Houston Times: Trouble in Houston?

[RicoTheTrapGod 18]

April 9, 2021. The Houston Bulls came into this season with almost a new lineup. The team of old, dominate, cup contenders all long gone. To the big leagues of the VHL. Players left behind? About 3.  Germano Henchoz, one of the last players to return for his final season in the VHLM. We caught up with him to see how he's been handling such a drastic roster and culture change. 

Interviewer: Germano thank you for speaking with us today, I know the Bulls this season have gone very under the radar and haven't really done many interviews this season.

 

Germano: Oh its no problem, I always love talking to the media when I have the chance. unfortunately this season has been hard due to internal reasons. But I'm not one to air dirty laundry. 

 

Interviewer: Could you perhaps give us a tiny bit of info on the inside of Houston this season? Nothing too crazy, just enough for the fans to see the behind the scenes?

Germano: Ahhhh I mean I'm not sure its my place, but ehhhh why not. Our locker room is pretty much a wasteland. No one talks to each other, seems like we just show up to our games, either win or lose then everyone goes back to their own social groups. I recall going out to a team dinner once with the team, and that was just to welcome all the new players in. I don't even know whose our captain this season. At least last season when a new player not in the "clique" talked and was ignored, we at least we're gunning for a cup. This season seems like no one speaks to each other at all. 

 

Interviewer: Wow that seems like a pretty toxic environment! Do you think the blame should fall on the entire team? Or perhaps something else.

Germano: I mean, of course you can blame the players as a whole. But honestly, Id put most of the blame on the management team here in Houston. RJ seems like an okay guy, but I think I've talked to him once in the last 2 seasons I've been here. Hex hasn't shown up in weeks, I'm pretty sure his office is just storage for old electronics now. We have someone named Venus? I think, I don't really know. I believe they are helping and trying to do their best to keep things together, but that's a pretty lofty goal at this point. 

 

Interviewer: Well  Germano, it seems like you got a lot off your chest here, perhaps we can switch topics to your personal stats? Or perhaps what it means to play infront of the Houston faithful.

Germano: Honestly the Houston fans have been nothing but love since arriving here. They've been the only people that have shown love through highs and lows. And without their support, I wouldn't have been able to survive here as long as I have. My point totals this season have all been because of the support they've given me this season. Without them, I'm sure Id be stuck on the 3rd line again, leading the way in certain stat categories, especially in the playoffs where I felt I should've been given way more playing time. But that's a story for another day. 

Interviewer: That's weird Germano, it almost sounds like this is some sort of goodbye to the fans here in Houston? We know next season DC will be calling you up, but surely you'll be finishing your season here in Houston right? 

Germano: I would like to be traded, yeah. Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there's no other alternative, you know? 

Interviewer: Wow! That seems like such a 180. Is there anything the Bulls could do to change your mind?

No, I just want them to do the right thing. 

Well not the interview we we're expecting here with Germano, but uh thank you for tuning in.


658 words, good for 1 week. @Hex Universe @rjfryman

[Juice 641]

[MexicanCow123 914]

[thadthrasher 1,692]

Yo, sorry to hear about the struggles you are having in Houston. It seems you are having a problem with a quiet locker room (which you call toxic), quiet leadership (RJ and Hex), and you've made it known that you want trade. Now, I'm not sure how conversations went between you and the management, but I would certainly hope that you have talked to RJ and Hex before going onto the forum with this sort of piece. I'm sure between the countless hours that RJ and Hex have been putting into this league they would have certainly heard your complaints and chatted with you about it. Certainly, at the very least, I would hope that you made them aware of this article before dragging their names through the mud. 

 

On 4/9/2021 at 3:28 PM, RicoTheTrapGod said:

But I'm not one to air dirty laundry. 

[Dom 1,445]

2 minutes ago, thadthrasher said:

Yo, sorry to hear about the struggles you are having in Houston. It seems you are having a problem with a quiet locker room (which you call toxic), quiet leadership (RJ and Hex), and you've made it known that you want trade. Now, I'm not sure how conversations went between you and the management, but I would certainly hope that you have talked to RJ and Hex before going onto the forum with this sort of piece. I'm sure between the countless hours that RJ and Hex have been putting into this league they would have certainly heard your complaints and chatted with you about it. Certainly, at the very least, I would hope that you made them aware of this article before dragging their names through the mud. 

 

Could not have said better!

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

On 4/9/2021 at 2:28 PM, RicoTheTrapGod said:

RJ seems like an okay guy, but I think I've talked to him once in the last 2 seasons I've been here.

@thadthrasher I think I have an idea as to how convos went lol.

 

Joking aside, I'm gonna put some input on this. Hex was and is one of the most enthusiastic members here in the VHL. I was his AGM when I first joined and he was honestly one of the greatest first-gens I've had the pleasure of being an AGM of. I still remember the times he would calculate how much TPE he'll have by the end of the season in Vegas. The amount of times we joked about him stealing my job. Now I don't exactly know what happened this past while, but all I can say is that shit happens. Stuff happens outside of life and sometimes you gotta prioritize things.

 

RJ on the other hand. Well I wouldn't be a GM without him. If you actually take the time to talk to him, he'll not only be willing to help you when he has the time to, but he'll go above and beyond in order to help you in the VHL. That's from my experience at least. Again shit happens, people have jobs and personal lives. Not everyone has the time to maintain activity in an LR. Heck I've struggled to do so this season as well with school being a pain. Should I have done better to promote LR activity? Yes. Definitely. However, the problem is that I simply don't have the time to.

 

What I'm trying to say is that I have a shit ton of respect to both RJ and Hex. I owe a lot to both of them as to where I am now. I understand that things sometimes aren't the way they are, and you have every right to ask for a change of scenery. However, I don't like the idea of dragging down the names of people I genuinely respect and have very high praise for and I sure do hope, as Thad as said, that you made them aware of this article before you lowkey diss them. Yes it's managements job to foster an active environment, but the players actually participating in activity is as equally important. Plus RJ just got back from a small break and this happens smh.

[InstantRockstar 1,243]

As a GM who has had this happen to him twice... yeah...twice, these types of posts never cease to blow my mind. I've truly never, ever understood exactly why people feel like posting something like this is their first resort when being unhappy with a situation or just to rant in general. This doesn't dismiss your feelings, btw, it's just the way that it's been handled that I really don't love, at all, and it really makes being a GM super frustrating sometimes when it is handled like this. 

 

How exactly am I speaking about? Well... going behind your GM's back, not even making an attempt to reach out to said GM and then putting them, their AGM and their whole franchise on blast for what, what really does this achieve. I would absolutely understand if you had talked to RJ, and talked to Hex, and maybe vented your frustrations in private, asked for a trade, etc. But to just put someone, in fact MULTIPLE people on blast without any private talks... is kinda shady. 

 

And the reason I even bothered to type this out is because of the first point I mentioned about this having happened to me TWICE, but also because I don't want this to become a casual thing or become accepted behavior. It's hard enough being in the limelight all the time as a GM, and honestly no one deserves to be put on public blast UNLESS all private options have been exhausted and you are left with no choice. 

 

I also feel like this shouldn't be happening to two of the best members on this site. RJ and I go way, way back, and have extensive history with one another and I have NOTHING but good things to say about RJ. RJ has been through a roller-coaster ride, and finally had some time off, and then comes back to THIS? Like c'mon... and now poor Hex gets dragged through the mud too? I am not too sure if that is why he stepped down or just the timing but either way... just ridiculous for another amazing member to have his name dragged. 

 

Truthfully, I hope you understand how disrespectful this article is. I'm just being blunt here, no BS, not trying to be fake or anything, this kind of behavior truthfully... isn't cool. 

 

#Bye. 

[v.2 1,406]

lmao this is hilarious

[osens 297]

15 minutes ago, InstantRockstar said:

As a GM who has had this happen to him twice... yeah...twice, these types of posts never cease to blow my mind. I've truly never, ever understood exactly why people feel like posting something like this is their first resort when being unhappy with a situation or just to rant in general. This doesn't dismiss your feelings, btw, it's just the way that it's been handled that I really don't love, at all, and it really makes being a GM super frustrating sometimes when it is handled like this. 

 

How exactly am I speaking about? Well... going behind your GM's back, not even making an attempt to reach out to said GM and then putting them, their AGM and their whole franchise on blast for what, what really does this achieve. I would absolutely understand if you had talked to RJ, and talked to Hex, and maybe vented your frustrations in private, asked for a trade, etc. But to just put someone, in fact MULTIPLE people on blast without any private talks... is kinda shady. 

 

And the reason I even bothered to type this out is because of the first point I mentioned about this having happened to me TWICE, but also because I don't want this to become a casual thing or become accepted behavior. It's hard enough being in the limelight all the time as a GM, and honestly no one deserves to be put on public blast UNLESS all private options have been exhausted and you are left with no choice. 

 

I also feel like this shouldn't be happening to two of the best members on this site. RJ and I go way, way back, and have extensive history with one another and I have NOTHING but good things to say about RJ. RJ has been through a roller-coaster ride, and finally had some time off, and then comes back to THIS? Like c'mon... and now poor Hex gets dragged through the mud too? I am not too sure if that is why he stepped down or just the timing but either way... just ridiculous for another amazing member to have his name dragged. 

 

Truthfully, I hope you understand how disrespectful this article is. I'm just being blunt here, no BS, not trying to be fake or anything, this kind of behavior truthfully... isn't cool. 

 

#Bye. 

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

Just now, v.2 said:

lmao this is hilarious

Anything to back up our bois RJ and Hex

[Prof. Zach Enron 84]

15 minutes ago, InstantRockstar said:

As a GM who has had this happen to him twice... yeah...twice, these types of posts never cease to blow my mind. I've truly never, ever understood exactly why people feel like posting something like this is their first resort when being unhappy with a situation or just to rant in general. This doesn't dismiss your feelings, btw, it's just the way that it's been handled that I really don't love, at all, and it really makes being a GM super frustrating sometimes when it is handled like this. 

 

How exactly am I speaking about? Well... going behind your GM's back, not even making an attempt to reach out to said GM and then putting them, their AGM and their whole franchise on blast for what, what really does this achieve. I would absolutely understand if you had talked to RJ, and talked to Hex, and maybe vented your frustrations in private, asked for a trade, etc. But to just put someone, in fact MULTIPLE people on blast without any private talks... is kinda shady. 

 

And the reason I even bothered to type this out is because of the first point I mentioned about this having happened to me TWICE, but also because I don't want this to become a casual thing or become accepted behavior. It's hard enough being in the limelight all the time as a GM, and honestly no one deserves to be put on public blast UNLESS all private options have been exhausted and you are left with no choice. 

 

I also feel like this shouldn't be happening to two of the best members on this site. RJ and I go way, way back, and have extensive history with one another and I have NOTHING but good things to say about RJ. RJ has been through a roller-coaster ride, and finally had some time off, and then comes back to THIS? Like c'mon... and now poor Hex gets dragged through the mud too? I am not too sure if that is why he stepped down or just the timing but either way... just ridiculous for another amazing member to have his name dragged. 

 

Truthfully, I hope you understand how disrespectful this article is. I'm just being blunt here, no BS, not trying to be fake or anything, this kind of behavior truthfully... isn't cool. 

 

#Bye. 

It's a little ironic to see you commenting about shadiness don't you think? I guess GM's are the immortal god children of VHL and should never ever be called into question, asking for a trade or privately messaging his GM's will 100% make the locker room not a wasteland you're right!

[InstantRockstar 1,243]

3 minutes ago, dart said:

It's a little ironic to see you commenting about shadiness don't you think? I guess GM's are the immortal god children of VHL and should never ever be called into question, asking for a trade or privately messaging his GM's will 100% make the locker room not a wasteland you're right!

So you've talked to RJ and Hex or? So you know that RJ was on vacation for a week, comes back to this, WITHOUT any warnings or triggers that this player is disgruntled at all? Do you find that fair as a GM at all, that we're not able to try to resolve this privately, without the need to blast literally the WHOLE fuckin' franchise for what? Five minutes of spotlight or? I see no reason why this all couldn't have been said in private, and we know, by TALKING to RJ, that it wasn't done in private, at all. 

 

Funny people condone this type of behavior but I'm not too shocked at who is condoning it LOL. 

[Advantage 2,891]

12 minutes ago, v.2 said:

lmao this is hilarious

Yall better love me.

[v.2 1,406]

1 minute ago, Advantage said:

Yall better love me.

Such a stark contrast between their LR and ours by the sounds of it.

[Gustav 6,432]

I think it's a bit strange that some of the responses here have been "I don't know the situation, but I'm going to assume you wrote this out of the blue with no warning and bash you for it."

 

I ALSO don't know the situation. As such, I'm not going to offer an opinion on it because trying to do that one way or another is unfair. If there's an activity problem in Houston, then there is and I don't even disagree with that going public in some way because I think GMs (on both levels) should be held accountable by the community. If there isn't, then I'd agree that this is a bit disrespectful. I do not know what is and isn't true so these are hypothetical responses. As is often the case, there's probably some level of truth either way.

 

Just be mindful of this before stating one thing or another definitively if you aren't aware of the full context. 

[Prof. Zach Enron 84]

12 minutes ago, InstantRockstar said:

So you've talked to RJ and Hex or? So you know that RJ was on vacation for a week, comes back to this, WITHOUT any warnings or triggers that this player is disgruntled at all? Do you find that fair as a GM at all, that we're not able to try to resolve this privately, without the need to blast literally the WHOLE fuckin' franchise for what? Five minutes of spotlight or? I see no reason why this all couldn't have been said in private, and we know, by TALKING to RJ, that it wasn't done in private, at all. 

 

Funny people condone this type of behavior but I'm not too shocked at who is condoning it LOL. 

I'm not shocked that yet again you continue to white knight or dick ride any incident you come across and pretend to be mister goodie two shoes, you've lied your way top. And if I were a GM no I wouldn't care because I wouldn't be grabbing what I believe is the lowest of the low and throwing them at the issue trying to defend it, if I were a GM I wouldn't let this shit happen in the first place because I'd actually be in my LR. Plead ignorance more for them more please. 

[Zetterberg 863]

5 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

I think it's a bit strange that some of the responses here have been "I don't know the situation, but I'm going to assume you wrote this out of the blue with no warning and bash you for it."

 

I ALSO don't know the situation. As such, I'm not going to offer an opinion on it because trying to do that one way or another is unfair. If there's an activity problem in Houston, then there is and I don't even disagree with that going public in some way because I think GMs (on both levels) should be held accountable by the community. If there isn't, then I'd agree that this is a bit disrespectful. I do not know what is and isn't true so these are hypothetical responses. As is often the case, there's probably some level of truth either way.

 

Just be mindful of this before stating one thing or another definitively if you aren't aware of the full context. 

 

On 4/9/2021 at 1:28 PM, RicoTheTrapGod said:

RJ seems like an okay guy, but I think I've talked to him once in the last 2 seasons I've been here. Hex hasn't shown up in weeks

Safe to say he didn’t contact them

Edited April 12, 2021 by Zetterberg

[InstantRockstar 1,243]

3 minutes ago, dart said:

I'm not shocked that yet again you continue to white knight or dick ride any incident you come across and pretend to be mister goodie two shoes, you've lied your way top. And if I were a GM no I wouldn't care because I wouldn't be grabbing what I believe is the lowest of the low and throwing them at the issue trying to defend it, if I were a GM I wouldn't let this shit happen in the first place because I'd actually be in my LR. Plead ignorance more for them more please. 

Lied my way to the top? My guy, I've been here since before you were born no doubt LMAO, lied my way to the top. I had to fuckin' GRIND just to get anywhere here, just like everyone else. I'm not pleading ignorance, I've talked to the parties involved that are being questioned, I'm not saying their LR has been perfect, no one has, it's the WAY this is being handled. RJ was blindsided by this, Hex was blindsided by this, NEITHER of them knew he was unhappy until this article came out. HOW do you expect ANYONE to resolve ANYTHING, if they aren't given a fair chance and instead blasted via an article first? 

 

Answer: They can't. 

 

Crawl back to the hole you came out of, this isn't the time for a fight you know nothing about kiddo. 

[Gustav 6,432]

Just now, Zetterberg said:

Safe to say he didn’t contact them

 

Based on that, sure. That's also not the only thing being said in the article--there's concern over how the locker room in general is run and that seems to be being fully and willfully ignored by some who focus on that aspect of things and that alone.

 

Even assuming that the GMs weren't contacted in advance, this should still raise some questions that have been completely brushed aside. Again, I do not know what did and didn't happen and won't be saying that any allegations made here are true or false. But there's more to this article (and my previous comment) than that one single detail.

[Prof. Zach Enron 84]

1 minute ago, InstantRockstar said:

Lied my way to the top? My guy, I've been here since before you were born no doubt LMAO, lied my way to the top. I had to fuckin' GRIND just to get anywhere here, just like everyone else. I'm not pleading ignorance, I've talked to the parties involved that are being questioned, I'm not saying their LR has been perfect, no one has, it's the WAY this is being handled. RJ was blindsided by this, Hex was blindsided by this, NEITHER of them knew he was unhappy until this article came out. HOW do you expect ANYONE to resolve ANYTHING, if they aren't given a fair chance and instead blasted via an article first? 

 

Answer: They can't. 

 

Crawl back to the hole you came out of, this isn't the time for a fight you know nothing about kiddo. 

Nah you're 100% one of the scummiest people I've known, you know you've lied haha I'm sure you grinded but it wasn't in the way any of us expect, it was your ass back up to whatever GM would listen begging for their attention, hey man you got it good for you. Are you going to continue to be an attack dog for inactive LR? Blindsided, again continue to plead ignorance if it gets to this point it's your own fault.

[InstantRockstar 1,243]

2 minutes ago, dart said:

Nah you're 100% one of the scummiest people I've known, you know you've lied haha I'm sure you grinded but it wasn't in the way any of us expect, it was your ass back up to whatever GM would listen begging for their attention, hey man you got it good for you. Are you going to continue to be an attack dog for inactive LR? Blindsided, again continue to plead ignorance if it gets to this point it's your own fault.

I know I haven't lied whatsoever to get to the point I am at. I got San Diego fair and square, was there for 10 seasons, and I got Miami fair and square after that. What I would've or could've done that is 'scummy' is beyond me, you can DM me if you'd like to enlighten me, but as far as I'm aware, applying for a job isn't scummy, it's how you get a job.

 

Thanks though for a good chuckle. 

[Dom 1,445]

Wow this is getting out of control, is there an admin online on the forum?

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

Just now, Domg5 said:

Wow this is getting out of control, is there an admin online on the forum?

Aww the fun is just getting started lol

[Josh 1,671]

 

 

 

I personally think this can fizzle out on it's own but I've been watching.

[Gustav 6,432]

Just now, Domg5 said:

Wow this is getting out of control, is there an admin online on the forum?

 

Sorry, the 8 hours of moderation per day has been allocated to Discord.

 

/s