on the All-Star team and the other 2 will be on the ballot (link at bottom)!
Without Further to do, let's get into the selections!
 
TEAM NORTH AMERICA
 
Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser 
 
Bo Johansson @Shindigs
 
Vasile Lamb @dlamb
 
Callum Murray @Berocka
 
Napoleon Dynamite @thadthrasher
 
Hulk Hogan 2 @Hogan
 
Sting Chameleon @Hybrid1486
 
Brandt Fuhr @Tate
 
 
TEAM EUROPE
 
Xavier Booberry @CowboyinAmerica
 
Daryl Dixon @Ricer13
 
Mikhail Kovalchuk @Banackock
 
Max Torq @Steve
 
Ronan Lavelle @Arce
 
Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream
 
Tavish DeGroot @rory
 
Brendan Marner @MetalToday
 
PLEASE VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/fYD4Jy5BBEJfoi9TA
Voting closes in 24 hours!

Hello VHL!!
Another successful Charity Drive has come and gone for Xmas!! I am so very proud of the community for smashing the $2500.00 stretch goal this year~ as a thank you, the reward for hitting the goal this year is… me screaming a couple of Xmas songs in the style of deathcore!!🤘🏻🔥🎶


Track 1:
Carol of the Bells - August Burns Red (cover by DarkSpyro)
 
Track 2:
Merry Axe Mas - Ice Nine Kills (cover by DarkSpyro)

**Carol of the Bells - August Burns Red is open and available (for anyone with the Smule app) to join me at any time if you wish to duet with me for fun!**

Another big thank you to everyone in the league for your hard work this year, and of course to everyone again for blowing past the stretch goal of $2500 in the charity drive!! Much love, and have an epic 2023!!
 
-DarkSpyro 🔥⚡️

1. To be honest, I'd love a new computer. Typing up point tasks on my phone is getting old and I'd love to be able to try graphics again. 
 
2. I asked for a phone one year... I got a Christmas ornament in the design of a phone, lmao.
 
3. Ham is absolutely superior, there's a reason turkey isn't prevalent the rest of the year. However, I'd LOVE to try deep-fried turkey. 
 
1. Did you watch the Army Navy Game?
 
2. What change or changes would you make to improve soccer?
 
3. Who is the best VHL player you've played with?

1. JFK. The funny thing about conspiracy theories is that SOME of them are probably true, because we've HAD conspiracies in the past.
2. I mean, did it work? If it worked, then go for it.
3. I never have. I played baseball.
 
1. What do you want for Xmas/any other holiday, and if you're not celebrating, no worries!
2. What's the weirdest gift you've ever received?
3. Ham or turkey for holiday dinner? or neither?

You don’t, BOG is unpaid.

This but specifically for 1st gens to get a tag in the portal is currently in the works.
 
P.S. We're also not actually getting paid, so you get what you pay for. 😅

As someone who has been tracking/looking up first-gens for draft rankings and media, I think this is a really good idea. At the very least, it'd be good to have a badge to show if a player is a First-Gen. 

So I don't have time to talk out loud on a podcast this week, but I DO have time to pretend that I'm working and do some writing. I'll kind of look today at Rookie of the Year Award winners for the VHL and see who was REALLY a first gen. Then, if I can be bothered, we may rank them into who was the best or IDK. I thought it'd be interesting. 
 
So, of all of the RotY Winners (or the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, if you will) the man himself, Christian Stolzschweiger, was a first gen it seems. He had a pretty good season with 72G 68A 140P (yes this is copy pasted, I can't be bothered). I wonder if this really should be considered, and if maybe I should just skip ahead a decade because this really seems unfair to classify these early players as first gens, as all of them pretty much were. So let's skip ahead a decade.
 
And, to be honest, I'm just going to skip ahead to people I can see on the portal becuase, once again, I can't be bothered. But I'm sure that there are plenty of players that I'm missing. It might be nice to analyze these players some day, but today is not that day.
 
As far as I can tell, YEAH!'s player, Edwin Reencarnacion (so I get the joke, like, it's a real last name, but can we please start making these player names easier to spell? Like, I get the same word count from the last name Stone that I do from Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius, and is that fair?) was a first gen. He had a good season with 39G 40A 79P, so that's pretty solid. We've also got Rayz Funk, who backstopped Seattle for many years winning this award, with 28-29-8 3.08GAA 0.913SV% 2SO. So that's also really solid. We've got plenty of candidates, also, like Erik Summers, who was rather underwhelming with 7G 32A 39P +22, which, no offense to him, but that's kinda buns. Like I know he was good for a long time, but c'mon man. Weak award that year.
 
And honestly, now that I'm looking at it, I think there should be some kind of tracking system for what number player this is for it's creator. Like, maybe a badge next to the name in the portal to signify like a third generation player or something? That would make it way easier to research something like this. So yeah. Implement that shit BoG! What do we even pay you for.
 
It's very funny to see how much scoring has dropped for rookies, which makes sense. But going back to the first 10 seasons, yeah, I really don't think it's fair to consider those players first gens. This was a niche community that kinda knew what they were doing hopefully. This got way off topic. Sorry about that.
 
So who is the top ranked first gen of all time? I don't know. Lets say..... Rayz Funk.
 

**LISTENER WARNING**
**Contains use of strong language, listener discretion is advised**
 
 
Time Stamps
Intro 
00:00 - 01:02
Guest 1: @Hogan
01:02 - 46:22
Guest 2: @Pifferfish
47:42 - 1:34:49
Guest 3: @samx 
1:34:49 - 2:18:36
Outro
2:18:36 - 2:19:38
 
🎶📻🎶Happy listening!🎶📻🎶
-DarkSpyro 🔥⚡️
 
..missing some people but.. whatever, sorry to those I missed!
Mentions:
@MexicanCow123 @Beketov @Josh @Gustav  @DoktorFunk @Lemorse7 @Berocka @Acydburn @Beaviss @BladeMaiden @JardyB10 & so many more!!!

1. Well, Friday I went and played a concert! So that was fun!
2. Hockey is the Washington Capitals, Football is Washington Commanders (but fuck, they don't make it easy), Baseball is the St Louis Cardinals, and I don't care for basketball.
3. It is fun! Yeah, I paid a little attention but now the US is out.
 
1. Favorite Candy?
2. What movie/video game are you most excited for that's coming up?
3. What's your go-to meal to make?