A Gustav 30 in 30, #1: Lightning Glory Gonna Be My Name

[Gustav 6,406]

Some come to laugh their past away
Some come to make it just one more day
Whichever way your pleasure tends
If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind

-from the Grateful Dead's "Franklin's Tower"

 

 

As of next season, I will have spent 30 seasons in the VHL. I've always been a big fan of the VHL's 30 in 30 series for telling me lots of stories about the league from before my time. These brought up things that I wouldn't necessarily have gotten from reading through old indexes and checking out records, and that's lived experience--people giving perspectives on the things that happened, instead of just lists of those things that happened. Thanks to those articles, I learned why lots of the things I'd heard about were significant, and the views offered in them also served as a valuable time capsule for me as I learned how important some things are to the league despite never being talked about anymore.

 

So, because I hate myself, I'm doing one of my own. This isn't intended to be a comprehensive picture of league history over the past 30 seasons, nor is it a VHL 30 in 30 in its own right. I'm writing a Gustav 30 in 30, recounting not the league's history but my own and going through what's been most important to me across hopefully the next season and a half and probably a bit longer than that. And what's a better place to start than at the very beginning? It's a very good place to start, after all. Installment number one of 30, here we go

 

It was 2019, and then-18-year-old me was on the floor of my bedroom lost on Reddit. I remember fairly clearly having been "in the middle of some homework," which to me meant that the second I came across anything I couldn't do off the top of my head, I'd pick up my phone and scroll through it for an hour like the degenerate I am. Seriously, my degree probably would have come pretty easily if I could make myself stop doing that.

 

I also remember getting the sort of foggy head feeling that one gets after staring at a screen for hours on end. I'm not sure if this was from whatever I was doing, or my phone, or both, but you'd think that one little promotional post on r/sabres wouldn't tip the scales in favor of (let's be honest) a whole lot more staring at screens in that moment. I'm sure you know where this is going, because you're seeing the product of where it's gone. I joined the forum, made a few "please help me" posts, did my first press conference, and actually closed the VHL window and figured I'd seen about enough. The reason why I came back was that I was dumb enough to still sign up for things with an email address that I actually check, and later that day I got a scouting message from @Thranduil (then a long-time AGM in Halifax) in my inbox. So...yeah, whatever, maybe I'll see what happens after this "draft" people are talking about. After all, I read through the very short-lived and now entirely-nonexistent-on-the-forum VHLM newsletter (recruitment, take note!) and enjoyed it.

 

VHLM Gustav lasted until the 5th round and was taken 36th overall. I'd been scouted two or three times at the time, having joined two or three days before the draft and not earned much yet. But it's pretty safe to say that first-ever Bulls GM @Rin hit on a pick, kicking off what would be a formative first season for me (and one that you'll see talked about across the first few installments of this series). I'd been invited to join the team server and was initially really hesitant--I'd never talked to random people online before and wasn't sure I wanted to--but jumped in late at night (in the middle of some other assignment that I wasn't really doing) and had a good conversation right away about player builds and stuff. I think that sort of thing was a bit intoxicating for an 18-year-old kid whose friends were suddenly all busy moving away and having responsibilities. I suddenly had a group to hang out with whenever I wanted it again, and that really built a sort of bond with this place that I don't think I'd have if I joined today.

 

I'm not sure what I thought the VHL was when I joined. I don't remember being particularly surprised (I was never someone who thought we were a gaming community) but I also remember being mildly taken aback when I heard that our sim output was entirely text-based. I spent a few sims reading through the full play-by-play (because new people stuff; why not?) and thought it was cool anyway. In a way, I miss skimming through that and being excited to see that my player intercepted a pass or whatnot.

 

As far as earning and being part of the community went, it took me a minute. I wasn't always the word-dumper I am today. Instead, my first mark on the league was made in team-specific shitpost articles with very long titles. This extended anywhere from my teammates being detained at airports for "looking too Nordic" to Halifax secretly being a satanic cult to me running player quotes through a colloquial Scottish English translator for some aggressively Groundskeeper Willie-type energy. I was well-entrenched in writing media spots by this point, but my first serious article didn't even come out until halfway through that first season.

 

I won't give away the rest, but S65 was a great time. I learned a lot, got to know lots of people, and grew to appreciate the culture of the VHL. And if you're interested in hearing more of a deep dive into my history--stick around. It's coming just as soon as I can make it.

[Scurvy 1,488]

Great article.  Looking forward for more 

[Grape 676]

12 hours ago, Gustav said:

VHLM Gustav lasted until the 5th round and was taken 36th overall. I'd been scouted two or three times at the time, having joined two or three days before the draft and not earned much yet. But it's pretty safe to say that first-ever Bulls GM @Rin hit on a pick

I can't believe how little I actually remeber from way back then. I knew we were in the same draft, I just never knew where and when you were drafted. Based on what you've become, I would have never penciled you in as going so late (especially not 10 picks after me). I always pictured you as more like a 3rd round pick, definitely not a 5th. I also don't ever remember you being on the Bulls, although that's probably because I was moved halfway through the season. At this point, S65 feels like a distant memory, and I guess five years later it kind of is. I look forward reading each installment. Our paths have crossed a fair few times, enough that there'll be plenty of shared memories within each article that I'll be happy to remember and reminisce.

[Victor 10,940]

I can't imagine finding this league and first experiencing it on my phone lol. In part because the first iPhone came out the year I joined and I very much did not have one.

 

So much content on a small screen. Nahhh I'd quit. 

[Gustav 6,406]

6 hours ago, Victor said:

I can't imagine finding this league and first experiencing it on my phone lol. In part because the first iPhone came out the year I joined and I very much did not have one.

 

So much content on a small screen. Nahhh I'd quit. 

I was actually exclusively a computer user for a few years; only even started checking the forum on my phone after lots of time had passed. 
 

Desktop VHL is way better and way easier to navigate. I have no idea how some people (I think @Doomsday is one?) manage to do so much off their phones. 

[Enorama 2,038]

22 hours ago, Gustav said:

I'd never talked to random people online before and wasn't sure I wanted to

 

This reads like you thought it in 1999, not 2019

[Doomsday 4,130]

1 hour ago, Gustav said:

I was actually exclusively a computer user for a few years; only even started checking the forum on my phone after lots of time had passed. 
 

Desktop VHL is way better and way easier to navigate. I have no idea how some people (I think @Doomsday is one?) manage to do so much off their phones. 

 

Oh, desktop is way easier, but the phone is more convenient. I'm not confined to a set spot, and when you have a kid, that's huge. I used to be able to do all my media spots strictly on the phone until a lot of the formatting stuff was lost due to an upgrade of sorts. 

[McWolf 3,115]

On 4/5/2024 at 7:21 PM, Gustav said:

I was actually exclusively a computer user for a few years; only even started checking the forum on my phone after lots of time had passed. 
 

Desktop VHL is way better and way easier to navigate. I have no idea how some people (I think @Doomsday is one?) manage to do so much off their phones. 

I'm on mobile 99.9% of the time. Not too active anymore, but even when I was an M commish, a GM, a VSN writer, I was virtually always on mobile. It's just more convenient. Formatting stinks bad though. You get used to the quirks, but some trivial stuff, like tagging people on mobile for some reasons, is one of the worst things I've ever had to deal with.