Finishing Up Dean Clarke's Career

[Kyle 667]

After what seemed like a very fast career, it seems that my most recent player Dean Clarke is finally going to be forced to retire after this upcoming season. I have to say, when I originally recreated with Clarke I had very low expectations for him and wanted to do a pure stay at home defenseman. But as I got to adjust to the portal, the new community and the ease of access to stats I couldn't help but finally get my hooks sunk back into the VHL once again. Although Clarke certainly wasn't the best player, I really did enjoy my time with him and it was really enjoyable being able to just be a part of a new organization and help build towards something new in the VHL. 

 

When I was at my peak activity in the VHL, change was certainly something that was hard to come by. We hardly ever made changes to the league because we had so much success as a sim league, probably the most successful sim league of all-time up to that point. But without change, things often tend to grow stale and it's easy to lose interest. That's absolutely what happened with me after my time with Tomas Valiq. I felt as though I had already done everything I needed to in the VHL already, and we were just running in a hamster wheel and recreating wouldn't add anything new or exciting to my time in the VHL.

 

Getting drafted to Moscow, however, changed that for me as I finally got to play under @Victor as an active and it was certainly something that made me feel like I had to be at least somewhat decent with this player as to not let him down. It felt like my job with all these other guy's I was drafted with, was to help be a building towards a goal and help the Menace win their first title. It was something I hadn't done in the league yet, and it was really exciting. I wasn't worried about the stats or Hall of Fame, I just wanted to be a piece and help contribute to a championship and enjoy my time in the league once again. Clarke 100% contributed to helping me love the VHL again, and I think that probably makes him the 2nd favorite player I've ever created stats or not. 

 

A lot of guys want to push for the Hall of Fame or the big stats, but I think what I've learned through Clarke is that a main goal is to not let yourself get burned out in this league. I had burned myself out so badly with 3 of my players where I went full bore activity that it really turned me off the league when it was at it's lowest. I'm glad as an older member I got the opportunity to return when the league was flourishing and willing to try new things to continue to help grow. It has rejuvenated my love of the league and I'm ready to grind out another player. And to be honest, if I feel the same way I do now, as I do at the end of Stormsson's career? I will consider it a success. 

 

Thank you to the VHL, Dean Clarke & my Moscow teammates for finally making the VHL fun for me again.

 

563 words for TRIPLES WEEK

Edited July 21, 2020 by Kyle

[Victor 11,043]

moscow moscow moscow