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CowboyinAmerica

By CowboyinAmerica
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CowboyinAmerica

CowboyinAmerica 2,731

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Killing Titan by Greg Bear | Gollancz - Bringing You News From Our World To Yours

 

A Career, Interrupted

 

Normally I have some sort of overarching theme to my media spots to make them more coherent. But today, I’m just going to ramble a bit. I think it’s warranted given how this offseason’s gone, and the rather sudden dissolution of the team with the third-best record in the league last season.

 

I’ve experienced a lot in my VHL career. I’ve created Hall of Famers, won titles, been a part of dominant teams. I’ve also experienced the lowest of lows, going careers without ever making the Finals, finishing as a bit of an afterthought. After being here off and on for about 50 seasons, I didn’t think there was much left to experience in my VHL life.

 

But now, I guess I can say I’ve experienced something new. I’ve never been on a team where a GM has ghosted before.

 

To be sure, a GM no longer showing up isn’t exactly a novel phenomenon in the VHL. Famously, the S43 Bears had Bushito up and leave midseason, while the team went on to win the title anyway. The practice was unfortunately common in the league’s 50s and 60s, although much less so today with so many active members chomping at the bit to take the reigns. Still, I suppose I’ve been fortunate with the GMs I’ve had in my VHL career, because there really hasn’t been much turnover when I’ve been on a team, and even when that’s occurred, there was a succession plan in place.

 

A succession plan is something that Helsinki could have used desperately. Rayz has/had been slowly fading away for a while, but for some reason, never really hired an AGM to pick up the slack in his stead since Hatter left a couple of months ago. I tried to help where I could - I’ve pretty much been posting Helsinki press conferences the past few seasons myself, and I also did all the team’s S84 Draft scouting, since I assumed it wouldn’t get done otherwise. But there’s a reason I actively avoid taking a league job: my schedule goes off and on. The last two weeks (of vacation and work) I was largely offline. For the first week, Rayz was supposed to be too - but now, as that has stretched into two weeks and now a third, there hasn’t been someone there to take up the slack. Apparently the Titans drafted people, but without looking at the portal, I’d have no idea who because there’s been radio silence on Discord. Rayz may very well come back, but there’s been no talk of how or why, and it’s clear that a clean break was not going to be in the cards here.

 

The results have been both obvious and devastating. There’s a chance that Helsinki stalwarts like Pearce, Nezuko and Nano would have stayed if they had actually been courted. Obviously, one can see from the boards that they never received an offer. I don’t blame them for jumping ship at all; I would have done the exact same thing in their situation. And what’s left are the few players that had a longer contract - myself, Boom, AW, Ledge, Zeph. Ironically, I think the bones are there for a team that can still compete, but now without even anyone to bid on inactives, the chances of full lines aren’t very good. I genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen next. I'm not confident it will be good.

 

I talked with Josh on Sunday about the situation, and my hope is that the blue team is considering its options here. I haven’t heard anything back from them, to be fair, but I can’t say I’d be shocked by some sort of takeover. I do believe time is a bit of the essence there, given that the cap is still tight across the league, and it would be tough to find worthwhile homes for the team’s remaining actives. Plus, I figure any new GM would want as many suitors as possible to try and maximize picks for any sort of rebuild.

 

Even then, though, I fear I’m going to be the one screwed by this situation the most, especially because of one big factor: the recent glut of goalies. In recent drafts, just about every team has solidified their goalie position, or at least have a plan for the next couple of years. That leaves my potential options for landing spots - not only via a trade this season, but even in free agency next offseason - very slim. It’s a bit odd that I’m going to be sitting at 1200+ TPA for the next four seasons, yet I could be left out of the general league shuffle for reasons beyond my control. It’s the way the cookie crumbles, but it doesn’t make it any more palatable.

 

I suppose my best case scenario is somebody takes over the Titans now, sees the potential and tries to cobble together a winner for the next couple of seasons. I’m curious if that ship has sailed, though. And if it has - well, I guess I’m going to keep banking a ton of TPE, and I’m open for business next offseason if somebody wants a potentially game-breaking goalie on their side. I genuinely don’t know where that might be, because I’ve done zero research on other destinations - I never thought I would have to. That’s something I’m learning comes up quickly in this situation that I’d never experienced before.

 

I really did want to see this through on the Titans, but I guess the Titans didn’t really want to see it through on their side. As a result, the ultimate trajectory of where I see my career going is changing. Especially after a Season 83 Slobo and Shaw, and a Season 84 playoff run that saw a Game 7 loss to the eventual champs, I’ll admit that I had Hall of Fame in my eyes. Maybe I still could. But that has been rapidly replaced by scramble mode, and the increasing possibility of my final season before depreciation being a complete wash. I imagine it will change how the history books remember Booberry. I know it’ll change how I remember him. Because now, it will be partially the story of the promising goalie who ran into the brick wall that he never saw coming.


 

Edited by CowboyinAmerica
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BOOM

BOOM 8,435

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Thanks for being yet another Titan voice to make their concerns known. You mentioned a factor that's possibly the most disappointing to me, which is the expected waste of a season and unknown future, in what is already a limited career length at the VHL level. I've said this multiple times, but I hope Ray is OK, but if it's just ghosting/feeling burnt out etc, then I'm really disappointed. 

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