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JuOSu · 07-02-2022, 05:49 PM

Some of this will feel a bit glorifying and awkward, but I am just trying to make money and this is a good topic to write about.

I have been a member of the SHL for quite some time by now. In real life time it has probably been a couple years, maybe more. I will admit, for a long time I was a harsh critic of the league. There were certain elements I never quite got along with and felt made the league worse. But in the last year or so, I have really seen a lot of progress for the league and my own involvement and investment in the league has grown a lot.

Anyone who has read my articles before will know that one of my biggest focuses in sim leagues is the history of them. I often write articles about history of leagues, I have spent numerous seasons on various league history teams and such and it is what I often write about. It's because I care about it most. And especially one topic is the league overarching stuff. Taking the leagues and sort of treating them as one universe and comparing how well players, users, etc do. It's what brings me a lot of joy, especially as someone who is really engaged in multiple leagues.

Because my investment in other leagues was always much higher, my jobs there were more important to me for a while. I became a GM in the PBE very early on, I lead the league history team, the hall of fame committee and more. That league is very close to my heart. In the ISFL I also was a GM for a few seasons and have had some very successful players.

But here... this league has always been an Achilles heel of some kind. My players aren't any good, though to be fair that was often because my earning was lacking, and I never really got a job here. Don't get me wrong, I have applied plenty. But I never really got one.

For probably close to 10-15 seasons now, I had considered that I want to be a GM in this league. My investment is growing and I felt that by becoming a GM, I would almost be forced to care more, to make this a bigger priority and to give it a real go.

My success in other leagues, especially as a GM but also with my players, made my lack of success here a bit like a challenge for myself. All my articles about awards in these leagues, all my articles about winning championship in these leagues, but for my own legacy, if you will, this league was always missing for me. I had dreams of being the first user to be MVP in all three leagues or the first user in the hall of fame in all the leagues or the first user to win a championship as a GM in all three leagues. But, most of these have been done by now by someone. Or at least are close to being achieved. But still, there is a part of me that still has that hunger, just for my own sake, to prove to myself I can do it.

Since that first time that I considered becoming a GM here, I have applied to probably 5 or so vacant GM spots. Sometimes with just a small bit of effort, but sometimes going all in on this dream, making long documents with my plan with the franchise, how I would proceed, etc. And yet despite that, I never really got close to actually becoming a GM of a team. I don't blame anyone for not picking me, I wasn't necessarily the most active user at the time here. But it still kind of made me hungrier. I wanted it to happen one day.

When my newest player was created and I was drafted to Seattle again, I basically decided that I would not try to be a GM anymore, at least not until this player was done. I was going to actually focus on my player fully, max earn or close to it and try my best to actually be a better user. And so far it has honestly worked really well. I am far more invested, my player is doing alright, I am excited about this league. But I still did not want to ever leave Seattle to be a GM elsewhere. I wanted my player to play his entire career here.

But then, tig posted in the announcements that he was looking for a new co-GM. It felt right somehow. Working from home allows me lots of time in these leagues, stress levels are alright, I am in a great spot to put a lot of time and effort into this league and to really challenge myself. I have been a GM for the Sloths in the PBE for like 30+ seasons now, but that is a different kind of challenge. This is far different for me. Far more out of my element. A true challenge to myself and to put myself out of my comfort zone.

So I went and talked to tig. I told him a lot of what I said above. That I wanted to challenge myself and that there probably were better candidates but I still wanted to try. I shared with him my experience as a GM elsewhere, but was honest about the fact that my knowledge of FHM was very limited. I told him about my love of GMing and how we have similar philosophies when it comes to how to run a team, long term planning and such.

I am not entirely sure what made him decide to go my way in the end, but I guess I am in a very fortunate place that my resume speaks for itself and in the end I was chosen as the new co-GM for the Seattle Argonauts. It is a role I am very excited about having and feel very proud about. I am excited for the challenge and will hope to do the best I can do in this role.

Becoming co-GM has been intense and interesting already and already quite a challenge. Making myself knowledgable with the roster is tough because I started pretty much just when the season was over. Figuring out how to make the new cap rules work wasn't easy either. How we could extend everyone or who to keep. And then the draft, what excitement and nervousness. I haven't done a live draft in quite a long time, as other leagues have gone to the delayed draft format and it just always absolutely makes me anxious and blow my heart out. Thankfully tig did a lot of work here and it wasn't too bad but man, I cannot believe this league still does live drafting and it definitely reminded me how intense those can be.

I have a lot of goals and hopefully I can make some of them happen. I hope to learn a lot under tig and hopefully I am able to help the team in the future, as both a player and as the new co-GM. I will give it my best!