VSN is a troll

[AJW 2,421]

In my experience of the VHL, and as a member who has been here since S78, the VSN crew tend to be a troll when it comes to making mock drafts or playoff previews. No disrespect to @sadie whatsoever after publishing the S99 VHLM Mock Draft. I have no disrespect to you and the crew, but I just think it is hilarious to see how wrong y'all are each and every season. (I'm not pointing you out, It's f**king hard to predict this stuff, but I'm gonna give y'all the gears a bit here)

 

If anyone is wondering, here is what the VSN crew predicted with the S99 VHLM Mock Draft (Click me to see the post):

1.  Igor Sokolov 

2. John Cowgill

3. Chase Breeze

4. Mia Miller

5. Diego Adam

6. Finn Mercer

7. Dougie Talladega

8. Brandon Hope

9. Ayumu Kasuga

10. Michael Szatkowski III

 

Here was the actual results of the first round, highlighted in green are correct VSN picks:

1. Chase Beeze

2. John Cowgill

3. Florida Man II

4. Mia Miller

5. Wade Landry

6. Diego Adam

7. Dougie Talladega

8. Rocco Serrano

9. Finn Mercer

10. Bash McMurray

 

Let's be fair here, guessing 3/10 is honestly not that bad. But I have a few points that are just "wtf". And once again, I am not shitting on VSN, but instead just wondering why did they suggest these picks.

 

• First and foremost, I will give full credit to VSN about Igor Sokolov @Kisslinger. I couldn't tell you why the highest TPE player in this draft, considered on the VSN's top 10 at 1st overall, with an extreme amount of past experience... dropped to the 2nd round (12th overall). But honestly that is something that I and most likely many have no clue about.
• Second of all, Ayumu Kasuga, VSN's projected 9th overall pick, a 217 TPE player who is managed by Ottawa's GM @Grape, was not only passed once, but twice by Ottawa's 8th and 11th overall pick, and was selected at 14th overall... once again, I couldn't tell you what happened there.
• Thirdly, Sadie, I love you, but 2/3 of your correct guesses were players who were drafted to your own team, the Las Vegas Aces. No other words needed.

 

Moving on, let's talk about Chase Breeze @C-Breeze. Drafted 1st overall but was ranked 3rd overall by the VSN crew's Mock Draft. I don't see how a member like Breeze could have fallen lower than 1st. Let's be real, they are a first generation player, but... If you have seen them even for a split second throughout the forum, you would know they are an insanely active, and are an extremely friendly member, easily earning the 1st overall spot in my eyes at least. I can guarantee anyone, that each and every interview that Breeze was apart of was a 10/10, and I've never even spoken to the member. In my eyes this should have been a guaranteed 1st overall suggestion, but, like I said before, it is challenging to put a first generation player at 1st overall, and I can't be mad at the VSN crew for not doing so.

 

John Cowgill @FlyingWV, another member that I am not familiar with, and another member that is a first generation player. VSN got this one bang on, 2nd overall right on the money. After looking through Cowgill's update log, it was easily noticed that this member is also part of the VSN crew. While I am not giving any disrespect to FlyingWV, it's a bit of a chuckle that Sadie, who published the article, and got 2/3 picks right for her own team, also got the 3rd correct pick being her own coworker at 2nd overall. FlyingWV has created some amazing work for VSN and definitely deserves to be a top pick, even as a first generation player, but 3/3 correct picks made like this just makes me laugh, I'm sorry.

 

3rd overall Florida Man II @Florida Man, a recreate with 3/4 of their last players reaching 1000+ TPE, while also currently being insanely active throughout the forum... wasn't even considered on the VSN's top 10 Mock Draft. That's hilarious to me. And if we want to stay on the topic, let's talk about 10th overall Bash McMurray @Bushito who was also... not considered on the VSN's top 10 Mock Draft. Bushito is an older member who has just rejoined the league again, with previous players never dipping below 1100+ TPE, also a VHL Hall of Famer. If you don't think that is VHLM top 10 worthy, even after 30+ seasons of being away, then you're out for lunch. Wade Landry @Doomsday was also not considered on the VSN's top 10 Mock Draft, while going 5th overall in this VHLM draft. A powerhouse member who has never had a player dip below 1500+ TPE. Doomsday has been very active since creating his first player and hasn't stopped, but was shadowed away by the VSN crew. Last but not least, 8th overall Rocco Serrano @Brandon, a former Player Store manager with a previous player of 1500+ TPE was also not considered on the VSN's top 10 Mock Draft. It is a bit bizarre to me that 4 extremely talented members were not even considered in the top 10 where they are rightfully deserved. But once again, I can give credit to the VSN crew, this draft class was extremely talented, and maybe some names were forgotten in front of others.

 

I will give credit to the VSN crew about 6th overall Diego Adam @Dadam30 being projected 5th overall, and I will also give credit about 9th overall Finn Mercer @Steve being projected 6th overall. These picks were not far off and were both well deserved of a top 10 selection. 

 

The only thing that really haunts me is that four of the ten players selected in the S99 VHLM Dispersal Draft were not even considered. I feel as if VSN makes mistakes like this every season, especially when it comes to Playoff Predictions and Mock Drafts like this one. But listen...

 

You are all not robots, and this is a simulation league, a mostly randomized league. You cannot predict what the outcome will be and that is okay. I have my opinions and so do you. At the end of the day I am happy that VSN pushes out the work that they do and I will never dishonor y'all for that. It just makes me happy in a way that you are mostly always wrong, and that the "simulation" aspect of randomness that this league brings can live on.

[dstevensonjr 581]

Ottawa used their picks on a pair of people who wanted to play together apparently, which wasn't publicly known until the draft was going on. Stuff like that impacts what a draft *should* look like because it disregards things like TPE in favour of fit. It makes putting out content like mock drafts virtually impossible to get right, but the complaints would be louder if there was no content at all. At least this gives a reason to chat about the draft and why it has changed. Could always put out your own mock draft as well if you're certain about what's going to happen, it isn't banned or anything.

[Pifferfish 854]

1 minute ago, dstevensonjr said:

Ottawa used their picks on a pair of people who wanted to play together apparently, which wasn't publicly known until the draft was going on. Stuff like that impacts what a draft *should* look like because it disregards things like TPE in favour of fit. It makes putting out content like mock drafts virtually impossible to get right, but the complaints would be louder if there was no content at all. At least this gives a reason to chat about the draft and why it has changed. Could always put out your own mock draft as well if you're certain about what's going to happen, it isn't banned or anything.

To this point, you don't know how players interviewed or if they said they have a team preference, ect. Mocking the M is mad hard.

[Doomsday 4,211]

6 minutes ago, AJW said:

Wade Landry @Doomsday was also not considered on the VSN's top 10 Mock Draft, while going 5th overall in this VHLM draft. A powerhouse member who has never had a player dip below 1500+ TPE. Doomsday has been very active since creating his first player and hasn't stopped, but was shadowed away by the VSN crew.

 

It's also worth noting that I write for VSN, in particular the VHL Mock Draft. Didn't seem like it fit your narrative though. 

[AJW 2,421]

5 minutes ago, dstevensonjr said:

Ottawa used their picks on a pair of people who wanted to play together apparently, which wasn't publicly known until the draft was going on. Stuff like that impacts what a draft *should* look like because it disregards things like TPE in favour of fit. It makes putting out content like mock drafts virtually impossible to get right, but the complaints would be louder if there was no content at all. At least this gives a reason to chat about the draft and why it has changed. Could always put out your own mock draft as well if you're certain about what's going to happen, it isn't banned or anything.

 

Didn't know Moon and Brandon were a package, you're 100% right that there are many factors to impact what a draft should look like. Like I said multiple times in this article I'm not shitting on VSN or even claiming that my opinion is right. I just love that there is a history of VSN errors, and that is okay!

Edited Tuesday at 03:04 AM by AJW

[AJW 2,421]

2 minutes ago, Doomsday said:

 

It's also worth noting that I write for VSN, in particular the VHL Mock Draft. Didn't seem like it fit your narrative though. 

 

Also forgot you were a VSN writer. Once again, not shitting on y'all, just love that there are errors in the making.

[Doomsday 4,211]

14 minutes ago, AJW said:

First and foremost, I will give full credit to VSN about Igor Sokolov @Kisslinger. I couldn't tell you why the highest TPE player in this draft, considered on the VSN's top 10 at 1st overall, with an extreme amount of past experience... dropped to the 2nd round (12th overall). But honestly that is something that I and most likely many have no clue about.

 

The VHLM Draft is a lot different than the VHL Draft, it's not about just taking the highest TPE guys. As good as Sokolov is, a VHLM team is likely only getting a single season out of him before he breaks 400 TPE. Teams are going to prefer a player where they'll get at least two seasons with their first pick. 

[AJW 2,421]

2 minutes ago, Doomsday said:

 

The VHLM Draft is a lot different than the VHL Draft, it's not about just taking the highest TPE guys. As good as Sokolov is, a VHLM team is likely only getting a single season out of him before he breaks 400 TPE. Teams are going to prefer a player where they'll get at least two seasons with their first pick. 

Fully agree brother

[dstevensonjr 581]

4 minutes ago, AJW said:

 

Didn't know Moon and Brandon were a package, you're 100% right that there are many factors to impact what a draft should look like. Like I said multiple times in this article I'm not shitting on VSN or even claiming that my opinion is right. I just love that there is a history of VSN errors, and that is okay!

Are they even errors though? VSN is a group of people trying to come up with a consensus opinion on things, it's not exactly a scientific process. If we had 15 people come up with a mock draft, it'd likely have 15 different orders, and all 15 of those would likely be incorrect based on the final outcome. We're all just trying to get in the heads of 10 (or in the VHL case, 16) different people to see what they *might* need, and which direction that they *might* go. We can even amplify that for the VHLM draft because there are even less clear needs with the heavy roster turnover each off-season.

 

I know that you said you aren't shitting on VSN, but dropping a full article right after the draft about how the VSN got it all wrong feels a lot like leaving a giant turd and spraypainting it gold. It would be awfully boring if every mock draft or prediction went exactly the way that it was projected to, let's not dump on people for that not happening.

[AJW 2,421]

23 minutes ago, AJW said:

You are all not robots, and this is a simulation league, a mostly randomized league. You cannot predict what the outcome will be and that is okay. I have my opinions and so do you. At the end of the day I am happy that VSN pushes out the work that they do and I will never dishonor y'all for that. It just makes me happy in a way that you are mostly always wrong, and that the "simulation" aspect of randomness that this league brings can live on.

@dstevensonjr

[SMYLS4 254]

You cant predict this draft accurately because its not the VHL. M GMs dont always want players who will be around for 1 season when you are rebuilding. Long gone are the days of 200 TPE ceiling. Now teams can be competitive for 2-3 seasons. 

[AJW 2,421]

4 minutes ago, SMYLS4 said:

You cant predict this draft accurately because its not the VHL. M GMs dont always want players who will be around for 1 season when you are rebuilding. Long gone are the days of 200 TPE ceiling. Now teams can be competitive for 2-3 seasons. 

Agreed brother

[SMYLS4 254]

Just now, AJW said:

Agreed brother

Im honestly surprised @sadie got 3/10 in the right position and 6/10 total. Hats off to you. 

[Grape 905]

Will

30 minutes ago, dstevensonjr said:

Ottawa used their picks on a pair of people who wanted to play together apparently, which wasn't publicly known until the draft was going on. Stuff like that impacts what a draft *should* look like because it disregards things like TPE in favour of fit. It makes putting out content like mock drafts virtually impossible to get right, but the complaints would be louder if there was no content at all. At least this gives a reason to chat about the draft and why it has changed. Could always put out your own mock draft as well if you're certain about what's going to happen, it isn't banned or anything.

Which is why it's important to scout. I talked with Moon previously and found out about the package, so I made it a point to ensure I locked that down. Had I not had that discussion, I would've selected Moon and someone else, causing a future trade to occur. Mocks are fun, but will always lack that insider knowledge to properly assess who goes where.

[Grape 905]

36 minutes ago, AJW said:

• Second of all, Ayumu Kasuga, VSN's projected 9th overall pick, a 217 TPE player who is managed by Ottawa's GM @Grape, was not only passed once, but twice by Ottawa's 8th and 11th overall pick, and was selected at 14th overall... once again, I couldn't tell you what happened there.

I had zero intention of drafting my own player, simply because I know both the build and timeline of them, neither of which fit what I wanted for Ottawa

[C-Breeze 237]

58 minutes ago, AJW said:

Moving on, let's talk about Chase Breeze @C-Breeze. Drafted 1st overall but was ranked 3rd overall by the VSN crew's Mock Draft. I don't see how a member like Breeze could have fallen lower than 1st. Let's be real, they are a first generation player, but... If you have seen them even for a split second throughout the forum, you would know they are an insanely active, and are an extremely friendly member, easily earning the 1st overall spot in my eyes at least. I can guarantee anyone, that each and every interview that Breeze was apart of was a 10/10, and I've never even spoken to the member. In my eyes this should have been a guaranteed 1st overall suggestion, but, like I said before, it is challenging to put a first generation player at 1st overall, and I can't be mad at the VSN crew for not doing so.

 

This is an incredibly well written and well sourced article. (And not just the part about me).

 

However you choose to look at it, a very insightful read!

 

That and thank you very much for your kind words. It's people like you and comments like this that make the VHL such a welcome place to be! Cheers!!

[RJMW 190]

The issue is VSN make better picks in their mock draft than M GMs do in the actual draft. Rolf 20th overall a draft steal to rival Tom Brady!! I weep for the clueless M GMs !!!

[Gustav 6,671]

Kinda wild to be shocked that different people evaluate prospects differently, especially at the lower level where those prospects have had less time to differentiate from each other. I’m glad that VSN is making guesses in the true spirit of a mock rather than going around asking GMs to tell them who they’re picking so they can project accurately (which happened once years ago and I told them to get lost). 
 

Next time we have a strong M draft class, feel free to write a mock draft. It’s always cool to see how perspectives differ throughout the community. 

[Grape 905]

It's important to note that every GM comes into this draft with a different list of people they're targeting. I can say I didn't have a single person in the mock on my list. We all come in with a plan and that will never match any predictions exactly. There's so much adjusting on the fly, digging around at player pages, and thinking multiple picks ahead in each selection that it's near impossible to actually nail anything down.

[AJW 2,421]

13 hours ago, AJW said:

@dstevensonjr

@Gustav @Grape lol

[Grape 905]

3 minutes ago, AJW said:

@Gustav @Grape lol

Not reading that essay

[AJW 2,421]

Uncapped TPE Package: 1/5