Claimed: The Real Members Responsible for All The Devise Paragraphs (10th Anni PT)

[Devise 4,475]

I'm a day late on these PT's my apologies, but I still wanted to do something fun for the themed PT week here. We were planning on doing a Pajodcast, but things didn't end up lining up as I went to Vulcon which is a weird Star Trek pseudo convention that happens in Vulcan Alberta every year. It was...surprisingly alright. My roommate ended up buying a dope Breaking Bad Poster and a real bulls horn that was carved into a Viking style drinking horn. Which is surprisingly kind of cool to drink out of. Oh and also for those familiar with any Star Trek, the actor who played Jake Cisco from DS9 was there and did a very good Q and A. 

 

Anyway, I wanted to do a brief bit on some of the members who were really influential to me when I first entered the league. These were some of the closer members to me here in the early days, some still now. 

 

@Advantage Let's start with the most obvious and get it out of the way. Advantage is probably one of my closest in real life friends right now. He's a great dude, and over the years here he's been one of the greatest members. He's clearly going to eventually go into the HoF as a Builder, has built several great HoF players and is one of the best GM's the league has ever seen. Outside of the VHL I will happily say that Chris has one of the mots infectious personalities. He is just one of those people that easily goes with the flow, and it doesn't seem to matter what your talking about or doing, his quick wit and charm goes along with it all. While Dexter Laine may end up being his last player, or his last one for a while, I'm still happy for all the memories. 

 

@Jericho Sure lets do the obvious number two right now. Kyle is like my Dark Link. Or I'm his Dark Link would probably be the better equivalent. Like ADV I've met him in person and we are good friends. The one thing that I think has amazed me about Kyle is the transition. There was a period there after his fantastic early days creating a HoF player his first time out with Daniel Braxton, to then fading on the league and straight up leaving it for a decent chunk of time, where both Chris and I actually didn't know if Kyle would ever be back to the VHL. He is back now in a pseudo limited capacity, But seeing him change during that transition was probably the most interesting. We actually even talked to Kyle less for some of that period he was busy doing other things. Mostly you know, getting involved in a serious romantic relationship. But the "return" version of Kyle was clearly more mature, more grounded, far less of a troll. Although he sometimes still brings that side of himself up, Kyle really helped embody for me the idea that we have been in this league a long time. Long enough to see even people I know change. 

 

@Strtlght The actual real reason I am still in the VHL to this very day. Okay actually that may be a bit dramatic, but it's pretty close to the truth. History lesson for those who haven't been around as long, but when I joined the league in Season 23/24, and finally entered the VHL for the first time with my player Rauno Pajari, I was on the Riga Reign. I had a relatively bad experience in the VHLM, lots of inactivity some not great GM's. And Riga was undergoing a GM change at the time as well, in fact it went through two in my limited time with the club. I ended up finding my way to the New York Americans whose GM at the time was Streetlight. Him and Jericho (Braxton) were the two HoF studs of that team and they were looking to get over the Cup hump. The reason this was so pivotal is because I was very close to quitting the league. I pretty much was giving it one more season, but I really didn't have a great intro. Street was an amazing GM back then, one of the best. He was engaged, involved, and my very idea of how to even try to be an effective GM in the VHL to this day is clearly inspired by some of his own tactics. Sure it may not be inventing the wheel to say, "care about the league and your team" as a GM, but you'd be surprised how many GM's don't do that and then wonder why things don't work out. Street was the one who showed me about how important that foundation is to even team activity. New members are always going to feel alienated until they engage with this thing, especially people unfamiliar with how sim leagues work in the community space. 

 

@Noah!! Man Noah was a blast to be on this site with back in those days. His graphics, both silly and the quality work. His podcasting, he had so many good fun ones. I know some will never forget the longest 3 way ever, like say Boom for example.  Rogue Squadron goes in there too, there is just so many. For those who don't know much about Noah, he had more prominent players in the past. I think his last prominent player was Lebedev, which would of been in the S30's era before he retired. But he was one of the bigger pranksters around here, usually him and Phil (both of them were mods) would keep the site in general hopping and popping. Noah was also the king of the spam and game areas as well, fueling that with enough distractions. 

 

@.sniffuM The Terraria game we all played together was majestic. But you started voicing with us relatively in the early days and ended up bringing the Reik over to New York. Despite the age difference I very much saw you as a more ingrained member into the culture here, with obviously a couple of pivotal players in the leagues history to date. But it was nice to have you around back in those days, you were very much apart of "the group" at a time when it felt like we could just get on any night of the week and randomly see who was around to cast. And we'd always get a group of different people. 

 

@diamond_ace Was involved in my first Skype session actually with the boys. I believe it was me, Kyle, Chris and you. Ultimately we randomly got on and started playing poker, and I realized very early that you were a well spoken highly intelligent individual. Which was great for me, a person who loves to ramble and get in overly long debates about nothing. Just a great member that I think really helped showcase not only the age difference, but diversity found on sites like this. It can create some interesting interactions for sure. You were also a very pivotal member back in those early days, as you were an involved VHLM Commish and GM of the Calgary Wranglers. Still hold the record to this day for the most consecutive GM seasons, although I think we can all agree like the last 2-3 seasons of that run you were already checked out.  

 

@BOOM You sir are the locker room leader. Perhaps that maybe has faded over the years, as you as well as many of the names on this list have become less engaged in the league overall. But I'll never forget many memories that involve you. The hustle and bustle of your LR posts. You going out of your way to create a Devise thread loaded with random things I like and absolutely despise to go along with your Boob threads. All the Cards Against Humanity (Demi Moores bush). You were and always have been a more dramatic member, but I think part of that comes from your passion as a person, and for the league. You are the type of member who is key to any community, because you are easy to love. Even in the dramatic moments. A huge reason I stuck around this long, as whether it was joking around with you or having more serious chats was always a good, insightful time. 

 

And lastly, there was an "existing" member base core that I think in the early days me and I know Kyle really wanted to try to you know ingrain ourselves with. That core has since come to be known briefly as the "old boys club" and now is simply referred to as the type of members you rarely get. AKA all the crazy ones. But this was crucial for me coming into the league honestly. It was knowing that there was an established community for a long period of time that really adds to the legacy and interest. You feel that even if you don't always create the best players or have the best seasons with every player, there is this established status quo that you become apart of. It makes it easier to engage with the community, and ultimately when you do have a great player or a great run there is that sense of reward and accomplishment. Your doing what a lot of these other people have done. At the time I joined the league there were several members who were part of that group. The guys who were consistent, building top notch players and earning points, keeping the community going. Some of those names that are still around, and some who aren't. 

 

@sterling @Phil @Kendrick @Beketov @solas @Victor @Knight @JardyB10 @Koradek @Squinty @Boragina 

 

 

[der meister 3,197]

I expect to be in part two of this series.

[BOOM 8,759]

I almost cried.....

[JardyB10 4,865]

Very nice sentiment, and one I think most of us can relate to. There's so many great members in this community, it really is no different than real friendships and relationships sometimes. Personally, if I was writing this Media Spot, it would be "Members I Think Are Pieces of Shit," and you would be at the top, along with a number of the members you tagged in this. Especially @Squinty, I miss that little Asian fuck.

 

Excellent read.

[Devise 4,475]

@CoachReilly how could I forget about you as well. Guy was a HoF machine back in the day people, watch yourself. Also every time I see your Sig I get a strange desire to binge watch all the Mighty Duck movies.

 

Oh and @Frank was around as a member of that core back then too people. Scrub Henchoz won a Cup with that member overloaded HoF stacked Calgary club.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

8 hours ago, der meister said:

I expect to be in part two of this series.

 

 

[Advantage 2,891]

18 hours ago, Devise said:

 

 

@Advantage Let's start with the most obvious and get it out of the way. Advantage is probably one of my closest in real life friends right now. He's a great dude, and over the years here he's been one of the greatest members. He's clearly going to eventually go into the HoF as a Builder, has built several great HoF players and is one of the best GM's the league has ever seen. Outside of the VHL I will happily say that Chris has one of the mots infectious personalities. He is just one of those people that easily goes with the flow, and it doesn't seem to matter what your talking about or doing, his quick wit and charm goes along with it all. While Dexter Laine may end up being his last player, or his last one for a while, I'm still happy for all the memories. 

 

 

 

 

Already happened bud