(S48 Builder) - Chris Miller [1/2]

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Chris Miller, aka Advantage, or now ADV, has historically been one of the best members this league has seen. To an extent, this goes without saying, as he’s been inducted into the HOF as a builder, and that’s not a title given lightly. However, just as you have first ballot players and players who get in on down years, not all HOF builders are created equal either. While he was not “first ballot” so to speak, as builders don’t really have proper windows of eligibility, it doesn’t seem likely that his induction was ever in doubt. I go way back with Chris, having known him first from a short-lived football sim league, but of course the majority of the time was spent here, where we’ve both been members for a large portion of the league’s existence and about 7-8 real life years. It’s a privilege to be able to write of his accomplishments here, as he’s had many.

 

The biggest thing that jumps off the page about Chris is his time as a VHL GM. One of the most successful in the history of the league, he’s GMed three teams for a total of 22 seasons. The biggest run he’s had was with New York, where he spent 15 seasons in charge, S33 through S47. 10 of these seasons resulted in the playoffs, and he took home the cup in S39 and S41. He also led both the casualties of the S58 contraction at prior points in their history, Stockholm for 6 seasons (S50-S55) and Cologne for just a single season, S57, the last before the franchise disbanded. Over that time, he won the top GM award 5 times, including of course both the cup years with New York. He had that team on a dynasty of sorts, 5 consecutive playoff berths with 2 cups and 3 top GM awards during that span, from S38 to S42. Of course, as I was Calgary GM for much of his time in New York, we competed against each other, and he largely came out on top, especially toward the later years of our mutual time. His time with Stockholm I mostly missed, but 3 playoff berths and 2 top GM awards in 6 seasons speaks for itself.

 

He was also prevalent in the league in other roles, including VHLM GM with the now-defunct Kolari Panthers (he seems to be something of a franchise kiss of death, across Kolari, Stockholm, and Cologne), and VHLM Commissioner, the two key roles in our minor league system. He was also a mag writer, long serving member of the Board of Governors where he and I had our fair share of both agreements and disagreements, and Head of Recruitment, where his time spent in all those football sim leagues repaid this league greatly, as several members have made their way here from there over the years.

 

Player-wise, he’s already in the HOF twice, with Ryan Sullivan and Brick Wahl. Wahl was the goalie behind the New York dynasty Chris himself led, with fellow HOF players Conner Low, Xin Xie Xiao, Tom Slaughter, and Odin Tordahl. Two cups, two playoff MVPs, and just short of 300 wins over his career put Wahl into the HOF. Sullivan was one of the true all around defensemen, starting off his career in Calgary, then leaving to go to New York to take over as GM prior to S33. He also finished his career in Helsinki for his final season, S35. He took home a cup with Calgary and two top defenseman awards with New York, and easily made the HOF as well. These two players, combined with his work as a builder, means that Chris is a three time HOFer.

 

As far as non-official roles are concerned, Chris was a founding member of the Pajodcast, a podcast series which initially had several recurring members (Noah, Boom, Muffins, and myself) and occasional guest members, as well as the three founding members, Chris, Devise, and Jericho. Since then, the founding members have added one more and turned the Pajodcast into a YouTube channel, Pajodcast Media, where they mostly play video games and critique them as they go, while also chatting among themselves on unrelated topics. Despite the fact that Pajodcast Media has since become a largely separate entity, it’s important to note that it got its start on this league.

 

This article has been a long time coming. Chris has been such a vital member of the league for so long, and has been in the HOF as a builder for some time now. There have been opportunities for this to have been written, but it’s poetic in a way that the honor falls to me to write it. It is with great pleasure that I officially induct Chris Miller as the much-deserved builder from the S48 HOF class!

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@ADV

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Review:

Definitely a great member. He's always been a well known name every since I started in the league myself, so it's nice to see him get this.

I always wanted to be part of one of his teams as well. Great write-up.