[Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami, Season 2: V.62 [Archive]

sterlingice

04-04-2003, 02:57 AM

CURRENT ROSTER
Finally, after some fortunate sales and team rearrangements, I have a full compliment of players: 11 on the A Team, 11 on the B team, a clown, and a coach. Certainly there are some guys I would like to upgrade but not a one is useless any more. The Hippos A Team is capable of putting up 25 stars and an NSI of 50 every week while the B Team is closer to 17 and 35.

A few notes:

Due to computer troubles, these were actually posted partway through week 2 of the season and stats are from then.

For ratings, italics means weak or inadequate, bold means passable or solid, and bold italic is above that.

Also, we have a numbering system based on what position a player plays:
1-2: The franchise starting goalie always wearing #1 while the B Team goalie sports the #2
3-9: Any other single digit plays defense at either wingback or middle defender
10-19 If your favorite Hippos number starts with a 1, then he's a middie or winger
20-23 The four forwards all start with 2's
24-25 The clown and coach are clad in 24 and 25

GOALIES
The huge piece of the puzzle from the Julius Acker sale, franchise goalie Tim Kimber is the giant shadow in our nets. He pulls down ***~ per game since that solid is very close to popping to excellent. He will likely be with us for quite a while, but I've said that about previous goalies as well. Still, he is better than anyone else on the field so that's a statement that will likely hold up. Backup goalie Sidney Buckley is a decent ** inadequate guy for our B Team- we don't need any more.

#1 Tim Kimber (3952839)
22 years, solid form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is fiery and upright.
Has wretched experience and passable leadership abilities.
Nationality: England
Assessed value: 477 000 US$
Wage: 3 732 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Stamina: passable Goaltending: solid
Playmaking: disastrous Passing: disastrous
Winger: disastrous Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: passable

#2 Sidney Buckley (7898678)
20 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is tranquil and upright.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 85 000 US$
Wage: 940 US$/week
Stamina: poor Goaltending: inadequate
Playmaking: disastrous Passing: disastrous
Winger: disastrous Defending: disastrous
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak

DEFENSE

A TEAM: Back when this team was just starting off, I trained defense for a week and Hugh Hebert bumped from inadequate to passable and has been our best wingback every since. Elmer Bush, on the other hand, was picked up off the transfer wire for a discounted rate since he was injured. Unfortunately, his form has never recovered from the injury so he may have to spend a few weeks on the B Team until it comes back up. Thomas Strömlius beat out Rickie Stepp in the race for center defender late last season.

B TEAM: Tho, Longis and Jonsson come from België and Sverige, both are strikingly similar. They were purchased within a couple of days of each other and are both inad/inad at wingback skills. Jonsson is a year younger and has slightly better at peripheral skills. Stepp lost the race for starting center defender but is an admirable fill in for wingback should Bush need a little more time to recover from his injuries. FYI: The defender #4 is the only one not in use currently.

#3 Thomas Strömlius (8733970)
20 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: Sverige
Assessed value: 49 000 US$
Wage: 924 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 3
Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: weak
Winger: poor Defending: passable
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: weak

#5 Patrik Jonsson (8193638)
19 years, weak form, healthy
A popular guy who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Nationality: Sverige
Assessed value: 42 000 US$
Wage: 924 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 0
Stamina: passable Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: inadequate
Winger: inadequate Defending: inadequate
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: wretched

#6 Rickie Stepp (5939343)
21 years, solid form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 36 000 US$
Wage: 690 US$/week
Owner: Houston Hippopotami
Career Goals: 2
Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: wretched
Winger: weak Defending: passable
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor

#7 Hugh Hebert (7555483)
23 years, inadequate form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and honest.
Has wretched experience and disastrous leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 41 000 US$
Wage: 750 US$/week
Career Goals: 0
Stamina: solid Goaltending: wretched
Playmaking: weak Passing: poor
Winger: inadequate Defending: passable
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak

#8 Elmer Bush (7098202)
23 years, poor form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 30 000 US$
Wage: 790 US$/week
Career Goals: 0
Stamina: poor Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: disastrous
Winger: passable Defending: passable
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: wretched

#9 Gérard Longis (8249084)
20 years, weak form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Nationality: België
Assessed value: 12 000 US$
Wage: 696 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 1
Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: inadequate Defending: inadequate
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: poor

WINGERS

A TEAM: I've always thought wingers were highly undervalued as a way to generate some added offense or defense for your team. Then again, maybe it's because our best outfielder is a winger. Granted, it takas away some midfield, but having Mick Starks play offensive gives the forward in front of him at least 10 more goals than our other forward and helps us put the pressure on teams offensively. Mick has been with us since day one and was named team MVP last year. Also, with his experience and leadership, he is team captain, one of Coach Braden's first moves when he came in and his nastiness can be seen across the team. On the other wing is a relative newcomer in solid/passable Donald Newsom who is the friendly popular ying to Starks yang. Both have good stamina and maintain that is is key to their game.

B TEAM: Cheap winger trainees are very easy to come by and that fortunate circumstance allowed us to acquire and now train a pair of 19yo passable winger/inad playmaking for very cheap. Björn Magnusson from Sverige and Ivan Viseslav from Hrvatska add to our international flavor, contrasted to our pair of Americans on the first team, and can put up ** a game routinely.

#13 Mick Starks (7555487)
25 years, solid form, healthy
A nasty fellow who is balanced and honest.
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 283 000 US$
Wage: 2 210 US$/week
Career Goals: 2

Stamina: solid Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: passable
Winger: solid Defending: weak
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: inadequate

#14 Björn Magnusson (8582470)
19 years, poor form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Speciality: Powerful
Nationality: Sverige
Assessed value: 24 000 US$
Wage: 792 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 0

Stamina: poor Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: poor
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: weak

#16 Ivan Viseslav (5501146)
19 years, inadequate form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is temperamental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: Hrvatska
Assessed value: 53 000 US$
Wage: 960 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 2

Stamina: solid Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: poor
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: weak

#19 Donald Newsom (8721221)
20 years, passable form, healthy
A popular guy who is fiery and honest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 68 000 US$
Wage: 860 US$/week
Career Goals: 3

Stamina: passable Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: passable Passing: disastrous
Winger: solid Defending: poor
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: wretched

DEFENSE

A TEAM: Unfortunately, with the sale of Julius Acker for a small fortune (something north of $600K), we are left with a small hole at middie as German trainee Philip Friedländer was pressed into service early. "Veterans" Carlos Alberto Benito and Stephen Connor anchor the midfield with exc/pass and solid/solid stamina/playmaking combos. Benito frequently plays offensive to take advantage of his inadequate scoring and solid passing. Connors has inad defense so he stays normal or will occasionally play defensively.

B TEAM: The pride and joy of our youth squad is 18yo Anders Jörgensson. He is all around awesome and could develop into our team's first superstar. He has excellent stamin with passable winger and scoring and inad set pieces. Right now, he's only at inad playmaking and that's what we are training. With those periphery stats, we could sell him for a mint in the not too distant future, especially considering his age. The second trainee is Kyle Paige. He's been with us since the start and just bumped to solid playmaking (2nd week of this season). However, he's always been in the doghouse with me due to his poor stamina and poor form. Ideally, I can just sell him for pretty good money since he's only a 21yo solid playmaker. The last trainee is 21yo Jeremy Rumbold. He has solid stadmina and inad at playmaking, scoring, defending, and set pieces. He's a decent utility guy and we'll probably try to sell him when he hits solid playmaking or possibly keep him on as a starter.

#10 Kyle Paige (7555474)
21 years, poor form, healthy
A nasty fellow who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Speciality: Quick
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 27 000 US$
Wage: 680 US$/week
Career Goals: 2

Stamina: poor Goaltending: wretched
Playmaking: solid Passing: weak
Winger: weak Defending: weak
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: inadequate

#11 Philip Friedländer (7895342)
20 years, inadequate form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is balanced and honest.
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities.
Speciality: Technical
Nationality: Deutschland
Assessed value: 60 000 US$
Wage: 972 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 4

Stamina: passable Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: passable Passing: poor
Winger: inadequate Defending: poor
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: poor

#12 Stephen Connors (7555486)
24 years, inadequate form, bruised, but training
A controversial person who is calm and upright.
Has disastrous experience and passable leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 96 000 US$
Wage: 1 190 US$/week
Career Goals: 5

Stamina: solid Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: weak
Winger: poor Defending: inadequate
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: passable

#15 Carlos Alberto Benito (7555476)
22 years, inadequate form, healthy
A popular guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 201 000 US$
Wage: 1 700 US$/week
Career Goals: 9

Stamina: excellent Goaltending: wretched
Playmaking: passable Passing: solid
Winger: wretched Defending: weak
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: weak

#17 Anders Jörgensson (8718431)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and solid leadership abilities.
Speciality: Powerful
Nationality: Sverige
Assessed value: 116 000 US$
Wage: 1 224 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 3

Stamina: excellent Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: poor
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: inadequate

#18 Jeremy Rumbold (5670922)
21 years, weak form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.
Nationality: Oceania
Assessed value: 39 000 US$
Wage: 876 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 1

Stamina: solid Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: poor
Winger: wretched Defending: inadequate
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: inadequate

FORWARDS

A TEAM: With only two forwards, having a pair of good ones is of the utmost importance and thankfully, we can count on our two to put up five stars per game. Both Edwin Phelan and Juan Miguel Tizón are young (21yo and 19yo) and are pass/pass scorers and passers. But the comparasions end there: Phelan is a technical guy, has great stamina, is loved by his teammates, and has been here since the beginning while Tizon is a head specialist, has poor stamina, is controversial & infamous(!!), and was acquired in the last month. Phelan has the fortunate of playing ahead of Mick Starks so 15-20 goals is very possible.

B TEAM: Dafoe Chang is one of the first ever Hippo trainees and the only one from England. Derrick Solomon came to us from the fertile transfer fields of Oceania before it became infested with other FOFCers, driving prices up ;) . He may be old but he scored 13 last year and was Offensive MVP last year. Unfortunately, his form has plummeted since the end of last year so he will start on the B Team. However, he is an excellent 3rd forward and starter-worthy as soon as his form gets back up to where it should be. Both Chang and Solomon boast the team's only excellent stamina players.

#20 Derrick Solomon (2651563)
30 years, poor form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and honest.
Has poor experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Speciality: Technical
Nationality: Oceania
Assessed value: 22 000 US$
Wage: 948 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Owner: Houston Hippopotami
Career Goals: 22
Career Hattricks: 3

Stamina: excellent Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: inadequate
Winger: poor Defending: wretched
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: solid

#21 Juan Miguel Tizón (7363704)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is temperamental and infamous.
Has disastrous experience and disastrous leadership abilities.
Speciality: Head
Nationality: Sverige
Assessed value: 47 000 US$
Wage: 900 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 4

Stamina: wretched Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: passable
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: weak

#22 Edwin Phelan (7555484)
21 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and upright.
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities.
Speciality: Technical
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 154 000 US$
Wage: 1 340 US$/week
Career Goals: 16

Stamina: solid Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: passable
Winger: inadequate Defending: weak
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: poor

#23 Defoe Chang (6110091)
21 years, inadequate form, healthy
A controversial person who is fiery and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Nationality: England
Assessed value: 46 000 US$
Wage: 948 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 5

Stamina: excellent Goaltending: wretched
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: wretched Defending: weak
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: wretched

"STAFF"
Coach Braden has been with the Hippos almost since their inception. The only exception was our first friendly loss to the Bees. His overall record is deceptive at 15-8-2 with a 88-49 goal differential as he stresses that friendlies are a learning experience first and foremost and his 4-6-2 record shows that. This belief is the root of his solid coaching ability which helps speed improvement in the Hippo players. However, in competitive play, every player knows when to have fun and when to put on a game face as he has compiled an impressive 11-2-0 record and the Hippos have outscored opponents by more than 50: 63-12, a demonstration of his "all out" offensive mentality. He truly sets the example for the team as he's like his players: a bit of a hardass (controversial) and this can lead to low team spirit. Lastly, he has led to many an FOFC'ers "I hate you" for the pure dumb luck of being drawn after only two firings (initial coach and first crappy replacement).

To counteract coach, the team signed 21yo clown Silviu Radu. While we can't afford a solid/popular clown, Silviu is the next best thing at solid/sympathetic. His Romanian humor is a welcome change to coach's typically sour mood. In a pinch he can play goalie but that's about it. His days will be spent on the bench.

#24 Silviu Radu (7766792)
21 years, wretched form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is fiery and upright.
Has disastrous experience and solid leadership abilities.
Nationality: România
Assessed value: 36 000 US$
Wage: 1 008 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Stamina: poor Goaltending: weak
Playmaking: disastrous Passing: wretched
Winger: disastrous Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: wretched

#25 Ricky Braden (7583297)
34 years, poor form, healthy
A solid coach who goes all out
A controversial person who is calm and upright.
Has brilliant experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 0 US$
Wage: 500 US$/week
Stamina: wretched Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: disastrous Passing: disastrous
Winger: disastrous Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: disastrous

My Best Team Ratings
A new feature for the terminally curious. These are the various MyBestTeam Ratings for the Hippos, using common formations.

4-4-2
Overall:39.38%
Midfield:38.83%
Left Defence:38.8%
Central Defence:38.67%
Right Defence:38.61%
Left Attack:41.18%
Central Attack:38.69%
Right Attack:42.28%

4-5-1
Overall:37.05%
Midfield:50.64%
Left Defence:38.82%
Central Defence:38.67%
Right Defence:38.59%
Left Attack:40.9%
Central Attack:21.15%
Right Attack:25.77%

5-4-1
Lineup strength
Overall:39.84%
Midfield:38.83%
Left Defence:50.07%
Central Defence:44.47%
Right Defence:48.29%
Left Attack:41.11%
Central Attack:20.92%
Right Attack:25.77%

3-4-3
Overall:37.59%
Midfield:38.83%
Left Defence:39.11%
Central Defence:30.52%
Right Defence:27.29%
Left Attack:41.18%
Central Attack:53.23%
Right Attack:41.95%

4-3-3
Overall:38.61%
Midfield:22.95%
Left Defence:38.59%
Central Defence:38.33%
Right Defence:38.29%
Left Attack:41.89%
Central Attack:52.2%
Right Attack:41.01%

Standard 3-5-2
Overall:37.32%
Midfield:50.37%
Left Defence:38.59%
Central Defence:30.39%
Right Defence:27.29%
Left Attack:41.04%
Central Attack:38.74%
Right Attack:41.95%

Specialized 3-5-2 (the formation we run with instructions)
Overall:39.63%
Midfield:50.37%
Left Defence:43.6%
Central Defence:32.44%
Right Defence:25.48%
Left Attack:48.62%
Central Attack:39.64%
Right Attack:45.85%

Maybe it's time to change up our lineup a little. That said, I don't really want to mess with what works. And I'll be damned if it's to a 5-4-1 at the expense of my balance, moving midfield and attack to defense.

Series Preview
This is a series of haves and have nots. There are three good teams in the Hippos, Dragons, Blades, and a dark horse in the Flying Midgets. The Mulisha have been around a while but are not very good but should probably get 5th. Then there are the new teams: PRODYGRAF, Buccabeavzers, and goonz. Here is a brief scouting report of all of the teams in our league and also when we play them. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you V.62 for Season 19.

CC's Dragons
The Dragons finished in second place last year with 36 points and our toughest competition for the title as their NSI routinely breaks 50. Solid 19yo goalies Steven Atwood and Gil Bauer anchor this team (both youth squad pulls, presumably). Young *** and **~ offensive wingers Lai Soon-Wah and Patrik Ulfsson key an attack which feeds 18yo Ed Becker or 27yo unpredictable Lynn Whakaari and series runner-up in scoring last year, Victorio Refojo. They run a 3-5-2 with **~ Gough Fitter manning any of the three defender spots and **~ middie Stan Whitmore scouring the midfield. We play them at home in week 6 and then at their place in week 9.

Toledo Blades
Toledo was the division IV relegee from last year. They aren't quite up to the standards of the teams in DK's division and will be tough but beatable competition here. Along with us and the Dragons, they can get an NSI of 50 routinely even with their bastardly 4-5-1 and 5-4-1 *spit*. Their goalie is Tommy Coffey, who only nets two stars per game, which is fortunate for us. Their biggest star is offensive specialist Wade Rees who gets **~ per game, typically at offensive middie or sometimes at forward. Defenders Dacian Vãrzaru and Georgicã Dinu typically collect **~ and are an integral part of their back 4 on the 4-4-2. Offensive winger Willie Lau is another player who routinely gets **~ for them. Both the Blades and Dragons are somewhat active in the transfer market, tho it appears neither are daytraders but it does mean he could get an instant upgrade at any time. A week one matchup with CC's Dragons looms large as we can see which of the two will be our biggest competition this year. They come to the Hippodrome in week 4 and we visit Ohio in week 11.

The Flying Midgets
This team is my dark horse to sneak into the top 3 this year. They play a very defensive 4-4-2 and are led by goalie Svarg Ram who posts **~ per game. The thing that really holds them back is that they haven't been active in the transfer market in months. They have two ***/**~ players in middie Chu Kok-Chong from Singapore and 29yo defensive veteran Curtis Bond. The rest of their team posts ** or *~ but with a good youth pull or two, they will be dangerous. We visit the Midgets in week 2 and they are our home finale in week 13.

Metal Mulisha
Metal Mulisha have been a team longer than I have but are the perfect example of what can happen when you don't have a good knowledge base to pull from. They log in regularly but do not play friendlies and have only made three transfer purchases, the only recent one being $45K for a *~ forward. They play a standard 4-4-2 with *~ across the back including 4 defenders and goalie Corey Mcduffie. Their only ** player is forward Albert Metz. We play Metal Mulisha in Boston in week 5 and at Houston in week 10.

Buccabeavzers
We're not sure what a Buccabeavzer is but they play in Oregon and are one of the two new additions to the league who are active and trying to better themselves. They are playing in friendlies, dabbling in the transfer market (getting mistakes out the way), and putting together a B Team. They were fortunate enough to start out with a passable goalie in **~ Graig Grace. However, the rest of their team was not so fortunate with only four other ** players: defender Arvid Munkvoid, wingers Lex Putnam and Raúl Álvarez De Miranda D, and middie Eduardo Alaín Sánchez. We play them and their 4-5-1 in a home-and-home in weeks 7 and 8. Hopefully, they have not improved too much by then but they have some promise.

goonz
The goonz have also been active, playing a friendly within our division with the Buccabeavzers but have they have no transfer history. However, in that friendly, they did display part of a second team so there is still hope for them. They have recently played a 3-4-3, 3-3-4, and 4-4-2 so they are still in a feeling out period but one thing they know for sure is that Brent Wolff is a **~ force at forward. Unfortunately, their goalie, Frederick Torres gets *~ and only two other players get ** in winger Dan Dockery and forward Miguel Urbaneja Pérez. We play the goonz at home in week 4 and in Florida week 12.

PRODYGRAF
PRODYGRAF is a new team which hasn't logged in recently and will be replaced at some point. They have never done a transfer or friendly and are just plain fodder. They have a ** forward in 28yo Bennett Slater and no one else who scores above *~ in their 4-4-2. We get nice, relaxing games against them in our home opener in week 1 and season finale in week 14. Hopefully, they haven't been replaced by then if I'm needing an easy win late.

SI

sterlingice

04-04-2003, 02:58 AM

Supporters
I want to give a hearty welcome to my supporters and express my support to my supportees. For those who don't know, any official supporter gets special treatment during games (more on that down in the Stadium section) and, at one time, recieve reciprocal support. Unfortunately, my support spots are now filled and only 4 are reciprocal: I support DK's Screamin' Seamen non-reciprocally. Ideally, I want to play a home-and-home with everyone one of my supported teams. However, so far, I have only played the Bees and Morrisvillians. Ardent's North County Raiders were supported at one time (see logo section) and are now honorary supportees and thus enjoy the same privilage as supporters and supportees despite having no supporter status. It should also be noted that I owe the Sidekicks our first available mutual open date for a friendly that was cancelled at the end of last year.

Supported/Supportee teams

Bees (70510) in USA
Owner: ausonny
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-01-31 17:22:38
Supportee since: 2003-01-08 23:22:37
Series: V.41

Screamin' Seamen (70638) in USA
Owner: dataking
Status: supported
Supporter since: 2003-02-02 09:05:12
Series: IV.49

Morrisville Morrisvillians (70926) in USA
Owner: NevStar
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-02-02 22:57:25
Supportee since: 2003-02-03 04:56:37
Series: V.93

NE Oklahoma Sidekicks (71068) in USA
Owner: vexroid
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-02-13 22:45:08
Supportee since: 2003-02-13 08:24:27
Series: V.111

Louisiana Cyclones (72080) in USA
Owner: Doug5984
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-03-07 01:07:40
Supportee since: 2003-03-06 19:44:19
Series: V.237

Maniacal Misfitz (72203) in USA
Owner: Havok12
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-03-18 22:48:07
Series: V.253

Havoc (71573) in USA
Owner: Havoc99
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-03-25 10:03:22
Series: V.174

Bull Dogs (8421) in USA
Owner: Eilim
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-03-28 03:55:19
Series: V.1

Staff
The first thing you notice about the staff is that I use 7-3 instead of 8-2 for coaches. Early on, I had problems with keeping goaltenders in good form so I switched from 8-2 to 7-3. Hasn't slowed down training a whole lot as all but my two oldest middies have bumped. I'm a firm believer in lots of spokespersons and I think they have to do with my huge and growing supporter base almost as much as my early success. I want to keep 1 physio and 1 doctor on staff just to keep the injuries lighter but if I start seeing more injuries, I'll either adjust the training rate or add more staff. Lastly, I have no economists since I don't have enough money or much debt and my confidence is typically at wonderful so I don't want a sports psychologist mucking it up by making them overconfident.

Staff
Goaltending Coaches: 3
Assistant Coaches: 7
Sport Psychologists: 0
Spokepersons: 5
Economists: 0
Physiotherapists: 1
Doctors: 1

Training
Most weeks, I'll be training playmaking. The other things I might train are general to help form and stamina but we are pretty close to where we need to be for that. I train at 95% despite my 1 physiotherapist and doctor and seem to be pretty good for it- not too many injuries but lots of training. Our confidence is from two weeks into the season and 5 straight competition wins-it'll do wonders for your confidence. Unfortunately, our team spirit is rarely above calm due to our coach being a hardass. The clown can only counteract him so the damage isn't worse but he isn't good enough to turn the tide towards the positive. As you can see, we used to play a 4-5-1 in friendlies to have a second formation but I found it to be annoyingly unbalanced so I'll just run the 3-5-2 and if, for some reason, I need a second formation, I'll go with the 4-4-2.

Training Specifics
Training Level: 95%
Training Type: Playmaking
Coach: Ricky Braden
Team Spirit: calm
Confidence: wonderful

Formation experience
4-3-3: poor
4-5-1: passable
3-5-2: excellent
5-3-2: poor
3-4-3: poor
5-4-1: poor

Sponsors/Supporters
Speaking of supporters and sponsors and spokespersons, that's alliteration. Our supporter club has been growing quickly and it has a large part to do with keeping them happy. We've only lost 2 games in league play and have yet to have a week where we lose supporters. Also, our troupe of 5 spokespersons can't hurt. We thank every one of them profusely for filling our stadium every week by trying to win every game and keeping them in good moods like "delirious" and "high on life".

Sponsor Info
Sponsors: delirious
Supporter Club: 869 members
Supporters: high on life

The Hippodrome
The beloved Hippodrome, a clever (ok, not really) play on words on the name of the old Roman stadium, doesn't boast it's 250,000 capacity... yet. However, a stadium expansion in mid season 18 more than doubled the seating from 7000 to 15692. The only seats that don't fill up currently are the VIP boxes but they do for big games. Future stadium expansions will not have quite the ratio of VIP boxes that the current configuration does. An expansion to 22K-25K will probably occur towards the end of the year.

There's also the matter of the executive washroom and attached box suite which are not included in the other stadium stats. However, any official supporters of the Hippos are familiar with, and enjoy their games from, the comfort of the suite. A classical feel of marble is meshed with technological wonders along with full service dining and full service girls- take that as you will. Other than official supporters, only the owner is allowed up here on a regular basis. The end of year awards banquet is also held here and the event has contributed to some of the team loyalty.

Arena Info
Arena: The Hippodrome
Belongs to: Houston Hippopotami
Country: USA
Region : Houston
Last improvement: 1/29/2003
Total capacity: 15692
Terraces: 9702
Basic seating: 3850
Seats under roof: 1740
Seats in VIP boxes: 400

Youth Squad
Our youth sqaud is much maligned- there's no debating that. Originally, we only put $5K to $10K in for the first month. However, ever since we've put in $20K a week, it's bumped all the way to solid at the end of last season. We're expecting excellent by the end of this season. Despite it being solid, we have only pulled one player which we could even sell and he only netted $1K. We need two nice pulls of the ~$100K to $300K variety by the end of the year to make me feel comfortable about competing in Division IV next year. Maybe we'll get lucky- redemption could be only a button press away.

Youth Squad
Youth Squad: solid
Investment in the Youth squad: 20,000 US$ / week

Finances
Here is the ideal budget for this season. I'm getting $43K per week from sponsors, but I gain $1500-$2000 per week. Also, a sellout nets me $83K but I can only get that half of the weeks of the season. Ideally, I will have no interest but who knows. The $2K temporary per week is for youth pull. As you can see, we are barely in the black on an average week, but hopefully youth pulls can offset this. Also, towards the end of this year, I'm looking to get more high profile trainees such as Anders Jörgensson. Not to mention the stadium upgrade I mentioned before.

Revenue
Crowd: 3000 (83000)
Sponsors: 45000
Financial: 0
Temporary: 0
Two Week Revenue: 176000

Expenses
Arena: 10300
Wages: 27000
Interest: 0
Temporary: 2000
Staff: 25500
Youth squad: 20000
Two Week Expenses: 169600

Total
Two Week Gross: +6400

Team Profile
Our wages have gone up quite a bit since last year but so has the quality of our team: Our value is 91st in all of division V. We are a quite young team but with that, we have low experience which can occasionally lead to events in games. Our average form is pretty good but I'd like it to be slightly higher. Lastly, we have quite an international flavor as I have dabbled quite a bit on the transfer market. We have players from the USA (10, coach), Sverige (5), England (2), Oceania (2), Deutschland (1), Hrvatska (1), België (1), and România (1).

Team Stats
Total Wages: 23570
Total Value: 2075000
Avg Value: 90217
Avg Age: 21
Avg Form: inadequate
Avg Experience: disastrous
No of players: 23
Nationalities: 8

Federations
We are limited to three federations slots but I currently only belong to two. I'm not wildly involved but I try to do some and check out their conference a couple of times a week. I'd check the conferences more often but they seem down so often. I wish they would get better board software.

Federations
Front Office Football Community- I think we all know what this one is.
Daytrading Federation- I'm in here more than anything to read their conference. It's one of the largest in all of hattrick with 358 members currently and is led by the legendary daytrader karate of fumpen. I hold the status of "mini trader" just because I'd rather be something other than just "member".

Team Colors
NOTE: copied from last year's dynasty report
As Hippopotamuses are only grey/black, I figured I could go with pretty much any color I wanted but I wanted something with a dark look. At first, I kindof liked the idea of dark red and black as those seem like Hippo colors but then I decided on purple and black. Also thought dark green socks sounded like a good idea even though they look like black to me. Our color schemes are as follows: (any thoughts?)

Match Kit
Shirt: Black
Shorts: Purple
Socks: Dark Green

Reserve Kit
Shirt: Purple
Shorts: Black
Socks: Dark Green

Fan Club
Thanks to a small impromptu contest last year (which wasn't really a contest but me taking the first good suggestion that came along), ardent's suggestion of "Hungry Hungry Hippos" stuck with our fan club. It resulted in our sponsoring of his North County Raiders until a better offer came along- i.e. reciprocal sponsorship from another club. Ardent was pretty understandable that he lost out to a better bribe :)

Logo
NOTE: also copied from last year's dynasty report
I have a creepily cute logo befitting my team's status as not even able to win in division V. Maybe I'll find some scarier images once my team improves. The image came somewhat from the cover of a book called "Hippos Go Berserk" by Sandra Boynton. I've never heard of it or read it before but it had a picture that fit. Here's a link to the book:Hippos Go Berserk (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689834349/qid=1047280181/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_3/104-5290038-7352763?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) And here is our new, ultra-intimidating team logo:
http://www.sunflower.com/~sterlingice/hippo.jpg

SI

sterlingice

04-04-2003, 02:58 AM

Preview
It's our first ever cup match and I'm not quite sure how to strike the balance between who to play in cup and league games. Then again, this is my only match of the week so it's time to go full throttle while we are training set pieces. I just hope no one gets hurt.

I'm playing a computer division VI team who will hopefully get an owner. But right now, they're going to get annihilated as we try out Viseslav at offensive winger as well as most of my normal lineup. BTW, we PIC'd this game but it didn't matter.

Game Summary
Date: 4/3/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 6818800
Arena: Indiana Palace
Crowd: 4661

4661 spectators had come to Indiana Palace this cloudy day. Spartans started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Wilder - Posey, Hubbard, Smith, Rapp - Paxton, Felder, Casarini, Ayers - Ferrell, Jackson.

Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Stepp, Hebert - Starks, Connors, Friedländer, Jörgensson, Viseslav - Chang, Phelan.

Hippopotami took the lead in the games 1st minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Anders Jörgensson was the scorer. Spartanss Lewis Jackson got himself booked after a foul. After 23 minutes Vernon Hubbard made a complete fool of himself and dropped the ball to Mick Starks who shuffled it into goal. 0-2 for Hippopotami. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. After the ball got lifted in from the left Edwin Phelan was on his own in the home side´s penalty area 31 minutes into the game, and should have scored, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. The visitors Philip Friedländer took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 36:th minute. 0 - 3 for Hippopotami. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 43rd minute Hippopotami goal, making it 0 - 4. Edwin Phelan was noted down as the scorer. Halftime score was 0 - 4. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 73 percent possession rate.

The visitors Stephen Connors took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 52nd minute. 0 - 5 for Hippopotami. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 52nd minute Hippopotami goal, making it 0 - 6. Defoe Chang was noted down as the scorer. Almost all the way down to the corner flag Mick Starks somhow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Ivan Viseslav who struck for 0 - 7. The visitors Defoe Chang took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 71st minute. 0 - 8 for Hippopotami. In the games 75:th minute Hippopotami´s Ivan Viseslav fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Ivan Viseslav for taking a dive. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 84:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 0 - 9. Rickie Stepp was noted down as the scorer. In the games 88:th minute Mick Starks nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through and fired from just outside the box, his shot passed just over the bar. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 88 percent possession rate.

Most important Spartans player was Lewis Jackson. However, Vernon Hubbard made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Elmer Bush on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 9.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (C) after the names would have a goal number if it were a fixture
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
IS: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 01: Anders Jörgensson (C1); 1-0
HH: 23: Mick Starks (C1); 2-0
HH: 36: Philip Friedländer (C1); 3-0
HH: 43: Edwin Phelan (C1); 4-0
Halftime Score: 4-0
Possession: 73%

2nd Half
HH: 52: Stephen Connors (C1); 5-0
HH: 52: Dafoe Chang (C1); 6-0
HH: xx: Ivan Viseslav (C1); 7-0
HH: 71: Dafoe Chang (C2); 8-0
HH: 84: Rickie Stepp(C1); 9-0
Final Score: 9-0
Possession: 88%
Final Possession: 81%

Cards
HH: 75: Ivan Viseslav (yellow- taking a dive)

Injuries
None- woo!

Stadium

Less than 5K fans for a cup game so our take was pretty small. Oh well. I wasn't expecting a lot from a computer team. At least we'll likely have one nice home game before we exit the cup.

Team Ratings

Indiana Spartans
Midfield: disastrous (1)
Right Side Defence: wretched (2)
Central Defence: poor (3)
Left Side Defence: poor (3)
Right Side Attack: poor (3)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: poor (3)
DataKing Index: 19
NevStar Index: 20

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing Index: 44
NevStar Index: 47

I do believe that is our highest score to date and wasted completely. If only we could save some points (and goals) for future games.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Elmer Bush *~
DM Rickie Stepp **
DW Hugh Hebert **
WI Mick Starks (off) ***
MI Stephen Connors ***
MI Anders Jörgensson *~
MI Philip Friedländer (extra) *~
WI Ivan Viseslav (off) **
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Dafoe Chang **

Total Stars: 24.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Play it Cool

Connors is now our third *** guy after Starks and Kimber (***~). Bush's form slump is getting distressing- he may be benched in favor of Stepp until he gets back on his game. I don't think we've broken 25 stars yet but it's bound to happen soon.

Three Stars
In an effort to bring continuing innovation to hattrick threads (or at least steal them from NevStar, typically), I have a new feature for the new season. Anyone familiar with hockey should know of three stars. This is my own version which is very similar: basically I'll select the three top players on my team each week for this reward. The bronze looks a lot more like copper but without specific colors, I had to make do. Plus, I've always preferred copper to bronze, anyways.

Bronze: Rickie Stepp
Our defenders don't get nearly enough credit and Rickie scored a goal today.
Silver: Ivan Viseslav
Great debut game with a debut goal and debut card.
Gold: Dafoe Chang
The only multi-goal scorer of the game nets the gold.

Game Summary
Up 2-0, 23 mins in. Then we drew back. And scored 7 more in the game. In a PIC game. Ho-hum, a crushing victory. New uber trainee Anders Jörgensson (unofficially) scored the first goal of the USA FOFC season with a goal 1 minute into a game. Also, a nice debut for Ivan Viseslav. He will make a nice trainee.

Press Release
4/3/2003 at 06:11 Hippos Move Onto Round Two
The Hippos crushed a computer controlled Indiana Spartans team by the score of 9-0. It was going to be a long day for them when new Hippo phenom Anders Jörgensson scored in the very first minute of play. Eight different players scored for the Hippopotami and forward Dafoe Chang scored twice. Only the two wingbacks didn't score for the starters on the field. Goalie Tim Kimber collected 3.5*'s for the second straight game as a Hippo. Onto the series season and round two of the Cup!

Notes
We have a game this week against someone in our series who shouldn't be too tough and a cup match next week against another division VI team, this time with a human owner. They should be a little tougher but they just don't have the talent to compete. The season is starting out nice but the week after next will be tough with a game against a dark horse in our division and likely a division IV team in the cup.

SI

sterlingice

04-04-2003, 02:58 AM

Training
To anyone who is thinking of training set pieces: DON'T. That's today's lesson. Form sunk like a rock and value with it. A couple of players are going to be demoted: last year's offensive MVP Derrick Solomon and newly acquired wingback Elmer Bush. Bush's is likely temporary but Solomon may have played his last game for us. He may retire into the sunset but that remains to be seen.

Future Training
Next week, back to nice, comforting playmaking after this debacle. With the above changes, all of our players have forms of inad or better. So we may go back to stamina training next week since a lot of our B team needs it (four of our players are poor or worse and there are a lot of inads across the board).

Form
Starters: (+1) (-3)
Entire Team: (+1) (-8)

Value
Starters: (+9) (-2)
Entire Team: (+9) (-13)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 23570 (+4750)
Total Value: 2074000 (+34000)
Avg Value: 90217 (+1531)
Avg Age: 21 (+1)
Avg Form: inadequate (down from passable)
Avg Experience: disastrous (N/A)
No of players: 23 (N/A)
Nationalities: 8 (N/A)
NOTE: Much of this, especially the wages and age, are from the year end changes.

Youth """"Pull""""
Yet again, another """"youth pull"""" of crappiness but at least there were a couple of "weak"s in there. Will Craven has now been put on the bus to our Mickey D's.

Will Craven (10781047)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and upright.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 9 000 US$
Wage: 540 US$/week
Owner: Houston Hippopotami

Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: weak

SI

DataKing

04-04-2003, 09:55 AM

[Placeholder for witty comment]

DK :D

NevStar

04-04-2003, 10:08 AM

[Placeholder insulting the toothless fans of Houston and/or the heart & drive of your team]

Nev - jumping on the bandwagon a bit late

sterlingice

04-04-2003, 12:59 PM

Well, I've screwed up my computer even more than when I posted that last night (nothing like booting into win2k and getting a blue screen while proggies are loading). So, my computer, she is getting a formatting. Right now I'm just writing to update people on a comp in the KU library.

SI

sterlingice

04-10-2003, 04:14 PM

Good news: my computer has finally submitted. Granted, it's still taking part in many small battles of will with me but the majority of it is working. Hopefully I'll be able to start getting caught up. Right now, I just posted last week's training update before it gets changed again. Hopefully I can get a couple of more things posted tonight so I can get started on the FAQ.

SI

sterlingice

04-11-2003, 03:52 AM

Preview
Two PIC cup games in a row and our team spirit still is at "content". I was tempted to PIC this game but figured I should come out of the box firing in a league game and try to get some differential between me and the other contenders (CC's Dragons, Toledo Blades, and The Flying Midgets). PRODYGRAF just got a new owner and no transfers so he's likely still in the feeling-out period. This week begins our attempt to move up to division IV.

Game Summary
Date: 4/7/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544384
Arena: PRODYGRAF Arena
Crowd: 7000

7000 spectators arrived at PRODYGRAF Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. PRODYGRAF tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Aparisi Miralles - Osborn, Roe, Willard, Gonzales - Ryder, Cook, Bass, Williams - Slater, Mcclendon.

Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Hebert, Strömlius, Bush - Starks, Benito, Connors, Friedländer, Newsom - Solomon, Phelan.

Seemingly due to lack of experience, Stephen Connors needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Hippopotami took the lead in the games 21st minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Philip Friedländer was the scorer. The visitors Carlos Alberto Benito took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 25:th minute. 0 - 2 for Hippopotami. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 40:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 0 - 3. Thomas Strömlius was noted down as the scorer. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. 0 - 3 was the half-time score. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 79 percent, dominated the battle.

Hippopotami came close to extending their lead as Carlos Alberto Benito delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was to sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal. In the 51st minute Hippopotamis Donald Newsom received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Don Ryder the unlucky victim, couldn´t continue the game. In the 62nd minute Hippopotami put themselves up 0 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Edwin Phelan. Joseph Willard made several blunders at the end of the game, causing a good deal of unrest in the defensive line. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 73rd minute Hippopotami goal, making it 0 - 5. Derrick Solomon was noted down as the scorer. The visitors Donald Newsom took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 79:th minute. 0 - 6 for Hippopotami. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 89:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 0 - 7. Edwin Phelan was noted down as the scorer. As Kyle Gonzales had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the PRODYGRAF player a red card without batting an eye. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 83 percent possession of the ball.

PRODYGRAF´s best player was Bennett Slater. Joseph Willard was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Elmer Bush on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 7.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
P: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 21: Philip Friedländer (1); 1-0
HH: 25: Carlos Alberto Benito (1); 2-0
HH: 40: Thomas Strömlius (1); 3-0
HH: 40: *pulling back*
Halftime Score: 3-0
Possession: 79%

2nd Half
HH: 62: Edwin Phelan (1); 4-0
HH: 73: Derrick Solomon (1); 5-0
HH: 79: Donald Newsom (1); 6-0
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (2); 7-0
Final Score: 7-0
Possession: 83%
Final Possession: 81%

Cards
HH: 51: Donald Newsom (yellow- going into a challenge studs first)

Injuries
They picked up a red card late in the game for a leg sweep but fortunately we avoided injury on that one

Stadium

They filled their stadium up to a full 7K. Can't wait to get home next week for our home opener and have the Hippodrome rocking with 15K fans.

Team Ratings

PRODYGRAF
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: poor (3)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 28/30

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 46/50

Another team high! We cracked 50 on the NSI. Suprising, considering the following.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Hugh Hebert **
DM Thomas Strömlius **
DW Elmer Bush *
WI Mick Starks (off) ***
MI Stephen Connors **~
MI Philip Friedländer (extra) *~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito **~
WI Donald Newsom (to mid) *~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon *~

Total Stars: 23.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

Connors gave back his *** after getting it last week but **~ from him isn't something to worry too much about. Newsom's experiment at winger towards middle will end. I was trying to shore up the middle with him while Benito was playing offensive, but it dropped him back to *~ and I simply can't afford anything less than ** from any of my players. Derrick Solomon looks like he has lost his starting spot to 19yo Juan Miguel Tizon, who picked up **~ in the cup game. I can't see us selling him, tho- we may need the cash, but it would be like seeing Jerry Rice in a Raiders jersey or Roger Clemens in Yankee pinstripes- d'oh. However, the most distressing news came from wingback Elmer Bush. He has been ripped from the A team for his * performance and will be with the B team until he gets that back up to the ** or **~ I know he can get. His form is in the crapper and really needs to start ticking back up again.

Three Stars
First game of the season brings some new guys to the forefront.

Bronze: Donald Newsom
While the "towards middle" experiment didn't work, he collected a goal and earned a real yellow card for going in spikes up.
Silver: Thomas Strömlius
Three games in a row with a defender scoring!
Gold: Edwin Phelan
Two goals today nets him the title of series leading scorer; If he stays paired with Starks all season, I could be $10K richer after he gets 15-20 goals.

Game Summary
Great way to start out the season. Some things worked and some didn't but those have been corrected and next week our team will be stronger for it. Stepp and Tizon will make their A team debuts next week against The Flying Midgets and I can only hope that what is wrong with Bush and Solomon corrects itself. We should be pulling down at least 25 *s and an NSI of 50 from this game forward and possibly 27* and DKI of 50.

Press Release
4/7/2003 at 20:16 Hippos Roll in Season Opener
Like last Wednesday's cup game, everyone got in on the action as the Hippos pummeled PRODYGRAF in the season opener. Edwin Phelan, matched up on the left side with Mick Starks in what could be a new killer combo, scored twice. Five other players scored for the Hippos including defender Thomas Strömlius. The Hippos also racked up a pair of yellow cards, showing they are still a misunderstood team. It should be noted that they had a franchise best 50 NSI despite some substandard star ratings.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 1 7 - 0 3 50

2. CC's Dragons 1 5 - 1 3 53
3. The Flying Midgets 1 2 - 0 3 46
4. Metal Mulisha 1 2 - 0 3 30

5. goonz 1 0 - 2 0 25
6. Buccabeavzers 1 0 - 2 0 29

7. Toledo Blades 1 1 - 5 0 48
8. PRODYGRAF 1 0 - 7 0 30


Around the League
A somewhat new feature but I've always had some league notes. Now they get their own heading. With the Darksiders getting a well deserved bump to Div IV, the series is wide open this year. Curretly, we're in first but that's only by goal differential over a team with an owner for less than two weeks. BTW, if we are in the race for promotion about halfways through the season, I'll try to add that to our status here. Also, taking DK's lead, I've added league NSI's. As you can see- it's clearly a league of haves vs have-nots and it just so happened that two of the haves played this week.

The Flying Midgets - goonz 2 - 0
Well, The Flying Midgets looks like they could still be a problem: that 46 NSI includes exc-form-exc across the back of their defense and their **~ goalie Svarg Ram who has gotten *** before. The goonz are more fodder than anything.

Buccabeavzers - Metal Mulisha 0 - 2
The Metal Mulisha have been in the league longer than I have but have never quite gotten anywhere with their team. However, they were more than a match for the new Buccabeavzers.

Toledo Blades - CC's Dragons 1 - 5
In the stunning score of the week, the Dragons crushed Div IV relegee Toledo. However, I think this might have been one of those days when CC's had all the breaks as they only won the possession battles 52 and 51 in the halves. Still, Toledo was at home (although only 6700 showed up) so it has to make one wonder. Toledo is a bit better on defense (exc-form-exc to exc-sol-exc) and plays a 4-5-1 to CC's 3-5-2 who won the offense battle (sol-inad-pass to inad-weak-wret) with both playing a weak midfield.

Notes
A nice win to open the season and being in first just is fun. That said, I'm not putting a whole lot of stock in it until I've played CC's, Toledo, and the Midgets. A somewhat harder cup game next week but still not extremely difficult and then our first league test against the Midgets. Who knows what the cup will bring but my fixtures alternate hard-easy (Midgets-goonz-Blades-Mulisha-Dragons) until week 7/8 when I have a home and home against the Buccabeavzers.

SI

sterlingice

04-11-2003, 03:53 AM

Preview
We may have rolled in round one against a division VI team, but that was a bot team. This time out, my opponent has a human owner. However, he only has 5ish guys capable of ** and the rest, not even that. Maybe it's a mistake, but I'm going to play my B team and PIC the game. The cup income is nice but training must go on. If I can't beat a team like this with these restrictions, I don't deserve to go on.

Game Summary
Date: 4/10/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 6867881
Arena: Teke United Arena
Crowd: 7000

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 7000 to Teke United Arena. United had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Ashton - Marks, Kearns, Breeden, Daley - Crane, Dowell, Hunt, Banda - Alvarez, Rubio.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Buckley - Longis, Stepp, Jonsson - Magnusson, Rumbold, Paige, Jörgensson, Viseslav - Chang, Tizón.

In the 8:th minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Kyle Paige put the ball away for 0 - 1. Rickie Stepp increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 2. Ivan Viseslav was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Defoe Chang managed to kick one of them into 0 - 3 in the 19:th minute. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. The away team´s Jeremy Rumbold took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 27:th minute increasing Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 4. In the game's 33rd minute United´s Guy Hunt limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. Anders Jörgensson increased Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 5 by a superb free kick strike, flying in just under the far top corner. After the ball got lifted in from the left Juan Miguel Tizón was on his own in the home side´s penalty area 38 minutes into the game, and should have scored, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. 0 - 5 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 64 percent possession of the ball.

The visitors Ivan Viseslav took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 50:th minute. 0 - 6 for Hippopotami. Hippopotami´s Kyle Paige received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 54:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 0 - 7. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. In the 58:th minute the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 8 as Gérard Longis finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami´s Björn Magnusson got himself booked. After 74 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Defoe Chang who increased Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 9. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 71 percent, dominated the battle.

Most important United player was Willie Breeden. Brent Dowell was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Juan Miguel Tizón. Kyle Paige was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 9.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (C) after the names designates the goal numbers as cup goals
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
TU: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 08: Kyle Pagie (C1); 1-0
HH: xx: Rickie Stepp (C2); 2-0
HH: 19: Dafoe Chang (C3); 3-0
HH: 27: Jeremy Rumbold (C1); 4-0
HH: xx: Anders Jörgensson (C2); 5-0
Halftime Score: 5-0
Possession: 64%

2nd Half
HH: 50: Ivan Viseslav (C2); 6-0
HH: 54: Kyle Paige (C2); 7-0
HH: 58: Gerard Longis (C1); 8-0
HH: 74: Dafoe Chang (C4); 9-0
Final Score: 9-0
Possession: 71%
Final Possession: 68%

Cards
HH: xx: Björn Magnusson (yellow- several obvious shirt pulling incidents)

Injuries
None- woo!

Stadium

A full 7K in a division VI stadium netted a cool $10560. Not bad for an away cup game. Next week we're playing on home turf, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Team Ratings

Teke United
Midfield: disastrous (1)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: poor (3)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing Index: 28
NevStar Index: 29

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing Index: 35
NevStar Index: 37

Not bad for the second team. Still, lots of room for improvement. But they're the trainees.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Gerard Longis *~
DM Rickie Stepp **
DW Patrik Jonsson *~
WI Björn Magnusson *~
MI Kyle Paige *
MI Jeremy Rumbold *~
MI Anders Jörgensson *~
WI Ivan Viseslav (off) *~
FO Dafoe Chang *~
FO Juan Miguel Tizon **~

Total Stars: 18.0
Total player experience: disastrous
Team Attitude: Play it Cool

Well, some good news: Tizon got a **~ and will likely move into the starting lineup along with Buckley's first ** performance at backup goalie. But lots of bad form has cost so many stars for the B team: Viseslav, Chang, Longis, and Jonsson all got *~ instead of their usual **.

Three Stars
The new three star feature. Check out the first cup game in the dynasty for a complete explaination. Also, I figure I should mention something: this will not always go to the "most deserving" player (ie most goals, etc) because I want to spread around some of the hardware.

Bronze: Juan Miguel Tizón
Didn't score as he missed on his event but his **~ performance gets him elevated to A team.
Silver: Dafoe Chang
Tallies his second straight two goal game.
Gold: Kyle Paige
The stars claimed him a disappointment (*) but he scored twice and that gets him the gold.

Game Summary
Ok, so it's silly to say a 9-0 game was closer than it appeared. But the only reason we outscored them so badly was because they were so bad not because we played well. The B team is suffering some serious form problems and that will just be compounded when Tizon and Stepp move up to the A team for this week's series game and Solomon and Bush, two form casualities, get a little workout time with B.

Press Release
4/10/2003 at 07:31 Hippos Stampede in Final Cup Road Game
Teke United didn't know what hit them as the Hippo B team as Kyle Paige and Dafoe Chang each scored twice en route to a 9-0 devastation. The Hippos matched or exceeded Teke in every single facet of the game from midfield to defense to offense. New forward Juan Miguel Tizón collected **~ and will probably pass 30yo forward Derrick Solomon for the starting spot opposite Edwin Phelan due to Solomon's bad form. Next week, the Hippos will battle division IV Dark Lotus at home.

Notes
Pretty big league game this week against a possible dark horse in the division, The Flying Midgets. I can't look past him at all. Then we might play the big guns for next week's cup game, too: getting two home cup paychecks would be really nice if I could steal a winnable but tough game next week. Training results up next.

SI

sterlingice

04-11-2003, 03:53 AM

Training
It seems as if my luck keeps coming in pairs: for every bit of good news, I get some bad and vice versa. First, the bad: Looks like we may be hitting the down side of the form curve at a very bad time. Our B team has 7 players at weak or poor form and that simply won't do.

Only one bump, but it's a huge one: Kyle Paige, career trainee who has always been in my doghouse due to his low form (poor) and stamina (wretched), has bumped up to solid playmaking at only 21yo. I really don't like him but his solid playmaking is accompanied by weak winger, passing, and defending skill along with inadequate set pieces so he has been put to sale in an attempt to get a buyer to bite at the high price of $250K. If he sells, great! If not, I'll keep training him and hopefully his stamina and form will slowly and surely rise. Not only that, but I can have him to excellent playmaking before the end of the season, at which point he will sell for quite a nice sum.

Future Training
As bad as our form is, it's not going to get any better next week as I have some stamina training scheduled. Next week, only our starters will play since we have a pretty big league game Sunday and a winnable cup game against a division IV team.

Form
Starters: (+1) (-3)
Entire Team: (+4) (-9)

Value
Starters: (+4) (-6)
Entire Team: (+9) (-13)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 23570 (+0)
Total Value: 2035000 (-29000)
Avg Value: 88478 (-1739)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: inadequate (N/A)
Avg Experience: disastrous (N/A)
No of players: 23 (N/A)
Nationalities: 8 (N/A)

What to do now?
It looks like I may be heading for a form crisis and all I'm going to do is escalate it next week by training stamina. I may have to take a step back and train some form after this to soften the blow. While the starters are all inad or above, my youth squad is mostly hanging around at poor or lower so no replacement help is coming. Currently, I was planning on going back to my all-playmaking training after this week of stamina provided I either have an unwinnable week 4 cup game or I'm already out (ie so I'll be back to playing the B team). Hopefully I can still do that or I may have to do some general training. I'm just unsure at this point.

SI

sterlingice

04-11-2003, 03:55 AM

Well, boys, girls, and NevStar, it looks like updates are finally underway: I've gotten in last week's training and cup game and hope to have this week's series and cup game and training up soon. So that's good news for anyone hoping to catch up on our adventures. However, there is a major issue that we need to decide (unless I am the only one left on this planet with the sanity to play some offense).

"The Defense Rests" Contest

While I was posting in another thread, I decided it's time to come up with a nickname for those offensive non-offenders, those dastards of defense, those agents of inertia, those nefarious knaves of nil, those brigands and bandits and bringers of boredom, - well, you get the idea. That's right, I'm talking about those 4-5-1 and *spit* 5-4-1 mouthbreathers. You know who you are :mad: . They have plagued our hattrick world, nameless and without form- umm... scratch that last part- nameless, at least, for too long! This scourge and menace needs a name and needs it now- what are you abominations to be called?

I haven't come up with a prize yet and I really don't have anything to offer, but, um... at least you will be mentioned in this thread and your nickname will echo throughout the halls of hattrick history. Well, I can't even promise that but it might be muttered a couple of times in this thread. Still, it should be some fun and this contest is open to offensive and defensive coach alike. And if I don't get a suggestion from some of you, Afoci's punishments are going to look tame indeed.

*Heads to yellow pages to look up "eugenics" and finds the entry: "eugenics: see mad scientists" Argh!*

SI

sterlingice

04-17-2003, 09:37 PM

Preview
I keep calling The Flying Midgets the dark horse to win our division and indeed they are. Our starters get two games in a row as they will be playing this and the next cup game and possibly four in a row but who knows. Our performance today should be a step up from the win over PRODYGRAF as we have shuffled the lineup for the better. Forward Juan Miguel Tizón will be taking over for Derrick Solomon and former middle defender Rickie Stepp will make the move to the outside and take Elmer Bush's spot at wingback while he's rehabbing his injury with the B squad.

Game Summary
Date: 4/14/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544390
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15692

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 15692 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Kimber - Hebert, Strömlius, Stepp - Starks, Benito, Connors, Jörgensson, Newsom - Tizón, Phelan.

Midgets had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Ram - Kearney, Lugo, Bond, Michel - Stern, Griffith, Kok-Chong, Storey - Blombom, O'Keeffe.

Midgets´s Adrian O'Keeffe gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead in the 18:th minute with a superb strike from the right. In the 18:th minute Hippopotami was able to score the equalising 1 - 1 goal. Edwin Phelan picked up a pass coming in from the right and chipped it past the away teams goalie. Hippopotami created a good opportunity to score in the games 28:th minute when Edwin Phelan`s hooked ball created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. Thomas Strömlius received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 30:th minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Hippopotamis Mick Starks gave, after 33 minutes, the home team a 2 - 1 lead after an attack coming in from the right. Chu Kok-Chong of Midgets received a yellow card in the 40:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 1. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 67 percent possession rate.

Unsportsmanlike behaviour by Chu Kok-Chong rendered him his second booking of the match, and Midgets had to finish the game with a reduced squad. After an industrious effort down the middle Anders Jörgensson could have closed the game off in the 59:th minute, but his finishing shot hit the post. Hugh Hebert almost managed to score another goal for Hippopotami, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Hippopotami lead up with 3 - 1. Anders Jörgensson finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. The referee showed Midgetss Curtis Bond the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 91 percent, dominated the battle.

Hippopotami´s best player was Tim Kimber. Anders Jörgensson on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Midgets player was Svarg Ram. Lars Blombom on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 1.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
FM: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
FM: 18: 0-1
HH: 18: Edwin Phelan (3); 1-1
HH: 33: Mick Starks (1); 2-1
Halftime Score: 2-1
Possession: 67%

2nd Half
HH: xx: Anders Jörgensson (1); 3-1
Final Score: 3-1
Possession: 91%
Final Possession: 79%

Cards
None, thankfully. Tho, Thomas Strömlius got some harsh words form the coach in the 1st half.

Injuries
Again, none, thankfully

Stadium

Terraces: 9702 (9702)
Basic seats: 3850 (3850)
Seats under roof: 1740 (1740)
VIP seats: 400 (400)
Total: 15692 (15692)

Full house rocking the Hippodrome. It may be time to look into upgrading again. More on that later in the week. Let's see how the cup game sells.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 51/56

The Flying Midgets
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 41/43

Another week, another team high. That said, I think we'll be leveling off here since we don't have any purchases in the work and this is our best lineup until some team form improves.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Hugh Hebert (def) **
DM Thomas Strömlius **
DW Rickie Stepp **~
WI Mick Starks (off) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito **~
MI Stephen Connors (extra) **~
MI Anders Jörgensson *~
WI Donald Newsom (off) **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón **

Total Stars: 26.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

A very suprising **~ from pass/weak Rickie Stepp but his solid form is probably the key. Tizon went back to 2 but that's about the only noticable thing. The only real room for improvement is get a middie up to ** or **~ stars. If Paige sells, we might get some good veteran leadership to put there. I'd like to get Hebert back up to his **~ days but he's only done that once.

Three Stars
A defender at gold- Who would've thunk it?

Bronze: Anders Jörgensson/Edwin Phelan
Both had one goal and whiffed on a second attempt.
Silver: Mick Starks
He'll never get all the awards he deserves since I tend to take Mick for granted, but he scored his first goal of this season today.
Gold: Rickie Stepp
Rickie bursts into the starting lineup with **~ and defending the Midgets best scorer

Game Summary
We got lucky that we didn't need those three missed events but we still walked away with a win over a pretty good team. Hopefully, Phelan will regain his scoring lead again next week.

Press Release
4/14/2003 at 03:54 Hippos Outlast Midgets in Home Opener
Despite possibly crucial event misses in the game, the Hippos managed to beat The Flying Midgets 3-1. Edwin Phelan, Mick Starks, and Anders Jörgensson scored for the inspired home team, playing in front of a rocking Hippodrome sellout of 15692. Phelan, Jörgensson, and Hugh Hebert all missed on events which could have meant three more goals for Houston. Both the Dragons and leading scorer Victorio Refojo have tied the Hippos and Phelan for 1st in the standings and scoring titles. Cup Next!

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 2 10 - 1 6 56

2. CC's Dragons 2 10 - 1 6 51
3. Metal Mulisha 2 5 - 3 4 28
4. Toledo Blades 2 6 - 6 3 46

5. The Flying Midgets 2 3 - 3 3 43
6. PRODYGRAF 2 3 - 10 1 26

7. goonz 2 1 - 7 0 36
8. Buccabeavzers 2 0 - 7 0 30


Around the League
Our lead is all but gone but after two weeks, only three teams are unbeaten and only two (Hippos being one) have six points. If we want to move up to Div IV, this is likely the year as we won't get a nicer shot with another relegee and a better team moves up from VI.

CC's Dragons - Buccabeavzers 5 - 0
CC's won a ho-hum type game which was very expected as he's emerging as the primary competition for the top spot over the now 8th place Buccabeavzers. The Dragons are pulling ** to *** from every player except one and will be a tough matchup but they have a hole and hopefully I'll be able to exploit that when we meet in a few weeks. The Buccabeavzers outfielders all pull in *~ or less but 21yo Graig Grace in the net pulled down **~ which means he's likely passable keeper, passable form. Victorio Refojo scored twice and tied the Hippos Edwin Phelan for series lead at 3. Not only that but the Dragons are now tied with the Hippos at 9 goal differential for series lead.

goonz - Toledo Blades 1 - 5
Toledo bounced back after last week's game versus the Dragons with a convincing win. They racked up an NSI of 46 and every player got between *~ and **~ in the game. Like, the Buccabeavzers, the goonz only had one player get higher than *~ with Brent Wolff getting **~ at forward. The goonz will be playing us next week. FYI, the goonz and Buccabeavzers are playing a friendly this week so it's good to see that even though they are the bottom teams in the series, they are still trying to improve. With time, I'm sure they will.

Metal Mulisha - PRODYGRAF 3 - 3
PRODYGRAF and Metal Mulisha played to a tie when both teams got under 30 NSI. Each team got only one player with ** and no team scored after the 63rd minute. Probably not the most well played game and the downpoor didn't help at all.

Notes
Nice start at 2-0. A pretty easy game next week before our first game against Toledo. Cup game coming up this Wednesday and it should be close but if we win, we get another home game and a lot more cash.

SI

sterlingice

04-18-2003, 02:11 AM

Preview
Our first home cup game ever! Woo! That should be good for lots of cash even if we lose. While Dark Lotus is a division IV team, he got a lower NSI in his last league game than I did. It looks like he plays his A Team at all time and does not rotate sides so he has some tactical weaknesses. I should be able to win this but it will be close. However, even if I don't, I should make a lot of good money. I'm playing my starters and training stamina this week in an attempt to get two nice paydays.

Game Summary
Date: 4/17/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 6898669
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15012

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and The Hippodrome saw a crowd turnout of 15012. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Kimber - Stepp, Strömlius, Hebert - Starks, Benito, Connors, Jörgensson, Newsom - Tizón, Phelan.

Lotus had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Yazzie - Nagle, Lapointe, Hayes - Hendrix, Hicks, Irby, Vest, Allen - Taylor, Thornton.

After a fine move down the middle Edwin Phelan nearly gave the home side one up in the 18:th minute. The finishing shot went just wide, though. Stacy Nagle of Lotus received a yellow card in the 27:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 34 minutes into the game Stacy Nagle had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came David Cordova. In the 39:th minute Hippopotami had a chance to take the lead by an awarded penalty, but Stephen Connors´s shot was blocked by Hung Yazzie. Hippopotamis Juan Miguel Tizón got himself booked after a foul. The 42nd minute saw the home team take a 1 - 0 lead after a leak in the visitors right side defense. Scorer for Hippopotami was Edwin Phelan. Lotuss José Taylor got himself booked after a foul. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Hippopotami lead up with 2 - 0. Juan Miguel Tizón finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. In the game's 44:th minute Lotus´s Ronald Hicks limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Thomas Strömlius needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. In the 45:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Carlos Alberto Benito dashed through, knocking home 3 - 0 for Hippopotami. Halftime score was 3 - 0. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 65 percent possession of the ball.

Hippopotami put themselves up 4 - 0 when Juan Miguel Tizón broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. The referee showed Lotuss William Thornton the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Hippopotami were forced to a substitution as Stephen Connors couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami´s Edwin Phelan putting the lead up to 5 - 0. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Hippopotami put their lead ahead another goal as Juan Miguel Tizón struck home the 6 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. By then Juan Miguel Tizón was a three time scorer - a hat trick! The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 66 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Anders Jörgensson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Lotus player was without a doubt Hung Yazzie. David Cordova on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 6 - 0.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (C) after the names designates the goal numbers as cup goals
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
DL: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 42: Edwin Phelan (C2); 1-0
HH: 44: Juan Miguel Tizón (C1); 2-0
HH: 45: Carlos Alberto Benito (C1); 3-0
Halftime Score: 3-0
Possession: 65%

2nd Half
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizón (C2); 4-0
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (C3); 5-0
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizón (C3); 6-0
Final Score: 6-0
Possession: 66%
Final Possession: 66%

Cards
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizón (yellow- foul)
HH: 44: Thomas Strömlius (yellow- trip, free kick)

Injuries
HH: xx: Stephen Connors (1 week- rough treatment)

Stadium

Terraces: 9308 (9702)
Basic seats: 3850 (3850)
Seats under roof: 1485 (1740)
VIP seats: 369 (400)
Total: 15012 (15692)

Almost a full house for a cup game and I got over $50K! Not only that but I get to do it again next week for another cool $50K provided the weather holds.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/NevStar Index: 50/55

Dark Lotus
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/NevStar Index: 42/45

Not a new record, but who cares: we won!

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Rickie Stepp (to mid) **~
DM Thomas Strömlius **
DW Hugh Hebert **
WI Mick Starks (off) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (off) **~
MI Philip Friedländer *~
MI Anders Jörgensson (xtra) *~
WI Donald Newsom (off) **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón **

MI Stephen Connors (injury) **

Total Stars: 25.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

What we expected. Cannot complain at all. Hopefully, I can get some form up so Hebert and Tizon can get back up to **~ and I can find a middie who can do the same.

Three Stars
Pretty easy to pass out today.

Bronze: Tim Kimber
Kimber and the defense shut out an exc-sol-sol offense.
Silver: Edwin Phelan
He's having an awesome year and added 2 more today; 6 total for the year.
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizón
First career hat trick gets the gold.

Game Summary
WOW! What an impressive last five minutes of the half:
At 39, Connors misses a free kick.
Then Tizon scores his first, 3 minutes later.
Hippos take a 2-0 lead as Phelan scores at 44.
Quickly thereafter a Lotus player was hurt.
In a separate incident, in the 45th minute, we get a card and they get a free kick and miss.
Just before time expires, Benito puts us up 3-0.
It was an amazing turn of events that took a 0-0 game in the 38th minute to a 3-0 game at the half. Tizon's first career hattrick was icing on the cake and we get another home date in the cup.

Press Release
4/17/2003 at 10:37 First Ever Home Cup Win for Hippos
Recent Hippo transfer Juan Miguel Tizón got his first career hattrick as the Hippos blitzed Dark Lotus with a three goal barrage and survived a PK in the last few minutes of the first half in the first home cup game ever for the Hippos. Edwin Phelan (1st of 2 goals), Tizon, and Carlos Alberto Benito scored in minutes 42, 44, and 45 of the first half and Lotus was not able to recover. "It was amazing- I don't think they knew what hit them," said coach and offensive genius Ricky Braden.

Notes
Next week will be a very tough cup challenge and my cup road will probably end there. I play a tough division IV team called BostonCity Ajax FC who posted an NSI of 61 despite being a seemingly inactive team. In their cup game, they played without two players who were injured and won 9 on 11 with an NSI of 47. Unfortunately, his players are only injured for one week so they will probably be back in time for our game. He does have holes in his defense, but 5 of those 9 players had 3 or more stars so this poses a unique challenge.

I may be making a huge mistake- so here is where I open the floor to criticism. I'm going to hold back some of my starters in my series game this week because it's eminently winnable (I have about 20 NSI to give on him but it's on the road)- playing my B Team midfield and wingers so they get training. However, I can't afford to drop this series game because it's against one of the two cellar dwellers. Hopefully I'm fretting over nothing and with a little luck I can win next week's cup. But my main motivation is to not get shut out at home as that would cost me legions of supporters.

SI

sterlingice

04-18-2003, 02:57 AM

Training
The form trouble continues to mount but that was to be expected as I trained stamina. Still, it wasn't too bad so I think I may finally have hit rock bottom. Stamina training is well worth it, tho. All but three of my starters went up and the only subs that didnt go up were the two solids, the backup goalie, and coach. Now, all of our starters have stamina of inad or above except new forward and hattrick man Juan Miguel Tizon, who showed no signs of fatigue in this past week's cup game. The current form drop that is concerning me is Hugh Hebert who is down to weak and I don't have anyone to spare at wingback. I'll have to hide either him or Bush by keeping the middie towards his side and hope that Stepp's hot streak continues.

Future Training
Due to our game situation, where we are playing a lot of starters in the cup, I'll be doing playmaking for this week. I'm playing my second string midfield so they'll get the benefits, at least. Then, the next week, before the Toledo game, it's time to get some needed general training to help out form. I suppose that could change if I win my cup game this week, tho.

Form
Starters: (+0) (-4)
Entire Team: (+2) (-4)

Value
Starters: (+8) (-3)
Entire Team: (+15) (-7)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 23570 (+0)
Total Value: 2075000 (+40000)
Avg Value: 90217 (+1739)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: inadequate (N/A)
Avg Experience: disastrous (N/A)
No of players: 23 (N/A)
Nationalities: 8 (N/A)

Dilemnas
I'm sitting on a troika of choices:

The first is whether or not to sell Kyle Paige who bumped to solid last week. Then again, I've already made my decision and have put him back up on the market for $175K, hoping someone will bite.

Secondly, I have my lineup crisis for this week. I have a possibly winnable cup game so I'm benching my starting midfield so my subs and starters can both get training for the week.

Lastly, I'm pondering a new stadium upgrade but I need to decide in the next day or so. I've breezed past 850 supporters on my way to, hopefully, 1000 by the end of the season so I'm pondering a stadium renovation to bump the Hippodrome up to about 22K. Since I nearly filled up the stadium for a Cup game and sold it out for my last home game. It will cost me $150K and put me back into debt but I could pull in an extra $30K per home game and that would be some welcome income. That said, I think I will probably wait until I find some more cash because it's not worth the interst costs.

Now I'm all caught up with current news. Time to finish catching back up on all the old updates. Until next time...

SI

sterlingice

04-20-2003, 05:16 AM

Actually Caught up!!!
All of the preseason bookkeeping is actually caught up! Sure it took three weeks of fighting a broken computer and the last round of midterms, but it's finally finished and better late than never. This week will be dedicated to working on the FAQ and keeping everyone abreast of the Hippos adventures.

Youth Pull and... what the f-
Do my eyes decieve me or did we actually get a youth pull who might sell for something other than rubles?!? 18yo Liu Zuo-Lin is a passable scorer with quick speciality. Sure he's worthless otherwise, but he might actually sell for a few thousand and that's more than I can say for anyone else from the youth squad.

Liu Zuo-Lin (11100166)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Speciality: Quick
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 26 000 US$
Wage: 620 US$/week

Stamina: wretched Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: wretched Passing: wretched
Winger: weak Defending: poor
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: poor

Lastly
With everything caught up, it's time to look ahead. This week, a relatively easy league game made difficult by playing only some starters. Then a cup game with all starters which is even more difficult because we are overmatched. But everything is right with the world right now because we have a youth pull worth more than $1K :cool:

SI

sterlingice

04-21-2003, 01:46 AM

Preview
Not to insult them, but the goonz are not very good. So, I'm taking a risk and running out part of my B Team in an attempt to squeeze out another cup win. So here's to taking a league team for granted and trying to win a nearly impossible cup game to get another $50K at the expense of possibly ruining my entire season. Argh- maybe this isn't the best idea, but it sounded good on paper.

Game Summary
Date: 4/21/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544393
Arena: The Pit
Crowd: 4571

4571 spectators had come to The Pit this cloudy day. goonz had chosen a strategic 4-3-3 formation. They fielded: Torres - Ambrose, Barnes, Washington, Callejo - Heras, Ropero, Dockery - Urbaneja Pérez, Wolff, Gaither.

Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Strömlius, Stepp - Magnusson, Rumbold, Paige, Jörgensson, Viseslav - Chang, Phelan.

Hippopotami took the lead in the games 11th minute with 0 - 1 after some elegant plays down the middle. Defoe Chang was the scorer. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Anders Jörgensson needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. The referee showed goonzs Jackie Washington the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 42nd minute Hippopotami goal, making it 0 - 2. Defoe Chang was noted down as the scorer. In the 42nd minute the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 3 as Edwin Phelan finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 3. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 75 percent, dominated the battle.

Dan Dockery of goonz received a yellow card in the 58:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A header from Dan Dockery connected with a corner kick after 62 minutes, and the ball ended up with Al Ambrose of goonz who shot the 1-3 goal. In the game's 72nd minute Hippopotami´s Rickie Stepp limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. Man, what a shot by Björn Magnusson! Firing from 35 yards he didn't give the enemy goalie a chance and it was 1 - 4. goonz had obvious problems in finding their positions. Ivan Viseslav was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Defoe Chang managed to kick one of them into 1 - 5 in the 84:th minute. At that, Defoe Chang was noted down for a hat trick. Elmer Bush of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 85:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The away team´s Ivan Viseslav took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 86:th minute increasing Hippopotami´s lead to 1 - 6. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 91 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating goonz player was without a doubt Brent Wolff. Mannuel Heras on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. However, Kyle Paige made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 6.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
G: 4-3-3

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 11: Dafoe Chang (1); 1-0
HH: 42: Dafoe Chang (2); 2-0
HH: 42: Edwin Phelan (4); 3-0
Halftime Score: 3-0
Possession: 75%

2nd Half
G: 62: 3-1
HH: 72: Björn Magnusson (1); 4-1
HH: 84: Dafoe Chang (3); 5-1
HH: 86: Ivan Viseslav (1); 6-1
Final Score: 6-1
Possession: 91%
Final Possession: 83%

Cards
HH: xx: Anders Jörgensson (pk-needless trip)
HH: 85: Elmer Bush (yellow- unsportsmanlike behavior)

Injuries
HH: 72: Rickie Stepp (limped slightly, stayed in game)

Stadium

It was cloudy but he only got 4500 fans at The Pit. Not the greatest crowd in the world but it's at his place so I don't mind so much.

Team Ratings

goonz
Midfield: disastrous (1)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 31/32

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 39/42

Considering the mixed lineup, this isn't too bad. We're going to drop like a rock in the FOFC standings, tho. Oh well- no big deal since tourney rankings have already been determined. I'll be back up there in a couple of weeks.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Elmer Bush *~
DM Thomas Strömlius **
DW Rickie Stepp (to mid) **
WI Björn Magnusson *
MI Jeremy Rumbold *~
MI Kyle Paige (extra) *
MI Anders Jörgensson (off) *~
WI Ivan Viseslav (off) **
FO Dafoe Chang **
FO Edwin Phelan **~

Total Stars: 20.0
Total player experience: disastrous
Team Attitude: Normal

Kimber is down to *** which is annoying but not distressing yet. Unfortunately, Rickie Stepp also went back down to his expected ** at wingback. Even after bumping to solid playmaking, Kyle Paige get * for the game. Absolutely no good news out of the stars department week .

Three Stars
No one really stands out except Chang. Magnusson gets his first star, tho.

Bronze: Edwin Phelan
Edwin gets it more or less by default since his goal today kept him tied for the series goal lead.
Silver: Björn Magnusson
Björn gets the silver solely on the basis of his 35 yard shot going in.
Gold: Dafoe Chang
Dafoe gets his first career hat trick!

Game Summary
Another pretty ho-hum game. Not to talk down on goonz, but we are quite a bit better and should have won this going away even with half of our team being saved up for the cup game. Thankfully things turned out that way and Chang's hat trick was a nice suprise. Unfortunately it wasn't Phelan that got them or he would have a really nice series league.

Press Release
4/21/2003 at 07:49 Chang's Hat Trick Beats goonz
The Hippos took a gamble and held back their starting midfield (and others) to prepare for this week's very difficult cup game. It paid off as second team forward Dafoe Chang got his first career hat trick and Edwin Phelan scored his league-lead-tying 4th goal. Like Phelan, the Hippos kept pace with their Dragons counterparts and are still in a virtual tie for 1st. Also it appears the Hippos have finally kicked their missed events habit that had plagued them the previous two games.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 3 16 - 2 9 42

2. CC's Dragons 3 15 - 1 9 53
3. The Flying Midgets 3 7 - 3 6 49
4. Toledo Blades 3 9 - 7 6 42

5. Metal Mulisha 3 5 - 7 4 30
6. PRODYGRAF 3 3 - 15 1 30

7. Buccabeavzers 3 1 - 10 0 33
8. goonz 3 2 - 13 0 32


Around the League
I know I'm itching to play our game in 3 weeks with CC's Dragons but a couple of weeks of form training won't hurt my feelings. Toledo played down to their competition but still won in the only possible upset. The Dragons and Midgets won shutouts going away.

Buccabeavzers - Toledo Blades 1 - 3
Toledo looks like they either played it cool or held back some players since they only got a 42 NSI. Halftime was 1-0 Bucs but Toledo scored 3 in the second half to take the lead. Four different players scored in the game.

The Flying Midgets - Metal Mulisha 4 - 0
One of the two other pretty boring games this week (along with hours). The Midgets 4-4-2 didn't allow anything through and Lars Blombom scored two goals.

PRODYGRAF - CC's Dragons 0 - 5
Ed Becker scored twice and Victorio Refojo scored to tie Edwin Phelan for the league lead. Like the Midgets, the Dragons beat their opponent pretty soundly and their 5 goal differential kept them tied with us.

Notes
3-0 and onto cup game number 4. It's a pretty good season when the first game where we are not favored is seven games in. Then a somewhat tough series game next week. However, as soon as this week is over, it's probably time to hit general training for two weeks and improve our form immensely heading into our big matchup with CC's Dragons in 3 weeks at the Hippodrome. Even if we win this cup game, next week's will likely be impossible but it will have been a good run either way. Our Cup game Wednesday which should prove to be exciting as we try to knock off a second division IV team in a row. Until next time, Hungry Hungry Hippos.

SI

sterlingice

04-22-2003, 03:26 AM

FYI
I forgot one thing in my season preview: a preview of our series. That is posted now in the bookkeeping messages above.

Also, our youth pull has been put up for sale for $10K. He has yet to get any bids. Oh well- still 2 days left.

More bad news: our Cup opponent has logged in so the help I was hoping to get by having him play some injured players is gone. Likely so is our hope of winning as his healthy teams can put up and NSI of 60 and our starters can't get more than about 56. I can't afford to MotS a cup match with a tough series game coming up this week.

A spot of humor as the team that was promoted from last year paid our guestbook a visit: "Oh man, I wish I was still in V. IV is brutal!!! Everyone with their half million dollar middies and forwards." We wish the Darksiders of IV.30 well and hope they can turn the season around.

Lastly, I'll be getting to work on the FAQ Wednesday or Thursday night once I get a chance to escape from under some school work.

SI

sterlingice

04-25-2003, 12:30 AM

Preview
Well, I can't say I'm confident about this game. It's the first game where we are the definite underdogs: they a million dollar player and four guys each over $300K. The good news is that the past couple of weeks, they haven't played a player or two and have been lopsided due to injuries, i.e. 9 or 10 on 11. The bad news is that they still gone 1-1-1 in their last three games even with their 3-4-2 (NSI 51) and 2-4-2 (NSI 47). Nothing like a team that can get close to your team in NSI, even with 2 men not on the pitch. The worst news came Tuesday: they logged in for the first time in over two weeks (since it only shows logons in the past 2 weeks) so I'm guessing he patched any and all holes I hoped to take advantage of. Still, I stacked my offense on the side he kept forgetting to put people on and hoped he didn't actually change anything or put vastly inferior players there. At least a rocking full Hippodrome was there to witness a match which turned out as far from expected as possible.

Game Summary
Date: 4/24/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 6924050
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15692

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 15692 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Strömlius, Stepp - Newsom, Benito, Connors, Friedländer, Starks - Tizón, Phelan.

Ajax started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Kinder - Lester, Burland, Ward - Dahl, Rodriguez, Gill, Burnett, Johnson - Thomas, Mihnea.

Elmer Bush gave his Hippopotami the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. Some brilliant football from the visitors right wing resulted in a 12th minute levelling of scores as Ajaxs Brice Thomas equalised to 1 - 1. Juan Miguel Tizón of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 23rd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A well placed corner kick from Stephen Connors was followed by Juan Miguel Tizón´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant 2-1 for Hippopotami. Mick Starks was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Edwin Phelan managed to kick one of them into 3 - 1 in the 34:th minute. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Edwin Phelan squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 38:th minute, asserting the lead to 4 - 1. The teams went for a half-time break at 4 - 1. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami put themselves up 5 - 1 when Juan Miguel Tizón broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. In the 73rd minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Edwin Phelan dashed through, knocking home 6 - 1 for Hippopotami. By then Edwin Phelan was a three time scorer - a hat trick! The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 64 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami´s best player was Tim Kimber. Elmer Bush on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Ajax player was Dryden Johnson. However, Doug Burnett made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 6 - 1.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (C) after the names designates the goal numbers as cup goals
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
BCA: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: xx: Elmer Bush (C1); 1-0
BCA: 12: 1-1
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizón (C4); 2-1
HH: 34: Edwin Phelan (C4); 3-1
HH: 38: Edwin Phelan (C5); 4-1
Halftime Score: 4-1
Possession: 60%

2nd Half
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizón (C5); 5-1
HH: 73: Edwin Phelan (C6); 6-1
HH: 73: *pulling back*
Final Score: 6-1
Possession: 64%
Final Possession: 62%

Cards
HH: 23: Juan Miguel Tizón (yellow- unsportsmanlike behaviour)
That's 2 for him- he'd better be careful next game.

Injuries
woo! none!

Stadium

Terraces: 9702 (9702)
Basic seats: 3850 (3850)
Seats under roof: 1740 (1740)
VIP seats: 400 (400)
Total: 15692 (15692)

Another cool $50K from a cup game!

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/NevStar Index: 50/55

BostonCity Ajax FC
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/NevStar Index: 55/58

Let this be an object lesson to anyone out there who thinks midfield is unimportant: make sure that you don't lose the midfield battle by two levels or you'll still get killed even if you outscore the other team elsewhere by 9 points.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Rickie Stepp (to mid) **
DM Thomas Strömlius **
DW Elmer Bush *~
WI Donald Newsom (off) **~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (off) **~
MI Philip Friedländer (xtra) **
MI Stephen Connors **~
WI Mick Starks (off) ***
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón **

Total Stars: 25.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

Damn- I guess Kimber's drop to *** is permanent since he's in passable form. Same with Stepp's ** performance. However, the great news is that Friedländer is up to ** instead of *~ at middie. Hopefully it's permanent.

Three Stars
It must have been a good game when a defender with a goal only gets bronze.

Bronze: Elmer Bush
His goal put us out in front really early in the game
Silver: Juan Miguel Tizón
Tizon falls back to silver since he "only" got 2 goals
Gold: Edwin Phelan
His hat trick gets him the gold medal today

Game Summary
This is our third hat trick in as many games: Tizon, Chang, and now Phelan. It's a great day when your a two goal scoring player only gets the silver! Everything went right: a defender scoring a goal and five from the forwards in a game I really expected to lose. The offense just is clicking on all cylinders right now and I hope it never stops.

Press Release
4/25/2003 at 07:18 Hippos Advance! Hippos Advance!
Edwin Phelan's hat trick took the team cup goal lead (6) away from Juan Miguel Tizón who only had 2 goals. The two forwards were more than enough for the Hippos to beat their second straight Div IV opponent. Wingback Elmer Bush go the scoring started a few minutes in with his first ever goal for the Hippos. Unfortunately, the Cup run is likely over next week versus Div II "The Minutemen". Still, fellow FOFCer and supporter/ee Morrisville beat a Div II team last week so anything is possible.

Notes
Ok, we won our big game this week which got us another home game next week and another $50K. Not only that but we have a big game in series this week against the likely-3rd place team and he might MotS it at home which could be really dangerous for us. At least we have a new toy and a little good news on the training front but that's coming in the next update.

SI

Aesyrqwe

04-25-2003, 12:37 AM

Congrats on the win sterlingice. Another FOFC'er advances.

-Aes-

sterlingice

04-25-2003, 12:38 AM

Originally posted by Aesyrqwe
Congrats on the win sterlingice. Another FOFC'er advances.

-Aes-

Thx. The writeup would have been sooner except forthe hockey game that would not end.

SI

sterlingice

04-25-2003, 03:05 AM

Training
It was about time. Only three of our six middies hadn't gone up yet and it was getting to be their time. For starting middie Carlos Alberto Benito, the time was now. He moves up to solid to go along with his excellent stamina, solid passing, and inadequate scoring. And, to think, he's only 22. The other to go up was middie trainee Jeremy Rumbold who moved up to passable playmaking to go along with his solid stamina, inad scoring, and inad defense. Jeremy will probably go on the transfer wire as he is my 6th middie trainee and I'm looking to snag an improvement in the upper 5 to low 6 figure cost until Anders is ready. This leaves 24yo Stephen Connors and his solid playmaking as my only middie left to bump.

A few other notes: Tim Kimber is down to passable form but up to $466K value after dropping quite a bit when he dropped from solid to passable form. Mick Starks is approaching becoming our first ever homegrown $300K player as he sits at $296K after this week's update. Also, I feel I bad for overlooking this earlier: current bumpee Carlos Alberto Benito became just the third $200K Hippo in the week between season 18 nad 19. Dafoe Chang's experience went up, which is handy since it's likely he'll be playing this week in our series game. Lastly, Coach Ricky Braden's form went down: his wife will not be pleased.

Future Training
I think I may have to train playmaking one more week due to winning this past week's cup game. I can't play my 2nd team against a Div II team or else I'll be slaughtered and the fans will leave in droves.

Form
Starters: (+1) (-1)
Entire Team: (+3) (-5)

Value
Starters: (+8) (-2)
Entire Team: (+16) (-5)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 24290 (+720)
Total Value: 2200000 (+165000)
Avg Value: 91667 (+3189)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: inadequate (N/A)
Avg Experience: disastrous (N/A)
No of players: 24 +1
Nationalities: 8 (N/A)

Comings and Goings
Last weeks youth club pull 18yo forward Liu Zuo-Lin sold to sv de Helden in Nederland Div VI for $11K. We got $10210 of that. I kindof was hoping for more, but oh well. Thanks to last nights win, I'm guaranteed another $50K in the cup that I didn't expect. So rather than use it to get out of debt, I essentially used it to bulk up my floundering wingbacks for only $51K. Not only that but he's a head specialist on defense which is huge for both offensive and defensive corner kicks. He gets the number 4 on his back and will be the main wingback until Elmer Bush and/or Hugh Hebert get their form back in order.

Marcel Romo (11151037)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is fiery and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Speciality: Head
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 43 000 US$
Wage: 720 US$/week

Stamina: wretched Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: wretched
Winger: passable Defending: passable
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: poor

Next Cup Game
I like to throw in stuff for morbidly curious people: this is about as morbidly curious as things get. My chances in the next game are not good at all but just to make sure, I dug out the good ol' Hattrick Match Calculator.

Using our most recent Cup ratings, it doesn't seem so bad, does it? (His numbers, my numbers) 40%/59% possession, 4/6 on attacks, 1.553/2.658 average goals, 15.6/66.9 win percentage with 17.5 chance of a draw. Heck, it says I could even win 4-1 (and he could win 6.0). But that assumes I will be playing my best team (which I wont) and his B Team (which he won't, I'm guessing).

Now, let's try this again with the team I'm likely to use against his B team he used last week in the cup. 27/72% possession, 3/7 on attacks, 0.895/3.047 average goals, 5.9/84.7 win percentage (9.4% chance of draw) and 3-1/7-0 lopsided wins.

Lastly, let's take this morbid curiousity to it's logical conclusion: my likely team vs his A team which put up some >100 NSI during his series game last week. 15/84% possession, 2/8 attacks, 0.477/4.309 average goals, 0.1/98.1 win percentage with 1.8% of a tie, 2-2/8-0 best wins. Now that's pain.

Fortunately, unlike the Midwest Ice Storm last round, we have a friendly opponent. Sounds like he's a nice guy, or at the very least, not a gloating one. I sent him the "good luck, it was a good ride for us but now it's time to take my medicine" type message. His response:
"have confidence amigo! Or...team spirit....ya, maybe the second one makes more sense :)
Good luck to you.
- boon"

SI

sterlingice

04-28-2003, 03:50 AM

Youth Pull, Week 19.4
I think I've made a mistake: I'm not sure I've ever sold a youth pull at all. I had a couple of $1K sales early on but I'm starting to think it's less and less likely that I've actually sold someone I pulled. So, in celebration of what is my first successful youth pull sell, I've decided to bulk up this section a little. I think the stats are correct (the number of pulls, I mean)

Youth Pull Status
(NOTE: NC means "no change")
Youth Pulls: 17 (+1)
Youth Pull Grocers: 16 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 1 (NC)
Total Sold for:

Along with these few stat changes, we've changed our store. Upgraded, even, to a grocery store. Not just any grocery store, but we have the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM) which is fully staffed with useless youth pulls. Once we hit, say 25, useless youth pulls, we'll have to expand again to something even larger and more useless.

Youth Pull
Cory Moyer (11302507)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is tranquil and honest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Speciality: Technical
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 11 000 US$
Wage: 540 US$/week

Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: weak Defending: inadequate
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: poor

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (NC)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 895 members (+26)
Supporters: high on life (NC)

Team Spirit: calm (NC)
Confidence: strong (NC)

Frankly, I'm not really sure if my confidence changed or not. I think it did, but I'm not sure. I was up to wonderful a couple of weeks ago and then I think I went over the edge with overconfidence and was back down to normal a week or two ago.

Week In Review

On the Field
We took a risk and it paid off. Most of the B Team played in our fixture in which we beat the goonz 6-1. Then we came back with our starters and decimated our Cup opponent by the same score despite being underdogs. Our competition winning streak has reached 7 now as we have won 4 Cup games and 3 series games. Big matchup this week at Toledo against the Blades. Our Cup game will see our B Team get decimated by the 13th best team in USA.

Off the Field
Our new youth pull was useless but our old one sold for $11K. We "upgraded" our store from a Mickey D's to a Piggly Wiggly. Also, we snagged a pass/pass wingback off the wire in the person of Marcel Romo for $51K. We'll see how he does Sunday, hoping for a **~ performance. Also, we had two pops in playmaking training.

Finances
Our Cup runneth over both for good and ill. Our (sellout) Cup win nets us another home game and another $56K. Also, early in the week, we will break 900 supporters. The downside is that we will get creamed and may even lose supporters for the first time ever in this franchise's history. Along a similar line of thought, our sponsor money keeps rising and is up to $44250.
For the curious, here are our expenses: arena $10286, wages $27274, interest $3344, temporary $200, staff $25500, and youth $20000. Our series game is away this week but our final home Cup game will cause us to pretty much break even. Not only that but, after next week's home fixture, we will likely be above 0!

Wrapup
That is all for now. Big fixture against one of the big three in our series and then our first Cup loss likely. It's been a good run, but, well, "a man's gotta know his limitations" and ours will be shown against a Div II game. But take heart, Hippo faithful, if we win this series game, we only have 2 games the rest of the season to really worry about. Next up: Hippos-Blades game report unless news breaks first.

SI

sterlingice

04-28-2003, 03:35 PM

Preview
We should win this game. Sure, Toledo is a Div IV relegee but they kindof deserved to be. They are likely going to be in the battle for 3rd or 4th (against the Midgets) behind us and the Dragons. However, this is at their house and they MotS'd the game so we have pretty much everything working against us.

Game Summary
Date: 4/28/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544395
Arena: Bladium
Crowd: 7000

7000 spectators had come to Bladium this cloudy day. Toledo started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. They fielded: González - Stachowicz, Dinu, Li, Stinson, Vãrzaru - Rees, Mohr, Jung, Tran - De Araoz.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Stepp, Strömlius, Romo - Newsom, Benito, Connors, Friedländer, Starks - Chang, Phelan.

After 5 minutes Hippopotami put themselves up by 0 - 1 as Philip Friedländer finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post. In the to 11th minute a very unfortunate collision in the home teams penalty area led to Toledo´s Michael Stinson being carried off the pitch and replaced by Theodore Fauconnier. Hippopotami came close to extending their lead as Carlos Alberto Benito delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was to sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal. The away team´s Carlos Alberto Benito took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 18:th minute increasing Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 2. The referee showed Toledos Dacian Vãrzaru the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Donald Newsom could have put his team up another one in the 23rd minute, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. Toledos Julius Tran got himself booked after a foul. José Alejandro González kept the home side in the game with a magnificient save, as Stephen Connors delivered an almost perfect free kick to the far cross bar. 0 - 2 was the half-time score. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 51 percent, dominated the battle.

Toledo´s Juan Miguel De Araoz got the home crowd going when he finished off a left wing charge putting the away teams lead down to 1 - 2. The away team´s Mick Starks took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 56:th minute increasing Hippopotami´s lead to 1 - 3. Hippopotami´s Defoe Chang made it through the home teams defence in the 67:th minute, and had only to place the ball in an unguarded goal when the home side´s defender sprang up from the left, clearing the ball on the line. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Toledo, with an impressive 52 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Toledo player was without a doubt José Alejandro González. Theodore Fauconnier was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Philip Friedländer was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 3.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
TB: 5-4-1

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 5: Philip Friedländer (1); 1-0
HH: 18: Carlos Alberto Benito (2); 2-0
Halftime Score: 2-0
Possession: 51%

2nd Half
TB: xx: 2-1
HH: 67: Mick Starks (2); 3-1
Final Score: 3-1
Possession: 48%
Final Possession: 49%

Cards
None!

Injuries
None, but they had one guy carried off the pitch and out for 3 weeks when he collided with a teammate

Stadium

He filled up his 7000 seat stadium. How in the heck was he in Div IV with a 7000 seat stadium?!? By the end of the season, I'll likely have a 20-25K stadium and I may not even be in Div IV.

Team Ratings

Toledo Blades
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Central Defence: brilliant (11)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: wretched (2)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 50/55

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 49/53

We lost the index battle but won the war. Apparently an exc-sol-exc offense beats an out-bril-exc defense. I'm guessing those midfields were very close since possession was pretty much identical.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Rickie Stepp **
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Marcel Romo **
WI Donald Newsom (off) **~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (off) **~
MI Philip Friedländer (extra) *~
MI Stephen Connors **~
WI Mick Starks (off) ***
FO Dafoe Chang **
FO Edwin Phelan **~

Total Stars: 26.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

Marcel Romo, our new wingback, was somewhat disappointing at **. But that was offset by Thomas Strömlius hitting **~ at defensive middie.

Three Stars
Hmm... low scoring games make these awards more interesting.

Bronze: Thomas Strömlius
Strömlius gets **~ for the first time in defense
Silver: Carlos Alberto Benito
A goal and a near goal nets Benito's first award
Gold: Tim Kimber
Only gave up one goal but it was to a 5-4-1

Game Summary
I think he MotS'd this game at his house and we still won. What does that mean? It means that our game with Toledo at home drops down to the same level as our road game against the Midgets and that we have only two huge MotS-level games this season: the two against the Dragons. Those two will determine whether we move up or stay in Division V next year. We lost the possession battle and missed on two events but we still won and I guess that's all that really matters in the end. FYI, the one goal scored by Toledo was by Juan Miguel De Araoz who has now tied Edwin Phelan and Victorio Refojo for the league lead at 4.

Press Release
4/28/2003 at 22:35 Hippos Grind Out Win at Bladium
Philip Friedländer, Carlos Alberto Benito, and Mick Starks scored goals for the Hippos in a grueling battle with the Blades that ended in a 3-1 victory and 4th series victory. The offense rated exc-sol-exc and was barely able to break the Blades out-bril-exc defense. The Hippos will likely be exiting the Cup this week, playing a top 20 USA team in "The Minutemen". Next week's fixture will against the Metal Mulisha at home leading up to the following week's huge matchup at the Dragons Den.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 4 19 - 3 12 53

2. CC's Dragons 4 16 - 1 12 55
3. The Flying Midgets 4 7 - 4 6 51
4. Toledo Blades 4 10 - 10 6 55

5. Metal Mulisha 4 6 - 11 4 30
6. Buccabeavzers 4 5 - 10 3 35

7. goonz 4 6 - 14 3 35
8. PRODYGRAF 4 3 - 19 1 27


Around the League
It was judgement day for a second team in our league today as the Dragons and Midgets met in the other top 4 clash. Also, the bottom got more mixed up as the two teams with 0 points previously picked up wins against the teams which had points. Next week will either be a real yawner or there will be a huge upset as all of the top teams play the bottom teams.

Metal Mulisha - goonz 1 - 4
The previously winless goonz beat 5th place Metal Mulisha. Four different players scored for the goonz who has passable's across their offense, beating the Mulisha's inad/pass/pass defense. Both had disastrous midfields but the Mulisha's 51% possession advantage at the half collapsed as the goonz stamina won out in the second half (64-36%).

Buccabeavzers - PRODYGRAF 4 - 0
This ugly game had 2 cards, two injuries and quite a few missed chances but in the end, the Buccabeavzers got their first win of the season. The Bucs 4-5-1 got passables across the defense and goalie Graig Grace was the only player to get more than ** at **~

CC's Dragons - The Flying Midgets 1 - 0
The Dragons eeked out a win as they dominated possession (61, 69%) but failed on three events. The visiting Midgets goalie Svarg Ram kept them in the game with some awesome goaltending and their out/out/exc defense limited the only scoring in the game to Lai Soon-Wah's goal 13 minutes in. The Dragons turned in an all around nice effort with form/exc/exc on the defense and sol/inad/pass at offense.

Notes
This season now literally comes down to two games and the first is in two weeks at the Dragon's Den in front of 12000 angry screaming fans. We're going to get killed in the cup this week, but then we should get some confidence back this weekend when we drill the Mulisha with the A Team. Anyways, we have some players on sale and hopefully we will get some cash because after next week's fixture, we might even be in the hunt.

Coming up soon: the first "Where are they Now?" of the new year which will be updated with news of our sales and who knows what else. Also, some hatstats notes and a supporter landmark. And, maybe, if I get really ambitious, a Hippo Spotlight but don't hold your breath on that one since I have a test tomorrow.

SI

vex

04-29-2003, 12:08 AM

DataKing

04-29-2003, 09:52 AM

That does not bode well.

Alf

04-29-2003, 02:43 PM

Transfer list: Keeper
Deadline: 5/2/2003 at 02:42
Asking price: 500 000 Euro

3/30/2003 Was promoted from the youth squad in CC's Dragons

No bids so far

DataKing

04-29-2003, 03:19 PM

It's early yet. At half a million for an excellent keeper, I suspect he'll sell.

vex

04-29-2003, 03:49 PM

I'm thinking of training my keeper for 1-2 weeks, let him pop to excellent, sell him and then get another solid keeper. I just don't feel like messing with my training schedule though.

vex

04-29-2003, 11:57 PM

Transfer list: Keeper

Deadline: 5/2/2003 at 02:42

Asking price: 500 000 US$

Highest bid:
500 000 US$ by Ork Deth Boyz

Not good, not good.

sterlingice

04-30-2003, 03:18 AM

Once... Twice.... Sold!
A confluence of events caused us to put four players up for sale. The one who didn't sell was Kyle Paige, the 21yo solid PM middie who I keep putting up for sale at $150K. He's only good for * per game but I'm sure I can get some good cash for him once he raises to excellent towards the end of the season. I successfully sold one of my trainees who just popped to passable playmaking along with a couple of inadequates (one of our first trainees from back in February). Jeremy Rumbold sold for an even $50K, the price I put him up for.

The other two were sold as a result of the excellent treatise on the economics of a B Team by QuikSand. With the recent wingback purchase of Marcel Romo and no need for spare guys, my pair of inad/inad wingbacks were really unnecessary. Both Gerard Longis and Patrick Jonsson had mini bidding wars and ended up at $6K and $15K, respectively. BTW, the numbers 5, 9, and 18 are all back available.

Where Are They Now?
In a similar vein to selling players, it's time for the fifth installment of the stolen segment (from NevStar) "Where are they now?"

Week One
1/12/2003 Sold (Fired player) to Rednecks 1 000 US$ (0 US$)
1/12/2003 Sold Hayden Hanks to C.A. Daedra (B.Bca.) 20 000 US$ (82 000 US$)
1/16/2003 Sold Rodney Walters to Brookland Cayce 16 000 US$ (100 000 US$)
1/16/2003 Sold Alvin Yeager to Sporting Milwaukee 145 000 US$ (98 000 US$)

Week Two
1/26/2003 Sold Alvarado Lanza to Metaguacha 12 000 US$ (21 000 US$)
1/26/2003 Sold Ben Magnusson to Gringos 12 000 US$ (17 000 US$)
1/27/2003 Sold Tommy Lyhling to Hawkeye F.C. 50 000 US$ (54 000 US$)

Week Three
1/26/2003 Sold Søren Andersen to Morrisville Morrisvillians 13 000 US$ (31 000 US$)
2/9/2003 Sold Pedro Villavilla Paz to Los N° 1 72 000 US$ (47 000 US$)

Week Four
2/17/2003 Sold Matei Rosca to Racing Mexico 2 000 US$ (30 000 US$)
2/17/2003 Sold José Alberto Balbuena to K-Wings 1 000 US$ (12 000 US$)
2/17/2003 Sold Storm Jordan to Racing Mexico 4 000 US$ (35 000 US$)

Today
2/24/2003 Sold Ildefonso Besteiro Saiz to JOB Squad 1 000 US$ (0 US$)
2/24/2003 Sold Augusto Almeida Lopes to snomus cf 2 000 US$ (33 000 US$)
2/24/2003 Sold Thomas Rosenthal to BACARDI C.F 21 001 US$ (74 000 US$)

For the Future
3/5/2003 Sold Dawid Raduli to Snufl 84 000 US$ (78 000 US$)
3/8/2003 Sold Zlatko Koch to Livvy Loonies 26 001 US$ (57 000 US$)
3/9/2003 Sold Alfredo Crespo to Havoc 77 000 US$ (115 000 US$)

3/20/2003 Sold Julius Acker to Universitatea&Craiova 638 000 US$ (205 000 US$)

3/21/2003 Sold Klaas Slingerland to Gooner 16 000 US$ (78 000 US$)
3/25/2003 Sold Chiritã Vochin to Malignos Team 77 000 US$ (168 000 US$)

4/24/2003 Sold Liu Zuo-Lin to sv de Helden 11 000 US$ (26 000 US$)

4/28/2003 Sold Gérard Longis to WTC 6 000 US$ (18 000 US$)
4/28/2003 Sold Jeremy Rumbold to Most Wanted 50 000 US$ (41 000 US$)
4/28/2003 Sold Patrik Jonsson to Blätzbums 15 000 US$ (52 000 US$)

Total Purchases: 1154513 US$ (+101005)
Total Sales 1372002 US$ (+82000)
Difference 217489 US$ (-19005)
Average (bought) 34985 US$ (+911)
Average (sold) 54880 US$ (-6549)
Average (bought + sold) 3750 US$ (+798)

Ildefonso Besteiro Saiz
Ildefonso Besteiro Saiz was a simple solid/pleasant mini-clown for a couple of days before I bought Silviu Radu, our current solid/sympathetic mini-clown. He was bought for $1K from Orgasmos f.c. in Chile's III.11. However, about a month ago, Orgasmos f.c. was no more and Deportes Melipilla took over for them. He was then sold for the same $1K to JOB Squad in V.164, another team which no longer exists as Tunafat took over and renamed them the Tuna Warriors less than two weeks ago. He no longer exists just as the two teams he played for.

Augusto Almeida Lopes
Continuing the backup player motif, Augusto was our former backup goalie. He was sold to snomus cf (cool logo- if you have time to drop by their team page) in Schweiz V.110, the series he's currently leading. Unfortunately, Lopes has hit a bit of a form slide and is down to poor form. He's only 19 and is a nice guy (pleasant/calm/honest) but I doubt he has much of a future in soccer.

Thomas Rosenthal
Rosenthal was a starting defender for us for quite a while and sold for a pretty nice sum of $21001 to BACARDI C.F who finished in first place in España's VI.611 last year. However, the team was replaced in the last week so Thomas is no longer playing professional soccer. Unfortunately, like the other two, he has no stats.

Closing Remarks
That ends our fifth edition of "Where Are They Now" featuring those soon to be or already out of soccer. Next time, however, are three key players in our first season in a starting goalie, defender, and middie.

Dragons Sale Crisis
More bad sales news. As you have seen from our crack reporters or reporters on crack or whatever (vex, DK, Alf)- our main competition beat us to the punch on the youth pull bonanza. They pulled the first big gun and will be selling it. I've messaged him but haven't received any comment (likely hasn't had time to respond). Regardless, I'm sure he'll be gearing up to spend that cash before our big game. I'm currently looking for a **~ to *** middie trainee but those aren't cheap so I may have to go to war with the team I have. This may require an MotS and even that may not be enough. More as this develops.

Hatstats Ranking Notes
This may end up in the sunday report with fixture results but I'm not sure yet- no formatting or anything yet. Then again, it may end up only being a once in a while thing. For those of you unfamiliar with Hatstats (http://www.hatstats.info), it's a website with weekly ratings including one the same as the NSI and stars. Also, you can check where your series and your team rank in the entire country provided you are in one of the countries they service.

Currently, we are the 90th most expensive team in Div V at $2,204,000 worth. However that will drop next week once the above sales go through. Just a brief mention of our competition since CC's Dragons show up on a lot of charts, too. He is the 96th most expensive team in Div V. Also, both of us have a *** winger but neither shows up on the list but they would be tied with a lot of other players for 6th best wingers in Div V. Our 53 NSI dropped us off the list for this week, ratings wise, but the bottom of the list is 53 and that would put us tied for 66th. The Dragons got 55 which is good for 54th. Our division, on the strength of the top 4 teams is 32nd out of 256 which makes us the last team in the top 1/8th of Div V.

BTW, one thing I just noticed this week is the Cup rankings: of the 1028 teams remaining in the Cup before last weekend, we were ranked 882 and the team we beat, BostonCity Ajax FC is 143rd. CC's is ranked 663 and beat the 362nd seed. Morrisville's 1010 ranking was the *2nd* highest upset last weekend when he took down #15 ShootingStar. So NevStar will only be #511 this week when he faces Slashers FC. Number 1017 (of 1028) Heavy Metal Superstars in V.56 upset another Div II team, CrazyCoCo of II.2 which makes him this week's Florida A&M or McNeese St. One other 1000+ seed won as 1001 Lost Planet Airmen beat II.4 Criminal FC. FOFCer Blades Bombers pulled off the 5th biggest upset of the week which earns him that dubious date with an MLS team. The Hippos seed for next week should be 497 out of 512 when we face #15 The Minutemen.

Crawfish Events
The first of three FOFC-related news bytes involves Afoci's outrageous dynasty. He's having a bit of a shindig up there in BFE, or as he calls it Fargo. As per his request, we'll be sending our two best players up there for some partying and general wellwishing. Ok, not really, Mick is heading up there for some beer and vomitting. Tim, well, Tim is just Clueless Tim. Hopefully the Crawfish can eat some Cheesecake and take over first. Here's our previous press release:
While many Hippos want to attend, the two player limit means that those slots will go to our best players.

Goalie Tim Kimber, who is the mild mannered sort and a bit of a wallflower, would like to sign up for Hornsmaniac_2's book signing: he would like to learn the art of being cocky and funny. But, being the boy scout straight-arrow type, was overheard to have said that he doesn't quite understand what a "she-male" is and it sounds like something he really doesn't want to find out about.

Team captain and all around badass Mick Starks is catching the red-eye after the cup game Wednesday since no party that ends at midnight is a party. He is on record as saying that he does not trust Les alone with the strippers. Nor does he want to see them *after* Les has, um... been with them. Mick plans on staying the rest of the week until our fixture on Sunday.

Supporter Change
We had a supporter drop but added a new one in the past week. First, Havok's Maniacal Misfitz are no longer supporting us. We think it's because of his need to sell his supporter spots to support his transfer wire addiction. His spot in the opulent exective washroom and adjacent palatial suite will now be occupied by NAIWF, owner of the Manhattan Marauders. We have good wholesome Texas girls and run a 3-5-2 so hopefully it doesn't disagree too much with his 4-5-1 and New York tastes. I'm sure he'll find some way to manage once he sees the girls. The previous paragraph was in the key of: ;)

CALLING ALL FOFC'ers!
The Hippos are welcoming everyone to the fixture in a week and a half. We have bought out a block of seats at the Dragons Den and need all the help we can get from the crowd. These are complimentary tickets and are first come, first serve to anyone who can fill the stands with some Hippo purple and green! RSVP here if you want tickets!

However, if you cannot come because you have a game of your own, you can take part in the Sponsor-A-Hooligan(TM) program where, for a small fee, you can bail out a needy soccer hooligan so he can make it to the game in your stead. These men and women need your help so they, too, can go back to rioting at soccer games. For just pennies a day, you can help fill this need in their life and in your heart. Please, save the soccer hooligans!

SI

vex

04-30-2003, 09:05 AM

Originally posted by sterlingice
Supporter Change
We had a supporter drop but added a new one in the past week. First, Havok's Maniacal Misfitz are no longer supporting us.

He's not supporting the Sidekicks now either.

Eilim

04-30-2003, 12:12 PM

I was checking prices on excellent keepers and came across this.

4. Steven Atwood 500 000 US$ (opening price)
Belongs to: CCs Dragons
Age: 19 years
Value: 499 000 US$
Deadline: 5/2/2003 at 02:42
Stamina: poor Keeper: excellent
Playmaking: disastrous Passing: disastrous
Winger: disastrous Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: disastrous

And he'll definitely get at least $700,000 out of him. Just thought you'd like to know.

When I saw this.. I have to admit, the first thing in my head was.. "Wow, it sucks to be him.."

Until this morning when I took a look to see what he was going for now to delight in the misery of someone.. (I'm an evil bastard like that..)

Thats when I saw...

Transfer list: Keeper

Deadline: 5/2/2003 at 02:42

Asking price: 500 000 US$

Highest bid:
510 000 US$ by snizzle_nizzle_a_drizzle

*sigh* My main competitor for the series title in V.1 this year. Seeing as he has a 50k plus stadium which has been pretty much in a constant packed state the past two seasons. In the history of his team (5 seasons) only has one transaction on his transfer list. All I can think now is.. "It sucks to be me..." ;)

-Eilim

vex

04-30-2003, 02:04 PM

Yeah, but you can train a keeper to excellent in no time, so it wouldn't take that much to catchup, keeper wise.

Qwikshot

04-30-2003, 02:50 PM

Heavy Metal Superstars are in my series...V.56...2nd toughest in Div 5. I fought bravely to a draw...the scary thing is, they're not even the best team...Mesa Mehados are in the top rankings and have lost twice (they've got no scoring)...

sterlingice

05-01-2003, 03:52 AM

Preview
Another full rockin' Hippodrome and we'll need all the help we can get. We've more or less given this game up for a loss but who knows what could happen. We'll be playing one of the best Div II teams in the entire game, The Minutemen (not to be confused with The Minute Men from MLS). That's like thinking a Div V team from Appalachia could take an MLS team to golden goal time. Stranger things have happened...

Game Summary
Date: 5/1/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 6949377
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15692

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 15692 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Strömlius, Hebert - Newsom, Paige, Benito, Jörgensson, Starks - Chang, Tizón.

The Minutemen started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Gunnarsson - Shkrobov, Henley, Oba, Soto, Fredriksson - Felder, Pitu, Trent, Hudureanu - Arnold.

In the 11th minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Dan Hudureanu put the ball away for 0 - 1. The Minutemen came close to extending their lead as Dan Hudureanu delivered a long range shot from the right but the angle was to sharp, and the shot hit the side of the goal. The Minutemen had, after 30 minutes of the game, worked the left side industriously, creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but somehow didn´t achieve closure. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by The Minutemen, with an impressive 65 percent possession of the ball.

Dan Hudureanu of The Minutemen received a yellow card in the 61st minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Dan Hudureanu increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 2. By now The Minutemen were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. The referee showed The Minutemens Joel Felder the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. In the 87:th minute The Minutemens Marc Soto received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Dan Hudureanu came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Tim Kimber, hitting the bar. In the games 88:th minute Hippopotami´s Anders Jörgensson fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Anders Jörgensson for taking a dive. The Minutemen held the ball, with a clear 69 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Kyle Paige was a disappointment, however. The most dominating The Minutemen player was without a doubt Alexandru Pitu. However, Djoko Oba made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 0 - 2.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (C) after the names designates the goal numbers as cup goals
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
MM: 5-4-1

Events Summary

1st Half
MM: 11: 0-1
Halftime Score: 0-1
Possession: 35%

2nd Half
MM: xx: 0-2
MM: xx: *pulling back*
Final Score: 0-2
Possession: 31%
Final Possession: 33%

Cards
HH: 66: Anders Jörgensson (yellow- taking a dive)

Injuries
None

Stadium

Terraces: 9702 (9702)
Basic seats: 3850 (3850)
Seats under roof: 1740 (1740)
VIP seats: 400 (400)
Total: 15692 (15692)

Unfortunately, our last $50K from the Cup games. Great fan support for the cup!

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/NevStar Index: 44/48

The Minutemen
Midfield: solid (7)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: brilliant (11)
Left Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: poor (3)
DataKing/NevStar Index: 55/62

Well, putting in our sub midfield showed. However, everyone else played well. This just shows how far out of our league we were playing today, tho. I'm glad he played a 5-4-1 and a lot of subs or this would have been much worse. Just think what that score looks like if he puts in some of his stars and some attacking instead of holding back.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Elmer Bush **
DM Thomas Strömlius (off) **
DW Hugh Hebert *~
WI Donald Newsom (off) **~
MI Kyle Paige ~
MI Anders Jörgensson (xtra) **
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (off) **~
WI Mick Starks (off) ***
FO Dafoe Chang **
FO Juan Miguel Tizón **

Total Stars: 23.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

The offensive Stromlius experiment didn't buy us anything so I don't think I'll do that again. Anders Jörgensson bumped up to ** so he may be replacing Friedlander in the starting lineup permanently. Kyle Paige's ~ was most distressing. Fortunately Bush is back up to ** at wingback.

Three Stars
Well, tough to give out awards when we did not score a goal

Bronze: The Offense
They couldn't do much with low possession but they got us to this point
Silver: The Defense
They kept the score 1-0 most of the game
Gold: Tim Kimber
Tim Kimber made a save to prevent Dan Hudureanu's hat trick and also played out of his mind to keep it this close

Game Summary
The crowd kept us in it, but there was just too much to overcome. They outplayed us with their second team but, then again, they are a Div II team. It was a great Cup run that net us $200K and included two Div IV upsets. Next year, the goal is to get two rounds further. But who knows. Anyone who didn't see: amazing credit to NevStar, whose Morrisvillians went to golden goal time before finally succombing to MLS team FC Slashers 1-0.

Press Release
5/1/2003 at 10:07 Hippos Bounced From USA Cup; FOFC Cup Next
The guys fought valiantly, but in the end, seed #497 couldn't upset #15. Just 11 minutes in, The Minutemen scored and it looked like the rout would be on. But the Hippos hung in there, keeping it 1-0 most of the game until Dan Hudureanu scored his second goal of the game with less than 10 minutes to go. The Hippos had a great run with 2 home upsets over Div IV teams and we'd like to thank all of our fans and supporters, and welcome them to watch for us in the upcoming FOFC Cup.

Notes
I don't want to sound cocky about our next game, but it's at home against a team that averages an NSI of 30. I could PIC and get some team spirit and some confidence going into next week's game with a 6-1 type win or just play normal and obliterate them 9-0 and get my fans and confidence back in a hurry.

A couple of minor notes unrelated to the game: as the day updated, we lost 1 fan. This marks the first time we have ever lost 1 supporter. Our supporters/sponsors and spirit/confidence took a hit, but you can read all about that in the weekly update on Sunday. We also got a new hattrick supporter and some mother club money. Those will also be updated at the end of the week. Also, if I get really motivated, I might throw in some cup stats for the team, but I'm not sure I'll have time with finals week quickly approaching.

SI

NevStar

05-01-2003, 09:57 AM

Originally posted by sterlingice
That's like thinking a Div V team from Appalachia could take an MLS team to golden goal time. Stranger things have happened...

I resemble that remark. Except Morrisville is near Raleigh, not in Appalachia. You must be thinking of the Asheville Ashevillians, we're confused a lot.

sterlingice

05-02-2003, 02:38 AM

Training
Quite a few form increases but no playmaking bumps. Stephen Connors, our last middie to bump is due any week now. However, those will have to wait. Also, I need one more middie trainee now that I sold one. That said, this next one will be a doozie- he'll be one of the next generation of starters. Or at least, that's my hope.

Future Training
I desperately have been needing some general training lately and now that I've been bounced from the cup, it's time. Everyone will play this week in an attempt to get as many form raises as possible.

Form
Starters: (+4) (-3)
Entire Team: (+9) (-4)

Starters Form
NOTE: A new feature but long overdue
Solid (or above): Kimber Stromlius Phelan
Passable: Starks Stepp Benito Romo Connors Newsom Jorgensson
Inadequate:
Weak (or below): Tizon (poor)

If you're a forward and your name isn't Edwin Phelan, then you have bad form. All of our forwards are inadequate or below except Phelan. Everyone else is in passable or or solid form on the starting team which begs the question "why am I doing general training"? Because I have a huge game coming up and I could use even more help. Not only that but only 2 of the B Team are passable and the rest are below that. Hm... after looking closer, I may end up changing back to good ol' playmaking before the week is done, but I have lots of time to decide.

Value
Starters: (+7) (-3)
Entire Team: (+14) (-5)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 24278 (-12)
Total Value: 2154000 (-46000)
Avg Value: 102571 (+10904)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: inadequate (N/A)
Avg Experience: wretched (up from disastrous)
No of players: 21 (-3)
Nationalities: 7 (-1)

Upcoming Friendly
I've always wanted to play vexroid's NE Oklahoma Sidekicks. We've been mutual supporters pretty much since I've had supporter and I want to try and get in at least one friendly with all of my supporters. We had a game ready to go at the end of last year but I had forgotten I already had a match scheduled so now here we are. It will be the first major action the B Team sees this year, but a lot of them have seen time in other games.

Speaking of Supporters...
The Hippos would like to welcome robbgmaier's goldurnears to our list of official supporters. He had a great game last weekend to take full control of first place in his series. This brings the number of our supporters to 8. This definately means that as soon as we expand the stadium towards the end of the year, we will be expanding the executive washroom and suite. Maybe even bringing in more girls. :D

SI

sterlingice

05-05-2003, 09:31 PM

Youth Pull, Week 19.4
Deke, Zeke, whatever. He's not really trainner or keeper material so he has now been shot out of a cannon and landed in the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM)

Youth Pull Status
(NOTE: NC means "no change")
Youth Pulls: 18
Youth Pull Grocers: 17 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 1 (NC)
Total Sold for: 11000 (NC)

Youth Pull
Deke Crowe (11489056)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Speciality: Unpredictable
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 8 000 US$
Wage: 520 US$/week

Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: inadequate
Winger: wretched Defending: poor
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: wretched

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (NC)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 907 members (+12)
Supporters: calm (down from high on life)

Team Spirit: composed (down from calm)
Confidence: decent (down from strong)

Gained 13 but lost 1 supporter. We took some very obvious hits from our loss but that shouldn't be a problem. We should have a crushing victory this week to get our supporters and confidence back.

Week In Review

On the Field
The game against Toledo turned out to be much ado about nothing. We won 3-1 at their place with despite some missed chances. In our cup game, we were not so lucky. We held a very tough Div II team to 1-0 most of the game and ended up losing 2-0. Unfortunately, it was at home so we ticked off some fans and team spirit fell. This week, we get the Metal Mulisha at home in a fixture where we should bowl them over and get some of that back. Then we finally get back to our friendly against the Sidekicks that we've owed them since last offseason.

Off the Field
I sold a couple of backup wingbacks since I was up to 6, I believe. Also, since Jeremy Rumbold popped to passable at PM the previous week, we were able to sell him for $50K. Farewell Gérard Longis, Patrik Jonsson, and Jeremy Rumbold. They'll be missed, but the $65K makes us happy. Right now, I'm looking for a solid defender or a **~ or *** middie. It should be noted that our competition, the Dragons, sold a goalie trainee for $500K and bulked up his defense with some young defensive trainees.

Finances
WE ARE IN THE BLACK. We got another $56K from our cup game and hopefully the supporter's mood doesn't hurt our home take too much. We passed 900 supporters for the first time. However, after our cup loss, we lost a supporter for the first time. Also, we got a smidge of mother club cash from a daytrader who resold our youth pull from a couple of weeks ago. Even with the loss, we still sold $750 more in sponsorships than last week.

Wrapup
Well, we got bounced from the cup. However, we have a pretty easy fixture this week which I'll be PIC'ing to repair some of the recent damage. Then the long awaited friendly with the Sidekicks. This time next week, we'll be in a frenzy about the Dragons game.

SI

sterlingice

05-06-2003, 01:34 AM

Preview
Tis a time for beatings. After suffering some team spirit and support from our fans, it's time to get it back with a nice swift asskicking of the Metal Mulisha. It's at home and, really, the only thing that will keep this from being a 9-0 game is that I'm going to PIC.

Game Summary
Date: 5/5/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544402
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 11279

11279 spectators arrived at The Hippodrome, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Stepp, Strömlius, Romo - Starks, Benito, Connors, Jörgensson, Newsom - Tizón, Phelan.

Mulisha had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Mcduffie - Cardenas, Singh, Labranche, Lang - Hannah, Forcier, Metz, Tharp - Rowland, Landry.

Edwin Phelan gave his Hippopotami the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. Man, what a shot by Reed Landry! Firing from 35 yards he didn't give the enemy goalie a chance and it was 1 - 1. In the 22nd minute Juan Miguel Tizón almost put the home team one ahead on a cross pass coming in from the right, but the shot went wide. Hippopotami were very close to putting themselves one up in the 37:th minute as Juan Miguel Tizón got through, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Hippopotami made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Edwin Phelan completely alone with keeper Corey Mcduffie, who made a spectacular block. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 1. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 86 percent, dominated the battle.

The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 in the 53rd by a breakthrough from Stephen Connors, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper. Hippopotamis Marcel Romo got himself booked after a foul. Hippopotami put themselves up 3 - 1 when Carlos Alberto Benito broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. In the 77:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 4 - 1. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Juan Miguel Tizón coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. In the 80:th minute Hippopotami´s Edwin Phelan tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 93 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Juan Miguel Tizón on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Mulisha player was without a doubt Corey Mcduffie. Jérémie Forcier was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 1.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
MM: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (5); 1-0
MM: xx: 1-1
Halftime Score: 1-1
Possession: 86%

2nd Half
HH: 53: Stephen Connors (1); 2-1
HH: xx: Carlos Alberto Benito (2); 3-1
HH: 77: Juan Miguel Tizón (1); 4-1
Final Score: 4-1
Possession: 93%
Final Possession: 90%

Cards
HH: xx: Marcel Romo (yellow- foul)

Injuries
None, again. We've been lucky *knock on wood*

Stadium

Terraces: 6750 (9702)
Basic seats: 3175 (3850)
Seats under roof: 1114 (1740)
VIP seats: 240 (400)
Total: 11279 (15692)

Darn fairweather fans. Still, we did lose this past week so only 11K fans turned out for this game. Then again, this was going to be a pretty lopsided game and the weather was a bit cloudy.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 51/56

Metal Mulisha
Midfield: disastrous (1)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: poor (3)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: poor (3)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 29/30

Crush. Good to see that 56 return. The only thing I really want is to bump up that midfield rating to passable. Time to find a way to 60.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Rickie Stepp **
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Marcel Romo **
WI Mick Starks (o) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (off) ***
MI Anders Jörgensson (x) **
MI Stephen Connors ***
WI Donald Newsom (o) **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *~

Total Stars: 27.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Play It Cool

Lots of stuff this week. Hark, is that another ***~ from Tim Kimber even without improvement in his form? Woo! I keep forgetting to put Rickie Stepp towards the middle. D'oh. Jorgensson at ** may keep him in the starting lineup. Tizon is down to *~ and that could be a problem. I need some form help there and Chang may take his spot for a game or two if he doesn't improve. However, the big news of the week is the midfield: both Benito and Connors got *** this week after **~ for the longest time. For Benito, that's his first *** performance and Connors's second. Those 27.5 stars are a team high by a full star but we can do better. If everyone is clicking on all cylinders, we can get 30 as Romo, Stepp, and Phelan can get ~ more and Tizon can get a full * more. Our new goal is 30 stars and 60 NSI.

Three Stars
This might have been more fun if we hadn't PIC'd and had a hattrick or two to throw around.

Bronze: Carlos Alberto Benito
Hopefully his second goal in as many games is the start of a streak
Silver: Stephen Connors
The go-ahead goal was his first of the year
Gold: Edwin Phelan
Stays tied for the league lead with a goal to get the game started but missed on a second and had a third blocked by their goalie

Game Summary
The PIC kept the score down but we still won convincingly over an overmatched team. Still, there were a lot of nervous moments. Nothing like going into the half with 86% possession yet still tied. Not only that but I thought this was finally the week our missed events caught up to us. Still, in the end, it all worked out for us and next week will be the game.

Press Release
5/6/2003 at 22:56 Hippos Win 4-1; Look to Next Week
It was a nerve wracking first half where the Hippos wasted three scoring chances and went into the half, tied 1-1 with the Metal Mulisha despite 86% possession. However, Stephen Connors, Carlos Alberto Benito, and Juan Miguel Tizón all scored second half goals as the Hippos rolled. Edwin Phelan scored his league lead-tying 5th goal of the season to start the game out 1-0 Hippos. Next week is THE Game: Hippos/Dragons for the series lead at the Dragons Den! Be there!

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 5 23 - 4 15 56

2. CC's Dragons 5 20 - 1 15 57
3. The Flying Midgets 5 11 - 4 9 54
4. Toledo Blades 5 11 - 10 9 47

5. Metal Mulisha 5 7 - 15 4 30
6. Buccabeavzers 5 5 - 14 3 33

7. goonz 5 6 - 18 3 35
8. PRODYGRAF 5 3 - 20 1 30


Around the League
As you can see from the above standings, there is a widening gap between the top 4 and bottom 4. The top teams played the bottom teams this week and they top outscored the bottom 13-1 this week. In case I haven't mentioned it enough yet, next week is the big game.

The Flying Midgets - Buccabeavzers 4 - 0
If the Midgets could ever get their midfield in order, they'd be dangerous. They posted out-bril-form across the back and inad's across the front but he only scores a poor at midfield. Still, that was more than enough to crush the Buccabeavzers. All for of the goals were scored in the first half and then the defense pulled back. There's no way the Bucs were going to break that defense.

goonz - CC's Dragons 0 - 4
Like us, the Dragons had a nice little PIC-style warmup going into our game next week. As is typically their style, they got exc and above across the back with inad and above across the front. They only got a weak midfield which is why I figured they PIC'd. Scouting for next week, seven guys got **~ along with two *** a ** and their goalie with ***~ which is just a nasty lineup. That's 29 stars for those of you keeping score at home.

PRODYGRAF - Toledo Blades 0 - 1
It looks like Toledo played their training 5-4-1 instead of their typical 4-5-1. At least that made it close. His defense was bril/bril/exc and his possession was 78% but this defensive slugfest's only goal was by Steven Li in th 60th minute.

Notes
Well, it was mostly a snoozer of a week in league and with our game. But that's ok, because this week we have our makeup friendly against vexroid's Sidekicks a team we support and who supports us.

Then: Next Sunday. Hippos. Dragons. At the Dragons Den. Series Title Up For Grabs. Be There!

Oh, but that's not all... (as soon as hattrick is up, you'll see)

SI

sterlingice

05-06-2003, 04:02 PM

Katon

05-06-2003, 04:17 PM

Originally posted by sterlingice
.

Eloquently put!

sterlingice

05-06-2003, 04:20 PM

Originally posted by Katon
Eloquently put!

Well, I accidentally put a message there that I didn't want so I just deleted it. But, here's the post now that it's done: (in next post)

SI

sterlingice

05-06-2003, 04:20 PM

Other Features
This would usually be when I posted "Where are they now?" However, I won't be able to this week or the next due to finals. It will be back sometime soon, probably in two weeks. Another feature is the Hatstats rankings but their site hasn't updated yet due to the massive downtime on the hattrick servers.

Goodbye and Hello
Last week, we put a couple of players on the market at pretty high prices hoping someone would bite. Well, we got lucky and someone did. Wingback Hugh Hebert, who was part of the original team, was sold to vv Appingedam in VII.385 Nederland. He was passable defense (bumped in our one week of defensive training way back at the beginning) and inad winger and we have a couple of better guys than that now. He sold for $51K when two teams bid on him and we got nearly $49K of that. This will put us even more in the black...

...Or will it. The black is a good place to be but it appears to not be for me. I had been wanting to get a quality veteran winger and now I have one. Ever put out a feeler bid just to see how much someone goes for? Well, I did that with Maarten Sanders and no one else bid on him. Now I have my offensive middie who can put up **~ now and, as soon as I do some form training, he'll get *** regularly. He's old and that's why I probably got him for cheap. Cheap, being a relative term as I spent $187K on him, but when you see his stats, I think you'll see it was money well spent. The only big problem I see is that his wages are $3K per week but we've been cleaning out salary space for the last couple weeks so it's no big deal. Maarten will get the number 18.

He belonged to a Dutch Div VI.849 team called Torcida-AJAX and propelled him out of debt. Message from him:
Sent 2003-05-05 10:43:00
From tjakalele
Subject Maarten Sanders

thanks for buying my starplayer. now i have no debts anymore
greetz from the Netherlands

Maarten Sanders (8587387)
28 years, weak form, healthy
A nasty fellow who is fiery and upright.
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities.
Speciality: Unpredictable
Nationality: Nederland
Assessed value: 237 000 US$
Wage: 3 444 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 1

Stamina: solid Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: inadequate
Winger: passable Defending: inadequate
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: disastrous

Notes?
Well, Maarten will get his first Hippo workout against the Sidekicks and will definately be in the lineup against the Dragons. I think we lucked out because the Dragons used that money on two more defensive trainees while his big weakness is still at middie. Hopefully, running 3 **~ or *** middies against his weaker midfield might be just enough to get us a win.

SI

DataKing

05-06-2003, 04:45 PM

Originally posted by sterlingice
Well, I accidentally put a message there that I didn't want so I just deleted it. But, here's the post now that it's done: (in next post)

SI

You aren't fooling anyone. We all know you're just trying to boost your post count. ;)

On a more serious note, Sanders looks like a nice pickup. His salary is up there, but should help your midfield rating as well as your side attack a little bit.

vex

05-06-2003, 11:42 PM

That's an impressive middie you got there.

daedalus

05-07-2003, 02:49 AM

Originally posted by sterlingice
Maarten Sanders (8587387)

Awesome pick up! I remember talking about you chasing a midfielder on Sunday after the game. :)

My question is . . . with a midfield name Sanders on board, how long until we get the inevitable Tom Sanders-reference?

robbgmaier

05-07-2003, 01:04 PM

daedalus you are a bastard.....maybe none of the hippos will notice.....

vex

05-07-2003, 11:19 PM

The Sidekicks would like to congratulate the Hippopotami on well played friendly. There was only one injury, to your guy, but he's only bruised, so it's all good. With our dominant B team midfields, nothing can stop us!:)

We'll be looking for a rematch in a season or two.

sterlingice

05-09-2003, 05:00 AM

Preview
Boy, it was nice to see a friendly friendly for a change. Don't get me wrong- I liked ever $50K payday the Cup brought in but sometimes it was at the expense of training. This week, finally, I get to catch up with vexroid and play a friendly I've owed him for half a season. His North County Raiders come to town and the B-Teams clashed. Maarten Sanders will make his Hippo debut and hopefully it will be a good one as he will almost certainly be in the Dragons game this week.

Game Summary
Date: 5/8/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 6980219
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1003

1003 spectators had come to The Hippodrome this cloudy day. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Buckley - Stepp, Strömlius, Bush - Magnusson, Paige, Friedländer, Sanders, Viseslav - Solomon, Chang.

Sidekicks had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Gill - Vikin, Snow, Andersen - Winters, Connor, Dehllind, Issjö, Paul - Garrison, Kirkpatrick.

In the 6:th minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Stacy Garrison put the ball away for 0 - 1. The swift technical skills of Derrick Solomons was often too much for tall but somewhat slow Jonah Snow who looked almost humiliated at times. Stacy Garrison increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 2. Derrick Solomon almost put the reducer away having drawn the entire left side defence away, but the shot went straight into the arms of the goalkeeper. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 2. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 57 percent possession rate.

Jonah Snow behaved like an inexperienced youth player in the 58:th minute as he gave the ball away to an opponent. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. A marvelous Hippopotami effort to the right resulted in a 67:th minute goal by Maarten Sanders, putting the score up to 1 - 2. After 69 minutes Derrick Solomon made a dash down the middle past the away teams defenders scoring 2 - 2. The terraces were silenced in the 76:th minute as Sidekicks´s Donny Winters put the guests ahead 2 - 3, following an attack from the right. The referee showed Sidekickss Marco Andersen the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Hippopotami were forced to a substitution as Thomas Strömlius couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 57 percent possession of the ball.

Most important Hippopotami player was Ivan Viseslav. Kyle Paige on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Sidekicks player was without a doubt Ulrik Dehllind. Mats Vikin was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 3.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (f) after the names designates the goal as scored in a friendly
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
SK: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
SK: 06: 0-1
SK: xx: 0-2
Halftime Score: 0-2
Possession: 57%

2nd Half
HH: 67: Maarten Sanders (f); 1-2
HH: 69: Derrick Solomon (f); 2-2
SK: 76: 2-3
Final Score: 2-3
Possession: 57%
Final Possession: 57%

Cards
None

Injuries
HH: xx: Thomas Strömlius (1 week- rough treatment)

Stadium

Terraces: 648 (9702)
Basic seats: 237 (3850)
Seats under roof: 92 (1740)
VIP seats: 26 (400)
Total: 1003 (15692)

Hmm.. a far cry from the $50K in our Cup games. Then again, it's the first time to break 1000 for a friendly. Way to go Hungry Hungry Hippos and Sidekicks United fan clubs.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: poor (3)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/NevStar Index: 38/35

NE Oklahoma Sidekicks
Player rating and Team formation
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: weak (4)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/NevStar Index: 30/32

While a 38 would beat half of our series, it was not enough today.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Rickie Stepp **
DM Marcel Romo **
DW Elmer Bush **
WI Björn Magnusson (o) *~
MI Kyle Paige ~
MI Philip Friedländer (x) *~
MI Maarten Sanders (o) **
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **~
FO Dafoe Chang **
FO Derrick Solomon *

INJ Thomas Strömlius (DM) **

Total Stars: 19.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

Blech! Maarten Sanders only gets ** in his first game. Well, hopefully I can turn that form around some. Solomon is still hanging around at only * but at least he got a goal. Along with Sanders, Friedländer and Paige and Magnusson all got ~ less than they should have. At least the defense stood up with ** for everyone including the injured Stromlius.

Three Stars
Only two goals but that's ok. Ivan and Maarten get his first stars ever.

Bronze: Ivan Viseslav
The Croatian winger trainee got his first **~ performance in his career
Silver: Maarten Sanders
Gets his first of (hopefully) many goals for the Hippos despite subpar stars
Gold: Derrick Solomon
Solomon shows he can still dominate if we need him with a goal, missed shot, and event about him schooling a Sidekick defender

Game Summary
Looks like this was the game where missed events finally caught up with us. Hopefully, this is our "lesson" and not the start of a streak. I want to thank vexroid for the friendly and hope to get out to his place for a return trip at some point. Next week starts FOFC Cup Group play. We open against Midwest Ice Storm, a very tough team. However, I think we're both running B Teams out there so who knows.

Press Release
5/9/2003 at 10:13 Hippos drop friendly to Supporter Sidekicks
In the only truly friendly game in weeks, the Hippos lost 3-2 to a reciprocal sponsor and fellow FOFCer vexroid's NE Oklahoma Sidekicks. Sidekicks forward Stacy Garrison scored twice while the Hippos got goals from newcomer Maarten Sanders and veteran Derrick Solomon. Sidekick Donny Winters scored the winner in the 76th minute. The Hippos were bounced from the USA Cup last week and will begin FOFC Group play next week against at Midwest Ice Storm FC Arena. SUNDAY: HIPPOS AT DRAGONS.

Notes
Sorry for the delay but this week was the time to work on projects and next week is finals week so I doubt I'll be too terribly punctual. A mixed bag coming up next time including training results and a few other goodies. The most fun was a little team description: you think a bit more about certain aspects of your team when asked to come up with a description for it.

Don't forget: Fixture: Dragons. Hippos. At the Dragons Den. Be there. My lineup has been set and hopefully it will be enough to win at his place. Sunday is the day of judgement in V.62 this year.

SI

vex

05-09-2003, 09:09 AM

Originally posted by sterlingice
[B]His North County Raiders come to town and the B-Teams clashed.

heh

sterlingice

05-10-2003, 08:43 PM

Originally posted by vexroid

Originally posted by sterlingice
His North County Raiders come to town and the B-Teams clashed.

heh

Well, they don't get to play much so any chance is a good chance.

Training and youth pull update being written currently.

SI

sterlingice

05-11-2003, 05:18 AM

Training
This week was all about preparing for the Dragons game. We trained general and got some badly needed form increases. Coach Braden's wife is thrilled- his form went up again and that and his stamina have improved quite a bit since he took over the team.

Future Training
With the start of FOFC Cup and lots of B Team play, it's time to playmaking training for pretty much the rest of the season.

Form
Starters: (+6) (-0)
Entire Team: (+13) (-0)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Stepp Stromlius (exc) Connors Newsom Kimber Phelan
Passable: Chang Bush Starks Benito
Inadequate:
Weak (or below): Sanders

We made a few lineup changes. Chang (Tizon), Sanders(Friedlander), and Bush(Romo) will be starting in place of their parenthetical counterpart. As you can see- Sanders is the only guy not in passable form or better but being a solid/solid middie- he's still better than the alternatives (Jorgenssen, primarily). Jorgenssen is at excellent form but he's only inad play/exc stamina but his powerful speciality would give him an edge (weather dependent). All that said, I'm more comfortable with the veteran with better base skill. Hopefully I'm not making a mistake.

Value
Starters: (+7) (-4)
Entire Team: (+14) (-7)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 27492 (+3214)
Total Value: 2443000 (+289000)
Avg Value: 111045 (+8474)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: passable (up from inadequate)
Avg Experience: wretched (N/A)
No of players: 22 (+1)
Nationalities: 8 (+1)

Youth Pull, Week 19.5
At least we have a crew with colorful names with Kanthroopan Chatterjee manning the deli hot on the heels for Deke, last week's youth pull/current cashier at the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM)

Youth Pull Status
(NOTE: NC means "no change")
Youth Pulls: 19
Youth Pull Grocers: 18 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 1 (NC)
Total Sold for: 11000 (NC)

Youth Pull
Kanthroopan Chatterjee (11676387)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.
Speciality: Unpredictable
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 5 000 US$
Wage: 520 US$/week

Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: wretched Defending: weak
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: wretched

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (NC)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 927 members (+20)
Supporters: delerious (up three levels from calm)

Team Spirit: calm (up one level from content)
Confidence: decent (N/C)

No help in the confidence level but our PIC added some spirit and our supporters came back: a total of 10 twice.

Week In Review
The Week In Review has been abbreviated this week due to time contraints.

On the Field
The PIC against the Metal Mulisha cost us a wide margin of victory and made for some nervous moments. We were still tied at halftime even with 86% possession. Fortunately, we pulled away in the second half for a 4-1 win. The Dragons kept pace with a 4-0 win of their own. We have the same goal differential, but I've scored 3 more goals this year. Of course, that all changes tomorrow when we clash. Our friendly was our only friendly we'll get for a while, sandwiched between the USA and FOFC Cups. However, it was a good one as Derrick Solomon showed he is still as good as he was last year when he led the team in goals (if only his form would improve). But, in the end, vexroid's NE Oklahoma Sidekicks B Team beat our B Team 3-2. This week, we began FOFC Cup Play against the Midwest Ice Storm.

Off the Field
That black was fun while it lasted, but we're back in the red. First, weather and our Cup loss kept our crowd to only 11K. And, while we got a lucky bid on wingback Hugh Hebert for $50K, we spent that and then some on new starting middie Maarten Sanders, who we landed for $187K. Our sponsorship money continues its trek towards $50K, rising at just under $1K per week. The good news is that it will soon cancel out both our youth squad contribution and staff expenses which leads crowd and temp cash to take care of arena upkeep and wages (and interest). It will be a happy day when we can finally offset the youth squad, staff, and arena expenses with just sponsor cash but that won't be for at least another season.

Hatstats
Here are some fun numbers from the recently updated Hatstats for last week. We're in the 106th strongest series in the USA and even better than 8 Div IV series. That puts us at 29th of 256 in Div V. Only Mick Starks made the top players in Div V, tied with a bunch of other players at 6th for Wingers at *** for the week. Goalie Tim Kimber had the same stats as the guys at the bottom of the list and just missed due to the luck of the draw.

As for the team, we are the 75th most expensive in the USA, weighing in just south of $2.35M mark with an average player value over $100K. We are 101st on the promotion list this week and that would land us in IV.1. Eep. Oh well, all that will change after this week. Lastly, our 56 NSI and 27.5 stars ranked us 49 in the USA but CC's Dragons landed at 31st with an NSI of 58 and 29.0 stars. Of the 10 *** or higher players in V.62, 7 of them play on our two teams including both starting goalies.

Speaking of Weather
Here's the forecast for tomorrow. I'm happy as long as it doesn't rain. However, if it does rain, Edwin Phelan will have an off day. Then again, he has a quick forward or winger (I forget which) so it's a wash.

Region Connecticut
Country: USA
Number of teams: 166
Number of online users: 2
Weather: Rain
Forecast for tomorrow: Overcast

FOFC Group Cup Preview
Before our game Wendesday, I'd like to get in a group preview for the FOFC Cup. However, that may not be possible as I have finals this week and on top of that, I'll be seeing the Matrix Reloaded on Wednesday night. If it happens- great. But don't hold your breath.

Messages of Team Amusement
Now, time for a couple of brief quotes that I have no other place for. First off, Eilim wanted a team description for teams he supports so I whipped up this little number for the Hippos team summary:
The Hippos are a run-and-shoot devotee and student of both ArdentEnthusiast's North County Raiders and Coffee Warlord's Galesburg Avengers offensive schemes. We will continue to battle against the forces of the *spit* 4-5-1 and disciples such as Morrisville. While Houston was blessed with a good starting team and a solid coach on the second try (much to many owners' chagrin), we have been cursed with an equally impotent youth squad. The team is led by winger Mick Starks and goalie Tim Kimber and has a mean streak taught by controversial coach Ricky Braden. Currently, the Hippos are tying to win their way out of USA series V.62 and into division IV.

Secondly, a team called REAL RECREATIVO MUTINY in Deutschland left a message in my guestbook and I had to respond in kind.
Number 26 of 27 by Marcelinho, 5/9/2003 at 18:02

REAL RECREATIVO stop at your Clubhouse drink all your bear and makes a wild party :-)
Many luck for you .
Marcelinho

Number 185 of 185 by sterlingice, 5/11/2003 at 11:34

A crack team of Ninja Hippos have snuck in and stolen beer to restock the fridge at the Hippodrome. If you've never seen a Ninja Hippos, it's quite a sight. They also left the following note: "We may not be graceful, but we sure can kick arse"

Wrapup
Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't quite beat this dead horse enough ;), but: the Dragons and I exchanged pleasantries today (we're both on good terms so we wished each other luck and pointed out that the other had the better team) and now it's time for the game. Sunday: Hippos v Dragons at the Dragons Den! Clash for V.62 in Season 19!

SI

Eilim

05-11-2003, 06:02 AM

Can't wait till match time, looking forward to seeing how your game turns out, even more so than my own. (Playing a low-tiered team this week, only thing in question is what the actual score will be but not the outcome.. Even with my star defender and star striker out for the match.)

Some more useless trivia as it relates to your upcoming match. Some historical ratings for V.62 (Only stats by teams while in series included.):
Historical standings

Team Played Goals Points

1. The Darksiders 35 121 - 29 80
2. VagaBond 21 70 - 13 60
3. The Flying Midgets 33 63 - 48 53
4. CC's Dragons 17 80 - 15 48
5. Houston Hippopotami 15 61 - 16 39
6. Toledo Blades 5 11 - 10 9
7. Metal Mulisha 19 14 - 67 8
8. Buccabeavzers 6 6 - 16 3
9. goonz 5 6 - 18 3
10. PRODYGRAF 5 3 - 20 1

and yes.. I'm addicted to hattrick and gathering completely irrelevant info regarding my team and the teams I follow along with. :)

-Eilim

NAIWF

05-11-2003, 01:05 PM

That Marcelinho stole all my beer too, many thanks for sending the Ninja Hippos to set him straight. Good luck with your game tonight, I'll be watching.

Havok

05-11-2003, 01:41 PM

he stole my beer also.... bastard!!!

he's raiding FOFC's beer reserves!!!!

sterlingice

05-11-2003, 03:12 PM

About 3 hours until game time. I'll be in chat for the game, most likely, but until then I have to study so I can spend time in chat for the game

SI

sterlingice

05-11-2003, 10:52 PM

Preview
Well, it's all come down to this. If I win, I win the series because this game is at his house. If he wins, it will come down to our game in three weeks. We replaced a couple of starters with better form guys of similar caliber and tried to line up favorably against him. All things being equal, we have about a 50-50 shot of winning this game. However, it's at his place and he might MotS, which I will not. Enough Introduction: Game On!

Game Summary
Date: 5/12/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544405
Arena: Dragons Den
Crowd: 14748

Due to an all-day shower, 14748 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at Dragons Den. Dragons had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Bauer - Fitter, Mansur, Land - Ulfsson, Whitmore, Foley, Talley, Soon-Wah - Refojo, Whakaari.

Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Kimber - Stepp, Strömlius, Bush - Newsom, Benito, Connors, Sanders, Starks - Chang, Phelan.

The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 in the 7:th by a breakthrough from Stan Whitmore, who unaided came in out of the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors keeper. Dragonss Lynn Whakaari got himself booked after a foul. The Hippopotami player was Defoe Chang who had to be helped off the pitch, unable to finish the game. Alarico Mansur behaved like an inexperienced youth player in the 43rd minute as he gave the ball away to an opponent. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. Alarico Mansur of Dragons received a yellow card in the 43rd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Dragons lead up with 2 - 0. Stan Whitmore finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. Gough Fitter of Dragons received a yellow card in the 44:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Dragons put themselves up 3 - 0 when Lynn Whakaari broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. The structure of the game started to change as Dragons decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. 3 - 0 was the half-time score. Dragons held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami had a good opportunity to reduce the score in the 50:th minute, breathing new life into the game, but the home side´s defenders cleared the ball on the line, after a long range shot coming in from the left, rebounding off the
Dragons held the ball, with a clear 53 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Dragons player was without a doubt Gil Bauer. However, Alarico Mansur made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Juan Miguel Tizón on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 0.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
CCD: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
CCD: 07: 0-1
CCD: 43: 0-2
CCD: 44: 0-3
Halftime Score: 0-3
Possession: 47%

2nd Half
*NONE*
Final Score: 0-3
Possession: 47%
Final Possession: 47%

Cards
None- suprising considering how big a game it was

Injuries
Argh. This is going to hurt as long as Tizon's form is still in the crapper
HH: xx: Dafoe Chang (3 weeks- helped off the pitch)

Stadium

The Dragons Den only got 14768 out of 22000 due to the rain. Our crowd next week isn't going to be so pretty.

Team Ratings

CC's Dragons
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 58/64

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/58

Ouch- that's tops for our team but we got manhandled because he MotS'd. Still, I'm not going to complain about a 58 too much. Not only that, but our first formidable.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Rickie Stepp (m) **~
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Donald Newsom (o) **~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***
MI Maarten Sanders (x) **
MI Stephen Connors ***
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón (replacement) *~
FO Edwin Phelan **~

IN Dafoe Chang *~

Total Stars: 28.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

Man, more good numbers news that didn't translate to a win. A new high of stars. Even better, all **~ across the backside. Starks dropped down to **~ for the game completely unexpectedly. Sanders still only got ** and needs form improvement. Both the injured Chang and his replacement Tizon only put up *~ in the game. Another week or two of this and I'll have to seriously look at snagging another striker off the transfer wire.

Three Stars
Hard to hand out today. We played good but not good enough. We will forego awards in place of preparing for next game.

Bronze: None
--
Silver: None
--
Gold: None
--

Game Summary
They must have crazy stamina. That late first half 2-goal flurry is what I expected to get me back in the game instead of for him to put it back out of reach. Typically, I have the better stamina but it looks like that isn't the case. We were game but not nearly game enough to beat an MotS'ing team at their place. It makes the rest of the season that much more ugly (see "Notes" below) as we will have to play that much harder to take back 1st place.

Press Release
5/12/2003 at 05:12 Dragons Defeat Hippos at the Den
CC's Dragons, playing at home and MotS'ing in the rain, won an ugly game 3-0 over the Hippos to take over 1st place in V.62. The Hippos offense could never get ontrack against a Dragons defense that has only allowed 1 goal all year and Stan Whitmore's 2 goals were more than enough. However, the Hippos have designs on taking 1st place back when the Dragons come to the Hippodrome in 3 short weeks. Additionally, the Hippos began FOFC Cup group play this week against the Midwest Ice Storm.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. CC's Dragons 6 23 - 1 18 64

2. Houston Hippopotami 6 23 - 7 15 58
3. The Flying Midgets 6 15 - 5 12 51
4. Toledo Blades 6 12 - 10 12 52

5. Buccabeavzers 6 10 - 17 6 39
6. Metal Mulisha 6 7 - 16 4 33

7. goonz 6 9 - 23 3 41
8. PRODYGRAF 6 4 - 24 1 31


Around the League
Ok, not much to say since I'm writing out of time for writeups.

Buccabeavzers - goonz 5 - 3
The only offensive game in the league this week. The lower teams in the league are starting to get better. However, no one has a midfield that can line up with the ours or the Dragons. The goonz actually have 3 players up to **~ but their 5-4-1 is sabotaging their offense.

PRODYGRAF - The Flying Midgets 1 - 4
The Migets got some great defense across the back with a bril/bril/form. PRODYGRAF still needs a little help as his best player is a ** forward.

Toledo Blades - Metal Mulisha 1 - 0
Toledo's Willie Lau scored in the 8th minute and their defense never budged. It's probably because he put up a pair of magnificents at right and central defense and his 4 defenders got 10.5 stars.

Notes
This leaves us in an awkward place. I can win our next game when it's at our place and I MotS to match. However, I could just let him win and get promoted and then the series next season will be between myself and the Div IV relegee. If I win, I risk neither of us getting promoted and having to battle him all over again next season. Well, I'm not in the business of forfeiting games so we're gearing up already for the rematch in three weeks. But now that game has even more on the line. I have two easy games before the Dragons game and one after so MotS'ing is a definite option. I'm kicking myself for not doing it this game but there's nothing I can do now. Time to pick up the pieces and gear up for FOFC Cup.

Probably won't have another update until possibly Thursday after our Cup game due to finals.

SI

sterlingice

05-17-2003, 11:52 PM

Preview
Sorry for the lack of updates, but I kinda' warned you: finals week does this to a person. Even tho it's a couple of days late, it's time to update the Hungry Hungry Hippos on our first FOFC Cup game. I started hattrick too late to be in FOFC Cup or FOFC Cup 2. However, a few Hippo faithful may remember our game in the consolation bracket for FOFC Cup 2. Yes, our game, not plural but singular. The Aviators beat us 4-2 and we even played some starters. Hopefully things will be a little better this time.

Here's brief preview of Group E. We weigh in as the 22nd seed in the tourney and the second for our group. The top team is the team we will be playing today: Pilotman's Midwest Ice Storm FC, the 5th seed. At #35 are Airhogs Oklahoma City Rednecks who we play in week 4. Our second game is against the S. Boston Hooligans of McSweeney at #48. Our other "mc" in the group are mckerney's Square Pegs, our week 3 game. Finally, our last game will be against Achilles Missouri Tigers, the #74 team in the FOFC Cup.

Game Summary
Date: 5/15/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7010650
Arena: Midwest Ice Storm FC Arena
Crowd: 783

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 783 to Midwest Ice Storm FC Arena. Midwest started off with a 4-5-1 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Tsau-Wun - Sosa, Zarzalejos, Drakulič, Zwierzynski - Blanton, Alcaide, Coulter, Geiger, Nyhbrant - Foo-Foo.

Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Buckley - Romo, Stepp, Bush - Viseslav, Paige, Friedländer, Jörgensson, Magnusson - Solomon, Tizón.

The referee showed Midwests Juan Luis Zarzalejos the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 14 minutes Hippopotami´s Kyle Paige contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. After 25 minutes Hippopotamis Juan Miguel Tizón made his way through the middle, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. Joseph Sosa was just a finger´s breadth away from an equaliser for Midwest, but Sidney Buckley managed to ward the closing shot off for a corner. Midwest will have to do without Andrzej Zwierzynski for a time due to a bad foot injury. He was substituted by Michael Webb. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 1. Midwest held the ball, with a clear 51 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami increased the lead to 0 - 2 as Derrick Solomon scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. Paul Coulter really should have scored when he was chosen by fate to confront a wide open goal after a corner, but he lost his nerve. Hippopotami increased the lead to 0 - 3 as Derrick Solomon scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. After this Hippopotami lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. Midwests Bruce Blanton got himself booked after a foul. Paul Coulter had a good opportunity to reduce in the 79:th minute but wasn´t cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Midwest´s Joseph Sosa got himself booked. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 52 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Midwest player was without a doubt He Tsau-Wun. Torbjörn Nyhbrant on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Ivan Viseslav. Kyle Paige was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 3.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
MIS: 4-5-1

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 25: Juan Miguel Tizón (F1) 1-0
Halftime Score: 1-0
Possession: 49%

2nd Half
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon (F1) 2-0
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon (F2) 3-0
Final Score: 3-0
Possession: 52%
Final Possession: 51%

Cards
None- but they had three. Dirty, dirty PilotMan ;)

Injuries
None, thankfully. We can ill afford to have another forward hurt, or anyone for that matter. At least Chang is down to 1 week out now so he should be ready for next week's game.

Stadium

"Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 783 to Midwest Ice Storm FC Arena." Fairly sparse crowd. Man, I'm really starting to miss those 15K crowds from the USA Cup.

Team Ratings

Midwest Ice Storm FC
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: wretched (2)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 35/38

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 36/39

As you can see- this game was a lot closer than the final score. Thankfully our second team wings are still good enough to give the offense a boost.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Marcel Romo **~
DM Rickie Stepp (m) **~
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **~
MI Anders Jörgensson (o) **
MI Kyle Paige (x) *
MI Philip Friedländer **
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *~
FO Derrick Solomon *

Total Stars: 22.0
Total player experience: disastrous
Team Attitude: Friendly

Looks almost like our A Team only with a bit less talent. Solid defense across the back. Then again, any of my four defenders could start in league or friendlies depending on form. Great to see Ivan get his second straight **~ which tells me that if Newsom or, god forbid, Starks, went down, we have a good 19yo replacement "down on the farm". We have two good middies, one offensive and one pure, and one middie who needs a little help. Then we combo the better forward with the better wing and offensive middie to create a mismatch. Run-N-Shoot forever, baby!

Three Stars
Sidney gets his first medal in limited work

Bronze: The Defense
Romo, Stepp, and Bush aid the shutout by collecting 7.5 stars, 2.5 each
Silver: Sidney Buckley
Sidney hasn't gotten a lot of action this year but showed no rust, pitching the shutout and even stopping an event goal
Gold: Derrick Solomon
Last year's leading scorer is tearing it up in friendlies

Game Summary
See, our 3-5-2 can beat your 4-5-1 any day. Ok, so it's not really much of a barometer since we were both playing B Teams. We benefited from better middie and wing trainees and only carrying 4 defenders on the team (3 of whom played). Great win to start out FOFC Cup Group play, knocking off the #1 team. I guess we're somewhat of a favorite, but, really, if anyone played their starters, they could win this group. We got really lucky today with 3 missed goals- possibly the first time we've ever been on the happy side of that stat. Also, it should be noted that we won despite our lack of players named Foo-Foo.

Press Release
5/18/2003 at 05:36 Hippos win FOFC Cup Game 1
The Hippos B Team started off strong, knocking off the #1 Midwest Ice Storm FC in their first game in FOFC Cup Group Play. Derreck Solomon, last year's goal leader, continues to lead the B Team with 2 goals. Form relegee Juan Miguel Tizón gave the Hippos a 1-0 lead at the 25 minute mark which backup goalie Sidney Buckley and a trio of **~ Hippos defenders made stick.

For more on the FOFC Cup, check out the official page:
http://webhome.idirect.com/~stevegougeon/FOFC-cup/

League Standings

Sd --Group E-- FOFC ID Nat W L D GF GA DIF PT NSI
22 Houston Hippopotami sterlingice 8574 USA 1 0 0 3 0 3 3 39
35 Oklahoma City Rednecks Airhog 70559 USA 1 0 0 3 1 2 3 49
61 Square Pegs mckerney 71980 USA 1 0 0 2 0 2 3 45
48 S. Boston Hooligans McSweeny 71008 USA 0 1 0 1 3 -2 0 35
74 Missouri Tigers Achilles 70392 USA 0 1 0 0 2 -2 0 32
5 Midwest Ice Storm FC Pilotman 70500 USA 0 1 0 0 3 -3 0 38


Around the Group
Here's a little more info about the other teams in Group E.

Oklahoma City Rednecks - S. Boston Hooligans 3 - 1
As an aside: I love Airhog's stadium name: The Trailer Park. Neither team pulled a lot of punches as a lot of starters were in the game so the 890 who showed up got the see the like of Rednecks starters and stars Cordell Shelton, Gaylord Jamison, and Byron Swartz as well as Hooligans starters like Narcís Collado Cervero and Raúl Ortega along with veteran Steven Mack. The 3-5-2 proved to be too much for the 4-5-1 again as Oklahoma City pulled down a better NSI across his defense even with 3 defenders. Four different players scored in the game.

Square Pegs - Missouri Tigers 2 - 0
For anyone curious, the Square Pegs play at the City Lights in Minnesota which is where this game was played. They brought up the big defensive guns with a 5-4-1 and posted a pass/form/form across the backside which stopped Missouri's 4-4-2 cold. The Square Pegs got goals from Frank Cheatham and Art Frazier, two of Square's many starters who got time in the game. Missouri, on the other hand, played 10 players towards the end of the game as they lost a forward to injury and his replacement was booked for two yellows: ouch.

Notes
Finally getting caught up here and what better way to start than an FOFC Cup win. Next week we welcome the S Boston Hooligans to the Hippodrome. We have two easy fixtures in a home-and-home against the 5th place Buccabeavzers and the one at the 'drome will likely be PIC'd because after these two, it's time to host the Dragons FOR A REMATCH! We may be down but not out: he MotS'd at his place and we're going to match him when he comes here. Get your tickets now!

SI

sterlingice

05-18-2003, 01:05 AM

Training
We gave back a lot of the form from our general training last week and then some. However, we did have a bump even if it wasn't the one I was expecting. Any week now, Stephen Connors will bump up to excellent playmaking but it just hasn't happened yet. But enough about the bad, for the good, middie trainee and basically 4th man in the middle, Philip Friedlander bumped from passable to solid. Put that along with his passable form, passable stamina, and inadequate wing and he's not too shabby.

Future Training
Playmaking as far on out as the eye can see. Maybe general before the other Dragons game, who knows.

Form
Starters: (+1) (-7)
Entire Team: (+4) (-10)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Benito Stromlius Connors
Passable: Bush Stepp Newsom Kimber Phelan
Inadequate: Chang Starks
Weak (or below): Sanders

Well, nothing critical going on right now- just giving back form gains from last week. If these last more than a week, then there is cause for some concern. Sanders needs to get his head back in the game- he's had a couple of weeks with the new club and it's time to warm up to them.

Value
Starters: (+4) (-6)
Entire Team: (+10) (-10)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 28052 (+560)
Total Value: 2530000 (+87000)
Avg Value: 115000 (+3955)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: inad (down from pass)
Avg Experience: wretched (N/A)
No of players: 22 (N/A)
Nationalities: 8 (N/A)

Youth Pull, Week 19.6
The Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM) will have to do without this week's recruit! Finally, we have someone either to train or sell. Judging by his value, his solid PM is nearly pop-able and I will probably hang on to him long enough for that to happen. Feast your eyes on Rolando Gontán:

Youth Pull Status
(NOTE: NC means "no change")
Youth Pulls: 20
Youth Pull Grocers: 18 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 1 (NC)
Total Sold for: 11000 (NC)

Youth Pull
Rolando Gontán (11903223)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A popular guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Speciality: Technical
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 109 000 US$
Wage: 1 080 US$/week

Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: poor

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (NC)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 933 members (+6)
Supporters: content (down two levels from delerious)

Team Spirit: calm (N/C)
Confidence: decent (N/C)

The loss to the Dragons kept our confidence down (it had actually raised 2 levels last week and dropped after the game). Our sponsors are back to pissy but at least they still joined up last week, even if it was at the rate of 3 each time.

Week In Review
Due to finals week and the fact that I've been writing about the Hippos for a good 3 hours now, The Week In Review has been abbreviated.

On the Field
Well, CC's Dragons were more than ready for us: he MotS'd and we just couldn't get any chances. Our 3-0 loss wasn't too devastating, tho: it keeps us from winning the group outright. The rematch is in three weeks and he will be facing an MotS. The good news to come out of this is that even tho we lost, we got another team high with an NSI of 58. Speaking of good news, we did beat the #1 seed in our group, Midwest Ice Storm FC in FOFC Cup play. Derrick Solomon still can dominate the B Team, scoring twice in the 2-0 win. If his form will ever raise back above poor, he will be back with the A Team.

Off the Field
No moving and shaking on the transfer wire this week. But we did have a nice bump and youth pull that has overloaded my midfield. More on that below.

Hatstats
More fun with Hatstats. Our NSI of 58 and 28.0 stars were good enough for 45 last week in Div V. Too bad CC's Dragons 64 and 29.0 got them 14th. Ouch. That's tough competition. Not only that, but all 4 teams in the top half of V.62 scored above 50 and 25.0 last week so the series is getting that much tougher. Toughest for 13th in all of Div V, which is quite impressive considering the bottom four teams all got below 40 and 21.0. Can we say topheavy? Not only that, but 28 of the top 30 players (**~ or higher) in V.62 play for the top 4 teams. The top 3 players are the starting goalies of the Hippos(3.5 stars), Dragons(3.5), and Midgets(3.0), all of whom are valued above $400K and 22 or younger.

Insert Witty Comment about Toledo Here (Since I couldn't think of anything Toledo related)
It has come to my attention (via the wonder that is HAM Series Spy) that the Div IV relegee from last year has started daytrading. He's only in 4th place now but he has a dangerous team and we still have to play him one more time. Now maybe he just figures he's going to fire his coach so taking a hit in team spirit isn't so bad or something like that, but if he genuinely begins daytrading, we could be in big trouble. We might have to resort to Dirty-and-Underhanded(TM) means to keep ahead of the crowd.

Stuck in the Middle?
With the addition of our new middie, I have a conundrum. A good conundrum but a conundrum nonetheless: how does one fit four middie trainees into three middie trainee slots. Not only that, but after training this week, 3 are at solid and the other is our uber-trainee who is only inad, but 18yo with passable winger and scoring skills. I think the solution may be the transfer market. I'll put two of the three solids up at above market price and hope someone bites. Friedlander has been placed at $150K and Paige at $120K. If either sells for that, I'll be pretty happy.

SI

sterlingice

05-20-2003, 10:21 PM

Preview
After our huge game with the Dragons last week, it was time for a light, relaxing game against a team from the bottom half. We need something to get us back on track and this game, even PiC'd should do the trick.

Game Summary
Date: 5/19/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544410
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15669

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and The Hippodrome saw a crowd turnout of 15669. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Kimber - Stepp, Strömlius, Bush - Newsom, Benito, Connors, Sanders, Starks - Tizón, Phelan.

Buccabeavzers tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Grace - Munkvold , Ventura, Nielsen, Buck - Putnam, Sánchez, Roca, Álvarez De Miran - Romano, Morrissey.

Edwin Phelan gave his Hippopotami the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. After 18 minutes Edwin Phelan put Hippopotami ahead 2 - 0 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. Hippopotamis Rickie Stepp got himself booked after a foul. Carlos Alberto Benito seemed highly inexperienced when in the 34:th minute he was loitering with the ball, allowing Eduardo Alaín Sánchez to intercept and strike 2-1 for Buccabeavzers. Raúl Álvarez De Miranda D acted with superior experience when in the 38:th minute he predicted a pass, intercepted it and then finished off with a goal to 2-2 for his Buccabeavzers. The referee showed Hippopotamis Maarten Sanders the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The 43rd minute saw the home team take a 3 - 2 lead after a leak in the visitors right side defense. Scorer for Hippopotami was Juan Miguel Tizón. 3 - 2 was the half-time score. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 76 percent possession rate.

A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 76 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Hippopotami. However, Graig Grace made a spectacular save. Juan Miguel Tizón increased Hippopotamis lead to 4 - 2 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. Graig Grace was caught napping a bit later as Stephen Connors lifted a ball over him after a free kick, but the ball hit the bar, rebounding into the keepers arms. In the 86:th minute the excellent ball from the wing byMick Starks reached Juan Miguel Tizón's head, and he is not one to miss such an opportunity - 5 - 2. By then Juan Miguel Tizón was a three time scorer - a hat trick! The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. After 87 minutes Juan Miguel Tizón put Hippopotami ahead 6 - 2 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Rickie Stepp needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Hippopotami put themselves up 7 - 2 when Donald Newsom broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 75 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Carlos Alberto Benito. Juan Miguel Tizón on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Buccabeavzers player was without a doubt Graig Grace. Adam Buck on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 7 - 2.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
BB: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan(6); 1-0
HH: 18: Edwin Phelan(7); 2-0
BB: 34: 2-1
BB: 38: 2-2
HH: 43: Juan Miguel Tizón(2); 3-2
Halftime Score: 3-2
Possession: 76%

2nd Half
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizón(3); 4-2
HH: 86: Juan Miguel Tizón(4); 5-2
HH: 87: Juan Miguel Tizón(5); 6-2
HH: xx: Donald Newsom(1); 7-2
Final Score: 7-2
Possession: 75%
Final Possession: 76%

Cards
HH: xx: Rickie Stepp (yellow- foul)
HH: xx: Maarten Sanders (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)

Injuries
None, thankfully. And Chang is almost back to healthy.

Stadium

Terraces: 9702 (9702)
Basic seats: 3850 (3850)
Seats under roof: 1717 (1740)
VIP seats: 400 (400)
Total: 15669 (15692)

Considering our supporters pissy mood: Wow! Um... who didn't buy those last few seats under the roof? Still, that's like finding a faberge egg and complaining it's not your favorite or finding a genuine million dollar bill (if such a thing existed) and complaining that you don't like whoever's picture is on it.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 49/54

Buccabeavzers
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 35/37

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Rickie Stepp (m) **
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Donald Newsom (o) **~
MI Maarten Sanders (o) **
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *~
FO Edwin Phelan **~

Total Stars: 27.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Play It Cool

We only lost a half star despite the PIC. Plus, Carlos Alberto Benito got the first ***~ not recored by Tim Kimber. But that's where the good news ends. Tizon still got *~ and Stepp went down to ** while Starks got his first **~ in weeks and Kimber continues his ***~ to *** flip flop. Sanders still hasn't adjusted and put up ** Sunday.

Three Stars
Pretty easy to hand out today, that's for sure.

Bronze: Carlos Alberto Benito
Our first ever ***~ that wasn't scored by goalie Tim Kimber
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Regained the series scoring lead with goals 6 and 7
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizón
Was there really any doubt?

Game Summary
It was a close game for the first part- Phelan staked us to a 2-0 lead but they fought back to tie. That's when the Juan Miguel Tizon show started and we didn't look back. This got us back on track and I may just PIC it again next week depending on how training and form goes. Also, our killer offense pushed our differential for the season up to 21, only 3 behind the Dragons. If we can beat them, we will likely have the lead.

Press Release
5/20/2003 at 01:59 Tizon Explodes as Hippos Win
Sometimes it takes an injury to get a player on track. Early in the game, Edwin Phelan scored a pair to regain the league scoring lead at 7 but the Buccabeavzers tied it up at 2 in the 38th minute. That's when Juan Miguel Tizon took over. His form had related him to the B Team but was playing in place of injured Dafoe Chang but that didn't keep him from scoring 4 times and breaking the game wide open en route to a 7-2 Hippos win at the 'Drome. FOFC Cup Group play continues Wednesday.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. CC's Dragons 7 26 - 2 21 54

2. Houston Hippopotami 7 30 - 9 18 54
3. Toledo Blades 7 15 - 12 15 54
4. The Flying Midgets 7 17 - 8 12 47

5. Buccabeavzers 7 12 - 24 6 37
6. Metal Mulisha 7 8 - 19 4 33

7. Beneamata 7 7 - 25 4 28
8. goonz 7 10 - 26 3 31


Around the League
A few notes this week as they pertain to power in the league. V.62 didn't nearly match the uber performance of a week ago. We're back down to 65th in Div V after being in the top 20 last week.

Metal Mulisha - CC's Dragons 1 - 3
If there was any doubt the Dragons MotS'd our game, it's gone now. He dropped from the 60s to 54 NSI this week and from passable to poor midfield. Still, his 3-5-2 put up a exc-form-out defensive front and that was more than enough for him to beat the overwhelmed Mulisha and their disastrous midfield. The Dragons held the ball 94% in the second half.

goonz - Beneamata 1 - 3
Beneamata is a new team that took over from PRODYGRAF this past week and they opened up in style with a win. There were a lot of missed chances in this game and both NSI's were below 32.

The Flying Midgets - Toledo Blades 2 - 3
Toledo is starting to scare me more and more. He put up a 54 NSI, but he still can't be taken too seriously unless he backs away from that ridiculous 5-4-1. However, that 54 is a product of his form/mag/mag defense more than anything. Still, of the 5 defenders he ran, 4 got **~ and the other got ** in the game. The Midgets ran a 4-3-3, go figure. It didn't help his offense any, tho.

Hatstats
For the week, Div V.62 dropped from 82 in USA to 147. That's primarily because the Dragons, goonz, and the Hippos dropped 24 rating points and a total of 30 for the series. As far as I can tell, Benito is the first ***~ for any outfield position in V.62 or at least for this season. His rating gets him on the "Best Middies in Div V" list a couple of slots above a familiar player: Theodore Vega of Morrisville. Lastly, we are still one of the most expensive teams in Div V, this time coming in at 73.

Notes
Good news on the sales front, sort of. Both Friedlander and Paige got bid on for a grand total of $270K. I think it might be time to go snag a second Uber Trainee to play alongside Anders Jorgensson. Then I'll bump my youth pull from last week and buy a third. Right now, I'm looking for middies, 17yo (pass PM) or 18yo (solid PM) with weak or higher stamina and a good stat either in defense, passing, or scoring with set pieces being a plus. Another game next week with the Buccabeavzers which we might PIC. However, sales and an FOFC Cup game will be before it and more important. McSweeney's S. Boston Hooligans are on tap for Wednesday as Group E play continues.

SI

sterlingice

05-22-2003, 05:43 PM

Preview
We continue FOFC Cup play at home today vs McSweeney's S. Boston Hooligans. There was some moving and shaking for our team and we will be playing two new middies with solid PM. The first is our youth pull from last week, Rolando Gontán, and our other is new Canadian Uber-Trainee(TM) Albino de Sousa Bastos. Other than that, we will be playing the standard B Team: Solomon and Tizon up front, 3 of our 4 interchangeable defenders in the back, and our two winger trainees. Except for the goalie and a forward, the Hooligans will be using the same team they did for last week's fixture so we have our work cut out for us. The great thing about this game is that it's a pair of run-and-shoot teams so there should be some goals scored.

Game Summary
Date: 5/22/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7038719
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1220

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 1220 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Buckley - Romo, Stepp, Bush - Magnusson, Jörgensson, Gontán, de Sousa Bastos, Viseslav - Solomon, Tizón.

Hooligans started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Mulligan - Fast Hansen, Collado Cervero, Ortega - Mcconnell, Mack, Ponder, Eller, Guyton - Loomis, Kimball.

Hippopotami took the lead in the 16:th minute of the game by 1 to 0, as Rolando Gontán elegantly received a pass going deep, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. In the 19:th minute Hooliganss Narcís Collado Cervero received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. In the 22nd minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Juan Miguel Tizón dashed through, knocking home 2 - 0 for Hippopotami. In the games 23rd minute Hooligans´s Ernest Guyton fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Ernest Guyton for taking a dive. 36 minutes into the game Mark Loomis had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Woodrow Guajardo. In the 39:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Derrick Solomon dashed through, knocking home 3 - 0 for Hippopotami. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 62 percent possession rate.

Lionel Mcconnell was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Francis Kimball managed to kick one of them into 3 - 1 in the 67:th minute. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Hippopotami lead up with 4 - 1. Juan Miguel Tizón finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. Søren Øvli Fast Hansen of Hooligans received a yellow card in the 74:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Hippopotami´s Rickie Stepp refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon in the 74:th minute. Juan Miguel Tizón almost managed to score another goal for Hippopotami, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. After an industrious effort down the middle Björn Magnusson could have closed the game off in the 85:th minute, but his finishing shot hit the post. The referee showed Hooliganss Woodrow Guajardo the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 56 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami´s best player was Ivan Viseslav. However, Björn Magnusson made a disastrous appearance. Hooligans´s best player was Steven Mack. However, Leonard Eller made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 1.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names is their goal tally for the FOFC Cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
SBH: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 16: Rolando Gontán(F1): 1-0
HH: 22: Juan Miguel Tizón (F2): 2-0
HH: 39: Derrick Solomon (F3): 3-0
Halftime Score: 3-0
Possession: 62%

2nd Half
SBH: 67: 3-1
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizón (F3): 4-1
Final Score: 4-1
Possession: 56%
Final Possession: 59%

Cards
Yeesh- none for us, but another three for our opponent. We're supposed to be the dirty team here and we've been outcarded 6-0 in our FOFC Cup Matches!

Injuries
None, and fortunately their only injury is just for a week.

Stadium

Terraces: 808 (9702)
Basic seats: 286 (3850)
Seats under roof: 99 (1740)
VIP seats: 27 (400)
Total: 1220 (15692)

Largest ever friendly crowd at the 'drome! Woo! That was good for about $3500.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 40/44

S. Boston Hooligans
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 44/47

I was a bit disappointed by the midfield rating but they are only trainees after all. This was just another one of those cases were if you win the midfield, you can win the game with inferior numbers as long as you stay close otherwise.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Marcel Romo **~
DM Rickie Stepp (m) **
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Bjorn Magnusson (o) *
MI Rolando Gontán **
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos (x) **
MI Anders Jörgensson (o) **
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *~
FO Derrick Solomon *~

Total Stars: 21.5
Total player experience: disastrous
Team Attitude: Friendly

Looks a lot like last week except for the new players. Romo has earned himself the starting spot for wingback in fixtures for a little while. Magnusson has some real problems now with his form in wretched and only collecting * in the game.

Three Stars
The first medal ever awarded to a youth pull and Tizon gets the first double gold medal week

Bronze: Derrick Solomon
Team veteran continues his scoring and leadership
Silver: Rolando Gontán
Last week's youth pull gets a goal, the first ever by a Hippo youth pull
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizón
Juan continues his hot week with goals 5 and 6

Game Summary
Color me suprised. I really thought we were doomed as soon as I saw his lineup but there wasn't enough defense up the middle to stop our forwards. I can't believe we had a higher middie rating with our 3 ** guys than he had with his pair of **~ guys and a *~ guy. Still, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and we now have 6 points in FOFC Cup play.

Press Release
5/23/2003 at 00:42 Hippos Win Second FOFC Cup Game
Juan Miguel Tizon continued his hot week, scoring goals 5 and 6 as the Hippos revamped midfield gave them the possession advantage and the win over the S Boston Hooligans. Last week's youth pull, middie Rolando Gontán, got the scoring started with a beautiful shot in the 16th minute. Even with the win, the Hippos fall out of 1st in Group E with Airhog's Oklahoma City Rednecks taking the lead in goal differential. Next week, the Hippos host the Square Pegs in the middle week of group play.

League Standings

Sd --Group E-- FOFC ID Nat W L D GF GA DIF PT NSI
35 Oklahoma City Rednecks Airhog 70559 USA 2 0 0 9 1 8 6 45
22 Houston Hippopotami sterlingice 8574 USA 2 0 0 7 1 6 6 44
61 Square Pegs mckerney 71980 USA 1 0 1 4 2 2 4 45
5 Midwest Ice Storm FC Pilotman 70500 USA 0 1 1 2 5 -3 1 60
48 S. Boston Hooligans McSweeny 71008 USA 0 2 0 2 7 -5 0 47
74 Missouri Tigers Achilles 70392 USA 0 2 0 0 8 -8 0 27


Around the Group
Here's a little more info about the other teams in Group E.

Midwest Ice Storm FC - Square Pegs 2 - 2
With all due respect to the Square Pegs, I have no idea how they didn't get crushed. Midwest had a 4(!!) level midfield rating advantage (passable vs wretched) and won the NSI battle 60-47. This was not the Ice Storm team that we rolled last week. Midwest dominated possession with 71 and 82% in the halves but found themselves down 2-0 only 5 minutes in. Apparently the Square Pegs stalwart 4-4-2 formation held the Ice Storm offense in check.

Missouri Tigers - Oklahoma City Rednecks 0 - 6
Um... ow. Airhogs team may have went deep into Tiger country but they didn't care. A great defensive save by Missouri was the only thing that kept the Rednecks Ty Barnett from a hat trick and Cordell Shelton added two more goals.

A New Hippo
Don't ask what we paid for him: it's better you not know since we overpaid. Badly. That said, our new Canadian is an UberTrainee(TM) and at least I paid for some quality. I wish he had better passing skill since I plan on playing him offensive but he has decent stamina that can be improved and he's an 18yo solid PM and that's what I wanted.

Albino de Sousa Bastos (11926561)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.
Speciality: Quick
Nationality: Canada
Assessed value: 134 000 US$
Wage: 1 416 US$/week including 20% Bonus

Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: weak
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: wretched

Long Term
I suppose Bastos is technically our only uber middie since our other UberTrainee will end up at winger. Once recent youth pull Rolando Gontan pops to excellent, we'll sell him and try to snag another beautiful middie trainee. I suppose that means our new Canadian will eventually supplant Connors but that won't be until he can match his *** performances. I'm not sure when Jorgensson will pass Newsom, but it will probably be a little bit (middle of next season, most likely).

Then it will be time to find a solid or excellent striker to play opposite Edwin Phelan and anchor the defense with a solid or excellent sweeper who can play alongside the pair of pass/pass wingbacks I have there now. You know, I could really live with that team in Div IV. It sounds like a sick team on paper but something that will take until the end of next season to solidify. Still, I like the thought of my only guys getting below *** are my wingbacks and striker at **~ which is nothing to sneeze at. Right now, it's all about getting there :D

Notes
Blah-blah-blah, FOFC Cup, blah-blah-blah. DRAGONS-HIPPOS IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!

Ok, not quite, but that's what my season feels like. The FOFC Cup is a nice chance to watch my trainees and B Team but really, it's all about the league season and one big fixture looming on the horizon. This week, there's a little return trip to play at the Buccabeavzers in a PIC match and next week, we play the Square Pegs in the FOFC Cup!

SI

daedalus

05-23-2003, 02:46 AM

18YO solid playmaker? That sounds like a good chunk o' coins. But, wow, 18YO solid playmaker!@

vex

05-23-2003, 09:19 AM

What DID you spend? 220K?

vex

05-23-2003, 09:20 AM

Wow, I was pretty close. I don't really think you overspent but by about 30K or so.

NevStar

05-23-2003, 09:30 AM

congrats on the new blood. The passable scoring won't help you though & that's probably what inflated the price.

Figured I should post something since my name is mentioned so many times in here :)

I haven't been able to follow all these threads as much as I like, but I'm trying.

I do plan to resume my dynasty at some point, but that darned real life has gotten in my way lately. I'm in the middle of buying my first home, coupled with unrealistic work deadlines. Once everything gets back to normal, the story of the Morrisvillians will continue.

{/hijack}

Alf

05-23-2003, 09:33 AM

My solid playmaker is also 18 :) . Was purchased at 14K and bumped to solid after one week of training. He is on his way to excellent in 2-3 weeks . And he also has solid stamina :D. Only drwaback is that he has no secondary skill at all...

vex

05-23-2003, 10:06 AM

Oh, and to make you feel better, ice, I paid the same amount last year for a solid playmaker. Except, he wasn't even 18, but rather 19. Newbies...

sterlingice

05-24-2003, 03:45 PM

Training
It's about time. Stephen Connors may be 24 but he was due for a bump nonetheless and he becomes our second excellent playmaker after Julius Acker, the player whose sale brought Tim Kimber and Anders Jorgensson to town and me out of debt (temporarily, of course). Oh, but that's not all: we just got our third excellent as well. I mused that last week's youth pull, Rolando Gontan, was "nearly pop-able" and apparently I was right. Hopefully a 19yo excellent PM fetches enough cash to get me a solid defender, a solid scorer, pay off my debt, and finance a stadium upgrade. I think that's an awful lot of wishful thinking. The debt is pretty much certain and maybe one of the solids.

Future Training
Hmm... general or playmaking before the Dragons game? I'm not sure...

Form
Starters: (+3) (-1)
Entire Team: (+5) (-3)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Phelan Benito Connors
Passable: Starks Bush Stepp Newsom Kimber Stromlius
Inadequate: Solomon
Weak (or below): Sanders

Made a couple of changes: Romo replaces a slumping Stepp (who was hanging around in poor form) and last years scoring leader, Derrick Solomon has gotten back to inad form and will return to his spot opposite Edwin Phelan. Tizon is still hanging around with poor form and I'd rather have Solomon's extra point in experience and passing to Chang's passable form. Hopefully Solomon is on the way back up the form curve because he's a monster when he's on. Still, due to his age, he won't be around much longer.

In other form news, Starks and Phelan bounced back from mini-slump of a week but Stromlius continues to fall. This is two straight weeks, but he's still at passable so no real cause for alarm. Sanders form still will not budge!

Value
Starters: (+7) (-3)
Entire Team: (+11) (-9)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 27816 (-236)
Total Value: 2627000 (+97000)
Avg Value: 125095 (+10095)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: pass (up from inad)
Avg Experience: wretched (N/A)
No of players: 21 (-1)
Nationalities: 8 (N/A)

Where Are They Now?
Guess what? With finals done, it's time for a stealth segment of "Where Are They Now?" Even better is that these are three key players from the first season of the Hippos.

Week One
1/12/2003 Sold (Fired player) to Rednecks 1 000 US$ (0 US$)
1/12/2003 Sold Hayden Hanks to C.A. Daedra (B.Bca.) 20 000 US$ (82 000 US$)
1/16/2003 Sold Rodney Walters to Brookland Cayce 16 000 US$ (100 000 US$)
1/16/2003 Sold Alvin Yeager to Sporting Milwaukee 145 000 US$ (98 000 US$)

Week Two
1/26/2003 Sold Alvarado Lanza to Metaguacha 12 000 US$ (21 000 US$)
1/26/2003 Sold Ben Magnusson to Gringos 12 000 US$ (17 000 US$)
1/27/2003 Sold Tommy Lyhling to Hawkeye F.C. 50 000 US$ (54 000 US$)

Week Three
1/26/2003 Sold Søren Andersen to Morrisville Morrisvillians 13 000 US$ (31 000 US$)
2/9/2003 Sold Pedro Villavilla Paz to Los N° 1 72 000 US$ (47 000 US$)

Week Four
2/17/2003 Sold Matei Rosca to Racing Mexico 2 000 US$ (30 000 US$)
2/17/2003 Sold José Alberto Balbuena to K-Wings 1 000 US$ (12 000 US$)
2/17/2003 Sold Storm Jordan to Racing Mexico 4 000 US$ (35 000 US$)

Week Five
2/24/2003 Sold Ildefonso Besteiro Saiz to JOB Squad 1 000 US$ (0 US$)
2/24/2003 Sold Augusto Almeida Lopes to snomus cf 2 000 US$ (33 000 US$)
2/24/2003 Sold Thomas Rosenthal to BACARDI C.F 21 001 US$ (74 000 US$)

Today
3/5/2003 Sold Dawid Raduli to Snufl 84 000 US$ (78 000 US$)
3/8/2003 Sold Zlatko Koch to Livvy Loonies 26 001 US$ (57 000 US$)
3/9/2003 Sold Alfredo Crespo to Havoc 77 000 US$ (115 000 US$)

For the Future
3/20/2003 Sold Julius Acker to Universitatea&Craiova 638 000 US$ (205 000 US$)

3/21/2003 Sold Klaas Slingerland to Gooner 16 000 US$ (78 000 US$)
3/25/2003 Sold Chiritã Vochin to Malignos Team 77 000 US$ (168 000 US$)
4/24/2003 Sold Liu Zuo-Lin to sv de Helden 11 000 US$ (26 000 US$)

4/28/2003 Sold Gérard Longis to WTC 6 000 US$ (18 000 US$)
4/28/2003 Sold Patrik Jonsson to Blätzbums 15 000 US$ (52 000 US$)
4/28/2003 Sold Jeremy Rumbold to Most Wanted 50 000 US$ (41 000 US$)
5/5/2003 Sold Hugh Hebert to vv Appingedam 51 000 US$ (37 000 US$)

5/21/2003 Sold Philip Friedländer to India Rules 150 000 US$ (76 000 US$)
5/21/2003 Sold Kyle Paige to verandi 120 000 US$ (43 000 US$)

Total Purchases: 1570513 US$ (+416000)
Total Sales 1693002 US$ (+321000)
Difference 122489 US$ (-95000)
Average (bought) 44872 US$ (+9887)
Average (sold) 60464 US$ (-5584)
Average (bought + sold) 1944 US$ (-1806)

Dawid Raduli
Raduli was the starting goalie for most of our games in season one until he was replaced by Chiritã Vochin after a horrible form slump. He was sold to a team in Norge Div V.195 named Snufl who has a picture from bikini.com on as his team picture. I've gotta say I've seen worse logos, to be sure. Dawid currently starts for Snufl in their league games. His value has gone up nearly $100K since I sold him but he only is pulling down ** per game. Then again, when he was on the team, his value was as high as it is now but his form slump forced our hand and he was sold. He's only 20 so he may have a bright future with some team yet.

Zlatko Koch
Zlatko was brought in the same day as two other key players for year one including Dawid Raduli (Derrick Solomon was the other). It was on that day that I hit the transfer wire and (over)paid $30K for our new starting defender. It's not that he was bad, it's just that was a high price for a veteran passable defender. He typically put up ** or *~ at the center defender spot in fixtures for half a season. However, with the purchase of Elmer Bush and the good play of wingback trainees Gerard Longis and Patrik Jonsson, he became expendable and sold for $26K (so I guess I didn't overpay too much). He was sold to Livvy Loonies in Scotland's IV.16 series. He can typically be found playing on the backline of their 4-4-2 and putting up his usual ** or *~ performance.

Alfredo Crespo
If ever I regretted a transfer, this would be it. I was in the middle of my youth movement and somewhat foolishly sold this veteran who was our second winger. He occasionally had form troubles but was a pass/inad winger with solid passing and set pieces: i.e. he was idea for the run and shoot. Still, he only put up ** per game for us and I sold him to a guy who helped me out back when I was starting out (who also supports me, btw). The user is Havoc99 (not to be confused with FOFC's Havok) and his team, Havoc leads V.174 averaging about 30 stars per game and a mid-high 60s NSI. That's typically top 5 material for Div V if you check out hatstats which is amazing, but even more so that he's gone undefeated in what is also a top 5 series in Div V. Also, he never misses an opportunity to taunt me about my foolish sale: "Crespo had his first 3* game today :) I'll need him as my #1 winger just went down for 4 weeks!!!" or "I have Alfredo Crespo on the phones as we speak insulting the manhood of any GM who will listen." (in reference to looking for a friendly: gotta love those controversial personality ratings). Alfredo continues to get *** for Havoc at starting offensive winger, helping with a formidable wing attack and passable midfield in the last game. Crespo would be an upgrade from Newsom, our current second winger, but I'm glad that he sold to a guy who helped me out a ton with strategy early on.

Closing Remarks
This stealth edition of "Where are They Now" has been brought to you by NevStar, whose real life is getting in the way of his hattricking. What kind of priorities are these?!? Oh, and he came up with the WatN idea, blah, blah, *insert redneck joke here*, blah, blah. ;)

Closing
A pretty easy fixture this week, FOFC Cup continues next Wednesday and then The Rematch. Dragons/Hippos at the 'drome next Sunday. For those of you into board participation or just looking to show off your knowledge, how much should I list my youth pull from last week for? I'll be sneaking him in with the youth pulls from this week since that seems to be when people shop the most:

Rolando Gontán
117 000 US$, 19 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities [Technical]
Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: excellent Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: poor

SI

sterlingice

05-24-2003, 08:55 PM

Youth Pull, Week 19.8

I think I miscounted and this should technically be 19.8 not 19.7 so we'll skip 19.7. Unfortunately, despite his cool name Heywood Smart is not Hippo material and has been cut already. I guess I can't pull a Rolando Gontan every week. In fact, I've only pulled one guy of that caliber. If you missed out on the notes above- he really was close to popping and is now excellent and awaiting sale.

Youth Pull Status
(NOTE: NC means "no change")
Youth Pulls: 21
Youth Pull Grocers: 19 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 1 (NC)
Total Sold for: 11000 (NC)

Youth Pull
Haywood Smart (12140127)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 4 000 US$
Wage: 520 US$/week

Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: wretched
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: passable

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (NC)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (NC)
Supporter Club: 957 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (up three levels from content)

Team Spirit: calm (N/C)
Confidence: decent (N/C)

We were up to content in team spirit for part of the week, after our PIC last game. However, now we're back down to calm after the weekly updates. This makes it almost certain that I'll be PIC'ing this week and MotS'ing next week against the dragons.

Week In Review

On the Field
It was Juan Miguel Tizón show this week. He outscored the Buccabeavzers and S Boston Hooligans 6-2 this week with 4 in the fixture and 2 in our FOFC Cup game. Edwin Phelan put us up 2-0 in the first half of our fixture but the Bucs tied us. However, that's when Tizon took over, scoring 4 goals from the 43rd minute on and the Hippos rolled 7-2. Tizon scored 2 and Solomon and Gontan each scored as we won 4-1 against McSweeney's S. Boston Hooligans, giving us 6 points in 2 games.

Off the Field
Last week I wasn't sure which trainee I wanted to move in favor of last week's youth pull Rolando Gontan so I put both Philip Friedlander and Kyle Paige up for sale for $150K and $120K. This way, whichever sold, I'd replace as with Rolando as a trainee. Amazingly enough, both sold. So, that prompted the purchase of new UberTrainee(TM): 18yo solid PM Albino de Sousa Bastos from Canada. Good news in training as starter Stephen Connors pops to excellent PM. Even better news as Gontan bumped as well and will be sold to get another UberTrainee(TM). BTW, I made a small little coaching change: I went from 7:3 goaltending:assistant coaches to 8:2.

SI

sterlingice

05-26-2003, 03:46 AM

Preview
We rolled last week on Tizon's 4 goals. We PIC'd and play the same Buccabeavzers as last week- no problems, right? Well, as they say on ESPN: that's why "games aren't played on paper, they're played in television sets". I'm just glad to see last year's leading scorer Derrick Solomon back on the pitch with the starting eleven.

Game Summary
Date: 5/26/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544411
Arena: Buccabeavzers Arena
Crowd: 7000

A scorching day at Buccabeavzers Arena, where 7000 spectators were in place for today´s match. Buccabeavzers had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. They fielded: Grace - Munkvold , Ventura, Nielsen, Boggs - Putnam, Sánchez, Roca, Álvarez De Miran - Romano, Morrissey.

Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Kimber - Romo, Strömlius, Bush - Starks, Benito, Connors, Sanders, Newsom - Solomon, Phelan.

A mistake by the home sides central defence in the 19:th minute allowed Derrick Solomon to score 0 - 1 for Hippopotami. Derrick Solomon came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Graig Grace, hitting the bar. Hippopotami had, after 27 minutes of the game, worked the left side industriously, creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but somehow didn´t achieve closure. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Elmer Bush needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. A tad of inexperience caused Stephen Connors to make a difficult dribble close to dangerous opponent Eugenio Roca who took opportunitt by scoring 1-1. In the 35:th minute Hippopotamis Marcel Romo received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Halftime score was 1 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 71 percent possession of the ball.

Hippopotami took the lead after 59 minutes with 1 - 2. Derrick Solomon placed the ball out of reach for the home sides keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. A well placed corner kick from Arvid Munkvold was followed by Rob Morrissey´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant 2-2 for Buccabeavzers. After 82 minutes Hippopotami´s Donald Newsom contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. After 84 minutes Hippopotami put themselves up by 2 - 3 as Edwin Phelan finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post. Derrick Solomon increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 2 - 4. By then Derrick Solomon was a three time scorer - a hat trick! The referee showed Hippopotamis Stephen Connors the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Buccabeavzers were forced to a substitution as Lex Putnam couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment. Hippopotami´s Derrick Solomon received a play slashing through the home side´s defense in the 88:th minute, chipping it past the keeper scoring 2 - 5. The home crowd was not pleased with that one. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 71 percent possession of the ball.

Most important Buccabeavzers player was Graig Grace. Eugenio Roca on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami´s best player was Carlos Alberto Benito. Derrick Solomon was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 5.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
BB: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 19: Derrick Solomon(2); 1-0
BB: xx: 1-1
Halftime Score: 1-1
Possession: 71%

2nd Half
HH: 59: Derrick Solomon(3); 2-1
BB: xx: 2-2
HH: 84: Edwin Phelan(8); 3-2
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon(4); 4-2
HH: 88: Derrick Solomon(5); 5-2
Final Score: 5-2
Possession: 71%
Final Possession: 71%

Cards
HH: 35: Marcel Romo (yellow- challenge studs first)
HH: xx: Stephen Connors (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)

Injuries
HH: 82: Donald Newsom (slight foot injury- bruised)

Stadium

A scorching day at Buccabeavzers Arena, where 7000 spectators were in place for today´s match.

Team Ratings

Buccabeavzers
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 34/36

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: excellent (8)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 52/57

A 57 with a PIC. Some general training and an MotS next week at home- I hope to break 60 for the first time.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Rickie Romo **
DM Thomas Strömlius **
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
MI Maarten Sanders (o) **~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Donald Newsom (o) **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon **

Total Stars: 28.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Play It Cool

Solomon is back with a ** so he'll keep his spot. Unfortunately, Romo and Starks stayed at their ** and **~ respectively along with Kimber and his *** in the net. Stromlius unfortunately went back down to ** from his couple of weeks at **~ but Sanders finally showed some of why I brought him in posting **~ for the first time.

Three Stars
Pretty easy to hand out today, that's for sure.

Bronze: Maarten Sanders
Finally a **~ performance for the middie veteran
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Huge game-winning goal
Gold: Derrick Solomon
For the second week in a row: Was there really any doubt?

Game Summary
Another tense PIC. There were a lot of tense moments, even late. To be tied 1-1 at halftime was bad but with high possession wasn't much cause for concern. When Solomon scored his second goal to give us a 2-1 lead, I figured we would start pulling away. However, the Buccabeavzers were not to be denied so easily. When they tied it in the 70s, it was nervous times as I wasn't sure the game next week would mean anything. Fortunately, as anyone who was in the chat is aware, I was thrilled when Phelan's goal in the 82nd minute went in and then when Solomon put in his 3rd and then 4th in a matter of a couple of minutes, the rout was finally on. The good thing about the closing flurry is that it helped out our goal differential some since the Dragons won big today.

Press Release
5/26/2003 at 10:10 Solomon Four Good in Hippos Win
Yet another stressful game for the Hippos ended with a scoring spree. Derrick Solomon, recently promoted back to the A Team after last week's 4 goal scorer Juan Miguel Tizon sunk even lower in form, scored 4 goals including 2 in the final 5 minutes to put the game away. Edwin Phelan scored his league leading 8th goal with only 6 minutes to go in the game. It was tense times for the Hippo faithful as the game was tied 2-2 until Phelan's goal. NEXT WEEK: HIPPOS/DRAGONS! BE THERE!

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. CC's Dragons 8 33 - 2 24 54

2. Houston Hippopotami 8 35 - 11 21 57
3. Toledo Blades 8 15 - 12 16 54
4. The Flying Midgets 8 17 - 8 13 51

5. goonz 8 14 - 28 6 36
6. Buccabeavzers 8 14 - 29 6 36

7. Metal Mulisha 8 8 - 26 4 34
8. Beneamata 8 9 - 29 4 36


Around the League
The Dragons rolled and the Midgets and Blades played to a 0-0 tie. The other game pitted two teams in the bottom half.

CC's Dragons - Metal Mulisha 7 - 0
Sure last week's game was close but in front of 22K screaming fans at the Dragons Den, the Mulisha became completely unhinged. It was only 3-0 at the 71st minute but then the Dragons poured it on. In the second half, they enjoyed a 96% possession advantage. However, it was only with a weak midfield and that is where they are vulnerable. Still, against the Mulisha's disastrous midfield, the Dragons rolled.

Beneamata - goonz 2 - 4
The goonz strike back and even up Beneamata's record at 1-1. Both put up identical 36 NSIs but the goonz proved to be too much. Beneamata was up until the goonz's defender Pierre Randle scored two goals at the 74th and 76th minutes to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. Randle was one of three goonz to get a **~ rating, a new high for him. One of the others was striker Brent Wolff who scored the 1st goal at the 11th minute and 4th in the 80th.

Toledo Blades - The Flying Midgets 0 - 0
In the battle of odd formations and the 3/4 battle, neither the 4-3-3 or 5-4-1 could score a goal against the other and the game ends in a null-null tie. The Blades put up an exc-mag-out defense but were countered by the Midgets Svarg Ram who made a goal scoring save and their out-bril-form defense. Toledo led 3-1 in chances and possession with 63/77 percent.

Notes
Next up is our FOFC Cup match against the Square Pegs on Wednesday at the 'drome. Oh, and there's still that whole Dragons/Hippos Clash-of-the-Ages thing going on next week. In the next day or so, I'm considering an update with hatstats info and possibly a "Where are they Now" on Acker. And, if I haven't mentioned it enough: HIPPOS/DRAGONS NEXT WEEK! I'm setting my preliminary lineup now.

SI

sterlingice

05-30-2003, 05:18 AM

Preview
I love the name of the team. The Square Pegs belonging to mckerney come to the 'drome for game 3 of the FOFC Cup in Group E play. They are 1-0-1 coming into the game with a win against Missouri and a suprising tie to Midwest Ice Storm. We get to run out three ** midfielders again at least one more time as Gontan is on the transfer wire.

Game Summary
Date: 5/29/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7074925
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1091

At The Hippodrome, 1091 punters turned up, and despite threatening clouds at the horizon, no rain came. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Buckley - Stepp, Strömlius, Bush - Magnusson, Jörgensson, Gontán, de Sousa Bastos, Viseslav - Chang, Tizón.

Square tactics involved an interesting 5-3-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Major - Lombardi, Mcgovern, Donald, Taylor, Taylor - Chavarria, Giner, Butcher - Frazier, Conner.

Square seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Hippopotami made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Defoe Chang completely alone with keeper Levi Major, who made a spectacular block. Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 28:th minute goal by Thomas Strömlius for Hippopotami, putting them ahead 1 - 0. In the 39:th minute the excellent ball from the wing byTim Chavarria reached Moses Butcher's head, and he is not one to miss such an opportunity - 1 - 1. In the 43rd minute the home side managed to get a 2 - 1 lead as Ivan Viseslav flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right. In the 44:th minute Hippopotamis Elmer Bush received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. In the 44:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 3 - 1. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Rolando Gontán coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. 3 - 1 was the half-time score. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 73 percent, dominated the battle.

The Square players spent the half-time break getting a rerun of the teams tactical organization. The home side´s Juan Miguel Tizón came close to extending the lead in the 50:th minute. His shot came in off the right hand side but Levi Major managed saving with a fingernail. Square had obvious problems in finding their positions. Square fought on and, in the 64:th minute Art Frazier was able to reply with 3 - 2 after some excellent moves on the right side finished off by an incredibly clever chip. In the games 66:th minute Square´s Nicholas Mcgovern fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Nicholas Mcgovern for taking a dive. In the 70:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 4 - 2. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Rolando Gontán coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami´s Juan Miguel Tizón got himself booked. Hippopotami made a substitution in the 74:th minute. Björn Magnusson limped off the field and was replaced by Donald Newsom. Albino de Sousa Bastos almost managed to score another goal for Hippopotami, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 75 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami´s best player was Donald Newsom. Juan Miguel Tizón on the other hand, had a terrible day. Square´s best player was Art Frazier. Tim Chavarria on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 2.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names is their goal tally for the FOFC Cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
SP: 5-3-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 28: Thomas Strömlius(F1): 1-0
SP: 39: 1-1
HH: 43: Ivan Viseslav (F1): 2-1
HH: 44: Rolando Gontán(F2): 3-1
Halftime Score: 3-1
Possession: 73%

2nd Half
SP: 64: 3-2
HH: 70: Rolando Gontán(F3): 4-2
Final Score: 4-2
Possession: 75%
Final Possession: 74%

Cards
HH: 44: Elmer Bush (yellow- going into a challenge studs first)
HH: 74: Juan Miguel Tizón (yellow- several obvious shirt pulling incidents)

Injuries
HH: xx: Bjorn Magnusson (1 week- limped off field)

Stadium

Terraces: 714 (9702)
Basic seats: 254 (3850)
Seats under roof: 96 (1740)
VIP seats: 27 (400)
Total: 1091 (15692)

A bit under last week because of "threatening clouds" but nothing ever came of them so we still got over 1K!

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 41/46

Square Pegs
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 44/46

A little weak on the defense, but I suppose I can't complain too much about a 46 from the second team.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Rickie Stepp (m) **
DM Thomas Stromlius **
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Donald Newsom (o) **~
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos **
MI Rolando Gontán (x) **
MI Anders Jörgensson (o) **
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *~
FO Dafoe Chang **

IN Bjorn Magnusson (o) *

Total Stars: 23.0
Total player experience: disastrous
Team Attitude: Friendly

These were deceptively high because of Newsom subbing in for Magnusson. Still, the good news is that all three middies still got ** with the bad being that two defenders went back to ** instead of the **~ they had been putting up.

Three Stars
Gontan gets a pair of medals in his only two games for the Hippos

Bronze: Ivan Viseslav
Viseslav gets his first medal with a goal
Silver: Thomas Strömlius
He may have only gotten ** but he did get a goal as a defender
Gold: Rolando Gontán
In his two games for the Hippos, he netted 3 goals in 2 FOFC Cup games and a gold and silver- not bad at all

Game Summary
A battle won on the midfield, to be sure. Plus, the 3-5-2 will typically beat a more defensive formation unless those defenders are damn good. This gives us 3 wins in 3 FOFC Cup games. A great showing considering I've been playing second teamers.

Press Release
5/30/2003 at 11:55 Hippos Beat Square Pegs in FOFC Cup
Rolando Gontán followed up his goal-scoring debut last week with a pair today as the Hippos doubled up the Square Pegs 4-2 in FOFC Cup play. The 19yo excellent PM is not long for the Hippos as he has been put up on the transfer wire and has already garnered bids in excess of $300K. Defender Thomas Strömlius got the scoring started and winger Ivan Viseslav added a goal. The Hippos are 3-0-0 in Group E play and have their 4th of 5 games next week against Airhogg's Oklahoma City Rednecks.

League Standings

Sd --Group E-- FOFC ID Nat W L D GF GA DIF PT NSI
22 Houston Hippopotami sterlingice 8574 USA 3 0 0 11 3 8 9 46
35 Oklahoma City Rednecks Airhog 70559 USA 2 1 0 9 5 4 6 45
5 Midwest Ice Storm FC Pilotman 70500 USA 1 1 1 6 5 1 4 54
61 Square Pegs mckerney 71980 USA 1 1 1 6 6 0 4 46
48 S. Boston Hooligans McSweeny 71008 USA 1 2 0 8 7 1 3 46
74 Missouri Tigers Achilles 70392 USA 0 3 0 0 14 -14 0 27


Around the Group
The other 2 Group E Games

S. Boston Hooligans - Missouri Tigers 6 - 0
"Ouch" again as this is Missouri's second straight 6-0 loss, this time at the hands of the S. Boston Hooligans, who picked up their first win. Tho a bit of this has to do with them only playing 10 guys on the pitch as their 4-3-2 was overwhelmed by the Hooligans 3-5-2 which put up passable or higher ratings for all but their midfield. Steven Mack scored twice for the Hooligans in a *** game at offensive middie.

Oklahoma City Rednecks - Midwest Ice Storm FC 0 - 4
It's suprising that Midwest took this long to get a win. Not only that, but the Rednecks can't be happy the Ice Storm decided to get well against them. Midwest put up another stellar NSI, this time at 54. Four different players scored for the Ice Storm in a battle of 3-5-2s.

Notes
Another nice win. Our game with the Rednecks next week will go a long way to determining who else goes on in our group. This win more or less ensured I will move on, barring a catastrophic meltdown against the overmanned Missouri Tigers. Our win against Midwest is looking more and more flukish but a win is a win. Unfortunately for everyone here, there is a ton of parity in the group and so I doubt we will have one of the third place teams that moves on as the good teams all beat up on each other.

Hippos-Dragons at the 'drome this Sunday! Favorable general training results to get us into good form and some exciting player movement in the next update. One small phrase to chew on about the most recent Hippo addition until then: "17yo solid playmaker".

SI

daedalus

05-30-2003, 01:49 PM

Woohoo! Go Hippos! Kick some CC Dragons behinds!

PS . . . y'know, reading the Crawfish dynasty then seeing "player movement" in the next thread gave me pause for just a second.

sterlingice

05-31-2003, 12:05 AM

Training
It's time for some boring form training. Still, it's extremely necessary: I want all of our big guns ready to fire coming into the huge game this week. Six starters bumped and all of them are now passable or better including Maarten Sanders who finally broke out of his form slump and jumped two levels from weak to passable. If you're curious, the one form drop belong to coach Ricky Braden: Oh well.

Future Training
Back to playmaking until the end of the season where some stamina training will come in.

Form
Starters: (+6) (-0)
Entire Team: (+12) (-1)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Benito (exc) Connors (exc) Newsom Romo Phelan
Passable: Solomon Sanders Starks Bush Kimber Stromlius
Inadequate: -NONE-
Weak (or below): -NONE-

This is as good as it's going to get: any form problems we had were whisked away, even if it is only for a week.

Value
Starters: (+11) (-0)
Entire Team: (+18) (-2)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 28752 (+936)
Total Value: 2855000 (+228000)
Avg Value: 129773 (+4678)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: pass (N/A)
Avg Experience: wretched (N/A)
No of players: 22 (+1)
Nationalities: 8 (N/A)

Where Are They Now?
The seventh segment of "Where are they Now?" focuses on one of the best players to ever play for the Hippos. His sale brought in an FOFC record in cash, beating the infamous Tom Sanders. This sale was our first move to "the big time" as it made a lot of things happen for our team that wouldn't have been possible before and a changing of mentality.

Week One
1/12/2003 Sold (Fired player) to Rednecks 1 000 US$ (0 US$)
1/12/2003 Sold Hayden Hanks to C.A. Daedra (B.Bca.) 20 000 US$ (82 000 US$)
1/16/2003 Sold Rodney Walters to Brookland Cayce 16 000 US$ (100 000 US$)
1/16/2003 Sold Alvin Yeager to Sporting Milwaukee 145 000 US$ (98 000 US$)

Week Two
1/26/2003 Sold Alvarado Lanza to Metaguacha 12 000 US$ (21 000 US$)
1/26/2003 Sold Ben Magnusson to Gringos 12 000 US$ (17 000 US$)
1/27/2003 Sold Tommy Lyhling to Hawkeye F.C. 50 000 US$ (54 000 US$)

Week Three
1/26/2003 Sold Søren Andersen to Morrisville Morrisvillians 13 000 US$ (31 000 US$)
2/9/2003 Sold Pedro Villavilla Paz to Los N° 1 72 000 US$ (47 000 US$)

Week Four
2/17/2003 Sold Matei Rosca to Racing Mexico 2 000 US$ (30 000 US$)
2/17/2003 Sold José Alberto Balbuena to K-Wings 1 000 US$ (12 000 US$)
2/17/2003 Sold Storm Jordan to Racing Mexico 4 000 US$ (35 000 US$)

Week Five
2/24/2003 Sold Ildefonso Besteiro Saiz to JOB Squad 1 000 US$ (0 US$)
2/24/2003 Sold Augusto Almeida Lopes to snomus cf 2 000 US$ (33 000 US$)
2/24/2003 Sold Thomas Rosenthal to BACARDI C.F 21 001 US$ (74 000 US$)

Week Six
3/5/2003 Sold Dawid Raduli to Snufl 84 000 US$ (78 000 US$)
3/8/2003 Sold Zlatko Koch to Livvy Loonies 26 001 US$ (57 000 US$)
3/9/2003 Sold Alfredo Crespo to Havoc 77 000 US$ (115 000 US$)

Today
3/20/2003 Sold Julius Acker to Universitatea&Craiova 638 000 US$ (205 000 US$)

For the Future
3/21/2003 Sold Klaas Slingerland to Gooner 16 000 US$ (78 000 US$)
3/25/2003 Sold Chiritã Vochin to Malignos Team 77 000 US$ (168 000 US$)
4/24/2003 Sold Liu Zuo-Lin to sv de Helden 11 000 US$ (26 000 US$)

4/28/2003 Sold Gérard Longis to WTC 6 000 US$ (18 000 US$)
4/28/2003 Sold Patrik Jonsson to Blätzbums 15 000 US$ (52 000 US$)
4/28/2003 Sold Jeremy Rumbold to Most Wanted 50 000 US$ (41 000 US$)
5/5/2003 Sold Hugh Hebert to vv Appingedam 51 000 US$ (37 000 US$)

5/21/2003 Sold Philip Friedländer to India Rules 150 000 US$ (76 000 US$)
5/21/2003 Sold Kyle Paige to verandi 120 000 US$ (43 000 US$)

Total Purchases: 1820513 US$ (+250000)
Total Sales 1693002 US$ (+0)
Difference -127511 US$ (-250000)
Average (bought) 50570 US$ (+5698)
Average (sold) 60464 US$ (+0)
Average (bought + sold) -1992 US$ (-3936)

Julius Acker
I never liked Julius. He was always in the doghouse with me and despite his awesome ratings, rarely geting above ** in a game (due mostly to poor form and stamina). Also, I could never decide whether to play him at wing or middie and he didn't seem to do well at either. However, as I said above, I'm pretty sure he still holds the record for sale ammount garnered from and FOFC hattrick team (people like TP, apoc, et al are discounted, of course). Not bad, considering we had bought his **~ replacement in Donald Newsom for $46K just a week earlier.

What we lost in one player who never really fit in, built our team for the future. This sale really catapulted us "into the big time" as it allowed us to buy a big time goalie in solid (near excellent) keeper Tim Kimber for $313K. Then it allowed us to buy a pair of pass/pass players in wingback Marcel Romo and striker Juan Miguel Tizón in the next month. Lastly, it allowed us to buy our first UberTrainee(TM) and start building for the future with then 17yo Anders Jörgensson {more on UberTrainees(TM) below}. It allowed me to start thinking big in the next couple of years: I could start grooming Div IV and Div III caliber players for the Hippos for seasons to come. Oh, and it got us out of debt... for a little while. But we all know how that goes.

As for Acker, what happened to him? He sold for $638K to Universitatea&Craiova, a team in III.11 Romania. He routinely gets *** per game at offensive winger. The problem that team runs into is that it runs a 5-4-1 so it rarely creates much offense so he gets ratings of extra-terrestrial, magnificent, titanic, and mythical on defense but midfield and offensive ratings comprable to mine. Still, without Julius, he would have even more trouble with possession and scoring.

Closing Remarks
Well, Acker got a solo segment because it meant so much to our team. We upgraded at keeper to Tim Kimber and his beautiful ***~ per game. Plus, we plugged the last of our starting holes and started our UberTrainee(TM) program. Not bad for a player who I never really could find a spot for.

I love Magyarország (or at least their Transfer Market)
First little note is that we placed Rolando Gontán back on the transfer wire at $350K and almost immediately got a bid after getting none when I placed him at $400K. This made a new Hippo acquisition possible, our third UberTrainee(TM), Tobias Hultman, who will take Gontan's number 11. I was the only bidder at $250K, but wait until you see what I got for that much. I'm certain I did *not* overpay this time as I've been pricing these for a couple of weeks and finding one for under $500K is a chore. Now presenting, our new 17yo solid playmaker, Swede Tobias Hultman and stats of the other UberTrainees(TM) for comparasion (2 middies and a winger). He has the ability to be the best of the three.

Tobias Hultman (11133558) #11
17 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Speciality: Technical
Nationality: Sverige
Assessed value: 90 000 US$
Wage: 936 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: weak
Winger: inadequate Defending: wretched
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: poor

Albino de Sousa Bastos (11926561) #10
18 years, solid form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.
Speciality: Quick
Nationality: Canada
Assessed value: 150 000 US$
Wage: 1 416 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: weak
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: wretched

Anders Jörgensson (8718431) #17
18 years, excellent form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is temperamental and honest.
Has disastrous experience and solid leadership abilities.
Speciality: Powerful
Nationality: Sverige
Assessed value: 157 000 US$
Wage: 1 224 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Stamina: excellent Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: poor
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: inadequate

Closing
That gives us three UberTrainees(TM) to break into the big time. And, not like I'd let the Hippo Faithful out there go two seconds without reminding you of our huge fixture against the Dragons this week.

If I have some time, I'll update my medals count to see what everyone has gotten. Plus, I'll compile a goal list by Cup, Fixture, Friendly, and FOFC Cup. Then some more hatstat notes, maybe. That sounds like some stats for next week to be coupled along with another "Where are the Now" or maybe "Hippo Spotlight". Just pretend I'm a ghetto Bill James for my soccer team.

SI

daedalus

05-31-2003, 01:21 AM

Nice buy! He'll be fun to keep an eye on for the next season or two. :)

daedalus

05-31-2003, 02:37 AM

Okay . . . there's an Italian team named the "Flying Hippos". Y'all REALLY need a friendly set up one of these days. :D

sterlingice

05-31-2003, 03:34 AM

Italia: Flying Hippos F.C. (50483) . I'll have to keep that in mind. Thx, daed.

SI

daedalus

05-31-2003, 06:05 AM

No problemo. I just want to be there for when the Hippos meet at midfield for a hug while mutter, "so, this is what it's like when doves cry!" :D

sterlingice

06-02-2003, 02:44 AM

Youth Pull, Week 19.9

The youth pull for 2 weeks ago, Rolando Gontan, sold for $350K. Too bad this week's youth pull can't hold a candle to that. He's passable... in passing but poor or wretched in the key stats so he's worth nothing. The Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM) welcomes Williams Matos.

Youth Pull Status
(NOTE: NC means "no change")
Youth Pulls: 22
Youth Pull Grocers: 20 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 2 (+1)
Total Sold for: 361000 (+350000)

Youth Pull
Williams Matos (12386388)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 23 000 US$
Wage: 600 US$/week

Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: wretched Passing: passable
Winger: wretched Defending: poor
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (N/C)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (N/C)

Sponsors: high on life (N/C)
Supporter Club: 981 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: satisfied (up 2 levels from calm)
Confidence: decent (N/C)

If we win this week, we'll have over 1000 supporters. Plus that team spirit is sky high. Then again, it will be down again after we MotS against the Dragons.

Week In Review

On the Field
Derrick Solomon followed up Juan Miguel Tizon's 4 goal fixture against the Buccabeavzers with one of his own. However, the game was tied at 2 as late as the 84th minute before a closing barrage made the final 5-2. Then, on Wedesday, the Hippos extended their FOFC Cup winning streak to 3 games with a 4-2 win over the Square Pegs at home. Middie Rolando Gontan scored his third (and final; more about that later) goal in two games to lead the boys from Houston. If you've been living in a hole, the battle for first is this week: Hippos/Dragons at the 'Drome.

Off the Field
Rolando Gontan got sold for $350K which facilitated the purchase of our third and final UberTrainee(TM), 17yo solid PM Tobias Hultman for only $250K. Yes, you read that right: 17yo solid PM. He was hiding on the Magyarország (Hungary) transfer wire late at night and I was the only bidder. Philip Friedländer was resold in 10 days for only 90K, 60K less than we sold him for and we got $2700 in mother club cash. After all is said and done, we will be less than $50K in the hole by the end of the Dragons game.

SI

sterlingice

06-02-2003, 02:44 AM

Preview
{sarcasm}I'm sure I really need to preface this game for anyone who reads this dynasty.{/sarcasm} It's Hippos/Dragons- the rivalry this season has been made of. He won 3-0 at his place when he MotS'd. So I upped the ante at a full rockin' Hippodrome this week: I trained general and MotS'd. Right now he's 3 points and 7 goal differential up on me so on the off chance that I win by 4 or more, I'll be up in the series. Somehow I doubt this game will be that easy but thankfully even if we lose, it was to a good person.

From the Dragons:
good luck tomorrow, i wont be around till later but go easy on me please....CC

Response to the Dragons:
I'm not going easy on you this time.

If you beat me, you'll have beaten me at my best (home crowd and MotS with no injuries or red cards). If you do that, pack up and get out of Div V so I don't have to play you next year because you've really earned it ;)

Good luck to yourself, and for the love of god, no injuries for either team =)

SI

Game Summary
Date: 6/2/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544416
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15692

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 15692 at The Hippodrome today. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Romo, Strömlius, Bush - Newsom, Benito, Connors, Sanders, Starks - Solomon, Phelan.

Dragons had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Bauer - Mansur, Fitter, Land - Soon-Wah, Whitmore, Karila, Foley, Talley - Refojo, Whakaari.

Hippopotami could have put themselves ahead in the 9:th minute as Derrick Solomon missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. In the 12th minute the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as Edwin Phelan flipped the ball after a cross pass from the right. Hippopotamis Maarten Sanders got himself booked after a foul. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

In the 59:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 2 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Derrick Solomon coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. Gough Fitter of Dragons received a yellow card in the 62nd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Hippopotami lead up with 3 - 0. Carlos Alberto Benito finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami´s Stephen Connors putting the lead up to 4 - 0. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. In the 84:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Elmer Bush dashed through, knocking home 5 - 0 for Hippopotami. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 59 percent, dominated the battle.

Hippopotami´s best player was Carlos Alberto Benito. Derrick Solomon on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Dragons player was without a doubt Gil Bauer. Per Land on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 0.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
CCD: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 12: Edwin Phelan(9); 1-0
Halftime Score: 1-0
Possession: 60%

2nd Half
HH: 59: Derrick Solomon(6); 2-0
HH: xx: Carlos Alberto Benito(4); 3-0
HH: xx: Stephen Connors(2); 4-0
HH: 84: Elmer Bush(1); 5-0
Final Score: 5-0
Possession: 59%
Final Possession: 60%

Cards
HH: xx: Marten Sanders (yellow- foul)
This will keep him out of the next game :(

Injuries
None, thankfully

Stadium
Terraces: 9702/9702
Basic seats: 3850/3850
Seats under roof: 1740/1740
VIP seats: 400/400

We filled the 'drome for this huge game. Probably could have gotten quite a few more.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: excellent (8)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 60/68

CC's Dragons
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: outstanding (10)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 54/59

Eep. That number even scares me. The only bad thing about this is that I probably could have won without MotS'ing. Then again, it wouldn't have been as convincing.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Rickie Romo **~
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Mick Starks (o) ***
MI Maarten Sanders (o) **~
MI Stephen Connors (x) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Donald Newsom (o) **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon **

Total Stars: 30.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Match of the Season

Kimber remains at *** and Solomon is only at ** but that's about the only bad news. Connors joins Benito with ***~ and the highest team ratings ever. Starks proves it was just a momentary glitch and is back up to *** while the three defenders all post **~ again. This all adds up to 30(!) stars! The great ratings continue.

Three Stars
A pair of near-twins take the gold and silver

Bronze: Elmer Bush
A defender with a goal almost always gets a medal
Silver: Carlos Alberto Benito
Another ***~ and a goal
Gold: Stephen Connors
First ***~ rating and a goal which put us in first for our series

Game Summary
I can't say enough about this game: 30 stars, 68 NSI and a 5-0 massacre of a very good team. WOW! This is the big one and we showed up in a big way after disappointing three weeks ago. This is the kindof performance that is top 25 in Div V and would keep us afloat in Div IV should we make it. Too bad we will have to do that every week and without MotS'ing. Then again, we have by no means guaranteed our ascent to Div IV.

Press Release
6/2/2003 at 07:08 Hippos Regain First!
An MotS and riotous Hippodrome crowd propelled the Hippos to a 5-0 whitewashing of CC's Dragons to regain control of first in V.62. It was an entire team effort as the Hippos posted an excellent midfield and a team high rating of (!)68 with 30 stars. Five different players scored for Houston including 3.5 star middies Carlos Alberto Benito and Stephen Connors. Now the race for Div V.62 comes down to goal differential with Houston holding a narrow 3 goal lead.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 9 40 - 11 24 68

2. CC's Dragons 9 33 - 7 24 59
3. Toledo Blades 9 16 - 13 17 50
4. The Flying Midgets 9 20 - 8 16 52

5. Buccabeavzers 9 17 - 29 9 37
6. goonz 9 14 - 31 6 34

7. Thumpers 9 9 - 27 5 32
8. Beneamata 9 9 - 32 4 34


Around the League
We had one "upset" in the other league games

The Flying Midgets - Beneamata 3 - 0
The Midgets tried something new with a 3-3-4 but still put up an average of 10 across the backside (out/bril/form). However, their other ratings were either poor or inad. Beneamata slipped into last place after this game because of other games' results.

goonz - Buccabeavzers 0 - 3
A lower half battle between the goonz and Buccabeavzers pitted a 4-4-2 against a 5-4-1. There were a lot of missed chances in this game but the Bucs put in 3 goals and won their third ever league game putting their record at 3-7 vs the goonz all-time record of 2-7.

Thumpers - Toledo Blades 1 - 1
In the stunning upset of the week, the Thumpers drew their first game ever with the third place Toledo Blades. Despite being outgained in the NSI by 18 and losing the possession battle by 84/69, Toledo only had two chances the entire game and only converted on one. This makes me give pause next week when I have to go to Thumpers Arena and plan on PIC'ing. A little scouting of the Thumpers shows a 4-4-2 which only sports one ** player in forward Jesper Gravesen. The largest problem for Toledo today was only having a poor vs wretched advantage at midfield, not generating them enough chances.

Notes
This was a tremendous win and tremendous effort by the entire team. Unfortunately this game is just the beginning. Now we have to win the race down the stretch for goal differential. Not only that but we would almost certainly have to win a promotion game, too. Wednesday, we try to keep up our undefeated FOFC Cup game against Airhog's Rednecks. Then, next week, begins the contest for promotion. Our job has just begun.

SI

sterlingice

06-07-2003, 04:56 PM

Sorry for the lack of updates: I've been working on a hattrick spreadsheet for the past couple of days.

Anyways, I'm going to try and get back caught up tonight.

SI

sterlingice

06-08-2003, 05:11 AM

Preview
Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been working on a spreadsheet to help keep track of bookkeeping. Also, a huge update is due but I'm not sure when exactly it will appear- lots of news to discuss. Anyways, after the huge fixture, the last 5 fixture certainly take on new meaning. But we leave all of that aside today for the continuation of FOFC Group play. A win today and we clinch a berth in the round of 32. A loss and we will probably win next week and still be in but with a lower seed. When we arrived at the Hippodrome today, a swamp met us as we try to run the table in group play. No doubt scoring chances will be few and far between today.

Game Summary
Date: 6/5/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7109866
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 632

Due to an all-day shower, 632 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Hippodrome. Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Buckley - Stepp, Miquel, Bush - Viseslav, Jörgensson, Hultman, de Sousa Bastos, Newsom - Chang, Tizón.

Oklahoma started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Swartz - Sterling, Rubin, Turner - Pratt, Bolonha, Forslind, Elias, Reese - Shelton, Couillerot.

Seemingly due to lack of experience, Benedito Bolonha needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Hippopotami were very close to putting themselves one up in the 23rd minute as Defoe Chang got through, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. In the games 26:th minute Oklahoma´s Cordell Shelton fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Cordell Shelton for taking a dive. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Hippopotami´s José María Miquel got himself booked. 31 minutes into the game Sidney Buckley had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Silviu Radu. Halftime score was 0 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 57 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but kept getting stuck on the visitors defenders. The referee showed Hippopotamis Albino de Sousa Bastos the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Hippopotami broke through to the left in the 76:th minute, Defoe Chang firing at an acute angle giving the home side a 1 - 0 lead. In the games 77:th minute Oklahoma´s Bill Rubin fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Bill Rubin for taking a dive. In the 80:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 2 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Tobias Hultman coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. Hippopotami put themselves up 3 - 0 when Defoe Chang broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 68 percent possession of the ball.

Most important Hippopotami player was Donald Newsom. However, Silviu Radu made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Oklahoma player was without a doubt Byron Swartz. However, Maximilian Forslind made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 0.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names is their goal tally for the FOFC Cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
CCD: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
Halftime Score: 0-0
Possession: 57%

2nd Half
HH: 76: Dafoe Chang(F1); 1-0
HH: 80: Tobias Hultman(F1); 2-0
HH: xx: Dafoe Chang(F2); 3-0
Final Score: 3-0
Possession: 68%
Final Possession: 63%

Cards
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel(yellow- several obvious shirt pulling incident)
HH: xx: Albino de Sousa Bastos (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)

Injuries
HH: 31: Sidney Buckley (1 week- knee injury)

Stadium
Terraces: 392/9702
Basic seats: 153/3850
Seats under roof: 63/1740
VIP seats: 24/400
Total: 632/15692

Darn weather. So much for 3 straight 1000+ butts in the seats for FOFC Cup games.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: weak (4)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 39/42

Oklahoma City Rednecks
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: formidable (9)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 44/46

Another case of midfield winning the game. Great job by my trainees.

Player Ratings
GK Silviu Radu ~
DW Rickie Stepp **
DM José María Miquel **
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Donald Newsom (o) **~
MI Anders Jörgensson (w) **~
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos **~
MI Tobias Hultman (x) **
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *~
FO Dafoe Chang **~

INJ Sidney Buckley *~

Total Stars: 23.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

New middle defender Miguel only put up ** but no big deal. Two of our three middies put up **~ and Hultman put up ** as the "worst". Chang's great form got him **~ for, I think, the first time. Radu only got ~ as a sub but, what the heck, he's my clown and backup to my backup goalie.

Three Stars
He may never ever win another medal, but how could I not give it to Silviu Radu and his goaltending performance

Bronze: Tobias Hultman
The first of, hopefully, many goals with the Hippos for 17yo UberTrainee(TM)
Silver: Dafoe Chang
A **~ and two goals for the forward
Gold: Silviu Radu
Our clown gets some playing time and pitches a shutout despite his ~ rating

Game Summary
It may never happen again, but 3rd string goalie Silviu "Clipboard" Radu was the hero on the field this week. I was a bit worried with even more missed chances in the first half but things turned out all right in the end. This means we have at least one more friendly after next week's game against the Tigers: The Hippos have advanced into the Round of 32!

Press Release
6/8/2003 at 11:41 Hippos Win 4th Straight FOFC Cup Game
With B Team goalie Sidney Buckley getting injured in the first half, 3rd string goalie and clown Silviu Radu came in and helped shut out the Oklahoma City Rednecks. The torrential downpours of the day helped keep the game scoreless in the first half but Dafoe Chang scored two goals and 17yo UberTrainee(TM) Tobias Hultman added a third. The win assures Houston a spot in the Round of 32 which begins in two weeks. Next week, the Hippos visit the Missouri Tigers in their final Group Play game.

League Standings

Sd --Group E-- FOFC ID Nat W L D GF GA DIF PT NSI
22 Houston Hippopotami sterlingice 8574 USA 4 0 0 14 3 11 12 44
5 Midwest Ice Storm FC Pilotman 70500 USA 2 1 1 11 5 6 7 38
48 S. Boston Hooligans McSweeny 71008 USA 2 2 0 10 8 2 6 43
35 Oklahoma City Rednecks Airhog 70559 USA 2 2 0 9 8 1 6 46
61 Square Pegs mckerney 71980 USA 1 2 1 7 8 -1 4 44
74 Missouri Tigers Achilles 70392 USA 0 4 0 0 19 -19 0 27


Around the Group
The other 2 Group E Games This Week

S. Boston Hooligans - Square Pegs 2 - 1
The Hooligan's Francis Kimball kept them alive and broke the hearts of Square Pegs fans everywhere, all but eliminating them. Kimball scored twice in the 82nd and 85th minutes, turning a late 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory. The Hooligan's midfield dominated possession but they couldn't break through until Kimball's late goals.

Missouri Tigers - Midwest Ice Storm FC 0 - 5
Midwest went back to playing their second team but it was still more than enough for Missouri especially with the weak midfield. Midwest is now in the driver's seat for the second spot in the Group as they have a 1 point lead on Oklahoma City and S. Boston.

Notes
Looks like we've advanced and have a chance to run the table next week. A giant update should be coming up but I'm not sure if it will be before or after the next game report.

SI

sterlingice

06-08-2003, 03:15 PM

Bookkeeping
For those of you who follow this thread- you know this is inevitable. A couple of times a season, I have get bogged down when I have some extra stuff I want to type up so a super long bookkeeping extravaganza follows. Actually, I don't have it all here because I want to space it out a little but a lot of stuff is here: hatstats and supporter notes about the last game, a new Hippo, supporter update, and some financial decisions I could use some advice on. Also, there's the typical weekend fare of training update, youth pull, and week in review. Also, I have some stats from the spreadsheet I've been working on but those will have to wait until a future update.

Hatstats
Following last week's ungodly performance, we jumped in at #4 in all of Div V! In fact, that rating of 68 would make the top 100 on all of the levels (tho, MLS and Div II have less than 100 teams). I've gotta think we run a really efficient team or something because my I tend to get much higher ratings per star than most teams: quite a few teams beat or matched our 30.0 stars.

Mick Starks's *** performance was the only one to make the top players in Div V by position. However, Carlos Alberto Benito and Stephen Connors ***~ ratings were equal to the highest on the list for Div V. Our series ranked 21 this week, which was our second best season rating (the week of the original Hippos/Dragons game saw us in the teens).

We are still a long way from autopromotion at 173 (cutoff is 128). If the season ended today, we would play The Terrible Turtles who are in IV.55 in 6th. They are a computer controlled team so it would be a nice place to land. They have 2 teams who score in the 70s but the rest are in the high 50s so we would fit right in. That said, who knows what the future will bring on that front as things are very fluid.

As for other stats, we are currently, the 63rd most expensive squad in Div V with our $2.7M team spread amongs 22 players. Our average would be even higher if they ranked that as most teams with high payrolls have more players. Also, as of this week, we ended up on the "misunderstood" list with 1 red card and 11 yellows spread throughout the team. Our 15K+ crowd just missed the top 100 but we might be changing that soon... (more on that below)

Supporter Stats
More from last week's epic game, this time via the hattrick supporter stats. If you've never used this or seen it, basically your supporter stats tell you how good your performances are with relation to your best performance. Your top performance gets a 100% and below it you can see your previous best performances and how they stack up. Needless to say, this week's game was our best ever at forward, midfield, defense, and overall.

Our defense and attacks weren't that great compared to normal: our best rating but many games were in the 90-99% range so it was only our best attack and defense ratings by the smallest of margins. Our previous best on attack was our game the week before against the Buccabeavzers (PIC'd) at 99% while our bset defensive game previously was at 99% in the first Dragons/Hippos game.

However, how do you explain the fact that the Dragons game was 100% to the second best rating of 79% during the first Dragons game? We played more than 25% (~26.5%) better than our previous best due to our excellent midfield. The previous Dragons game was a mere 61% to this one's 100% performance: that's an improvement of over 60% over the previous game!

New Hippo
No, this isn't nearly as dramatic as some of our recent moves. I wanted to add a 5th defender so I didn't keep running out starters. Also, I wanted a player who could serve as team captain and set pieces ace for the B Team, particularly in FOFC Cup play, which meant his experience + leadership had to add up to at least 10 (our highest was 8) and his set pieces at least passable. Lastly, I wanted someone cheap so it was likely going to be a veteran. After bookmarking quite a few guys who went for way too much, I happened upon José María Miquel who came to us from Chuchua, a Div VI team in Argentina, for a mere $9000.

He will be sporting the number 5 for us. While his stamina isn't great, we can work on that a little this offseason and he's basically just to help out for FOFC Cup play anyways (and injury avoidance). He's a passable defender with passable set pieces so he takes over the roles of center defender and set pieces ace. He also has weak experience and passable leadership so he takes over as team captain. Like practically every Hippo, he's controversial

#5 José María Miquel (10565041)
27 years, solid form, healthy
A controversial person who is fiery and honest.
Has weak experience and passable leadership abilities.
Nationality: Argentina
Assessed value: 16 000 US$
Wage: 672 US$/week including 20% Bonus
Career Goals: 0

Stamina: wretched Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: disastrous
Winger: poor Defending: passable
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: passable

Supporters
I definately like to mention these guys a few times a season and this is the perfect opportunity. Our number of supporters recently got bumped back up to 8 as FantasyBandit and his Isla Vista Vandals of USA V.25 join the ranks. He gets to join all the others who have a place in the Hippos executive washroom and adjoining palatial suite. He gets to enjoy all of the amenities such as amazing catering and the girls who inhabit said suite. Here is a list of those we support and those who support us:

Bees (70510) in USA
Owner: ausonny
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-01-31 17:22:38
Supportee since: 2003-01-08 23:22:37
Series: V.41

Screamin' Seamen (70638) in USA
Owner: dataking
Status: supported
Supporter since: 2003-02-02 09:05:12
Series: IV.49

Morrisville Morrisvillians (70926) in USA
Owner: NevStar
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-02-02 22:57:25
Supportee since: 2003-02-03 04:56:37
Series: V.93

NE Oklahoma Sidekicks (71068) in USA
Owner: vexroid
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-02-13 22:45:08
Supportee since: 2003-02-13 08:24:27
Series: V.111

Louisiana Cyclones (72080) in USA
Owner: Doug5984
Status: reciprocal
Supporter since: 2003-03-07 01:07:40
Supportee since: 2003-03-06 19:44:19
Series: V.237

Bull Dogs (8421) in USA
Owner: Eilim
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-03-28 03:55:19
Series: V.1

Manhattan Marauders (71399) in USA
Owner: NAIWF
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-04-22 00:00:14
Series: V.152

goldurnears (71399) in USA
Owner: robbgmaier
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-04-30 22:30:26
Series: V.230

Isla Vista Vandals (70384) in USA
Owner: FantasyBandit
Status: supportee
Supportee since: 2003-06-03 04:18:02
Series: V.25

Training
Oops. Well, my face is red. After training general last week, I forgot to change back to playmaking. Needless to say, everyone is in great form. Unfortunately it's basically a wasted week of training.

Future Training
With form in such great shape, I'll do some impromptu stamina training then playmaking to finish out the season.

Form
Starters: (+6) (-0)
Entire Team: (+11) (-0)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Sanders (exc) Phelan (exc) Benito (exc) Connors (exc) Bush Kimber Stromlius Solomon Newsom Romo
Passable: Starks
Inadequate: -NONE-
Weak (or below): -NONE-

I'm going to take advantage of this great form and do some stamina next week.

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 6(N/A)/8(-1)
Above $200K: 4(N/A)/4(N/A)
Above $300K: 2(+1)/2(+1)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($497K)
Outfield Leader: Maarten Sanders ($333K)
Milestones: Maarten Sanders ($300K)

It's an interesting read in other dynasties so I though I'd include it here with a few. Goalie Tim Kimber remains the top value getter for the team as he has been ever since being acquired. For the first time ever, Mick Starks did not have the highest outfield value as Maarten Sanders crushed the $300K barrier. He was in the $240s with weak form just two weeks ago but now he's gone up 4 levels in 2 weeks and has gained nearly $100K in value. Benito passes Starks and is worth nearly $300K himself at $298K. Starks is at $286K, where he's been pretty much since the beginning. For the B Team, the two expensive players are UberTrainees(TM) Bastos and Jorgensson who are over $150K while the third UberTrainee(TM), Hultman, is at $86K.

Value
Starters: (+11) (-0)
Entire Team: (+18) (-2)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 28904 (+152)
Total Value: 2852000 (-3000)
Avg Value: 124000 (-5773)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: pass (N/A)
Avg Experience: wretched (N/A)
No of players: 23 (+1)
Nationalities: 9 (+1)

Youth Pull, Week 19.9

I'm revising my numbering system based on my spreadsheet. This week is now 19.9 in my books instead of 19.10 as the season starts with the sunday of the first fixture instead of the first week of the cup games. The below numbers have also been revised. When reading back through my old dynasty reports, I got everything on track and I was correct way back when- I sold my first youth pull for $1K but his name has been lost to history as he was fired. Maybe in a future update, I'll list all the names of all the players who work for us in a non-soccer capacity.

Speaking of which, the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM) will have to go without the current youth pull. This is our second best pull to date after Rolando Gontan who sold for $50K. Unfortunately, I have no use for Ty Lott but I'm sure some defense training 4-5-1'er *spit* will. He has passable defense, inad stamina, and is only 17. Fortunately DK donated a youth pull a couple of weeks ago who can fill in for Mr Lott.

One last note: we got some mother club cash for one of our previous youth pulls: forward Liu Zuo-Lin, who sold originally for $11K. After that, he was daytraded for $25K but now, it looks like he's daytrained and now sold for $101K.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 22
Youth Pull Grocers: 19 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 3 (+0)
Total Sold for: 362000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Ty Lott (12582154)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 14 000 US$
Wage: 560 US$/week
Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: wretched Defending: passable
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (N/C)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (N/C)

Sponsors: high on life (N/C)
Supporter Club: 1005 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: irritated (down 4 levels from satisfied)
Confidence: strong (up 2 levels from decent)

With our win last week, we blitzed through the 1000 supporter mark. However, the MotS cost us quite a bit TS.

Week In Review

On the Field
To say this was our biggest game ever is to say a fact without hyperbole. This one will likely decide the fate of our series and thankfully, the boys came through with aplomb. An excellent midfield, NSI of 68, and 30.0 stars later, we had a 5-0 victory and control of our own fate as 1st in V.62 was now ours by a slim 3 goal differential lead. The aforementioned midfield put up 3.5, 3.5, and 2.5 stars! The good news continued this week as we got one game closer to running the table in FOFC Cup Group play with a 3-0 win over Airhog's Oklahoma City Rednecks on a "pitch-turned bog". Clown Silviu Radu helped with the shutout when B Team goalie Sidney Buckley went down.

Off the Field
Not much happened this week, although technically the sale of Roalndo Gontan was this week and not last. We picked up a new veteran defender, team leader, and set pieces ace for $9K to help out the B team in José María Miquel. I stupidly did general training instead of playmaking :rolleyes: but got a sellable youth pull who is on the market. Also, I'm considering some changes to the team again.

I Need a Money Tree
Three of my last four games this year are at home so I'd like to expand to get some extra cash. Unfortunately, with build time, I'll miss one of them but 2 of 3 isn't too bad either. The problem is that I'm hanging around at -$50K so it would put me over $250K in the hole or more. My supporter base is over 1000 and I could probably support most of a 28K stadium. However, this would cost over $300K and I don't have that kind of cash. So I'm thinking about selling Maarten Sanders, our 28yo middie. With the recent form improvement, he's up to excellent form and will likely put up *** today. However, he's a bit old and I don't like the idea that he's hanging out in a prime training spot without it doing him any good. I'm hoping to get about $200K from him, but I'm probably overestimating.

Two of our trainees got **~ last game so one of them could start gaining regular game experience and it would allow me to get another cheaper trainee on the youth squad. Plus, then our debt after stadium renovations would then be more manageable.

Still to Come
I have some fun stats I'd love to throw out but this is already too long and I've got to go soon. I'll probably compile a goal, card, and medal list along with some fun stats.

Plus, if you want a look at the preliminary spreadsheet I'm working on, it can be found here: Linky (http://www.sunflower.com/~sterlingice/hattrick.htm)

SI

sterlingice

06-09-2003, 03:58 AM

Preview
Bad team spirit, a road game, a PIC, and letdown from last week could make us primed for an update this week against the brand new Thumpers. They've bought up over $100K of players this week so I was a smidge worried especially after tying one of the teams in the upper tier of the series last week. Also, remember, I have a slim 3 goal lead over the Dragons for the V.62 title and they have a walkover game this week but they may also have to PIC.

Game Summary
Date: 6/9/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544419
Arena: Thumpers Arena
Crowd: 6443

6443 spectators had come to Thumpers Arena this cloudy day. Thumpers had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Herring - Kilskar , Poole, Moreno, Ross - Bagwell, Bradley, Wilburn, Šafárik, Curry - Gravesen.

Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Kimber - Romo, Strömlius, Bush - Newsom, Benito, Connors, de Sousa Bastos, Starks - Solomon, Phelan.

In the 3rd minute the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending and Derrick Solomon put the ball away for 0 - 1. The referee showed Hippopotamis Elmer Bush the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Thumpers had obvious problems in finding their positions. In the 40:th minute the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 2 as Edwin Phelan finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. The away team´s Stephen Connors took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 42nd minute increasing Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 3. Jon Bagwell was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Jesper Gravesen managed to kick one of them into 1 - 3 in the 45:th minute. After 45 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Mick Starks who increased Hippopotami´s lead to 1 - 4. Hippopotamis Donald Newsom got himself booked after a foul. Thumpers were forced to a substitution as Juan Carlos Moreno couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment. Halftime score was 1 - 4. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 66 percent possession rate.

Thumpers -coach had an extra briefing during the break, and after that his players looked a lot more organized. In the 68:th minute the visitors put themselves ahead 1 - 5 as Edwin Phelan finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Unsportsmanlike behaviour by Elmer Bush rendered him his second booking of the match, and Hippopotami had to finish the game with a reduced squad. Some fine manouvering on the left lead to an 78:th minute Hippopotami goal, making it 1 - 6. Albino de Sousa Bastos was noted down as the scorer. The away team´s Derrick Solomon took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 80:th minute increasing Hippopotami´s lead to 1 - 7. It was showtime for artist Derrick Solomon who showed off all his technical mastery when he rounded Paul Bradley and finished with a goal to 1 - 8 for Hippopotami. At that, Derrick Solomon was noted down for a hat trick. Derrick Solomon increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 1 - 9. In the 87:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 1 - 10 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Donald Newsom. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 75 percent possession of the ball.

Most important Thumpers player was Dag Kilskar . However, Erik Wilburn made a disastrous appearance. Hippopotami´s best player was Carlos Alberto Benito. Derrick Solomon on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 10.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
TH: 4-5-1

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 3: Derrick Solomon(7): 1-0
HH: 40: Edwin Phelan(10): 2-0
HH: 42: Stephen Connors(3): 3-0
TH: 45: 3-1
HH: 45: Mick Starks(9): 4-1
Halftime Score: 4-1
Possession: 66%

2nd Half
HH: 68: Edwin Phelan(11): 5-1
HH: 78: Albino de Sousa Bastos(1): 6-1
HH: 80: Derrick Solomon(8): 7-1
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon(9): 8-1
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon(10): 9-1
HH: 87: Donald Newsom(3): 10-1
Final Score: 10-1
Possession: 75%
Final Possession: 71%

Cards
HH: xx: Elmer Bush (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)
HH: 45: Donald Newsom (yellow- foul)
HH: xx: Elmer Bush (yellow- unsportsmanlike behaviour)

Injuries
None, thankfully

Stadium
Terraces: 0/9702
Basic seats: 0/3850
Seats under roof: 0/1740
VIP seats: 0/400

At his place so anyone sitting in the 'Drome would have felt silly :D

Team Ratings

Thumpers
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: poor (3)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: poor (3)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 33/35

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 52/56

Ok, a bit more back to earth after last week. If my TS were better and I had gotten my typical inad midfield, I would have gotten a 59 NSI, second only to last week's obscene 68

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Marcel Romo **~
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Elmer Bush RED CARD
WI Donald Newsom **~
MI Stephen Connors ***~
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos (x) **~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) ***
FO Edwin Phelan ***
FO Derrick Solomon **~

Total Stars: 29.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Play It Cool

If not for Bush's ejection, we would have put up a new high in stars. We'll give back quite a bit of this next week after the stamina training and general training hangover hit us with a double form whammy. Still, it's awesome to see everyone get **~ or higher. Connors, Benito, and Kimber all got ***~ ratings. Phelan gets his first ever *** to go along with Starks's typical one.

Three Stars
Another four goal game nets the gold

Bronze: Albino de Sousa Bastos
The UberTrainee(TM) scores his first of hopefully many goals
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Edwin's first *** nets him 2 goals and he barely stays ahead of our
Gold: Derrick Solomon
Solomon's second four-goal game of the year

Game Summary
I was worried a little about this one because of all the stuff I stated in the intro. It was unfounded, apparently. For those of you keeping track at home, Derrick Solomon now has 9 goals in his last 3 games. He is now within one of Phelan for the series lead. Remember that 3 goal lead on the Dragons, well, check below...

Press Release
6/9/2003 at 10:24 Solomon Continues Tear in 10-1 Massacre
The season started off poorly for Derrick Solomon, V.62's 3rd leading scorer last year and leading Hippo. He was demoted to B Team after a form slump but now he has returned and is making up for lost time. Today he scored 4 more goals, giving him 9 in his last 3 games and leading the Hippos to a rout of the Thumpers. Edwin Phelan added another pair of goals to retain the lead over now-2nd place Solomon. The score was quite suprising consider a PIC and only 10 men in the 2nd half.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 10 50 - 12 27 56

2. CC's Dragons 10 42 - 7 27 63
3. Toledo Blades 10 20 - 14 20 52
4. The Flying Midgets 10 22 - 10 17 52

5. Buccabeavzers 10 19 - 31 10 41
6. goonz 10 14 - 40 6 34

7. Thumpers 10 10 - 37 5 35
8. Beneamata 10 10 - 36 4 31


Around the League
You know, a 10-1 win sounds convincing, right? Well, I was worried most of the game about my differential, as anyone in chat knows.

CC's Dragons - goonz 9 - 0
Sure, you win 10-1 and think you'd gain in differential: WRONGO! I was watching this game in Criollo at the same time as mine and the Dragons had the series lead for quite a few minutes today. He was up 7-0 not long into the second half while I was still sitting around up 4-1. Lynn Whakaari matched Derrick Solomon's 4 goals and the Dragons recovered just fine from last week's loss. The Dragons put up a 63 NSI and 29 stars.

Buccabeavzers - The Flying Midgets 2 - 2
One week after the Thumpers stunned the Blades with a tie, the Midgets were stunned with a draw at Buccabeavzers arena. The Midgets put up out-bril-form across the backside but the Bucs are definately a team on the rise, putting up passables and inads for every rating except a poor at midfield. Adrian O'Keeffe scored twice for the Midgets while Alexander Nielsen and Rob Morrissey scored for the Buccabeavzers.

Toledo Blades - Beneamata 4 - 1
Toledo, on the other hand, bounced back from their draw last week to beat Beneamata at the Bladium. The Blades posted form-out-exc across the back and their weak midfield was enough for 92% possession in the second half. Jesse Mohr scored twice in the first half and Steve Hough twice in the second half for the victorious team from Ohio.

Notes
Big win that was quite fun. Only problem is that we didn't gain any ground on the Dragons because they won equally big. Our final FOFC Cup group play game is this Wednesday as we travel to play the Missouri Tigers. Did I mention I go to school at the University of Kansas and we don't take too kindly to those folk ;)

SI

sterlingice

06-13-2003, 05:00 PM

Preview
Not much on the line today: we already had a spot in the round of 32 locked up. However, I did want to run the table in Group Play just to say I did it. My opponent today will be the Missouri Tigers, which I guess is an allusion to Kansas's (my current school) rival to the East. They haven't scored a goal in Group play yet, but who knows- it could happen today: I don't exactly run a scary defensive set.

Game Summary
Date: 6/12/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7147133
Arena: Missouri Tigers Arena
Crowd: 369

369 spectators arrived at Missouri Tigers Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Missouri started off with a 4-3-1 lineup. Lineup: Jansson - Mut, Miller, López, Weeks - Jones, Odom, Branham - Smith.

Hippopotami tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Buckley - Romo, Miquel, Stepp - Magnusson, Sanders, Jörgensson, Hultman, Viseslav - Chang, Tizón.

Marcel Romo seemed to be floating in the air at will as he elegantly headed in 0-1. The previous Hippopotami corner kick was executed by José María Miquel. In the 22nd minute the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 2 as Marcel Romo finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. The referee showed Missouris Carlos José Mut the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Björn Magnusson came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Tor Jansson, hitting the bar. The visitors Juan Miguel Tizón took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 41st minute. 0 - 3 for Hippopotami. By now Hippopotami were drawing the troops back in order to defend their lead. Scott Jones of Missouri received a yellow card in the 42nd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 3. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 65 percent, dominated the battle.

After 54 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Juan Miguel Tizón who increased Hippopotami´s lead to 0 - 4. Juan Miguel Tizón increased the visitors lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 5. By then Juan Miguel Tizón was a three time scorer - a hat trick! Missouri seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Marcel Romo was suffering from cramps and had big difficulties keeping up as the opponentes pushed forward. Carlos José Mut had no problems getting through and hit home the 1 - 5 goal. When Randall Weeks left the game because of a back injury in the 80:th minute Missouri, lacking replacements, had to keep on playing decimated. The visitors Juan Miguel Tizón took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 80:th minute. 1 - 6 for Hippopotami. The referee showed Hippopotamis Marcel Romo the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 85 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Missouri player was without a doubt Tor Jansson. However, Charles Odom made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Maarten Sanders. Björn Magnusson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 6.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names is their goal tally for the FOFC Cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
MT: 4-3-1

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: xx: Marcel Romo(F1): 1-0
HH: 22: Marcel Romo(F2): 2-0
HH: 41: Juan Miguel Tizón(F4): 3-0
HH: 41: *drawing back*
Halftime Score: 3-0
Possession: 65%

2nd Half
HH: 54: Juan Miguel Tizón(F5): 4-0
HH: xx: Juan Miguel Tizón(F6): 5-0
MT: xx: 5-1
HH: 80: Juan Miguel Tizón(F7): 6-1
Final Score: 6-1
Possession: 85%
Final Possession: 75%

Cards
HH: xx: Marcel Romo (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)

Injuries
None

Stadium
Terraces: 0/9702
Basic seats: 0/3850
Seats under roof: 0/1740
VIP seats: 0/400
Total: 0/15692

A pretty miserable crowd showed up of only 369 and weather was good. I dunno what happened: Why didn't my fans travel?

Team Ratings

Missouri Tigers
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: weak (4)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: wretched (2)
Left Side Attack: wretched (2)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 26/28

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 39/42

Not a great showing. A poor midfield... ick. Still, good enough to win but it will result in us getting drummed out of the Round of 32 if we play this bad next week.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Marcel Romo **~
DM José María Miquel **~
DW Rickie Stepp (m) **~
WI Bjorn Magnusson *
MI Maarten Sanders ***
MI Tobias Hultman (x) *~
MI Anders Jörgensson (w) **~
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *~
FO Dafoe Chang **

Total Stars: 23.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Maarten Sanders is up for sale for $250K and his first ever *** only helps to enhance his value.
Sidney Buckley returned from last week's injury to post a ** for the first time in a few weeks. I'm not sure how Sanders, Jorgensson, and Hultman's combined 7 stars got a poor midfield...

Three Stars
The only race here was for third

Bronze: Maarten Sanders
Yet another Hippo with a *** performance
Silver: Marcel Romo
A defender with 2 goals- who would've thunk it
Gold: Juan Miguel Tizón
Duh

Game Summary
I know- I took some hazing for giving up the only goal to Missouri but I don't really care that much since I was one of the two teams that was able to run the table in group play. Unfortunately, due to the ranking-based-seeding, we play the other team to run the table in our first Round of 32 game: Brillig's Slithy Toves but fortunately it's at the 'drome. As I said in another thread: this feels like the NCAA tourney's seeding committee.

Press Release
6/13/2003 at 23:28 Hippos Run the Table in FOFC Cup Group Play
The Missouri Tigers scored their only goal in the Cup but it didn't keep the Hippos from winning as, for the second time this week and fourth time in four weeks, a Hippo scored 4 goals, this time Juan Miguel Tizon. Wingback Marcel Romo also scored twice in the final game in FOFC Group E play. The Hippos were one of two teams to collect all 15 points in Group Play but only advance as the 16th seed. Round of 32 play sees the Hippos at the 'Drome against the 17th seed Slithy Toves next week.

League Standings

Sd --Group E-- FOFC ID Nat W L D GF GA DIF PT NSI
22 Houston Hippopotami sterlingice 8574 USA 6 0 0 20 4 16 15 42
5 Midwest Ice Storm FC Pilotman 70500 USA 3 1 1 14 6 8 10 49
35 Oklahoma City Rednecks Airhog 70559 USA 3 2 0 11 8 3 9 50
48 S. Boston Hooligans McSweeny 71008 USA 2 3 0 11 11 0 6 39
61 Square Pegs mckerney 71980 USA 1 3 1 7 10 -3 4 33
74 Missouri Tigers Achilles 70392 USA 0 5 0 1 25 -24 0 28


Around the Group
The case was simple for Midwest: win and they're in. If they lose or tie, it's wide open.

Square Pegs - Oklahoma City Rednecks 0 - 2
The Rednecks started out big, scoring twice in the first half with 61% possession but the second half ground to a screeching halt. Here's the entire second half: "Square, bringing the final ball possession rate to 51 percent, dominated the battle." Boring, huh? Oklahoma City got the win they needed- now a draw or win by S. Boston would put them in by virtue of OKC's head-to-head win against S. Boston. A win by Midwest, however, sends the Ice Storm to the next round.

Midwest Ice Storm FC - S. Boston Hooligans 3 - 1
Pilotman pulled no punches and only his 4-5-1 kept this from being a massacre. Midwest put up a passable midfield and won NSI 49-39. Four different players scored in this game and one of the better teams in all of FOFC advances.

Notes
We move onto the Round of 32 and the race for promotion continues. Training update soon along with news of a sale and possible purchase.

SI

Katon

06-13-2003, 05:12 PM

Um, the lineup that you sent out didn't match the bunch that got the stars. Your midfield got almost completely mixed up twixt start and end. Sanders, for instance, is missing from the stars list. Slight typo, maybe?

sterlingice

06-13-2003, 05:36 PM

Originally posted by Katon
Um, the lineup that you sent out didn't match the bunch that got the stars. Your midfield got almost completely mixed up twixt start and end. Sanders, for instance, is missing from the stars list. Slight typo, maybe?

Oops! I forgot to change that update from last game- it's corrected now. Thx for catching that. Basically, I just take last week's report and replace the info with this week's but sometimes I'll forget to change the info. A couple of weeks ago, I put in an entirely wrong match report- d'oh. So much information for a disorganized person like myself to worry about :D

SI

NAIWF

06-13-2003, 05:45 PM

What can one REALLY expect from a Houstonian, or is it Houstonite, screw it a person from Houston anyway? :D

sterlingice

06-13-2003, 05:47 PM

Originally posted by NAIWF
What can one REALLY expect from a Houstonian, or is it Houstonite, screw it a person from Houston anyway? :D

{zing}I dunno but 6 of them can no-hit the Yankees {/zing}

EDIT: BTW, people from Houston are called Houstontians

SI

NAIWF

06-13-2003, 06:38 PM

I guess you learn something new everyday :)

I was happy to watch that 6 man no hitter since I'm a Mets fan and that'll be the highlight of the season for us :D

sterlingice

06-15-2003, 01:42 AM

Kraftworks Union (K.U.)
Along with FOFC, I am also a member of the HAM and Daytrading Federations to read their conferences. It's not necessary to be a member of the fed to read the conference but I kindof wanted to. Anyways, a guy who really helped me out a lot, especially when I started, Havoc99, started a new fed and I figured I'd give it a shameless plug here. We're looking for people to join if you're interested. Here's the fed's description:
An alliance of fun, active managers dedicated to the advancement of our teams through mutual support, player training & information exchange.

Training
Trained stamina since I had such good form going for me. Took quite a few hits in form, but that was expected after two weeks of general. My middie trainees are now up to inad, pass, and excellent so I'm happy. Also, my starters are all in solid or passable form so no major harm was done. We'll see how that plays out the next couple of weeks.

Future Training
Back to playmaking.

Form
Starters: (+0) (-8)
Entire Team: (+3) (-15)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Bush Solomon Benito Bastos Phelan Connors
Passable: Starks Kimber StromliusNewsom Romo
Inadequate: -NONE-
Weak (or below): -NONE-

You may notice Sanders has been replaced in the lineup with UberTrainee(TM) Albino de Sousa Bastos. More on that later.

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 6(N/A)/8(N/A)
Above $200K: 3(-1)/3(-1)
Above $300K: 1(-1)/1(-1)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($474K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($295K)
Milestones: Sidney Buckley ($100K)

Sanders is also conspicuously absent. You can probably guess by now that he's no longer with the team. That's where all the -1's come from. Benito is now the top money guy. Backup goalie Sidney Buckley keeps flirting with the $100K mark, going up and down. Carlos Alberto Benito is close to $300K but with his already excellent stamina, he couldn't get much help this week in the value department.

Value
Starters: (+5) (-3)
Entire Team: (+11) (-5)

Team Stats
Total Wages: 25560 (-3344)
Total Value: 2549000 (-303000)
Avg Value: 115864 (-8164)
Avg Age: 21 (N/A)
Avg Form: pass (N/A)
Avg Experience: wretched (N/A)
No of players: 22 (-1)
Nationalities: 8 (-1)

Youth Pull, Week 19.10

Last week's youth pull went for too much at $50K and I'm grateful to GUINNESSOHOLICS who might have been drinking too much of his own product when he bought a low level 17yo passable defender for $50K. Hopefully I can get more of the luck this week as I pulled yet another who will not be hanging out in the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM). I doubt he'll go for nearly as much- I just happened to get someone to bite on Lott's overly high price. I've had a little luck with that lately. Todd's got good secondaries- maybe I'll keep him around as a winger. I'll probably try him out in the friendly next week.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 23
Youth Pull Grocers: 19 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 4 (+1)
Total Sold for: 412000 (+50000)

Youth Pull
Todd Crain (12825280)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A popular guy who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 32 000 US$
Wage: 660 US$/week
Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: inadequate
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: passable

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (N/C)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (N/C)

Sponsors: high on life (N/C)
Supporter Club: 1029 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: composed (up 1 level from irritated)
Confidence: decent (down 2 levels from strong)

A 10-1 massacre and our confidence goes down. Anyone want to try and explain this one?

Week In Review

On the Field
We played a PIC against a new league team and then got a player kicked off the pitch partways through the 2nd half so we only had 10. Plus the Dragons won 9-0. Ho-Hum, we still won 10-1 and retained our 3 goal series lead. This week will not be as easy with the Toledo Blades coming to the 'drome. For the FOFC Cup Group Play, we were one of two teams to run the table, winning 6-1 at the Missouri Tigers with Tizon scoring 4 goals. This week, we play the other team who went undefeated in group play in Brillig's Slithy Toves. Lots of tickets still available as the FOFC Elimination Round begins.

Off the Field
Sold last week's youth pull for $50K, sold Sanders for $250K and pulled another good youth pull. Wind sprints for everyone last week. Not much else and I'll go into the Sanders move below.

Comings and Goings
I don't like only training 5 players. Even my ***~ middie are only 22 and 24 so they are still gaining a little training each week. Sanders, if you don't remember was a 28yo bought to plug the hole we had earlier in the season before the UberTrainees(TM) came to town and improved even faster than expected. However, he kept some pretty bad form until the two weeks of general training where he bumped two levels twice to get to excellent and pulled down *** last week- the time was right to sell him so I put him up for $250K. Now it's time to get a trainee to replace him and Bastos will take his middie spot with his **~ last week. Time to find my next UberTrainee(TM).

Closing
I'm also long overdue for a stadium upgrade, but that will probably come in the offseason and I could use a few player upgrades but who knows when those will come. The race for promotion continues tomorrow against the Blades.

SI

sterlingice

06-19-2003, 04:40 PM

Preview
Coming down the stretch, I'm up on the Dragons by 3 in goal differential with 4 games left. We each have to play the 3rd place Toledo Blades and 4th place Flying Midgets as well as two games against the lower half of the series. Likely two games will be blowouts with the others much closer. There is definately a possiblity of a loss or two in there for us since both the Blades and Midgets play very strong defense which can really disrupt games. Today we have the Blades while the Dragons have the Midgets.

Game Summary
Date: 6/16/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544426
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15692

15692 spectators had come to The Hippodrome this cloudy day. Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Kimber - Stepp, Strömlius, Romo - Newsom, Benito, Connors, de Sousa Bastos, Starks - Solomon, Phelan.

Toledo had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. They fielded: González - Stachowicz, Li, Stinson, Fauconnier - Goodson, Rees, Tucci, Mohr, Tran - Hough.

Hippopotami had a good opportunity to take the lead as Edwin Phelan came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into thearms of José Alejandro González. 20 minutes into the game Steve Hough was a hair´s breadth away from giving Toledo the lead. A prompt block by Tim Kimber saved the home team that time. Toledo appeared unsure on how to play. Hippopotami made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in from the right hand side left Derrick Solomon completely alone with keeper José Alejandro González, who made a spectacular block. In the games 36:th minute Toledo´s Robert Goodson fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Robert Goodson for taking a dive. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 0. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 58 percent possession of the ball.

Toledo -coach had an extra briefing during the break, and after that his players looked a lot more organized. 47 minutes into the game Claudio Tucci was a hair´s breadth away from giving Toledo the lead. A prompt block by Tim Kimber saved the home team that time. Hippopotami created a good opportunity to score in the games 73rd minute when Edwin Phelan`s hooked ball created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. In the game's 77:th minute Toledo´s Robert Goodson limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. Hippopotamis Carlos Alberto Benito gave, after 78 minutes, the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. Toledo seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. Jesse Mohr made a run for the goal in the 84:th minute but the home teams far left defense managed to sort the situation out in the end. A well placed corner kick from Derrick Solomon was followed by Marcel Romo´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant 2-0 for Hippopotami. Hippopotamis Rickie Stepp got himself booked after a foul. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 56 percent possession rate.

Hippopotami´s best player was Carlos Alberto Benito. Thomas Strömlius on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Toledo player was Michael Stinson. Robert Goodson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 0.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
TB: 4-5-1

Events Summary

1st Half
Halftime Score: 0-0
Possession: 58%

2nd Half
HH: 78: Carlos Alberto Benito(5): 1-0
HH: 84: Marcel Romo(1): 2-0
Final Score: 2-0
Possession: 56%
Final Possession: 57%

Cards
HH: xx: Rickie Stepp (yellow- foul)

Injuries
None, thankfully

Stadium
Terraces: 9702/9702
Basic seats: 3850/3850
Seats under roof: 1740/1740
VIP seats: 400/400

Full 'drome- we really need to expand.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/59

Toledo Blades
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: outstanding (11)
Central Defence: brilliant (10)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: poor (3)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/58

Just one more point until a regular 60 (as opposed to the 68 from the MotS). That passable midfield sure looks good. The only thing that concerns me is the inad left side defense but some of that was the product of Bush being out of the game due to cards and the weaker Stepp in his place at left wingback. Wow- he puts up some sick defensive ratings, boys and girls. The Blades are a fine team but no one, including the Dragons, can match that passable midfield without MotS'ing.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Rickie Stepp **
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Marcel Romo (m) **~
WI Donald Newsom **~
MI Stephen Connors ***
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos (x) **~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon **

Total Stars: 28.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

Those star ratings are starting to drop a half on most guys since our form is down some after the Dragons game. I'm not too worried about a lot of these as long as they don't keep falling.

Three Stars
Kimber definately earned his metal today

Bronze: Marcel Romo
Romo follows up the two goals in last week's FOFC Cup game with one here
Silver: Carlos Alberto Benito
Carlos's clutch goal in the 78th minute was the game winner
Gold: Tim Kimber
"Timber" Kimber pitches the shutout including two saves!

Game Summary
Some very nervous moments as this game was scoreless most of the way and, if not for Tim Kimber, they would have had a lead. But that's why the man gets paid over $3700 per week. Benito's goal was clutch and Romo's goal made me breathe much easier. Not much of a chance to gain ground on the Dragons but they had a fight of their own on their hands.

Press Release
6/19/2003 at 01:46 Hippos Trudge Past Blades
Carlos Alberto Benito and Marcel Romo scored in the 78th and 84th minutes, breaking the scoreless deeadlock as the Hippos exc-exc-pass offense faced off against the Blades out-bril-form defense. With the Dragons only winning by 1, the Hippos slim lead raised to 4 goals with 3 games remaining for each teams. FOFC Round of 32 play begins this Wednesday as the Hippos host the only other undefeated team in Group Play in the Slithy Toves.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 11 52 - 12 30 59

2. CC's Dragons 11 44 - 8 30 59
3. Toledo Blades 11 20 - 16 20 58
4. The Flying Midgets 11 23 - 12 17 50

5. Buccabeavzers 11 25 - 33 13 39
6. Thumpers 11 15 - 38 8 40

7. goonz 11 15 - 45 6 40
8. Beneamata 11 12 - 42 4 32


Around the League
The Dragons played the Midgets while the bottom teams struggled to avoid relegation

The Flying Midgets - CC's Dragons 1 - 2
As I said above, the Dragons were in a defensive struggle of their own. They won possession by 64% and 68% with their inad vs poor midfield rating, however, the Midgets put up an out-form-exc defensive front. Lai Soon-Wah's eight goals tied teammate Lynn Whakaari for 3rd in the league behind Hippos Edwin Phelan (11) and Derrick Solomon (10). This increases our goal differential lead to 4: 40 to 36.

Beneamata - Buccabeavzers 2 - 6
With 10 points and his chasers only at 6, the Bucs had a chance to guarantee a relegation game as a worst case scenario. They took care of business putting up pass/inad at all ratings except midfield. With the results of the other games, Beneamata is all but guaranteed automatic relegation.

goonz - Thumpers 1 - 5
The Thumpers just started hattrick a couple of weeks ago. He joined up with the Kraftworks Union (I put a shameless plug above- we're still looking for members, if anyone's interested) and promptly started a thread: "How do I avoid relegation". Well, after getting some good responses to the "I've got my team so now what" thread, he goes out, beats the goonz, and looks to at least have a relegation game in his future.

Notes
We have a Round of 32 game against the Slithy Toves and we're hoping to advance pretty far in the FOFC Cup this year. Still, with subs, I think two wins in the Round of 32 is about as good as we can hope for. If you'll remember, the Slithy Toves were the only other team to run the table in FOFC Cup Group play so we have a fight on our hands. Then we have a game against the goonz next week at home. Also, I'm still short one trainee so I've been hitting the transfer wire pretty hard. I don't have a Div IV caliber team yet but I'm trying to get to that point. Then again, there's no guarantees I'll be in Div IV yet.

SI

sterlingice

06-19-2003, 08:12 PM

Preview
The Elimination Round of the FOFC Cup is underway. We drew the only other team who went undefeated in Group Play in Brillig's Slithy Toves. Hopefully our run and shoot can break their 4-5-1 so we can advance.

Game Summary
Date: 6/19/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7170616
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 1451

A scorching day at The Hippodrome, where 1451 spectators were in place for today´s match. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Buckley - Stepp, Miquel, Bush - Crain, Jörgensson, Hultman, de Sousa Bastos, Viseslav - Chang, Tizón.

Slithy tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. The following players had been chosen: Clifton - Fernández Rivier, Nourry, Navarro, Navarro - Bryant, Gardner, Fayet, Moffett, Tomasik - Vang.

Hippopotami were very close to putting themselves one up in the 2nd minute as José María Miquel got through, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Tobias Hultman received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 3rd minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Hippopotami broke through to the left in the 12th minute, Anders Jörgensson firing at an acute angle giving the home side a 1 - 0 lead. In the 26:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 2 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Juan Miguel Tizón coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. The visitors replied in the games 41st minute, scoring the 2 - 1 goal, as Michel Navarro broke through from the left, easily lobbing the ball over the home teams keeper. A great save by goaltender Ron Clifton in the 44:th minute kept the visitors in the game as Albino de Sousa Bastos struck from the left with a real cannonball. José María Miquel of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 44:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 2 - 1 was the half-time score. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 61 percent possession rate.

Defoe Chang should probably have put his team up another goal in the 47:th minute, but some great goaltending by Ron Clifton kept the visitors in the game. The referee showed Hippopotamis Juan Miguel Tizón the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Slithy were forced to a substitution as Chad Vang couldn´t continue playing due to the rough treatment. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Albino de Sousa Bastos squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 64:th minute, asserting the lead to 3 - 1. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 60 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Ivan Viseslav. Juan Miguel Tizón on the other hand, had a terrible day. Slithy´s best player was Ron Clifton. However, Philip Bryant made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 1.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names is their goal tally for the FOFC Cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
ST: 4-5-1

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 12: Anders Jörgensson (F1): 1-0
HH: 26: Juan Miguel Tizón(F8): 2-0
ST: 41: : 2-1
Halftime Score: 2-1
Possession: 61%

2nd Half
HH: 54: Albino de Sousa Bastos(F1): 3-1
HH: 41: *drawing back*
Final Score: 3-1
Possession: 60%
Final Possession: 61%

Cards
HH: 44: Jose Maria Miguel (yellow- unsportsmanlike conduct)

Injuries
None

Stadium
Terraces: 951/9702
Basic seats: 355/3850
Seats under roof: 115/1740
VIP seats: 30/400
Total: 1451/15692

We were supported by our biggest friendly crowd to date and I'm glad they got to see a win!

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: solid (7)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/47

Slithy Toves
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: poor (3)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 38/41

A weak midfield isn't too bad and definately better than last week's poor. I'm hoping that once I get a new trainee to take Bastos's spot, it will remain there or even bump to inad.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Rickie Stepp **
DM José María Miquel **~
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Todd Crain **
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos **~
MI Tobias Hultman (x) *~
MI Anders Jörgensson (n) **
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *
FO Dafoe Chang **

Total Stars: 22.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Todd Crain got ** and we're hoping he can keep that up. Tizon's pitiful rating is worrysome- it's the only reason why the man who has scored 8 goals in FOFC Cup isn't starting. I'm hoping Hultman moves up to ** soon.

Three Stars
The UberTrainees(TM) led the way today.

Bronze: Todd Crain
Two stars for the youth pull from last week may keep him on the team for good
Silver: Juan Miguel Tizon
Tizon scored his 8th FOFC Cup goal
Gold: UberTrainees(TM)
Jorgensson and Bastos scored their first goals of the FOFC Cup

Game Summary
I dunno- there isn't much to say about this game like last week's fixture it was kinda dull. I guess that's the 4-5-1 for ya. We were up for almost all of the game and with the possession advantage I wasn't too worried. Still, a win in the FOFC Cup is still a win and there are better teams than I who didn't get them.

Press Release
6/19/2003 at 23:47 Hippos Win Battle of Undefeateds
With the elimination play starting up, either the Hippos or the Slithy Toves would have to go home with their only loss in FOFC Cup play. Fortunately for Houston, two of the UberTrainees(TM), Anders Jorgensson and Albino de Sousa Bastos didn't want to see their first FOFC Cup end so soon, scoring goals and helping control possession, overcoming another grueling battle against a 4-5-1. Run-and-shoot mentor ardententhusiast's and his North County Raiders wait in the Round of 16 next week.

Round of 32 Results

HOME - AWAY
4 MoKan Mighty Bastards - Greenlight Superior FC 0
0 Ruskies - Long Island Pride 1
4 Bees - Frankfort United 1
5 Gargoyles - North Plainfield Plague 1
3 Midwest Ice Storm FC - Pintendre Pittbulls 0
3 Screamin' Seamen - Concord Assassins 5
8 Slumlords - West Henrietta FC 0
4 North County Raiders - White Sox Pride 2
0 Hamas Mad Bombers - AnalBumCovers 3
4 Galesburg Avengers - Boston Wyckyd Sceptre 1
4 Cedar Pond Horned Toads - Fairfax Admirals 2
2 Aardvarks - Complex Spikes 3
5 Chesapeake Cheapshots - Flying Condors 1
0 Arkham Avengers - NE Oklahoma Sidekicks 5
3 Negative Waves - Seagrove United 2
3 Houston Hippopotami - Slithy Toves 1

Two big upsets as the number 2 seed Ruskies get edged out by the Long Island Pride 1-0 while the Screamin' Seamen lost 5-3 to the Concord Assassins.

Round of 16 Preview

HOME - AWAY
MoKan Mighty Bastards - Long Island Pride
Bees - Concord Assassins
Gargoyles - AnalBumCovers
Midwest Ice Storm FC - Complex Spikes
Slumlords - NE Oklahoma Sidekicks
North County Raiders - Houston Hippopotami
Galesburg Avengers - Negative Waves
Cedar Pond Horned Toads - Chesapeake Cheapshots

We get the Run-and-Shoot masters in ardent's North County Raiders. Long Island and Concord try to get their second straight upsets.

Notes
I can't say I'm too optimistic about next week's game but I haven't scouted ardent's second team either. Unfortunately, I just can't afford to play the big team in the FOFC Cup in the middle of a title race in series. I'm still looking for a new trainee and maybe a little more: I've been browsing for a offensive middle defender, a nice striker, and set pieces ace for the big club.

SI

daedalus

06-19-2003, 09:35 PM

Originally posted by sterlingice
Kraftworks Union (K.U.)
Along with FOFC, I am also a member of the HAM and Daytrading Federations to read their conferences. It's not necessary to be a member of the fed to read the conference but I kindof wanted to. Anyways, a guy who really helped me out a lot, especially when I started, Havoc99, started a new fed and I figured I'd give it a shameless plug here. We're looking for people to join if you're interested.
I'm likely not knowledgable enough to add anything to the discussions but I'd be more than glad to offer up my support for your friend's federation. I haven't joined anything else other than FOFC's, anyhow. Heh.

sterlingice

06-20-2003, 12:16 AM

Originally posted by daedalus
I'm likely not knowledgable enough to add anything to the discussions but I'd be more than glad to offer up my support for your friend's federation. I haven't joined anything else other than FOFC's, anyhow. Heh.

Oh, that's hardly fair- you've read practically every hattrick thread here and give good advice. You'd definately be a welcome member!

SI

daedalus

06-20-2003, 12:59 AM

*flex* That shows I am skilled at recycling advices from threads I read into threads I write! Hee hee. :)

sterlingice

06-22-2003, 04:54 AM

Hatstats
I love perusing these lists. It's vanity, sure, but it's just cool to see one's name in lights, so to speak. FYI: all rankings are for Div V only, unless otherwise noted. We still haven't slipped off the misunderstood list as our 14 yellow cards are good for 88th in the game (49th in Div V). Thank god, I didn't land in V.2 as three of the 15 teams are on the most expensive list including a pair at over $6M. Those teams need to promote, badly. In Kraftworks, I heard a new term, Water Buffalo, for those teams that stick in a division and won't move. We didn't make the expensive list this week and that's just fine with me. However, our 59 rating was good for 57th and with pretty good scores across the series, we ranked 18th in all of Div V. I'd check out our USA rank, but it doesn't appear to be working as it only compiled series from IV and V. Speaking of which, DK's death march of IV.49 was top in all of Div IV. That's just scary and it's led by those dangerous Croats at 80 NSI!

Training
Back to playmaking this week. Other than the trainees that I'm unsure of, no one else is due for a bump. Connors and Benito won't bump to excellent and formidable until about halfway through next year. Connors is 24 and only has 4 weeks from his bump to solid and Benito is 22 and only has had one week since his bump to excellent.

Future Training
Playmaking, playmaking, playmaking. It's time to get in some more training and hopefully bump up a trainee or two.

Form
Starters: (+1) (-2)
Entire Team: (+5) (-3)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Stromlius Solomon Benito Bastos Connors
Passable: Starks Kimber Newsom Romo Bush Phelan
Inadequate: -NONE-
Weak (or below): -NONE-

A couple more forms bumped back down to passable but all of our starters are either solid or passable so I'm not complaining one bit.

Value
Starters: (+6) (-4)
Entire Team: (+13) (-5)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 6(N/A)/8(N/A)
Above $200K: 3(N/A)/3(N/A)
Above $300K: 2(+1)/2(+1)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($470K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($306K)
Milestones: Carlos Alberto Benito ($300K)

This is Benito's first week at over $300K! Starks may soon join him as he's at $292K.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 28034 (+2474)
Total Value: 2741000 (+192000)
Avg Value: 109640 (-6224)
Avg Age: 20 (-1)
Avg Form: pass (N/A)
Avg Experience: wretched (N/A)
No of players: 24 (+2)
Nationalities: 8 (+1)

Youth Pull, Week 19.11

Last week's youth pull, Todd Crain found a spot on the team! He will be our new second string winger. Unfortunately, this week's youth pull, Clyde Bateman earned himself a spot at the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly(TM).

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 24
Youth Pull Grocers: 20 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 4 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 1 (+1)
Total Sold for: 412000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Clyde Bateman (13063562)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and passable leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 8 000 US$
Wage: 540 US$/week
Stamina: poor Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: wretched
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: poor

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (N/C)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (N/C)

Sponsors: high on life (N/C)
Supporter Club: 1053 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: composed (N/C)
Confidence: decent (N/C)

Argh- no change at all in TS or Confidence. I was hoping to get some improvement in these so I can score more down the stretch and/or a promotion game.

Week In Review

On the Field
This was definately one of the most boring weeks on the field: a pair of 4-5-1 opponents. We snuck by the Blades with 2 goals in the last 15 minutes for a 2-0 win. Then we played Brillig's Slithy Toves in our FOFC Cup Round of 32 game and ground out a 3-1 win on the strength of two goals by our UberTrainees(TM) and Tizon's 8th (yes, 8!) FOFC Cup goal.

Off the Field
See below: lots going on.

Roster Storms Brewing
(NOTE: There are any number of clichés I could have gone with but I picked this one) For those devoted followers with impeccable memories, you will remember Storm Jordan. Ok, I realize that last sentence referred to all of none of you, but that’s not important. I used to have a player with the cool name of Storm Jordan. Try it- it just rolls off your tongue: Storm Jordan. Now try it in that announcer's voice: "Storrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmm Jorrrrrrrrrdaaaaaan". Cool, right? Well, unfortunately, I had to sell him off and tried to get a cheaper player with a cool name but no dice. Well, now we have another storm. Welcome, new UberTrainee(TM) Daniel Storm! He only has weak stamina but he's 17yo with solid playmaking, a value of $85K (high for someone with that low of stamina), and head speciality. He came to us from Boldklubben Stjernen in Denmark, where he was a youth pull a couple of weeks ago. Daniel gets the #18 recently vacated by Maarten Sanders.

Last week's youth pull, Todd Crain, put up ** at offensive winger for the B Team last week and will replace Bjorn Magnusson whose hideous form has caused him to only get * recently and he was already on his way out. Bjorn was going to give him his number 14 on the way out, but Storm wanted that one instead and Crain couldn't give two licks and traded. Unfortunately, that's where the number musical chairs begins. Lastly, we bring in a set pieces ace to try out for a game or two. He's got formidible set pieces, excellent stamina, and solid passing but only wretched scoring, it's 24yo Ramon María Balcol. He's in wretched form but there's no place for him to go but up and when he does, I'll sell him or keep him depending on performance. This opens the door for us to sell Dafoe Chang who isn't bad, but he doesn't really offer the team much. He has excellent stamina but only passable scoring and weak passing and wretched set pieces. He has been sent to market with a price tag of $25K which will go down if we don't sell him at that price. I've been looking for a set pieces badass at forward and Balcol will get that chance on the B Team before possibly moving up when Solomon retires which will be at the end of this season or next.

So, in a summary that has all the feel of a cable lineup reshuffling:
Daniel Storm gets plucked off the transfer wire with #18 which he traded for #14
Todd Crain got youth pulled last week, stays on, and takes the #18
New set pieces ace Ramon María Balcol gets the #24 that used to go to our clown
Our clown Silviu Radu goes to #3 since he's the third string goalie anyways
Which, in turn, makes Thomas Strömlius move to #7 which was previously unused.
Current Hippos Bjorn Magunusson and Dafoe Chang have been sent to the transfer wire
But some things never change as the youth pull gets shot out of cannon...

Closing
We'll be PIC'ing this Sunday at home and then Wednesday, we face Ardent's Raiders in the FOFC Cup Round of 16!

SI

sterlingice

06-23-2003, 03:52 AM

Preview
We have a 4 goal lead over the Dragons. Next week, we both have tough defensive struggles but this week and the week after next will determine the series. We have games with the lower division teams and this week could look a lot like games a couple of weeks ago when I won 10-1 but he won 9-0 to keep pace. This week we play the goonz, a team who is in the lower section of our haves and have nots series. However, he has bought a couple of players since taking over and seems pretty active so maybe they are on the way up. We'll win this one with a PIC on the road- it's just a matter of how handily and how much will the Dragons win by and the rest who want to promote out of Div V, for that matter, since we're hanging around in the 130s and the autopromtion line is at 128.

Game Summary
Date: 6/23/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544428
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15692

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 15692 to The Hippodrome. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Kimber - Bush, Strömlius, Romo - Starks, Benito, Connors, de Sousa Bastos, Newsom - Solomon, Phelan.

goonz started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Picone - Sowell, Bernardo, Randle, Noguerol - Claesson, Barnes, Jones, Gaither - Urbaneja Pérez, Wolff.

In the 10:th minute cheers broke out as Donald Newsom found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 1 - 0 goal in for Hippopotami. Stephen Connors almost managed to score another goal for Hippopotami, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. After 12 minutes goonz´s Shad Jones contracted a slight foot injury, but could finish the game. A well placed corner kick from Derrick Solomon was followed by Marcel Romo´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant 2-0 for Hippopotami. In the 24:th minute Hippopotami´s Edwin Phelan tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net. Elmer Bush of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 36:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The home sides Derrick Solomon twisted a free kick home in the 37:th minute, putting Hippopotami ahead 3 - 0. The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. The teams went for a half-time break at 3 - 0. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 72 percent, dominated the battle.

Edwin Phelan should probably have put his team up another goal in the 53rd minute, but some great goaltending by Valerio Picone kept the visitors in the game. In the 56:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Stephen Connors dashed through, knocking home 4 - 0 for Hippopotami. Derrick Solomon increased Hippopotamis lead to 5 - 0 by putting a header away on a hooked ball from the right. Edwin Phelan should probably have put his team up another goal in the 74:th minute, but some great goaltending by Valerio Picone kept the visitors in the game. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Carlos Alberto Benito squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 85:th minute, asserting the lead to 6 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 79 percent possession rate.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Carlos Alberto Benito. However, Marcel Romo made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating goonz player was without a doubt Brent Wolff. Víctor Noguerol on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 6 - 0.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
G: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 10: Donald Newsom(4): 1-0
HH: 24: Marcel Romo(2): 2-0
HH: 37: Derrick Solomon(11): 3-0
HH: 37: *pulling back*
Halftime Score: 3-0
Possession: 72%

2nd Half
HH: 56: Stephen Connors(4): 4-0
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon(12): 5-0
HH: 85: Carlos Alberto Benito(6): 6-0
Final Score: 6-0
Possession: 79%
Final Possession: 76%

Cards
HH: 36: Elmer Bush (yellow- unsportsmanlike behavior)

Injuries
None

Stadium
Terraces: 9702/9702
Basic seats: 3850/3850
Seats under roof: 1740/1740
VIP seats: 400/400

Another sellout. Hm... expansion plans are in the works but haven't been set in stone yet.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: excellent (8)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 52/57

goonz
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: inadequate (5)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 38/40

Hmm... at home but a PIC means our midfield backed off to an inad. Ooh- special mention to PilotMan and that disturbing outstanding midfield. No Div V team should have an outstanding midfield :D

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Elmer Bush **~
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Marcel Romo **
WI Mick Starks (o) **~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos (x) **~
MI Stephen Connors ***~
WI Donald Newsom **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~

Total Stars: 30.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Play It Cool

Well, I think the only bad news I can find is Romo being only ** instead of his extra half star. Oh, did I mention that I got the same 30.0 I got for the Dragons game, Connors and Benito are back to being the ***~ twins, Starks is back to the *** I've come to expect from him, and 30yo Derrick Solomon scored **~ for the first time ever as a member of the Hippos.

Three Stars
Go figure: Derrick Solomon took the series goal lead despite playing most of the first half of the season on the B Team

Bronze: Stephen Connors/Carlos Alberto Benito
The star middies both get ***~ ratings and goals
Silver: Marcel Romo
Romo scores his second header in two games
Gold: Derrick Solomon
Solomon takes back the series lead in goals scored with numbers 11 and 12 and Edwin Phelan missed on his two chances

Game Summary
We won 6-0. A few things of note are in the press release below.

Press Release
6/23/2003 at 10:07 Hippos Roll Over Goonz
Derrick Solomon's 11th and 12th goals of the season gave him the series lead over teammate Edwin Phelan who missed on both of his chances as the Hippos beat the goonz 6-0 in front of another sold out crowd at the Hippodrome. Not bad for a player who, despite being last year's leading scorer for the Hippos, started the year on the B Team due to a form slump. The game also featured "Timber" Kimber's 3rd shutout in 4 games and wingback Marcel Romo's second straight week with a header goal.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 12 58 - 12 33 57

2. CC's Dragons 12 49 - 9 33 62
3. Toledo Blades 12 20 - 17 20 56
4. The Flying Midgets 12 23 - 13 17 50

5. Buccabeavzers 12 26 - 33 16 40
6. Thumpers 12 16 - 38 11 50

7. goonz 12 15 - 51 6 40
8. Beneamata 12 13 - 47 4 33


Around the League
We won by 6, let's see how the Dragons did. Also, our series is getting deeper: check out the upsets.

CC's Dragons - Beneamata 5 - 1
"Only" a 4 goal win which gives us a 6 goal differential lead! The Dragons won possession by 86% and 94% with their passable midfield versus Beneamata's disastrous. He only put up 28 stars but a 62 NSI: WOW! 3rd and 6th highest series scorers Lynn Whakaari and Gough Fitter added to their tallys. It seems really unfair that only one of our teams will promote this year.

Thumpers - The Flying Midgets 1 - 0
Fellow Kraftworks member Thumpers all but guaranteed themselves a relegation game with this upset over the Midgets. Both teams put up NSIs of 50 but the Thumpers inad vs poor midfield advantage gave them 63% possession. The Thumpers are getting the most out of their talent as that 50 came with only 22.5 stars.

Toledo Blades - Buccabeavzers 0 - 1
Toledo, too, fell victim to an upset at the Buccabeavzers got passable or inadequate on every rating except midfield and were able to break the mag-mag-exc defense of the Blades. The Blades missed the only offensive chance generated by their wret-weak-pass offense in a dirty game where the zebras issued 4 cards.

Notes
It's looking more and more like I'll have the shot to advance but it's not over yet. Next week, I'll have to break the tough defense of the Midgets on the road and then build up some goal differential in my last game of the year. This week, in FOFC Cup Round of 16 play, we face the master of the run-and-shoot, ArdentEnthusiast who played a 2-5-3 today just to get more offense. I admire that man's thinking :D

SI

sterlingice

06-23-2003, 06:22 PM

Breaking News
"Oh, hey Havoc- I figured I'd see you here. My name is SterlingIce and I'm a transfer wire addict." :D

Well, Jorgensson, our very first UberTrainee(TM) was not of the caliber of some of our recent players and not as good a winger trainee as I had thought. He has yet to even bump to passable playmaking at 18 making him pretty useless. Still, he gets 2.5 stars when played as a middie towards wing. So, on a whim, I put him up for $200K even tho, in a bidding war, he's unlikely to fetch half that, someone bid on him: UIW who is #7 in V.249, which sony luangphone is leading.

This, of course, required me to find a new trainee and I wasted no time, finding a 17yo solid PM by the name of Robert Tryggvesson who used to belong to The BoozeHounds who are the leaders of V.152, the series in which NAIWF's Manhattan Marauders are #3. In typically Hippos fashion, our new #17 had this reaction: "A newly bought player got a really bad start when he arrived in the club. The team spirit fell when he initially turned out not to get along very well with the other ones."

Robert Tryggvesson (12375514)
17 years, passable form, healthy
A nasty fellow who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Speciality: Quick
Nationality: Sverige
Assessed value: 76 000 US$
Wage: 936 US$/week including 20% Bonus

Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: wretched
Winger: weak Defending: inadequate
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: wretched

Well, so on another whim, I listed all three of my 17yo solid trainees for $400K (yes, even the cooly named Daniel Storm). If I get any bites... well, my team will be due for another couple of changes but I doubt anyone will. Still, it's worth $3K for a shot at really helping my team (buying another trainee for $200K then going shopping for the striker and defender I've been looking for). And it's a win/win situation: if no one buys any up, I'll just train them as I had previously planned.

SI

NAIWF

06-23-2003, 06:34 PM

You bastard! :D

Just kidding. I'm hoping the BoozeHounds move up and out this year, and I think they can do that even without autopromoting. If they don't I'm sure they will next season, which will be a tough pill to swallow, but will allow me another season to train 'D' without having serious title aspirations. The guy's splurged a lot and upgraded his stadium to 30,000 seats, so he's not planning to stick around from what I can see. But I will hold you personally responsible if he doesn't get out of my series by next season, oh yes I will.

Masked

06-23-2003, 06:46 PM

Originally posted by sterlingice
So, on a whim, I put him up for $200K even tho, in a bidding war, he's unlikely to fetch half that, someone bid on him: UIW who is #7 in V.249, which sony luangphone is leading.

Damn, you're lucky. I am also in in V.249, and UIW hadn't logged in for weeks until yesterday.

The Afoci

06-23-2003, 07:15 PM

Nice pick up. I love his name, Robert "You can just call me Bob" Gawperua;ajsghwpeuit9erauiopsfyhgggasdgfhqwetasdggqtg'.zxvvaghiutahdson.

DataKing

06-23-2003, 07:17 PM

Originally posted by The Afoci
Nice pick up. I love his name, Robert "You can just call me Bob" Gawperua;ajsghwpeuit9erauiopsfyhgggasdgfhqwetasdggqtg'.zxvvaghiutahdson.

How do you pronounce that?

The Afoci

06-23-2003, 07:22 PM

Originally posted by DataKing
How do you pronounce that?

Its really not that hard if you break it down in to small parts:

Gaw
peru
a; This is where it gets difficult, how do yo pronounce a ';'
aj
sgh I assume this is similiar to 'sigh'
wpeuit Ummm...
9er
auiopsfyhgggasdgfhqwetasdggqtg'.zxvvaghiutahdson. Screw it I give up...

sterlingice

06-23-2003, 07:22 PM

Originally posted by DataKing
How do you pronounce that?

He's Sweedish so you'll have to forgive him. Judging by stereotypes, his parents spend all their days very busy: his dad shoveling snow and his mom being a member of the Sweedish Bikini team.

SI

DataKing

06-23-2003, 07:24 PM

Originally posted by sterlingice
He's Sweedish so you'll have to forgive him. Judging by stereotypes, his parents spend all their days very busy: his dad shoveling snow and his mom being a member of the Sweedish Bikini team.

SI

MILF! :D

The Afoci

06-23-2003, 07:24 PM

Is he pretty like his mother or rugged like his father?

NAIWF

06-25-2003, 09:38 PM

Your 8-1 drubbing today was the punishment for buying from The BoozeHounds :D

sterlingice

06-25-2003, 09:40 PM

Originally posted by NAIWF
Your 8-1 drubbing today was the punishment for buying from The BoozeHounds :D

I'm still in mourning or else, I'll have had my writeup by now.

(Actually, I'm playing around in another game but that's none of your filthy concern ;) )

SI

sterlingice

07-02-2003, 12:49 AM

Well, my self-imposed writing break is over. It was one of those "I waited a day and then waited another so then decided to just wait a week" and now I feel a bit more willing to do some writeups. They will be forthcoming between now and Thursday before I leave for the 4th.

SI

sterlingice

07-03-2003, 03:50 AM

Preview
I'd be a lot more enthusiastic about this matchup because it really should have been a fun one. I could have talked it up as being about two of the biggest offensive juggernauts in a high scoring fun-n-gun shootout. Or I could have mentioned how it was one of those teacher v student matchups that the NCAA Hoops committee loves so much. Or how it is a matchup of two teams with really good showings in Group Play who advanced into the FOFC Cup round of 16. Unfortunately, I know the outcome and it was not pretty.

Game Summary
Date: 6/26/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7203853
Arena: North County Raiders Arena
Crowd: 1714

1714 spectators had come to North County Raiders Arena this cloudy day. Raiders had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Martinez - Lyon, Piotrowski, Boykin - Dailey, Albrecht, Claassen, Castle - Cagle, Lay, Wagner.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Buckley - Stepp, Miquel, Bush - Viseslav, Hultman, Tryggvesson, Storm, Crain - Tizón, Balcol.

In the 21st minute cheers broke out as Burton Cagle found his way through the guests central defense line, clipping the 1 - 0 goal in for Raiders. Daniel Storm of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 33rd minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Some brilliant football from the visitors right wing resulted in a 35:th minute levelling of scores as Hippopotamis José María Miquel equalised to 1 - 1. Raiderss Burton Cagle gave, after 38 minutes, the home team a 2 - 1 lead after an attack coming in from the right. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Burton Cagle squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 41st minute, asserting the lead to 3 - 1. At that, Burton Cagle was noted down for a hat trick. 3 - 1 was the half-time score. Raiders held the ball, with a clear 62 percent possession rate.

Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Dan Wagner squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 49:th minute, asserting the lead to 4 - 1. As Todd Crain had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the Hippopotami player a red card without batting an eye. Seemingly due to lack of experience, Robert Tryggvesson needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. In the 84:th minute of the match the visitors central line of defence had to look on as Thomas Piotrowski dashed through, knocking home 5 - 1 for Raiders. The structure of the game started to change as Raiders decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. After 84 minutes, Dan Wagner managed to intercept a pass intended for the opposing keeper and flip it in, making the score 6 - 1. After 87 minutes Dan Wagner put Raiders ahead 7 - 1 as he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. By then Dan Wagner was a three time scorer - a hat trick! Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Dan Wagner squirmed himself through the central defense line in the 89:th minute, asserting the lead to 8 - 1. Raiders´s Waldo Martinez left the field after 89 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Trevor Penn. Raiders, bringing the final ball possession rate to 76 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Raiders player was without a doubt Sam Albrecht. Ciske Claassen was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Ivan Viseslav. However, Ramon María Balcol made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 8 - 1.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names is their goal tally for the FOFC Cup
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
NCR: 3-4-3

Events Summary

1st Half
NCR: 21: 0-1
HH: 35: José María Miquel (F1): 1-1
NCR: 38: 1-2
NCR: 41: 1-3
Halftime Score: 1-3
Possession: 38%

2nd Half
NCR: 49: 1-4
NCR: 84: 1-5
NCR: 84: 1-6

NCR: 87: 1-7
NCR: 89: 1-8
Final Score: 1-8
Possession: 24%
Final Possession: 31%

Cards
HH: 33: Daniel Storm (yellow- unsportsmanlike conduct)
HH: xx: Todd Crain (red- unprovoked leg sweep)

Injuries
None, but we got one of his: the humorously named Waldo Martinez

Stadium
Terraces: 0/9702
Basic seats: 0/3850
Seats under roof: 0/1740
VIP seats: 0/400
Total: 0/15692

Our largest friendly crowd ever. Too bad it was at their place. Just goes to show that ardent's got a huge fan base. Our third highest total ever was 1400 against him in our second ever friendly quite a long while ago.

Team Ratings

North County Raiders
Midfield: weak (4)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: formidable (9)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 46/50

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Right Side Attack: passable (5)
Central Attack: poor (3)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 33/35

Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. There's no silver lining to be had here.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Rickie Stepp **~
DM José María Miquel **~
DW Elmer Bush **~
WI Ivan Viseslav (o) **~
MI Robert Tryggvesson (w) *~
MI Tobias Hultman (x) *~
MI Daniel Storm *~
WI Todd Crain RED CARD
FO Juan Miguel Tizón *~
FO Ramon María Balcol ~

Total Stars: 18.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Keep in mind Crain's ** isn't here since he was kicked out, but still... these are awful. It's official, our B Team has been gutted. Jorgensson and Bastos, a pair of **~ middies have been replaced by Storm and Tryggvesson who only put up *~ but that will probably change with stamina training in the offseason. The Balcol experiment failed. He has solid passing and formidable set pieces but only wretched scoring. That ~ performance hurts. Badly. Um... at least the defense played to form? Well, yeah, Stepp got back to **~ and Miguel scored the lone goal. Then again, they let 8 goals through...

Three Stars
Um... hard to pick today and probably one of the worst golds ever

Bronze: Sidney Buckley
Keeper didn't commit suicide... you gotta give him that
Silver: Todd Crain
You know what- a red card will usually get you a medal :D
Gold: Jose Maria Miguel
Sure the defense let in 8 but he scored the only one of the game and posted **~

Game Summary
We got completely taken out of our game. Ardent blitzed us and our lack of stamina in the trainees gave us absolutely no help in possession. We lost the possession battle and gave up outrageous goals. Dan Wagner scored 3 goals between the 84th and 87th minutes! His 4 second half goals along with Burton Cagle's hat trick in the first half obliterated us. These boys need some stamina training but that will have to wait a couple of weeks until the offseason. Look on the bright side: at least we collected our second ever red card :D

Press Release
6/28/2003 at 04:34 Hippos Ran and Shot from FOFC Cup
In a battle of two of the most prolific run-and-shoot teams in FOFC, ardent's North County Raiders showed why he was the teacher and the Hippos still the students. Burton Cagle got a hattrick in the first half and Dan Wagner got one in the second half as the Raiders 3-4-3 was too much for the Hippos 3-5-2 H-Gun. The Hippos FOFC Cup MVP is Miguel Tizon with 8 goals. With the Hippos FOFC Cup run at an end, they will be looking to do a little traveling for friendlies; this week it's Hong Kong.

Round of 16 Results

HOME - AWAY
3 MoKan Mighty Bastards - Long Island Pride 0
0 Bees - Concord Assassins 3
4 Gargoyles - AnalBumCovers 1
1 Midwest Ice Storm FC - Complex Spikes 2
8 Slumlords - NE Oklahoma Sidekicks 0
8 North County Raiders - Houston Hippopotami 1
2 Galesburg Avengers - Negative Waves 4
0 Cedar Pond Horned Toads - Chesapeake Cheapshots 5

Concord keeps plowing along, this time beating the Bees. Complex Spikes take down Midwest Ice Storm FC in a battle of 4-5-1's while Negative Waves and Chesapeake Cheapshots score minor upsets.

Round of 16 Preview

HOME - AWAY
MoKan Mighty Bastards - Concord Assassins
Gargoyles - Complex Spikes
Slumlords - Negative Waves
North County Raiders - Chesapeake Cheapshots

The #65 Assassins will try to continue their improbable run and the Raiders will move on to meet Chesapeake.

Notes
Well, that was wholly unpleasant. We had a 23-5 goal differential in the Cup coming in and laid a big egg. Granted, quite a bit of that was the result of shuffling around the team and putting the new trainees in place. Still, that hurt. Just goes to show how good some of those hattrick veterans really are. Next week, we will travel to Hong Kong to take on the Chow Chows then I'm lining up a couple of matches against supporters including a return grudge match with a team we've already played twice (suprisingly, not Morrisville) and one we haven't played at all.

SI

sterlingice

07-03-2003, 03:52 AM

Training
No bumps, but we aren't expecting other for a couple of weeks. Just kindof a ho-hum training week but form is staying up so that's good news.

Future Training
Playmaking this week, another week and then stamina in the offseason.

Form
Starters: (+4) (-1)
Entire Team: (+7) (-3)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Connors (exc) Starks Kimber Newsom Stromlius Solomon Bastos
Passable: Romo Bush Phelan
Inadequate: Benito
Weak (or below): -NONE-

Benito dropped two levels to inad form but he's not losing his starting job with that. I'm hoping this is just a little mini-slump. Over the course of his career, he's had pretty high form, never below inad.

Value
Starters: (+7) (-3)
Entire Team: (+12) (-6)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 6(NC)/7(-1)
Above $200K: 3(NC)/3(NC)
Above $300K: 2(NC)/2(NC)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($498K)
Outfield Leader: Mick Starks ($306K)
Milestones: Mick Starks ($300K)

Benito's little form crash dropped him back from his $306K last week to $268K but team captain Mick Starks finally broke $300K after flirting with the $280K line most of the season.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 25986 (-2048)
Total Value: 2638000 (-103000)
Avg Value: 114696 (+5056)
Avg Age: 21 (+1)
Avg Form: pass (N/A)
Avg Experience: wretched (N/A)
No of players: 23 (-1)
Nationalities: 9 (+1)

Youth Pull, Week 19.12

Our solid youth squad continues to produce sub-standard players. Our latest stock boy in the Hippos Memorial Piggly Wiggly (TM) is Song Che-Yin.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 25
Youth Pull Grocers: 20 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 4 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 1 (+0)
Total Sold for: 412000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Song Che-Yin (13293753)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is fiery and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 7 000 US$
Wage: 520 US$/week

Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: wretched
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: disastrous

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (N/C)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (N/C)

Sponsors: high on life (N/C)
Supporter Club: 1077 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: composed (N/C)
Confidence: wonderful (up two levels from decent)

Some confidence is good. Also, we should break 1100 supporters next week. If we get promoted, that's at least 1200 to start off next year. We need that new stadium.

Week In Review

On the Field
We thrashed the goonz 6-0 on Kimber's second straight shutout and 3rd in 4 games, a pair of goals by Solomon, and another pair by the midfield. The Dragons only won by 4 so now we're up 6 with only 2 to go. Unfortunately, we were not so fortunate in the FOFC Cup. Our undefeated run came crashing down about us as ardent's run-n-gun Raiders destroyed us 8-1. The good news to come out of that game is that we now have 3 solid 17yo PMs but news on that is below.

Off the Field
Anders Jorgennson just didn't fit in with the rest of our UberTrainees(TM). Frankly, he just wasn't as good as the others, so he was put on the market with the really high price of $200K. Fortunately, someone bit and so we welcomed "Robert 'You can just call me Bob' Gawperua;ajsghwpeuit9erauiopsfyhgggasdgfhqwetasdggqtg'.zxvvaghiutahdson" (or at least, that's what he's referred to as in crawfish country. Robert Tryggvesson joins Daniel Storm and Tobias Hultman to compose the new, improved UberTrainees(TM). Proving it's an even smaller world than first thought, both sony and Masked are in the division of the team who bought Jorgennson. NAIWF was none too pleased as I bought him from a series competitor and we blame his curse for the loss to ardent :D Also, we sold Dafoe Chang, backup forward, for $25K.

Closing
Our last challenge of the season comes next week at the Flying Midgets against their tough defense. For a truly leisurely match, we are heading to Hong Kong for some time in the exotic city for our friendly on Wednesday.

SI

sterlingice

07-03-2003, 03:53 AM

Preview
It's our last big challenge of the season. Next week against Beneamata should be a cakewalk and our scoring prowess will be put to the test but the game isn't really in doubt. This week, we will play The Flying Midgets who typically sport a nasty 4-5-1 which makes goals hard to come by. They've been a bit in flux lately, however. They sold off their most visible player in goalie Svarg Ram and got $650K for him and have bought up a couple of players to improve elsewhere so I'm not really sure what to expect from them.

Game Summary
Date: 6/30/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544431
Arena: Joe C. Memorial Arena
Crowd: 8264

8264 spectators arrived at Joe C. Memorial Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Midgets tactics involved an interesting 4-3-3 combination. They fielded: Whitt - Álvarez Sánchez, Lugo, Bond, Noe - Stern, Greenfield, Griffith - Blombom, Aastrup, Winiak.

Hippopotami started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Strömlius, Romo - Newsom, Benito, Connors, de Sousa Bastos, Starks - Solomon, Phelan.

Some quick foot work on the left side of the field in the 18:th minute left Hippopotami´s Donald Newsom completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors. After the ball got lifted in from the left Edwin Phelan was on his own in the home side´s penalty area 20 minutes into the game, and should have scored, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. The visitors Edwin Phelan took advantage of an error due to a misunderstanding between the home side´s goalie and full backs in the 20:th minute. 0 - 2 for Hippopotami. Donald Newsom was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box - Edwin Phelan managed to kick one of them into 0 - 3 in the 21st minute. After this Hippopotami lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. Stephen Connors came close to extending the visitors lead as he, completely unmarked in front of the goal, lifted a ball over Gordon Whitt, hitting the bar. 0 - 3 was the half-time score. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 80 percent possession rate.

In the 47:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 0 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. Scorer was Stephen Connors. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 87 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Midgets player was without a doubt Laverne Griffith. Trent Greenfield was a disappointment, however. Most important Hippopotami player was Stephen Connors. However, Marcel Romo made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 0 - 4.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
FM: 4-3-3

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 18: Donald Newsom(5): 1-0
HH: 20: Edwin Phelan (12): 2-0
HH: 21: Edwin Phelan (13): 3-0
HH: 21: *pulling back*
Halftime Score: 3-0
Possession: 80%

2nd Half
HH: 47: Stephen Connors(5): 4-0
Final Score: 4-0
Possession: 87%
Final Possession: 84%

Cards
Clean game

Injuries
None

Stadium
Terraces: 0/9702
Basic seats: 0/3850
Seats under roof: 0/1740
VIP seats: 0/400

The Midgets drew a modest 8200 fans- not a good crowd but not a good crowd, either.

Team Ratings

The Flying Midgets
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: solid (7)
Central Defence: formidable (9)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/45

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: inadequate (5)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: solid (7)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: formidable (9)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/58

He put up some pretty good ratings on the defense, as usual, but we played a balanced game. Plus with that 3-level midfield, we actually had set up a picnic blanket on his side of the pitch and a few of the defenders were busy eating lunch while the Connors, Benito, and co. controlled the ball.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Elmer Bush **~
DM Thomas Strömlius **~
DW Marcel Romo **
WI Mick Starks (o) ***
MI Stephen Connors ***~
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos (x) **~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***
WI Donald Newsom **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~

Total Stars: 30.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

Starks is back up to ***, Romo back down to ** and Benito back to *** instead of that extra half star. No big news here.

Three Stars
Tough choice between the top 2

Bronze: Donald Newsom
Scored the first goal and assisted on another
Silver: Edwin Phelan
His two goals in two minutes takes back the goal lead from teammate Derrick Solomon
Gold: Tim Kimber
Timber gets the nod with his third straight shutout

Game Summary
Apparently all the sales from the Midgets (they sold more than just Ram) gutted the team some and running a 4-3-3 hurt. Their good defense and the fact that we pulled back were the only things that kept this from being a massacre.

Press Release
7/2/2003 at 11:32 Phelan's Goals Give Him Lead, Hippos Win
Edwin Phelan scored 2 goals in the first half to take the lead in the V.62 scoring race away from teammate Derrick Solomon and "Timber" Kimber got his third straight shutout as Houston beat the Flying Midgets and new starting goalie Gordon Whitt. Donald Newsom and Stephen Connors also scored for the Hippos, who are starting to pull away from the Dragons in the race for promotion with a lead that now stands at 7 goals. Houston finishes up at home against Beneamata next week.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
eep- I forgot to update this and I don't really want to recalculate.
Rest assured, I'm still in 1st and, as for the Dragons, well, see below.


Around the League
We had a 6 goal differential coming in...

Toledo Blades - goonz 2 - 0
A kindof boring game unless your name was Jesse Mohr for the Blades. He missed a shot in the first half then scred a goal, "behaved like an inexperienced youth player", and then just missed another goal in the second half and also "had a terrible day". It was an eventful day for the Blades ** midfielder. The Blades 5-4-1 put up mag-wc-out defensive ratings. WOW!

Beneamata - Thumpers 0 - 6
The Thumpers are continuing to roll and could be a dangerous team next year. Beneamata just got blitzed at home.

Buccabeavzers - CC's Dragons 1 - 4
I was really worried about this game as the Dragons could have annihilated the Bucs. But after scoring 4 in the 1st half, they pulled back and didn't score again in the game. Dragons put up a 61 NSI.

Notes
Yeah, this is a couple of weeks late in delivery but, oh well, it couldn't be helped.. One week to decide the series and an international friendly in exotic Hong Kong this week.

SI

sterlingice

07-03-2003, 04:36 AM

Preview
I'd like to get out and see the world: I'd really like to have my team visit all the countries I can. However, small and esoteric is the way to go for me. The problem with that is finding a team who plays about on my level for friendlies. Fortunately, I checked the Friendly Ads and ran across a team from Hong Kong called the Chow Chows. They play a 5-3-2 and put up nice defensive numbers but not much of a midfield or attack so I figured I could hang with them. Not only that but they draw 2K-5K crowds which has got to be good for recouping lost travel money.

Also, I want to put out a hearty thanks to Apoorvahk who is # 1 in IV.20 Hong Kong who was very friendly and a gracious host!

Game Summary
Date: 7/2/2003 at 11:00
MatchID: 7231818
Arena: Whiskas Bowl
Crowd: 3652

3652 spectators had come to Whiskas Bowl this cloudy day. Chows had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. They fielded: Foo-Foo - Ayd-n, van Beek, Holtengren, Erin, Larsson - Lu, Foot-Yow, Chee-Yang - Mellon, Chin-choong.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Buckley - Stepp, Miquel, Romo - Viseslav, Hultman, Tryggvesson, Storm, Crain - Tizón, Balcol.

In the games 12th minute Daniel Storm almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a spectacular scissors shot just past the bar. Hippopotami had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially in the 24:th minute when Rickie Stepp came up alone against Tang Foo-Foo who managed a block. Chows made a substitution in the 31st minute. Mats Holtengren limped off the field and was replaced by Gebhard Schwarz. Wouter van Beek was ever so close to scoring after an excellent corner which then was extended byConny Erin, but the ball went into the frame. Merle Mellon sprinted between the opposing defenders after 36 minutes, but the keeper deflected Jin Chin-choong's shot. After 37 minutes Hippopotami put themselves up by 0 - 1 as Daniel Storm finished off a strike from the left with a real cannon placed at the far post. Hippopotamis Rickie Stepp got himself booked after a foul. The teams went for a half-time break at 0 - 1. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 64 percent possession of the ball.

The referee showed Hippopotamis Ivan Viseslav the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Hippopotami, with an impressive 60 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Chows player was without a doubt Tang Foo-Foo. Wouter van Beek on the other hand, had a terrible day. Hippopotami´s best player was Rickie Stepp. Ramon María Balcol on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 1.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names shows this is a friendly
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
CC: 5-3-1

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 37: Daniel Storm (F): 1-0
Halftime Score: 1-0
Possession: 64%

2nd Half
*NO EVENTS*
Final Score: 1-0
Possession: 60%
Final Possession: 62%

Cards
HH: xx: Rickie Stepp (yellow- foul)

Injuries
None, thankfully. Unfortunately we injured one of his an appologized profusely

Stadium
Terraces: 0/9702
Basic seats: 0/3850
Seats under roof: 0/1740
VIP seats: 0/400
Total: 0/15692

WOW! 3642 at the Whiskas Bowl! We made nearly $3500 after the $6000 travel costs. By comparasion, our big crowd against ardent last week netted us $4500 so I'll pay the extra $1000 for extra training on the weeks when we have time.

Team Ratings

Chow Chows
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: inadequate (5)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: poor (3)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 42/44

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: poor (3)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: weak (4)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: weak (4)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 35/38

Well, we lost most of the battles but won midfield and, hence, the war. I'm really hoping some stamina training fixes some of these problems.

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Rickie Stepp (m) **~
DM José María Miquel **
DW Marcel Romo **
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
MI Daniel Storm *~
MI Robert Tryggvesson (x) **
MI Tobias Hultman (o) *~
WI Todd Crain (o) **
FO Ramon María Balcol ~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón **

Total Stars: 20.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Wow: Tryggvesson gets ** which was somewhat unexpected. The defense backs off a little with a pair of ** but was still good enough today. Tizon is back up to ** for the first time in a while!

Three Stars
A lot easier than last week

Bronze: Daniel Storm
UberTrainee(TM) Storm gets his first goal for the Hippos
Silver: Apoorvahk
Chow Chow's owner gets a medal for being a good host
Gold: Sidney Buckley
One week after finding him hanging from a shower rod, he matches Kimber's shutout

Game Summary
Again, I want to thank Apoorvahk for hosting and I appologized profusely for injuring his player. Also, FYI, games in Hong Kong take place exactly 12 hours before games in the USA. It was good to have a game with no strings attached at all to it so I could continue to experiment with player placements.

Press Release
7/3/2003 at 11:28 Hippos Do Hong Kong
The Hippos hit the road and, in the process, shattered a record for friendly attendance as 3652 screaming fans watched Houston down the Chow Chows 1-0 at the Whiskas Bowl. New UberTrainee(TM) Daniel Storm scored his first goal and the Hippos defense led by goalie Sidney Buckley made it stick. The Hippos would like to thank Apoorvahk for being such a gracious host and I appologize for my players getting too rowdy and injuring one of his. Next week: a supporter match at the Louisiana Cyclones.

FOFC Cup Quarterfinals Results

HOME - AWAY
1 MoKan Mighty Bastards - Concord Assassins 6
3 Gargoyles - Complex Spikes 0
2 Slumlords - Negative Waves 1
2 North County Raiders - Chesapeake Cheapshots 4

I don't know how they keep doing it, but this time Concord obliterated the MoKan Mighty Bastards. The Raiders got upset by the Cheapshots. C'mon, ardent, you need a better showing than that after obliterating me last week ;)

FOFC Cup Semifinals Preview

HOME - AWAY
Gargoyles - Concord Assassins
Slumlords - Chesapeake Cheapshots

Can the Assassins go all the way? Another huge test next week with the Gargoyles.

Notes
Check off Hong Kong as my second international friendly (Sweden being the first). We played a really competitive match and the boys came through, winning on the road. For next week, we have booked reciprocal supporter/supportee Doug5984 and his Louisiana Cyclones to our first ever match down at The Cyclone Center. When I messaged, he said he had been thinking about the same thing so it must have been hattrick ESP at work. We've never played before and I'm really curious to check his team out.

Also, we will probably go forward with that grudge match in 2 weeks during the offseason when we can play full teams but the details on that are yet to be worked out.

SI

Doug5984

07-03-2003, 04:54 AM

"For next week, we have booked reciprocal supporter/supportee Doug5984 and his Louisiana Cyclones to our first ever match down at The Cyclone Center. When I messaged, he said he had been thinking about the same thing so it must have been hattrick ESP at work. We've never played before and I'm really curious to check his team out. "

I just accepted the friendly. Good luck to your team; hopefully no injuries. It must have been the hattrick ESP :p. It should be a good game but chances are you will just beat me pretty bad; I will be playing 1 starter (starting forward w/ a red card for the league match and he needs a game to help his form out). Besides that it will be all backups; in my friendly earlier today against FrogMan I put up a
Right Side Defence: formidable
Central Defence: outstanding
Left Side Defence: solid

So I wouldn't expect to many highlights from this game the 5-4-1 is very boring.

Also- good luck in your league game this weekend...and hopefully good luck in Div IV next season.

sterlingice

07-03-2003, 05:43 AM

Originally posted by Doug5984
I just accepted the friendly. Good luck to your team; hopefully no injuries. It must have been the hattrick ESP :p. It should be a good game but chances are you will just beat me pretty bad; I will be playing 1 starter (starting forward w/ a red card for the league match and he needs a game to help his form out). Besides that it will be all backups; in my friendly earlier today against FrogMan I put up a
Right Side Defence: formidable
Central Defence: outstanding
Left Side Defence: solid

So I wouldn't expect to many highlights from this game the 5-4-1 is very boring.

Also- good luck in your league game this weekend...and hopefully good luck in Div IV next season.

I don't mind playing against starters at all: been there, done that with the red card a couple of times this year. You'll get the see the UberTrainees(TM) in action, but I figure they aren't worth much until next year after a couple of weeks of stamina training.

Good luck, yourself, in Div IV :cool:
I'm just hoping for no fluky loss or tie this week that could jeopardize my spot in Div IV. I'm playing normal just in case I need to MotS in a qualification game.

SI

sterlingice

07-11-2003, 04:41 AM

Training
Whoa! A bump out of nowhere. Albino de Sousa Bastos had been getting 2.5 stars for a while at middie so he got elevated to A Team. But we didn't expect this: our 18yo bumped to excellent playmaking. Also, we had a couple of experience bumps. B Team captain Jose Maria Miguel bumped to inad experience meaning he'll be the captain for as long as he's there. A Team captain and all around badass goalie "Timber" Kimber bumped to weak experience so he will get to wear the C for a while instead of Mick Starks. That's a lot of ABCs.

Future Training
Another week of playmaking then stamina, set pieces, and... stamina, I dunno.

Form
Starters: (+0) (-2)
Entire Team: (+2) (-4)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Starks Newsom Stromlius Solomon Bastos
Passable: Romo Bush Phelan Connors Kimber
Inadequate: Benito
Weak (or below): -NONE-

Not much movement. Connors dropped two levels. At least Benito stayed at inad. I guess this is the best time of the season to have a mini-slump at midfield.

Value
Starters: (+6) (-4)
Entire Team: (+11) (-5)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 7(+1)/8(+1)
Above $200K: 4(+1)/4(+1)
Above $300K: 2(NC)/2(NC)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($487K)
Outfield Leader: Mick Starks ($316K)
Milestones: Albino de Sousa Bastos ($200K), Donald Newsom ($100K)

Along with Bastos's bump, he also got a milestone. Newsom barely broke the $100K mark.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 26156 (+170)
Total Value: 2747000 (+109000)
Avg Value: 119435 (+4739)
Avg Age: 20 (-1)
Avg Form: pass (NC)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 23 (NC)
Nationalities: 9 (NC)

Youth Pull, Week 19.13
Following hot on the heels of last week's 19yo Asian American Song Che-Yin, we pulled Qiu Tuck-Meng who fared substantially better. He's 19 and has poor passing and set pieces, but he has solid scoring! He has been set for sale at $120K.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 26
Youth Pull Grocers: 20 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 4 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+1)
Total Sold for: 412000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Qiu Tuck-Meng (13526508)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is calm and upright.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 64 000 US$
Wage: 840 US$/week

Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: poor
Winger: weak Defending: poor
Scoring: solid Set Pieces: poor

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (N/C)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (N/C)

Sponsors: high on life (N/C)
Supporter Club: 1099 members (+22)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: composed (NC)
Confidence: wonderful (NC)

Well, the supporters keep coming and the spirit and confidence will soon reset. Shame.

Week In Review

On the Field
We surived our final test, beating the Midgets 4-0. Phelan took the scoring lead back from Phelan and the Hippos pulled to 7 goals in front of the Dragons with one week to go. Also, we eked above the auto-promotion line! CASH! Then we went to Hong Kong for a friendly and got over 3500 people to see a friendly. Daniel Storm scored the only goal in the game as the Hippos won 1-0 while on holiday.

Off the Field
Only one significant move this week. I purchased Efrain Castaneda, 18yo wingback (solid def, weak wing) for just a smidge over $125K. Hopefully he will be able to play either wingback or middle defender for us very soon. I'm going to start putting up some of our more expensive guys for exorbitant prices in a chance someone will bite. Maybe I'll get lucky. In particular, I'm putting my 17yo solid PMs up for $400K so that if someone buy them, I can replace them with a 17yo passable next year and still have room for veteran improvements like a central defender or striker.

Closing
One more match left this year. Hopefully this time next week I'll be talking about my new Div IV series and hopefully it won't be too hard.

(NOTE: I'm still about a week behind...)

SI

DataKing

07-11-2003, 10:19 AM

Just a small sidenote. Team captains in soccer typically don't wear a 'C' on their jersey, as far as I know. It's actually an armband that they wear. At least that's how it is in the E.P.L., but hey, it's your team. You can have them tattoo it on their forehead if you like. :)

Glad to see things are going well with the Hungry Hungry Hippos.

sterlingice

07-11-2003, 03:02 PM

Originally posted by DataKing
Just a small sidenote. Team captains in soccer typically don't wear a 'C' on their jersey, as far as I know. It's actually an armband that they wear. At least that's how it is in the E.P.L., but hey, it's your team. You can have them tattoo it on their forehead if you like. :)

Glad to see things are going well with the Hungry Hungry Hippos.

We've been training our team more as a hockey team than soccer team. Just ask Doug after injuring 4 of his last friendly :(

BTW, I'm going to have over a million bucks to play with. I have high bids on my youth pull (the solid scorer), my recent bump (excellent PM), and another trainee (one of my solid PMs). I can pretty easily replace those guys and upgrade massively: probably a *** striker and *** center defender.

*dances a jig*

SI

sterlingice

07-22-2003, 04:55 AM

Preview
It's all come down to this. However, the last couple of weeks have given us some breathing room: the differential is at 7 and the Dragons have to face a decent team in the Toledo Blades. I'm guessing both with MotS. For some reason, I decided not to MotS today because I figured I could rack up 6-10 goals without it and there's an off chance of a qualification match. So, here we go...

Game Summary
Date: 7/7/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 5544437
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 15692

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 15692 at The Hippodrome today. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kimber - Bush, Castaneda, Romo - Starks, Benito, Connors, de Sousa Bastos, Newsom - Solomon, Phelan.

Beneamata had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. They fielded: Pomar - Wen-Wei, Bonilla, Parris, García Soler - Pai, Tobin, Lange, Mckinley - Ramirez, Guerrero.

Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 4:th minute goal by Derrick Solomon for Hippopotami, putting them ahead 1 - 0. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Hippopotami lead up with 2 - 0. Derrick Solomon finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. The referee showed Beneamatas José Tobin the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. A corner kick created great disorder in the penalty area, but at last Hippopotami´s Marcel Romo was able to shove the ball in. 3-0. In the 39:th minute Hippopotami´s Carlos Alberto Benito tried to nail the coffin shut, but the shot rebounded off the bar to fall behind the net. A bit later, a magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hippopotami´s Derrick Solomon putting the lead up to 4 - 0. By then Derrick Solomon was a three time scorer - a hat trick! The structure of the game started to change as Hippopotami decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. The teams went for a half-time break at 4 - 0. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 82 percent, dominated the battle.

A lunatic dribble by Tu Wen-Wei, in front of the own keeper, set up Hippopotami´s Edwin Phelan for an embarrasingly easy strike. 5 - 0... In the 55:th minute Hippopotami put themselves up 6 - 0. The visitors defenders lost the ball to Efrain Castaneda coming up from the left, who proceeded to cooly round the goaltender and knock the ball home. Hippopotami put their lead ahead another goal as Edwin Phelan struck home the 7 - 0 goal, after an attack from the left setting him up unmarked with the keeper. A speedy charge from the left side of the field put Hippopotami lead up with 8 - 0. Mick Starks finished that one off competently, firing from an acute angle. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 85 percent, dominated the battle.

The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Tim Kimber. Marcel Romo was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Beneamata player was without a doubt Rollo Pomar. However, José Tobin made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 8 - 0.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (num) after the names is their goal tally for the season
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
BM: 4-4-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 4: Derrick Solomon (13): 1-0
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon (14): 2-0
HH: xx: Marcel Romo (2): 3-0
HH: xx: Derrick Solomon (15): 4-0
HH: xx: *pulling back*
Halftime Score: 4-0
Possession: 82%

2nd Half
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (14): 5-0
HH: 55: Efrain Castaneda (1): 6-0
HH: xx: Edwin Phelan (15): 7-0
HH: xx: Mick Starks(4): 8-0
Final Score: 8-0
Possession: 85%
Final Possession: 84%

Cards
Clean game, again

Injuries
None- woo!

Stadium
Terraces: 9702/9702
Basic seats: 38500/3850
Seats under roof: 1740/1740
VIP seats: 400/400
Total: 15692/15692

This will probably be our last crowd ever of this size. Stadium expansion plans in the offseason.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: passable (6)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: solid (7)
Right Side Attack: formidable (9)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 53/59

Beneamata
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: inadequate (5)
Central Defence: passable (6)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: passable (6)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 36/38

I can't help but love getting passable on the midfield. However, we're going to have to step that up a level next year to keep from sinking in Div IV. Hopefully, we can keep up a solid or better attack and then a formidable attack on one side.

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***
DW Elmer Bush **~
DM Efrain Castaneda **~
DW Marcel Romo **
WI Mick Starks (o) ***
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***
MI Albino de Sousa Bastos (x) **~
MI Stephen Connors ***
WI Donald Newsom **~
FO Edwin Phelan **~
FO Derrick Solomon **~

Total Stars: 29.0
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Normal

Some pretty lackluster star ratings as Connors, Benito, and Kimber only put up *** instead of their ***~ maxes. Castaneda was only good for **~ instead of the *** I was hoping for. Oh well.

Three Stars
Three high quality winners today.

Bronze: Tim Kimber
It's tough competition when your 4th straight shutout only nets you a bronze
Silver: Edwin Phelan
Pair of goals ties Solomon for season series goal leader
Gold: Derrick Solomon
His hat trick completes the journey from B Teamer at the start of the season to series season goal leader

Game Summary
It looks like we will be going to Div IV next season after throttling Beneamata. Timber ends the season with 4 straight shutouts and 5 in 6 games and Phelan ties for the series goal title with 15. However, in true storybook fashion, Solomon ties him with a hat trick this game despite starting the season on the B Team. He had 11 goals in his last 7 games! Somehow I doubt the Dragons will win by 15 this week to take away the V.62 title.

Press Release
7/8/2003 at 22:25 Solomon, Phelan Close Out Season in Style
Derrick Solomon collected a hat trick and Edwin Phelan scored twice, ending the season in a tie at 15 goals apiece for the V.62 scoring title while "Timber" Kimber extended his shutout streak to 4 straight games as the Hippos routed Beneamata in front of another sellout at the 'drome. Marcel Romo, Efrain Castaneda, and Mick Starks also scored for the Hippos, who ended the season at 39 points with a 70 - 12 goal differential and are due for autopromotion, edging out a very good Dragons team.

Around the League
So let's go to the big board...

Thumpers - Buccabeavzers 4 - 0
Thumpers are definately going to be a team to be reckoned with last year. They're still fighting to avoid relegation and put up a passable midfield! I warned the Dragons that they will be their fiercest competition next year. They "only" put up a 53 NSI (and it may have been MotS induced) but with a little more patching, this team will be very good. They've come a long way, winning 4 in a row since the 10-1 beating we gave them 5 weeks ago.

goonz - The Flying Midgets 2 - 3
The Midgets finished the season, barely beating the goonz in a meaningless game. The goonz are destined for relegation, already having cemented a 7th or 8th spot while the Midgets were all but guaranteed 4th unless they won 10-0, they would have moved up to 3rd.

CC's Dragons - Toledo Blades 4 - 0
I'm pretty sure the Dragons MotS'd and they put up a solid midfield and 66 NSI. As long as they can hold off the Thumpers and the Div IV relegee, they're heading to Div IV next year after narrowly missing out this year. The Dragons lowest rating was a passable center attack and only one player got ** with the rest getting more. The Blades put up a World Class-Supernatural-Outstanding defense across their backside but that was with a 5-4-1.

League Standings

N Team P Goals Pts NSI
1. Houston Hippopotami 14 70 - 12 39 59

2. CC's Dragons 14 57 - 10 39 66
3. Toledo Blades 14 22 - 21 23 58
4. The Flying Midgets 14 26 - 19 20 45

5. Thumpers 14 26 - 38 17 53
6. Buccabeavzers 14 27 - 41 16 43

7. goonz 14 17 - 56 6 42
8. Beneamata 14 13 - 61 4 38


Notes
Ok, I've started catching up. Hopefully I can be completely caught up in the next couple of days. We win and are going to be moving up to IV.21. Next up, a pair of friendlies, the season awards banquet, a lot of player movement, and next season preview.

SI

sterlingice

07-22-2003, 07:35 AM

Preview
Last week, we traveled to Hong Kong. This week, we head to the Cyclone Center to face Doug5984's Louisiana Cyclones. We've been mutual supporters since early March but with the Cup and FOFC Cup going on, we've never had a chance to play. After this game, I'm not sure he wants to be my supporter any more. Ever had one of those days where pretty much everything goes wrong?

Game Summary
Date: 7/10/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7264582
Arena: The Cyclone Center
Crowd: 1237

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 1237 at The Cyclone Center today. Louisiana started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. They fielded: Glenn - Pinoy, Rusu, Blalock, Rusu, Persson - Hightower, Spalding, Kumar, Moon - Silva.

Hippopotami had chosen a strategic incomprehensible 2-6-2 formation. Lineup: Buckley - Strömlius, Castaneda - Crain, Miquel, Hultman, Tryggvesson, Storm, Viseslav - Tizón, Tuck-Meng.

Hippopotami´s 0 - 1 goal came from a questionable penalty. José María Miquel struck that one home without a second thought. The referee showed Hippopotamis Thomas Strömlius the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The Louisiana player was Erin Glenn who had to be helped off the pitch, unable to finish the game. Hippopotami appeared unsure on how to play. Fine winger Todd Crain made one of his many passes from the wing into the middle in the 19:th minute. Juan Miguel Tizón went to the air and hit the ball firmly with his forehead for 0 - 2. Qiu Tuck-Meng was, after 21 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors lead with a well placed diving header but home side keeper Freddy Mata saved. Louisiana´s Albino Silva got the home crowd going when he finished off a left wing charge putting the away teams lead down to 1 - 2. 23 minutes into the game Albino Silva had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Hud Yazzie. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 2. Hippopotami, bringing the final ball possession rate to 52 percent, dominated the battle.

During the break Hippopotami´s coach went through the teams new tactics yet again. In the 48:th minute Hippopotamis Efrain Castaneda received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The player down was Alexandru Rusu. The Louisiana bench looked worried a while but in the end he managed to get up. Hippopotami seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion about the organization of the team. After a fatal mistake from the away teams right side defense in the 62nd minute, an alert Hud Yazzie bagged the ball, evening the score to 2 - 2. Daron Blalock behaved like an inexperienced youth player in the 68:th minute as he gave the ball away to an opponent. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 77:th minute goal by Dwight Moon for Louisiana, putting them ahead 3 - 2. In 83rd minute of game time Hippopotami´s Efrain Castaneda received his second yellow card and was sent off. Sebastian Rusu the unlucky victim, couldn´t continue the game. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Louisiana, with an impressive 55 percent possession of the ball.

The most dominating Louisiana player was without a doubt Yadhavan Saxena. Tyrone Hightower was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Hippopotami player was without a doubt Thomas Strömlius. However, José María Miquel made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 2.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names shows this is a friendly
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 2-6-2
LC: 5-4-1

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: xx: Jose Maria Miguel (F): 1-0
HH: 19: Juan Miguel Tizon (F): 2-0
LC: xx: 2-1
Halftime Score: 2-1
Possession: 52%

2nd Half
LC: 62: 2-2
LC: 77: 2-3
Final Score: 2-3
Possession: 45%
Final Possession: 49%

Cards
HH: xx: Thomas Strömlius (yellow- particularly nasty challenge)
HH: 48: Efrain Castaneda (yellow- going into a challenge studs first)
HH: 83: Efrain Castaneda (yellow- foul)

Injuries
None, but we inflicted *four* on the Cyclones. Who wants the next "friendly"?

Stadium
Terraces: 0/9702
Basic seats: 0/3850
Seats under roof: 0/1740
VIP seats: 0/400
Total: 0/15692

Over 1200 people showed up at the Cyclone Center to watch us injure his players.

Team Ratings

Louisiana Cyclones
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: outstanding (10)
Left Side Defence: formidable (9)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: wretched (2)
Left Side Attack: weak (4)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 41/43

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: weak (4)
Central Defence: inadequate (5)
Left Side Defence: passable (6)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: inadequate (5)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 37/39

We need to get some of those trainees better stamina training since midfield is the only rating that matters to me in friendlies (as that is what I'm training).

Player Ratings
GK Sidney Buckley **
DW Thomas Stromlius (m) **~
DW Efrain Castaneda RED CARD
WI Ivan Viseslav **~
MI Robert Tryggvesson **
MI Daniel Storm (x) *~
MI José María Miquel (x) ~
MI Tobias Hultman (w) *~
WI Todd Crain (o) **
FO Qiu Tuck-Meng **~
FO Juan Miguel Tizón **

Total Stars: 19.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Pretty miserable. Tho, Tryg put up another ** and looks like he is a little ahead of the other UberTrainees(TM). Tuck-Meng put up **~ but will be sold shortly. Miguel, for his good **~ at center d isn't much of a midfielder.

Three Stars
Silver linings were a bit hard to find this game

Bronze: Qiu Tuck-Meng
Last week's youth pull almost scored a goal
Silver: Juan Miguel Tizon
Scored a goal and didn't hurt anybody (a big plus this game)
Gold: Jose Maria Miguel
Scores a goal despite being accidentally placed at middie

Game Summary
This was almost a total and complete collapse. I suppose I didn't have any injuries but that's about the only good news (see below)

Press Release
7/10/2003 at 04:13 Just One of Those Days
It started off a good day- I'm playing a supporter a match at his place with nothing on the line except a few bragging rights about whose B Team is better so I didn't so much mind the fact that I blew a 2-1 lead. Of course, I accidentally put a 2-6-2 so I lose my weekly training. Then I get a player thrown out with a red. And, to top it all off, I injure 4 of his players including 2 trainees. Somehow, I don't think I'll be getting any fruit baskets from Louisiana this week... *sigh*

FOFC Cup Semifinals Results

HOME - AWAY
1 Gargoyles - Concord Assassins 0
7 Slumlords - Chesapeake Cheapshots 2

The crazy upset run of Concord comes to an end. The Assassins were ground down by the Gargs great defense despite posting a passable midfield, an NSI of 57, and possession of 58%. The Garg's goalie Torbjorn Kullenhult made 3 goal-saving stops. The slumlords put up excellent and formidable on all ratings except midfield and destroyed Chesapeake. Frankie Heck got a hat trick.

FOFC Cup Finals Preview

HOME - AWAY
Gargoyles - Slumlords

A pair of tough Div IV teams face off. To add even more to this championship, it will be the only game for each this week so starters will likely play.

Notes
Well, this certainly could have gone better. I've already appologized profusely to Doug and I really need to stop playing friendlies where I injure the other team. Actually, hold that thought for a second. Next week, the between seasons week, our starters (and some purchases) will get a shot at one of our big rivals, the Bees.

SI

sterlingice

07-22-2003, 09:41 AM

Preview
To casual readers of this dynasty, the Morrisville rivalry is easily the biggest. However, the hardcore fans and our players know we owe the Bees big time, too. They have beaten us in two previous meetings and we definately want some revenge. Both of our teams started within days of each other last January so this will be a good way to see where both of our teams are. We'll both be playing a mix of starters and trainees since ausonny's team had a qualification game. I have quite a few new players I wanted to try out and the new experience changes come into play, too. When we showed up at the field today, it was pouring rain...

Game Summary
Date: 7/17/2003 at 01:00
MatchID: 7309008
Arena: The Hippodrome
Crowd: 882

Due to an all-day shower, 882 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Hippodrome. Hippopotami had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Kimber - Bush, Miquel, Castaneda - Connors, Meek, Benito, Storm, Starks - Phelan, Houben.

Bees tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Burroughs - Siegel, Sherwood, Strozynski - Marechal, Martínez, Jackson, Vieren, Clifton - Gallegos, Ladd.

Many thought Coskum Houben ought to have been awarded a penalty shot in the 7:th minute, as he went down trying to circle the visitors keeper Derrick Burroughs. 11 minutes into the game Chad Gallegos had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Erik Martin. Edwin Phelan was uncomfortable with the soggy pitch as he couldn´t move the ball around with his usual grace. Some beautiful plays on the left side of the field resulted in a 28:th minute goal by José María Miquel for Hippopotami, putting them ahead 1 - 0. Herschel Meek of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 30:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 0. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 75 percent possession rate.

Herschel Meek should probably have put his team up another goal in the 49:th minute, but some great goaltending by Derrick Burroughs kept the visitors in the game. In the 53rd minute of the game, Hippopotami´s Herschel Meek had to leave the pitch after receiving his second booking. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Bees´s Erik Martin got himself booked. The game was characterized by rough play and many physical challenges. Florentino Martínez showed great heart and had a good game. Edwin Phelan almost managed to score another goal for Hippopotami, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors goalie. A couple of quick and successful challenges, followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area after 88 minutes might have resulted in another goal for Hippopotami. However, Derrick Burroughs made a spectacular save. Mick Starks of Hippopotami received a yellow card in the 88:th minute for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Hippopotami held the ball, with a clear 82 percent possession rate.

Most important Hippopotami player was Tim Kimber. Edwin Phelan was a disappointment, however. Bees´s best player was Witold Strozynski. Max Jackson on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 0.

Events and Stats
A few notes:
1. Our score will always be first, whether we are ahead or behind
2. The (F) after the names shows this is a friendly
3. "xx" means the time of the goal was not specified
4. Most stats will only be for our team

Formations
HH: 3-5-2
B: 3-5-2

Events Summary

1st Half
HH: 28: Jose Maria Miguel (F): 1-0
Halftime Score: 1-0
Possession: 75%

2nd Half
*No Goals*
Final Score: 1-0
Possession: 82%
Final Possession: 79%

Cards
HH: 30: Herschel Meek (yellow- unsportsmanlike behaviour)
HH: 53: Herschel Meek (yellow- removed from pitch)
HH: 88: Mick Starks (yellow- unsportsmanlike behaviour)

Injuries
None, but he had one. That's injuries in 3 straight friendlies

Stadium
Terraces: 560/9702
Basic seats: 202/3850
Seats under roof: 86/1740
VIP seats: 34/400
Total: 882/15692

Not bad for a complete rainstorm, but blech: only 882.

Team Ratings

Houston Hippopotami
Midfield: passable (6)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: weak (4)
Central Attack: solid (7)
Left Side Attack: excellent (8)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 56/61

Bees
Midfield: wretched (2)
Right Side Defence: excellent (8)
Central Defence: excellent (8)
Left Side Defence: excellent (8)
Right Side Attack: solid (7)
Central Attack: passable (6)
Left Side Attack: passable (6)
DataKing/Nevstar Index: 43/49

How this game was only 1-0 is beyond me. That weak right side attack will go up on days when the rain isn't completely hampering Phelan, Connors isn't playing wing, and the inner middie on that side doesn't get kicked off the pitch. Highest ratings to date except for the Dragons game and a bunch of guys were playing out of position. That excellent defense across the backside really makes me happy, especially since my best purchase, a potential *** middle defender, is out for another two weeks and should only miss one league game. Not bad. Not bad at all. :)

Player Ratings
GK Tim Kimber ***~
DW Elmer Bush (d) ***
DM José María Miquel (n) **~
DW Efrain Castaneda (d) **~
WI Stephen Connors (m) **~
MI Herschel Meek RED CARD
MI Daniel Storm (x) *~
MI Carlos Alberto Benito (o) ***~
WI Mick Starks (o) ***~
FO Edwin Phelan *~
FO Coskum Houben **~

Total Stars: 26.5
Total player experience: wretched
Team Attitude: Friendly

Lots of news, good and bad. But that's what experiment games like this are all about. I plan on experimenting more next week in our cup game. First, the great news: with the new changes and their current forms, Starks, Benito, and Kimber all get ***~ this game. Bush put up a *** when I put him in defensive, so I may try that out more often. However, that was on the side with the weak offense. Don't worry about Phelan- that *~ is mainly the product of his technical skill and the fact that the field was soaking wet. There was even an event about it: "Edwin Phelan was uncomfortable with the soggy pitch as he couldn´t move the ball around with his usual grace." I'm a little disappointed by Houben with only **~ especially after I spent $150K on him and he's got solid/pass scoring/passing and a pretty assessed high value for those levels ($143K).

Three Stars
Silver linings were a bit hard to find this game

Bronze: Mick Starks
Welcome to the ***~ club, super winger
Silver: Tim Kimber
Timber keeps his shutout streak alive
Gold: Jose Maria Miguel
Two friendly golds in a row after scoring the only goal today

Game Summary
I really have no idea how this was only a 1-0 game, but I chalk it up to the soggy field. All in all, a pretty good game as I got to test out a lot of guys at alternate positions. Now, if only I had been able to cut into that 15-2 differential more.

Press Release
7/22/2003 at 16:40 Hippos Beat Bees in Grudge Match
Jose Maria Miguel scored the only goal of the game in the 28th minute as the Hippodrome looked more like a lake than a field. The Hippos were looking for more than a 1-0 win after the teams' previous meetings but coach Ricky Braden was very pleased with the passable midfield and 61 rating. The two teams are nearly identical in age at about 7 months old- just a few games short of 2 seasons. However, the Bees had won the previous two meetings 15-2 combined. Hippos begin Cup play next week.

FOFC Cup Finals Results

HOME - AWAY
4 Gargoyles - Slumlords 1

While both team didn't play starters, they did play more than just their B Teams. The Gargs 3-4-3 put up ratings of form and exc in all but their inadequate midfield. The Slumlords went with a 4-4-2 and put up an exc-out-exc defense with a form-out-form offense but only a poor midfield. The Gargs ***~ forward Bryce Jackson was the difference, getting a hat trick. Congrats to ravenhawk and the Gargoyles for winning FOFC Cup III.

Notes
Well, the season is officially over. No match Sunday but there is the universal birthday, wage changes, and all kinds of offseason moves. Stay tuned for lots of news from the Hippo Press Agency.

SI

sterlingice

07-22-2003, 10:11 AM

Training
A pair of weeks condensed into one. The first week, we botched training by accidentally playing a 2-6-2. The next week was stamina training and the obligatory crossed fingers for form drops. Unfortunately there were two big problems: Robert Tryggvesson and Daniel Storm, UberTrainees(TM), stayed at weak stamina instead of bumping to inadequate or passable as I had hoped.

Future Training
Stamina -> Set Pieces -> back to Playmaking. At some point, a week of stamina and general.

Form
Starters: (+2) (-4)
Entire Team: (+2) (-10)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Bush Starks Schrader
Passable: Benito Phelan Connors Meek Newsom
Inadequate: Kimber
Weak (or below): Romo Houben

Eep. New arrival Coskum Houben and wingback Marcel Romo dropped down to weak. However, both also raised from poor to weak stamina so that's not too bad.

Value
Starters: (+6) (-4)
Entire Team: (+11) (-5)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 8(+1)/9(+1)
Above $200K: 3(-1)/3(-1)
Above $300K: 3(+1)/2(+1)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($449K)
Outfield Leader: Mick Starks ($319K)
Milestones: Carlos Alberto Benito ($300K)
Albino de Sousa Bastos ($200K), Donald Newsom ($100K)

Benito becomes our third $300K player. We lost a $200K player because Bastos was sold.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 27066 (+910)
Total Value: 2723000 (-24000)
Avg Value: 123773 (+4338)
Avg Age: 22 (+2)
Avg Form: pass (NC)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 22 (-1)
Nationalities: 10 (+1)

Youth Pull, Week 19.14 & 19.15
Here are our two youth pulls from 19.14 and 19.15. Moe Harding from 19.14 has been fired. We were hoping Saturnino Sales would be a lottery pick but no such luck. Still, he's not bad and is on the market, awaiting his sale. BTW, we sold Todd Crain, who was playing B Team winger for us for a couple of weeks. He just wasn't quite good enough to stick.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 28
Youth Pull Grocers: 21 (+1)
Youth Pulls Sold: 6 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 1 (-1)
Total Sold for: 550000 (+138000)

Youth Pull 19.14
Moe Harding (14435704)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is calm and upright.
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities.
Speciality: Unpredictable
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 14 000 US$
Wage: 580 US$/week

Stamina: weak Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: weak
Winger: weak Defending: poor
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor

Youth Pull 19.15
Saturnino Sales (14727506)
19 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 50 000 US$
Wage: 760 US$/week

Stamina: wretched Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: inadequate
Winger: poor Defending: inadequate
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: wretched

Conditions

Youth Squad: solid (N/C)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (N/C)

Sponsors: high on life (N/C)
Supporter Club: 1258 members (+137)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: composed (NC)
Confidence: wonderful (NC)

The huge jump in supporters comes from the extra 10% from jumping to Div IV.

Week In Review

On the Field
We beat Beneamata 8-0 to finish off the season and capture the V.62 title and autopromotion. Phelan and Solomon tied for the series lead with 15 goals and Kimber got his 4th straight shutout. In our friendly that week, we botched with a 2-6-2 so we lost training for the week. Also, we injured a bunch of the Louisiana players, got a player thrown off the pitch, and lost 3-2.

The Sunday after that, we had no qualification game. Then we played the Bees in absolutely miserable soccer conditions and won 1-0 in a grudge match. We put up a passable midfield and 61 NSI!

Off the Field
Really, too much to do here- there will be a separate post about our offseason moves. We had over a million bucks to spend after a couple of sales and we have spent about half of that.

Closing
We're heading to Div IV! Lots of information to come!

SI

Fonzie

07-22-2003, 10:17 AM

Great read, as usual, SI!

sterlingice

07-22-2003, 10:25 AM

Originally posted by Fonzie
Great read, as usual, SI!

Thanks a lot! I'm kindof sleep addled so if I could have just gone on some random tangent in the third match review and never would have been the wiser (if you see a confusing phrase like "But our players played well in this match which was good because our players played well in our match"- those lines are the result of my brain skipping a track from lack of sleep). but I really wanted to get these in so people could get caught up on the Hippos. The offseason has been really fun (3 new and damn fine players with probably 2 more on the way) and hopefully I can get completely caught up and finish off this season Tuesday/Wednesday with offseason moves info and the awards banquet.

Next season's preview will take a while but I'm going to try and get that done quicker than last season, when it took two weeks to finish it all.

SI

sterlingice

07-25-2003, 05:36 AM

Season Awards
There may be construction going on outside, as the seating capacity of the Hippodrome is being doubled to 32000, but the beautiful and opulent interior of the Hippodrome's Executive Washroom and attached Suite remains chaste and pure. In the ballroom, various media members and select few guests are awaiting the season awards banquet. It is one of the best perks of being a Hippo as the players are allowed in here for this ceremony. The Dom Perignon is plentiful and all varieties of food are being served from caviar down to Mick Starks favorite: beer and pizza. Although it must be stated that it looks out of place, served on fine china and placed on a marble table. Some of the guests are taking in the various art on one wall, while, on the opposing wall, a huge plasma televion hangs, displaying Stephen Connors's and Carlos Alberto Benito's intense match of NHL2K4. Still others are being attended to by the girls who work here. Our supporters (ausonny of the Bees, NevStar of the Morrisville Morrisvillians, vexroid of the NE Oklahoma Sidekicks, Doug5984 of the Louisiana Cyclones, Eilim of the Bull Dogs, NAIWF of the Manhattan Marauders, and robbgmaier of the goldurnears) enjoy the amenities of this room year round and, should they choose to attend, have seats reserved for them, provided they took the time to have the inhouse tailor fit them for a tux. Thus the ceremony begins...

Year In Review
As owner and master of ceremonies tonight, I ask supporters, players, staff, media, and other guests are asked to be seated at three long tables. Servers and chefs begin to bring out the finest dining money can buy. While this is going on, three large screens descend out of the ceiling and guests are invited to begin eating while watching a highlight film documenting the season.

The Hippos began their second season in V.62 as one of three teams that could challenge CC's Dragons for the series title. One was the Flying Midgets, whose killer defense and keeper Svarg Ram makes scoring goals tough. The other was Div IV relegee Toledo Blades who ran a pretty solid all-around game but who also specialized in defense. All three teams would test the Hippos high flying run-and-shoot offense led by last year's scoring champ and veteran Derrick Solomon, winger and crazed team leader Mick Starks, 21yo forward Edwin Phelan, and offensive minded middie Carlos Alberto Benito. However, coach Rickey Braden's plan to train and win on the midfield would be the key to the season. Our primary target was to win the series and get promoted. The second was to make a decent cup run in our first appearance.

For the cup, we started with a pair of walkover 9-0 PIC wins over the Indiana Spartans and Teke United. The first was a computer controlled team and the second, a new human controlled one. Then, on April 17th, 2003, the Hippos hosted their first ever cup game against Div IV team Dark Lotus. Tizon collected a hat trick and Kimber pitched a shutout en route to a 6-0 win, meaning the Hippo faithful would get yet another home game. The next week, an even tougher Div IV team, BostonCity Ajaz FC came to town and each team scored a quick goal for a 1-1 tie. However, Tizon scored once and Phelan twice toward the end of the half to blow the game wide open. Tizon would end up with two goal and Phelan, a hat trick, as Houston won again 6-1. Finally, in the 5th week, our Cup run came to a close as we had to face the Div II Minutemen. We may have only been 497th of the remaining 512 but we fought hard, keeping them to 1 goal most of the game. In the end, however, our offense could not break through and we had 0 chances, losing 2-0. Still, our Cup run made us a lot of money that could go toward player development and the team spirit gained from the PICs would help us the rest of the season.

The series season could be divided into three parts: before Dragons, between Dragon, and after Dragons. Our eyes were set on the highest of prizes and the path to the V.62 Title goes straight through Connecticut and the Dragons Den. We play the Dragons in weeks 7 and 10, sandwiched around a pair of games with a much weaker team, the Buccabeavzers. As for the rest of the season, we played the tougher teams in alternating weeks with the Midgets in 2 and 14 and the Blades in 5 and 12.

The season started with a crushing 7-0 victory over PRODYGRAF on the road. For our home opener, we got a hard fought 3-1 win over the Midgets at a sold out Hippodrome. On the road again, we beat the goonz 6-1 on the strength of Dafoe Chang's hat trick, who was subbing in for the poorly performing Derrick Solomon. The Blades game may have been our closest call of the year, although the 3-1 final doesn't indicate it. We actually lost the possession battle and got incredibly lucky as three middies scored for us. Finally, we had one last tune-up game at home against the Metal Mulisha, which we PIC'd and won 4-1. At this point, both the Hippos and Dragons were 5-0 with 19 goal differentials (23-4 for us, 20-1 for them). The stage was set for Dragons-Hippos I at the Dragons Den.

We really didn't need any artificially generated hype on that rainy May day in Connecticut. Both teams knew what was on the line: the winner had the inside track for series title. If the Hippos won, we'd just have to hold serve at home in 3 weeks. If the Dragons won, they would just MotS at our place and finish us off. The soggy conditions didn't hamper them at all as the Dragons scored 7 minutes into the game. For the next 35 minutes, a pair of players were carded and Chang carried off the field, but no one could break through until the 43rd minute when Stan Whitmore scored his second of the game for the Dragons. And, in the 44th minute, the game started unraveling for us as another goal got through. They went into the half leading 3-0 with a possession advantage. No one scored the entire second half and the Dragons MotS gained them the upper hand in the race for V.62. After the game, Coach Braden wondered if he should have fired the guys up more for the game, as opposed to his conservative plan of playing the game normal, but he knew there was still another shot at the Dragons in two weeks, at the 'drome.

The next two weeks, we had a (PIC) home-and-home against the Bucs and handled them 7-2 at home and 5-2 on the road. In the first game, Tizon got 4 goals, and, in the second, Solomon celebrated his return to the starting lineup with 4 more. The second game was quite tense as we were tied 2-2 at the 80 minute mark before putting them away. With our team spirit at an all time high (satisfied) and our form in good shape after a week of general training, we prepared ourselves for Hippos-Dragons II, the game which would decide the fate of our series. In these same two weeks, the Dragons had batted around the Metal Mulisha, but were only up on us by 7 in goal differential. If we could win the game, we'd still have a shot at catching them.

June 2nd, 2003 is a day that will live in infamy for the Hippos- it was the day that the team took its first big step forward. Edwin Phelan's goal 12 minutes in delighted the entire standing room only crowd at the Hippodrome. However, neither side could do anything for the rest of the half. We were extremely encouraged as we were winning the possession battle, should our stamina hold out for the second half. The game continued back and forth until the 59th minute when Derrick Solomon scored, putting us up 2-0. This goal ignited the crowd yet again, and the floodgates opened as Houston scored 3 more times. Our goal differential went from a 7 goal deficit to a 3 goal lead on the strength of the 5-0 win. With the high team spirit and an MotS, the team's ratings were bound to be high, but we could not have anticipated 30 stars, excellent(!) midfield, and 68(!!!) NSI.

Due to The Game, the series title would come down to goal differential down the stretch. The next week, the Dragons won 9-0 and we were concerned as they had a 7-0 lead early in the second half. However, the team responded with 5 goals in the final 12 minutes including Derrick Solomon's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of the game as we beat the Thumpers 10-1. The next game was a tough one against the Blades but we had home field advantage. The game was scoreless until we broke through in the 78th minute when we broke through and Tim Kimber had his 2nd shutout in three games. We won by 2 but the Dragons only won by 1 so our lead was stretched to 4. The next week, we started pulling away with a 6-0 win over the Goonz while the Dragons only won by 4. Game 13 would provide the final test at The Flying Midgets. However, they had begun a rebuilding process and we defeated them 4-0. Finally, our last game of the season and last game in V.62, we beat Beneamata (PRODYGRAF's replacement) 8-0 with Derrick Solomon netting a hat trick and Edwin Phelan scoring twice, earning them both a share of the series scoring title. Kimber had ended the season with 4 straight shutouts and 5 in his final 6 games. In the end, our goal differential allowed us to autopromote.

The major friendly event we took part in was FOFC Cup III. With a good mixture of veterans, who are capable subs for the A Team, and the UberTrainees(TM) manning the middle, we expected to make a pretty good run. In group play, we ran the table with wins against Pilotman's (higher seeded) Midwest Ice Storm, Airhog's Oklahoma City Rednecks, McSweeny's S. Boston Hooligans, mckerney's Square Pegs, and Achilles's Missouri Tigers. Juan Miguel Tizon was a monster with 8 of the team's 24 goals. B Team goalie Sidney Buckley and injury replacement Silviu Radu combined to give up only 4 goals in group play including 2 clean sheets. In the Round of 32, we edged the only other undefeated team in group play: Brillig's Slithy Toves by a 3-1 score. However, we were dismantled in the Round of 16 by run-and-shoot guru ardent enthusiast.

We had four other friendlies: three against mutual supporters and an exotic trip to Hong Kong. Sandwiched in between the US Cup and FOFC Cup, we took lost to vexroid's NE Oklahoma Sidekicks 3-2 at home. After the FOFC Cup, we set a friendly record as 3652 came to see the Hippos 1-0 win over the Chow Chows in Hong Kong. The next week was our ugliest game ever, a 3-2 loss to Doug5984's Louisiana Cyclones. We blew a 2-1 lead, had a man thrown off the pitch, ran a 2-6-2 which negated training, and injured 4 of his guys. The following week, between seasons, we recovered with a 1-0 win against an old rival, ausonny's Bees, which allowed us to try out some of our guys at different positions.

The biggest off-the-field move this year was the creation of the UberTrainee(TM) program. We put a concerted effort toward finding young players who we can train for a couple of years and either sell or make them cornerstones of our team. Anders Jorgensson was the first, bought at the end of the last season. He was an 18yo winger trainee to start the year and the crown jewel of our development system. However, towards the end of the season, some favorable transactions caused us to reevaluate his place in the organization and he was sold. We brought in three mid-high level solid 17 year olds: Robert Tryggvesson, Daniel Storm, and Tobias Hultman. Along with them was an 18yo Canadian, Albino de Sousa Bastos, who quickly bumped to excellent playmaking before the season was over. At the end of the season, they were all placed for sale at very high prices in an attempt to rebuild the team yet again. We were fortunate as both Hultman and Bastos purchased, fetching nearly one million dollars. That money will be spent in the offseason upgrading the defense, getting a younger and better striker, and purchasing a third UberTrainee(TM) to go alongside the remaining Tryggvesson and Storm.

One of our biggest moves early in the season was to purchase 28yo *** middie Maarten Sanders. Once he got over his form slump, he was a valuable contributor and combined with Benito and Connors for the excellent midfield rating in Hippos-Dragons II. He was eventually sold at the peak of his form for a $50K profit. Older trainees like Philip Friedlander, Kyle Paige, and youth pull Rolando Gontan (who bumped to excellent in his first week of training) were sold off to bring in the UberTrainees(TM). A flurry of activity occurred in the offseason including 8 sales and 4 purchases as players who had no place in the team's future were moved for upgrades. The large sales at the end of the season also facilitated the opening of the new Hippodrome32K which will accommodate the extra fans we have gained by moving to Div IV.

Who knows what our future holds in IV.21. It will likely prove to be one of the toughest in all of Div IV and our first season goal is merely to survive. We are also in a division with a pair of teams who routinely get 80 NSIs and another who gets 70s. Everyone has a passable or higher midfield and is training something long term. However, by the end of the season, we should have 2 UberTrainees(TM) with formidable playmaking, and we will continue to improve along the way. Where this season read as a fairy tale, the next may be a suspense thriller to see if we can stay in the Div IV we worked so hard to gain entrance to. But stay tuned Hippo faithful, we’re just getting started.

Awards Presentation
This year, there is a new Rookie of the Year award. It was added to last year's five awards: Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Old Man Award, Under-20 MVP, and Team MVP. As owner, I will continue my duties as emcee, but each award will also be presented with one of our special girls.

Offensive Player of the Year:
Season 18 Recipient: Derrick Solomon
Season 19 Recipient:Edwin Phelan

This was a hotly contested award as both Solomon and Phelan finished with 15 goals. However, in the end, Edwin Phelan's consistency won out over Solomon's explosiveness. Phelan's 15 goals were spread out across 10 games and many of them were in clutch situations. In fixtures this season, he earned two golds, five silvers, and two bronzes. His advanced skill and experience as an original Hippo more than make up for his young age. This is Phelan's second award as he won U-20 MVP last year.

Defensive Player of the Year
Season 18 Recipient: Hugh Hebert
Season 19 Recipient:Elmer Bush

This award came down to our three starting defenders: Marcel Romo and Elmer Bush on the wings and Thomas Stromlius up the middle. Although Thomas Stromlius played in more fixtures and Marcel Romo scored more goals, Bush was the closest thing to a shutdown corner we had as soon as he got over his early season injury and slump. From game 6 on, he put up **~ every game and never had form lower than passable. He was either assigned to match up with the opponents best scorer or cover the hole left by the run and shoot. In his most recent game, the friendly against the Bees, he posted his first ever *** performance.

Old Man Award
Season 18 Recipient: Derrick Solomon
Season 19 Recipient:Derrick Solomon

The Old Man Award goes to the best player on the team who is 27 or older, and, unlike last year, there was actually competition for this award. However, despite the contributions of Maarten Sanders and Juan Maria Miguel, Derrick Solomon walks away as the only repeat award winner. Due to a prolonged form slump, Solomon only played in 1 fixture the entire first half of the season. However, he turned it on in the second half, scoring 14 goals in the final 7 games. Derrick is the first Hippo ever to win three awards.

Rookie of the Year
Season 18 Recipient: None
Season 19 Recipient:Juan Miguel Tizon

This is our new award, as everyone was a rookie Hippos last year. It goes to the U-20 player who contributed most to the club while spending his first year in Houston. Special consideration will be given towards any Hippo youth pulls who contributed significantly. Juan Miguel Tizon was purchased early in the season but started off injured. However, he was the star of the B Team with 5 goals in limited fixture time, 5 goals in USA Cup play, 8 goals in the FOFC Cup, and 1 goal in another friendly. In this special presentation, we will also be awarding him the Hippos FOFC Cup MVP award.

Under-20 MVP
Season 18 Recipient: Edwin Phelan
Season 19 Recipient:Albino de Sousa Bastos

While Albino de Sousa Bastos may be gone, his contributions will not be forgotten. He was bought early in the season as an UberTrainee(TM) but improved so quickly that the club felt they could sell veteran Maarten Sanders. At only 18 years old, he could be counted on to put up **~ on the midfield and bumped to excellent playmaking at the end of the season. He was sold for a new Hippo record of $695K, over $400K more than we paid to acquire his rights.

Team MVP
Season 18 Recipient: Mick Starks
Season 19 Recipient:Tim Kimber

For the second year in a row, the winner of the MVP didn't score the most goals in the run-and-shoot. This year, quite the opposite, in fact, as "Timber" Kimber gets the biggest piece of hardware and the hottest girl. Without mild mannered Tim Kimber, the yin to Mick Starks's wild and crazy yang, the team would not be going to Div IV. We bought his rights about this time last season for the highest purchase price of any Hippo ever. But it was this purchase which started us on the path to the next level as his high-solid keeper ability allowed him to put up either *** or ***~ every game he has played in a Hippo jersey and his gamecalling ability raised the level of the defenders around him. In a very uncharacteristic show of emotion, Starks turned over the captain's C to him after the Hippos-Dragons II. The typically quiet Kimber was utterly speechless but responded on the field tallying 5 shutouts in his last 6 games.

Kimber politely thanked everyone he could think of and tried his best to contain an inner smile that went from ear to ear. At one point a visible inebriated Starks whooped "Wayyda go, Timber!" much to Tim's embarassment. Solomon, as much an assistant coach and surrogate parent as he is a teammate to some of the younger players, leaned over and whispered to Coach Braden "That kid's gonna take us far." Braden smiled, knowing full well that if the Hippos were going to make it out of Div IV, it was likely going to be on his young goaltenders capable shoulders.

Closing
I hope y'all, or rather, you all, enjoyed the evening's festivities. You just can't take the Texas out of the Texan even for events as formal as these. We hope you enjoyed the awards ceremony and Season 20 is just around the corner. The competition is much more fierce but we are definately on the way up.

SI