Rookie, what Rookie?

[Andre LeBastard 112]

Shite Sports

cacatum non-veritas

 

The VHLM expansion club the Miami Marauders playing roster has been crafted with care, nurtured and set to grow. The results of which are soon for the harvest. The South Florida based hockey club has several rookie players who are shining brightly so far this season across many different statistical categories in the league. There also happens to be a candidate or two who would be in the conversation for S72 VHLM Rookie of the Year honours. Notice the use of the word 'would'. 

 

Why? Because a league which is full of rookies has no rookie honours to award whatsoever. No Rookie Scoring Leader award, no recognition of best rookie player, or goaltender. As my old grandmother used to say, 'not a sausage'. This strikes Shite Sports News as an odd situation, considering the VLHM is a minor league for players to compete in before they make the VHL proper, thus it has an inordinate amount of rookie players; it's the nature of the beast. With so many first-time players farting in various locker rooms, one would expect the league would not be shy about coming forward to recognize individual efforts as something to keep players interested and in the game. Something to aspire to and compete for, both during the season and at the end, when the playoffs have concluded and the traditional gongs are handed out. 

 

Moreover, most players would expect such traditions to be present within the VHLM as they are in virtually any other competitive sporting league. Certainly, the league is missing out on a rich history, both statistical in the form of lists, tables and graphs, but also in the inevitable banter or chirping between players over time. However, before the league's Board of Governors can even think to implement any kind of awards for rookies, they first need to specify exactly what the criteria for a rookie is. This season, there are players who have played less than 20 games in the VHLM last season not classed as a rookie, yet there are players who have played more VHLM games last season, who are classed as rookies this term. 

 

Another anomaly is that players who joined late last season and have not been awarded rookie status in the VHLM this season, would thus have had no opportunity to compete for any type of rookie award in their entire time in the VHLM. Clearly, they would simply not have had enough games to register any meaningful totals and it goes without saying their players skills would no be anywhere near those of players who had a full season of development under their belt. So a limit needs to be placed on the number of games a player is allowed to play to be considered a rookie in order to be eligible for an award. 

 

You may have noticed the clear lack of further argument from Shite Sports News as regards IF there should be any kind of League awards for Rookie players, nor IF there should be an overall Rookie of the Year award in the VHLM. That's because there really is no excuse for not having them and as such, the real question is: What do we name the awards, not should we have them.

 

My vote for the VHLM Rookie Scoring Trophy is:
The Jeevan Samuelsson Trophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bigAL 2,176]

REVIEW: 8/10 | _ |

SSN pumps out high quality (non-cacatum!) sports journalism, and today's editorial is no different. You identified an issue (lack of rookie attention in the VHLM), took a stance (want more), and backed it up with opinion, logic, and positive outcomes. Your argument is well-thought out, presented in an effective way, and makes a lot of sense to both my brain and my heart. However, I am left with a few questions after reading this:

1. Why doesn't the League have a rookie award?

   1 hour ago, Andre LeBastard said:

   That's because there really is no excuse for not having them

   

1. Why though? You should ask them! Your argument would be better supported if you tried to explain why there wasn't. I'm new here too, and I had to go look up the awards because I couldn't believe that there truly was no rookie awards in the M. There must be a reason for not tracking rookies, and I'm so curious what someone from the League office would say. I'll tag the VHLM commissioners Sonnet and DA in the post to make the introduction between the big bosses at the top and Miami's Player Representative.

2. 1 hour ago, Andre LeBastard said:

   My vote for the VHLM Rookie Scoring Trophy is:
   The Jeevan Samuelsson Trophy

   What a tease! You gotta explain this more! Who is Jeevan Samuelsson? I saw the blue text and got really excited that it was a hyperlink, hoping it would take me to Samuelsson's player page, or to another forum post outlining Samuelsson's case for the HoF. If you don't want to write a whole 'nother article, you could even put a "Next Week on Shite Sport News" tag below it to let me know that I'm not supposed to know about Jeevan Samuelsson.

Overall, amazing work as always. I'm looking forward to the conversations that come from this!

tags:

Spoiler

VHLM Commissioners: @Sonnet@diamond_ace | VHLM Builder: @Banackock

 

[Andre LeBastard 112]

Indeed...you highlight many good points @bigAL.

 

This was meant to be a two-parter, as you surmised and it's missing some other bits as you rightly point out.

 

However, this sort of rubbish editorial work is precisely what you should expect from a puerile journalism merchant like Shite Sports News!