AJW

Oh captain my captain

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The Houston Bulls achieve 1000 Franchise Regular Season Wins! Graphic Credit: @Vice Entering S93 the Houston Bulls had a total of 988 regular season wins all time. In our 12th win this season, Houston has officially reached the milestone of 1000 Franchise regular season wins. If you'd like to check our history, click me. I want to give a shoutout to the former GMs before me as well, here is the list of wins each GM contributed: S65, S71-S72 @Sonnet - 67 S66-S70 @FrostBeard - 162 S73-S79 @rjfryman - 248 S80-S82 @Moon - 142 (@mattyIceman in S80 too) S83 @Arce - 21 S84-S89, S92-present @AJW - 291 S90-S91 @STZ - 69 Total: 1000 It is very nice to be GM of a franchise with a deep history already, Houston only entered the VHLM in S65, so in 25ish seasons we have averaged roughly shy of 40 wins/season... Tradition, Playoffs, and Development Tradition is something I want to create more of for my team in Houston and reaching this milestone is huge for us. In 25+ seasons the Houston Bulls are still itching for our 2nd Founder's Cup, only hoisting it once in S68. Since my arrival in S84 I am unfortunate to say that I do not sit on the podium along side Frosty, but our playoff history in the last 10 seasons is something that is progressing! S84: 1st round exit S85: Missed Playoffs S86: 1st round exit S87: 2nd round exit S88: 1st round exit S89: 1st round exit S90: Missed Playoffs S91: 2nd round exit S92: 2nd round exit Current S93: 5th overall in standings Houston may hold the 2nd round curse I can't lie. I've been GM for 8 seasons here now and that is the furthest I have managed to push my team. With consistent failure eventually comes success, and I am finding Houston to have success in many other ways besides winning games and trophies. As well as team tradition in consistent playoff appearances and competitive rosters, our team pumps out a lot of young talent! We pride ourselves on development of our players and have seen a lot of recent draft success and gains in TPE. Here's a TPE update on last and current season's rosters to see how everyone's earnings are doing: S92 Roster Antonia Bucatini: 518 TPE Nathan Ecker: 312 TPE Chris Reynolds Jr: 307 TPE Tyler Lawson: 251 TPE Barry McOckiner: 231 TPE Filip Zinek: 175 TPE Jack Dickins: 201 TPE Miner vHLer: 341 TPE Micah Cederbaum: 162 TPE Benjamin Abenduct: 351 TPE Lucy Leitner: 385 TPE Cody Toland: 230 TPE Toby Cook: 150 TPE Ondrej Vencko: 290 TPE Herald Benson: 270 TPE S93 Current Season Roster Filip Zinek: 175 TPE Johnny Tsunami: 169 TPE Elf shoes: 158 TPE Charlie klepacki: 132 TPE Cole Stermer: 130 TPE Hulk Smash: 82 TPE Tommy James Longpre: 67 TPE Ray Stanton: 220 TPE Billy Joel: 214 TPE Wladyslaw Mintus: 206 TPE LaClapbomb Hitstick IV: 70 TPE Herald Benson: 270 TPE Already in last season's roster 12/16 players are ready to move up to the VHLE next season if they haven't already done so. So far with this season's roster we have 10/12 over the 100 TPE mark and 7/12 over the 150 TPE mark. This is really awesome for our team as it puts Houston on the draft map for VHLE and VHL teams to draft our players. With consistent draft success coming from the consistent TPE earning of these talented players, Houston can make a stronger name for itself in the development aspect of our league. It will always be our goal to put the best team on the ice in order to win trophies for our club! Development is the first key of success towards that, so I am pleased to bring in so many new faces who want to hop on board. If you're curious towards our roster this season, we actually made some recent moves! Starting off the season, Houston only acquired contract rights to goaltender Herald Benson. With that in mind and a short stock of draft picks, I traded for two forwards from Miami: Elf shoes and Charlie klepacki. After that, the draft was under way and Houston came out with 2 defenders: Billy Joel and Wladyslaw Mintus, and another forward: Cole Stermer, bringing our roster total to a 4-2-1. This was below bare minimum and thankfully two waivers decided to join right away, forwards: Hulk Smash and Tommy James Longpre. The season rolled on and Houston was only successful for one more waiver signing in forward: Johnny Tsunami, bringing our roster to a 7-2-1. With trade deadline around the corner, a second trade was needing to be made: Graphic Credit: @Vice Defenders Ray Stanton and LaClapbomb Hitstick IV enter the locker room for the cost of two future draft picks. Houston was in need of the support on the blue line in order to have a successful playoff run this season. With second season star Herald Benson putting up league leading numbers, and our second line of forwards: Cole Stermer, Charlie klepacki, and Elf shoes leading the charge on offense, this trade felt like the missing puzzle piece we needed. Before the trade, Houston was riding a last ten game record of 4-5-1. Since the trade, the Bulls have managed to come out of their slump and hold a winning 6-4 record heading towards the trade deadline. I feel good with our play as of late and Houston management will no longer be looking to move assets until the off-season. One more trade was made recently, here, where I made the trade in order to meet S94 pick compliancy. S95 pick compliancy will be a future problem to deal with. --- Now here we are in present date. Houston sits in 3rd, 1 point behind the Las Vegas Aces for 1st place in the Western Conference. It will be a battle to the finish line but I have full faith in the squad we have created this season to find another deep playoff run. The birdies have also been chirping and a recruitment drive may take place following this season's trade deadline. Will Houston see some new faces enter the locker room? Hopefully a fuller roster can be a reality for the Bulls as playoffs are only weeks away. Either way, thank you again to anyone and everyone who has contributed towards Houston's all time team success. 1000 wins is a huge accomplishment that I will hold high for us Houston Bulls

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/17397551/ As of Game 224 - (45 Games Played for most teams)

@Spartan @Gustav Let’s make this happen

Would recruitment be open to hosting graphics contests for TPE? Can get our top artists competing against each other in a pro bracket, then also have an amateur bracket for members who want to compete but aren't super competitive with graphics. Different TPE prizes per bracket (everyone gets butt hurt about voting so y'all would have to figure something out about that). You get graphics to use for recruitment, we get a chance at some extra TPE.

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First bullet makes sense then, I didn’t know a vote was held to determine that. New players sucking against developed players could be a problem too 100%. I know when I jumped to the VHLE I was garbage and it wasn’t great watching until I got up to everyone else’s TPE range. Also I was thinking about seasonal caps of 1st season 200 - 2nd season 300 - 3rd/4th season 400 TPE, but then that brings in having to bank every season in the minors, and I know that’s not something everyone will love (me probably included). I’m honestly really excited to see what recruitment brings in because they seem very hungry to get us rolling. I feel like both the M and the E can be very good very soon with the results of our last recruitment drive. Lots of S93 players moving up to the E next season as well. I’m sure the E won’t go away so I hope us M GMs and the M community can keep pushing studs up your way.

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This is awesome! Questions were fun and I’ll definitely do another if you ask

Maybe don't take this seriously, or maybe do? But my rebranding topic of this theme week is the rebranding of the minor league system in the VHL: The VHLE and the VHLM. Both leagues have been around for over 10 seasons now. The VHLM being introduced first way back in the first seasons of VHL history. In fact the VHLM is older than the portal and therefore we do not have access to the indexes before S35. The VHLE on the other hand has been around for only a short period of time, entering the history of our league in S80. In my eyes the VHLE was created to hold the influx of players created during Covid, and it served its purpose at first. Many people have been on the fence of this third league since it's creation including myself. I enjoyed my time in the VHLE with my player due to personal success in a Cup and Playoff MVP. Many others who didn't experience this success may have seen their time in the VHLE as a short stint of playing amongst slower TPE earning players while developing towards the VHL. Now don't get me wrong, I am only one person and I can't live out all your player's experiences, but just from word around town I feel like the VHLE is not a hot topic. With that being said, I will of course suggest deleting the VHLE and expanding the VHLM. I feel the VHLE served its purpose and now times have changed. The VHLM went through a struggle bus of players a few seasons ago only to have a banging come back season in S92 from our recruitment team's YouTube ad. Now these players are in or moving up to the VHLE, making the most of it with each other and the rest of their veteran TPE earning team mates. Want to see the stats? I do too, so I looked it up: VHLE: S93/S94 - S90/S91/S92 - S89 and older Cologne: 3-7-5 Vasteras: 5-9-2 Oslo: 5-6-2 Stockholm: 3-5-3 Rome: 5-6-1 Bratislava: 1-4-3 Total: 22-37-16 VHLM: Rosters (F - D - G) Ottawa: 8-4-1 Halifax: 9-4-1 Las Vegas: 10-3-2 Saskatoon: 7-4-2 Houston: 7-4-1 Philadelphia: 4-3-1 Mexico City: 5-2-1 Mississauga: 6-3-1 Miami: 6-2-1 San Diego: 4-1-1 Total: 66-30-12 I chose these two stats to show how current VHLE player career lengths look and then also how the state of the current VHLM rosters look. As you can see from the VHLE numbers, per 6 teams, they average just shy of 4 S93/S94 players. This is great and these members are solid earners who are new to the league and will want to work hard for their ice time. Then you see how depth develops as per 6 teams, 6.1 players are in their 2nd to 4th season since creation, which is fair and the length of a normal minor league career. And then per 6 teams, 2.6 players have played 5 or more seasons since creation. I don't see how a league which can be considered to be competitive, but also a league beneath our major league, is averaging player career lengths this long with slow development. It is long in my eyes to have 2 or more players on your team in their 5th+ season while also players in their 2nd-4th seasons are still only earning welfare and practice. Some of these players are IA as well, what's the point of giving them ice time? The VHLM has an inactivity rule that states a player must be released if they have not submitted an update in the last 3 weeks. This is good and how we should treat all underdeveloped players. With this here is my expansion idea. The VHLM with 10 teams averages 6 forwards, 3 defenders, and 1 goalie per team. This is bare minimum and I can tell you from personal experience GMing the Houston Bulls last season that being on a minor league team with a full roster is a lot more fun. I would keep the TPE Cap at 400 TPE and I would also allow players who only want to play 8 seasons in the VHL to bank after 400 TPE, even for the few that pass it before the cutoff date. This would result in the VHLE players coming back down to the VHLM and the first order of business would be to release/retire the IA players. I think it would be fair to extend the TPE IA rule to 4 weeks from 3 weeks. If you are not checking the forum/portal to submit an update at least once a month then you are not going to see success with your player. I would also like to keep the 4 seasons of play maximum rule, players should only be allowed 4 seasons in the minors before they either graduate to the VHL or become IA/retire. The point of the minor leagues is to push players to the VHL, this comes from having life on teams and pushing each other to explore and grow more for their player. Having maximum potential rosters with the VHLE players (including all players even IAs) joining would result in the current VHLM roster averages changing from 6.6-3-1.2 to 11.2-5.2-1.9: VHLE: Rosters (F - D - G) Cologne: 8-6-1 Vasteras: 10-4-2 Oslo: 8-4-1 Stockholm: 7-3-1 Rome: 8-3-1 Bratislava: 5-2-1 Total: 46-22-7 Total of Both Leagues: 112-52-19 These numbers averaged to our current 10 VHLM teams would result in each team having a roster with around 11 forwards, 5 defenders, and 2 goalies. This is almost full capacity, but also very amazing. To balance this out I would expand the VHLM by two teams to go back to our once before 12 team league. The average roster size of 12 teams with the number of total players of both leagues would be 9.3-4.3-1.5. These numbers again include IA players so the averages would decrease if my rules are implemented. Either way the rough data shows each team in a 12 team league with a 400 TPE cap would hold a roster of around 9 forwards, 4 defenders, and 1-2 goaltenders. Is this not what we want from our minor league system? As stated in the first sentence, take this as seriously as you want. Maybe the VHLE will get deleted one day, who knows? I know that another recruitment drive is soon on the horizon, so we will see how the VHLM and VHLE respond to that.

HOUSTON BULLS PRESSER! Hello and welcome to this week's Houston Bulls Presser! We are approaching Trade Deadline and the roster looks to be set. Our recent record has been subpar, but Houston looks to push our way to another deep playoff run this season. Please answer each question to your best ability. Answer three questions for 1 capped TPE or six questions for 2 capped TPE! For the Week Ending Apr 14th, here are your questions! 1. Two new Bulls enter the locker room! Ray Stanton @horoscope and LaClapbomb Hitsick IV @Greasy Garyjoin the team and bring our total of defenders to 4. What are your thoughts on this trade? 2. Speaking of trades, Trade Deadline is just around the corner! As announced in today's Theme Week post, TDL will be on April 15th, meaning we only have 10-14 games to play until that point. Does management need to make any more moves before then? Or is our roster looking ready to go for playoffs? 3. After Trade Deadline is over, players entering the S95 draft class are allowed to recreate and join the VHLM as waiver players. If Houston could sign one upcoming waiver player, what position or skills would you want this new player to have? 4. Houston is in a slump! 3-6-1 in our last 10 games played. Have you noticed something that has caused this bump in the road for us? Will the new defenders we traded for help us climb back up the standings? 5. It's the second week of April and I think everyone has finished their "second winter" phase of Spring. How is the weather in your area? Currently where I am it's been rainy and cold all last week, this week is looking better. 6. What was your favorite thing to do growing up as a kid? (You can answer in personal or player perspective). I always enjoyed playing street hockey with my best friend who lived across the street while I was a kid. We would play in the mornings until the street lights came on at night. I wish I could re-live one of those memories just one more time. To claim TPE: Go to the portal > Player > Manage > Claim Capped > Type > Press Conference Thank you to everyone who participates in these pressers, I read all of your answers! Let's Go Bulls!

@Greasy Gary @horoscope Welcome to Houston! I’m so excited to strengthen our push towards these playoffs. @Mysterious_Fish Thank you for easy talks as always

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Welcome!

Congrats!! Best Simmer for a reason

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https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/17397551/ Made a VHLM standings Bar Chart race based on Points

We actually do weekly team swim classes at the local YMCA

HOUSTON BULLS PRESSER! Hello and welcome to this week's Houston Bulls Press Conference! Through the first few weeks of sims Houston is buzzing around the top of the league with many players stepping up and contributing to our success. A couple recent double dubs have pushed us up there and it was been sweet. Please answer each question to your best ability. Answer three questions for 1 capped TPE or six questions for 2 capped TPE! For the Week Ending Apr 7, here are your questions! 1. 19 wins so far this season! Only Halifax and Ottawa tie us for most wins in the league right now. How pleased are you with the team's play lately? 2. Yesterday was April Fool's Day! I'm sure you all got that @ members tag from Beketov... were you fooled as hard as I was? 3. As we all know Houston is allergic to signing defensemen this season as we have stuck with only Joel and Mintus on the blue line. I am officially confirming that Houston will be looking to trade for a third and potentially a fourth defender before Trade Deadline approaches. What do you look for in a good defenseman? What are the best attributes in your eyes for our blue liners? 4. We were able to sign a new center in the past week! Johnny Tsunami @Vice sits on our first line now taking faceoffs. Little does Tsunami know, we planned a surprise welcoming party to welcome the kid to Houston. What type of party is the team going to throw? I think we should go paintballing or something. 5. After our party for Tsunami's welcoming party, your GM has one more surprise for the team, we're going on vacation after this season!! Win or lose I'm going to spoil you, but we need a location. Where should the team go on vacation? Do we want fun in the sun? Do we want the snowy Nordic countries? 6. Easter weekend just passed, if you celebrate or not, how was your weekend? To claim TPE: Go to the portal > Manage Player > Claim Capped > Type > Press Conference Thank you to everyone who participates in these pressers, I read all of your answers! Let's Go Bulls!

As I wake up this morning at 7:45 (15 minutes before my 8:00am alarm clock) to my roommate's bangs on my door in expense of the key's to my car, I took a long pause to understand the reality I have woken up to. Once this puzzle in my brain was fully completed, my next move was swiftly grabbing my keys and opening the door without making a word. A "thank you" was all I needed to meet my satisfaction of this interaction and my roommate's response was just that. You see this roommate of mine does not have a way of transportation to his 8:00am workout, the same workout I will be doing later this morning since we are on the same sports team, so I granted his wishes as I like him and I want him to succeed on the same team that I play for. I respect when my roommates are appreciative when we do things for each other so thank you's are a big one to me. I scrolled through my phone for a bit before starting my morning routine of breakfast, emails and other communications, getting my shit together blah blah blah. As time rolls on I see a notification in the Calgary Wrangler's discord locker room, "HUGE DRAMA ON FORUMS" ~ @Phil A members tag, followed by an explanation of why all eyes should be witnessing this event, followed by the face of the VHL, the most famous name on our forum @Beketov announcing the removal of a long time beloved member @Josh. @Acydburn still having a blue colored name while Josh's color defaulted made me put my phone down. My untouched coffee got a good sip before I picked my phone right back up to read away. Some background knowledge of my relationship with Josh goes back to my first VHL Draft, my player AJ Williams was drafted 5th overall in the S79 VHL Draft to the Los Angeles Stars, Josh GM'd at the time. Josh has been a massive hand for this community and I have liked the guy since I first started getting to know him. Josh was claimed to have been taking earnings out of the VHL community's pockets for his own personal use and the legal amount of reimbursement could potentially be in the $1000 range. This really upset me, not only was I still cranky tired because I had a Philosophy paper worth 30% of my grade due at 12:00pm and I was not even halfway done it, but a once loved member had committed embezzlement and put me in full disgust. I have donated money to this community, I suggest my players donate if they are interested, many of you reading this have donated to fund our beautiful community once in your history here... and Josh put portions in his pockets!? I wanted to reply to this impactful thread to share my voice as a member of the VHL community with my thought process of "Dude, what the f---?!?!". 9 replies filed into the announcement thread before I could get a chance to finish what I wanted to say. The members before me were not answering any of the questions I still had, they were almost joking around with the situation. Calgary Wranglers GM @leandrofg was quoted in the discord Locker Room saying "holy shit" when seeing the announcement made. I couldn't understand this second strange situation I was put in today and my fingers started typing away, I filed my report and clicked send. Will this audit be made public? Will we be able to see how the money we earned from our real life jobs benefitted Josh or potentially others? Or will the use of our money still be for Blues and higher ups eyes only? Can we see how the VHL aims to spend our money moving forward so it is clear to us that this will not happen again? I beg for recruitment drive ads which definitely cost less than the money that went into Josh’s pockets. Let me know because I’d love to see how the VHL is trying to grow from this and from what your members give you to grow it. It’s in my eyes disgusting that a respected member did this, I don’t want to donate any money moving forward unless I actually know where it’s going. ~ AJW 10:08am. Shortly after settling my peace, I finished my breakfast and noticed a few reactions on my reply, then a few unexpected discord notifications from some big names. 10:12am, only 4 minutes after my reply was finalized to the forum, a very familiar and strong member to our community appeared in my discord direct messages. My VHLM Commissioner showed his face to me with a short but straight to the point question, "What day is it today" ~ @Spartan A quick glance to the bottom right of my computer screen gave my brain an immediate shock of reality. (My face after realization) I then replied to Spartan not even a minute later, "Are you fucked" ~AJW 10:12am I WAS SABOTAGED!! It was the first morning of the fourth month this year, the Lord of Joker's day... It was April Fool's... I felt so defeated and upset. I close my messages with Spartan to then open the second message by the same face who created the "I got you" announcement. Beketov answered all the questions to my forum thread reply and explained to me that this was all a joke. Josh is not a stealing thief - he even accidentally bought a steam game with league funds and then quickly reimbursed the league - and that we actually do audit everything to keep track of exactly every penny. I gave him my frustration as to why Josh and the Blues broke my heart, he then apologized to me and I was having Deja vu of the same feelings from this morning's interaction with my roommate's "thank you". My head then took a chill pill of calm peace knowing that all was good in my world and I dialed into my Philosophy Paper which I actually got to finish before the odd 12:00pm deadline. I then rode my bike to my workout and just got back to tell y'all about how crazy and eventful my brain's morning has been. Life is good now, we're chillin. To the Blues: I find this hilarious and I'm never forgetting April 1st again. I love this community and you guys just got me in the soft spot a bit while my brain wasn't shifting gears yet haha

Will this audit be made public? Will we be able to see how the money we earned from our real life jobs benefitted Josh or potentially others? Or will the use of our money still be for Blues and higher ups eyes only? Can we see how the VHL aims to spend our money moving forward so it is clear to us that this will not happen again? I beg for recruitment drive ads which definitely cost less than the money that went into Josh’s pockets. Let me know because I’d love to see how the VHL is trying to grow from this and from what your members give you to grow it. It’s in my eyes disgusting that a respected member did this, I don’t want to donate any money moving forward unless I actually know where it’s going.