Bana Blabs Down Under in SYDNEY #92

[Banackock 8,044]

Bana Blabs Down Under in SYDNEY #92 

Another Blab brought to you by Talk-to-Text, an easier way to do this. Thanks, Siri. Despite your many, often simple errors. I appreciate you. You have made this easier and I wish I would have given you a try all those seasons ago! 

 

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Hey all! As the beautiful month of September looks to come to a close, so does our regular season for S90. Since my last article I wrote about visiting Melbourne, Australia, we managed to fly ourselves to Sydney for the second time! Unlike when we first came to Australia and spent a week in Sydney, this time we only stayed from the 24-26th. We figured we'd already seen it but it's just so beautiful that we wanted a few more days... and I'm so glad we did! Melbourne was cool, but Sydney is on a whole different level (probably a few up, to be honest and in my opinion). Our Air BNB had cute character for a loft and was perfectly positioned off the water this time close to the gardens, opera house and CBD (we were close last time too mostly - Birch Grove). We spent our time mostly walking around CBD, Darling Harbor and had a beach day where I went stingray hunting with gorgeous views of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Northern CBD filling up the views behind the crystal blue waters. ALSO, first 5 minutes in our air BNB and I was outside feeding Banana's to two cockatoos (which was an incredible experience you  can kind of read about in the article I linked above!) and eventually even fed a Lorikeet from my hand which was way too cool and beautiful. For the Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Cairns and home time article, I think that'll be all next week. Still living it up in Brisbane as we speak!

 

Flip into the shadows of the VHL walls and playoffs are 2-3 games away from finishing.. Unless what I was reading about on Discord about the portal not being updated is still a thing. If so, shit. Will have to do lines eventually and to be fair, Brisbane, Sydney, Cairns, Sunshine Coast >>>>> VHL.... Sorry, Melbs   Seattle has found a way to fall out of grace a little bit. We found a groove, started running well after trade deadline but have since fell right back down in time to play Vancouver. Due to this, I'm sure, they're licking their chops at the potential of some fresh, juicy, Bear meat. Could happen but has potential to be a good one! On paper, both are good. We'll see what STHS has in store. With that being said, let's blab... as this is enough for our VHL.com article lmao...

 

• Frederick Elmebeck Award - The idea behind it and reason for it is very kind and thoughtful. I just feel it's a bit of a popularity, ass kissing award where a bunch of friends mass nominate people and sometimes leaves me questioning a lot of the nominees.. really? Them?! Surprised ____ was left off! They've been in the league for what.. 4 seasons? Just became a GM? Over___?? All they are is active really. I guess the wording is "makes a difference in SOME capacity to other members". You certainly see somewhat of a theme of members too.. Would be cool to be recognized though as it is a league nominated award. I think I have been a couple times but haven't walked home with one yet... Could this be the season? I have made amazing relationships this season and over the course of the last 42. Even members I never thought I would... have grown so much like @rory etc that I'm very grateful for. There was a day we couldn't get along! Now we're gonna share a brew at the heritage game. Things change when you give people a chance... who would have thought?? I've been travelling around Australia since February... I've been to Indonesia in this time.. and since September 20th have been on 3 planes.. with 5 more to go... and that's not counting my flights to this wonderful country, to Indonesia, and carrying around a SECOND laptop this entire time so that I can do my GMing duties... We won't even talk about the time zone difference... Still one of the most active GM's.. always a ping away and quick to help.. Have had so many members come to me over the years that needed some help... I was also the member behind the original idea of the Christmas Charity which has collected thousands and thousands of dollars for amazing causes all throughout the world.. (I feel like that's a lot more than some of the members on the list, no? ) and this last off-season, while in Australia and spending all my hard earned money in this wonderful land down under, I introduced the first ever Seattle Bears Team awards under my tenure and have introduced the first ever team award (that I'm aware of) that donates money to charity of the player/member/winners choice. It's just about doing good and trying to instill that into the league, the Bears brand and even myself. I do it often in life, but I really enjoy helping others. It also helps me as weird as that probably is... I want to make a difference and be part of the difference. Despite the little debt I have now from this trip (it's a little more than a little but also none of your damn business hehe), I created the Spirit Bear Award which gave our first ever recipient, @rory, their choice of charity to donate the money towards to help out.

 

Will I be nominated? Maybe. I've been a few times but nothing that has ever been close. I've never been an official nominee I don't think.. Unfortunately, I feel like a few small things can have a negative chokehold on some, cast a massive shadow over your positives for some and for them, despite preaching kindness, don't know how to preach and teach forgiveness  At the end of the day, I just see most of them moving their fingers on the keyboard while the above is being done by others. 

 

• GMOTY - Still a great team and we made MOVES this season to be where we are. The sim has just been weird sometimes and our competition in NA is strong.. but our goal differential has improved big time mostly.. As @Advantage graciously showed us last season, the BOG is separated on how to vote and most awards take a lot into account.. Maybe no clear rubric? Unsure.. Often confusion around it. Seems a huge jump in standings is a good enough cause to win the award sometimes... and overlook everything else... also seems to be quite a bit of influence in there from some members, wink, wink. For the second season in a row, we flopped all over the place as we managed the cap, roster space and the same old same off-season of 90% of GM's waiting too long, waiting for free agency and WAITING.. that's what some of these new GM's love to do is wait until the last minute and then pull the trigger on the first deal they get even though other GM's probably would have offered more... but makes sense. Why do the work earlier when someone else will do it for you later? lol.. and for I THINK the second straight season, we also made the most trades for teams. 11 this season and 9 last season. All while managing to still make the playoffs and be one of the most consistent, successful teams for almost 30 entire seasons now. I'm doing this all while hopping on planes and being 15,000 KM away from my actual home. Some struggle to respond to GM's in a timely manner.

 

Will I be nominated? Don't come off as cheeky, Bana....  Am I not nominated most seasons?  DAMNIT, Bana... Settle down, my VHL mob. I'm only playing to ruffle those pretty cockatoo feathers of yours. Will I win? Honestly, while I have an epic resume for this season, so do a couple others actually. @Moon has done an amazing job with Toronto this season. Great bud of mine, great job! So hard to pick one to root for in the NA but you're up there for me!! I really do think Mooner wins it this season based off how the award comittee etc operates. this time they might not be wrong though! @FrostBeard and @InstantRockstar found ways in the off-season and even @Frank continues to impress with consistency and strength.. Always does a great job. EU - I'd say @samx and @hedgehog337 lead the way for me. They improved the most when it comes to bringing in strong assets.. maybe their seasonal stats aren't as strong, but to be fair, I expected a lot more than 33-29-8 from HSK..  Davos hardly made any big moves... Good season and had some nice, meaningful moves but when you compare to the rest, isn't quite the same level... Same thing with Prague. Same roster, no moves. Good season, sure. Maybe some of these teams had bigger jumps in the standings but eh.. is it on the same level as some of the others like Seattle, Toronto, HSK, RIG, MOS etc? Not to me... One final team that can easily make the list is Moscow @Spartan. Dislike trading with them. Rarely pleasant experience hashing out deals and is comparable to Starbuck's coffee prices. Sometimes you get the odd easy one but that's the nature of this role too... but I look at their roster and draft picks. If you're not scared, you're silly. I strongly avoided Moscow until the last minute so I wouldn't gift them anymore like the rest of you lol...  Every GM is unique. Every GM's competitive levels are different.. While there is a set standard for value, lots of things also affect it personally for teams like the member, history, blah, blah..  For example, I met @Berocka and since then his value has dramatically dropped for me. Guys like 7' tall. Would cost too much for Seattle to keep him well fed.  But it's whatever. We get the job done and i'm not trying to really rip into them.. Their track record is proven and I respect that. Lots talk highly of them and I can appreciate that. We're two hungry managers..  I operate somewhat similar. This is my value. If you don't like it, go somewhere else. Almost always does someone pay... look at LA this off-season and any team that likes to "wait" (not LA in this case..). Often the longer you wait.. the best "fruits" are picked through too.. and you end up paying the same for a bruised peach..  Even though most GM's complain, the value is almost always the same everywhere else.. often times, comedically,  they like to spend a little more... and often you name a price, they say "F*CK no", complain about it somewhere behind your back and then end up trading for a more expensive asset that is less value.. so whatever lol  

[Banackock 8,044]

the end

[Banackock 8,044]

Claiming for 1 week

[Spartan 4,400]

7 hours ago, Banackock said:

The idea behind it and reason for it is very kind and thoughtful. I just feel it's a bit of a popularity, ass kissing award where a bunch of friends mass nominate people and sometimes leaves me questioning a lot of the nominees.. really? Them?!

Just to make sure it's clear, the BoG doesn't determine nominees in any capacity beyond our one vote as a member of the community. All you need to be brought to the BoG discussion table is two nominations from the public nomination process. So if you're not being named as a nominee, there weren't two people out there who 1. knew the nominations were open or 2. chose to nominate you.

 

However I will agree that lately, the bar seems to have dropped a bit and there may be tweaks to the Elmebeck in the coming seasons. I don't think it'll go into the BoG's hands to nominate and vote on since people already think we're just voting our friends. Maybe we just won't hand out the award if there's no good reason. Will have to see what happens.

 

7 hours ago, Banackock said:

One final team that can easily make the list is Moscow @Spartan. Dislike trading with them. Rarely pleasant experience hashing out deals and is comparable to Starbuck's coffee prices.

Best compliment I could get

Edited September 28, 2023 by Spartan

[Daniel Janser 2,167]

8 hours ago, Banackock said:

Rarely pleasant experience hashing out deals and is comparable to Starbuck's coffee prices

Ironically Starbucks is a company based in... Seattle. Apparently @Spartan  learned from the best

[samx 1,173]

I'm still waiting for my kangaroo photos

[Banackock 8,044]

18 minutes ago, Daniel Janser said:

Ironically Starbucks is a company based in... Seattle. Apparently @Spartan  learned from the best

Where’s his cups…? wink. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Banackock

[Daniel Janser 2,167]

1 hour ago, Banackock said:

Where’s his cups…? wink. 

I was merely talking about putting a price tag on players... We all know that one can only do so much to be successful the rest is spoiled done by Simon T.