[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by 6-25-2012

(21:15) Disappointing Start to 30th Anniversary Season

The Hippos 30th Anniversary Season kicked off during the home opener, the first of two disappointing 1 goal losses to start the season. Many Hippo Alumni were on hand but the big celebration will be during Hippo Hall of Hero week.

In an effort to improve the team, Houston has made some roster moves over the past month:

*Eddie Van Acht, has come of age and will be sold, following Nico Stoian out of town

*Once out of the cup, Houston will sign two new trainees to continue the defense training pipeline

*A couple of Hippos have been showing their age: Giancarlo Schalks and Hilton Bender. A pair of 23 year olds, #30 Damian Edelmann, striker, and #43 Stefano Fuscioni, midfielder, will help the team get younger at those spots

*The team is searching for another young forward. Joseph Pittesser is still playing well and will be granted his desired transfer

*Birger Manholt's #5 will be retired to the HHH this season and the team will need a new backup keeper and future coach

Originally Posted by 7-9-2012

(19:26) Hippos Looking to Achieve More

The Hippos currently have 360 achievement points.

*Recently, Houston posted an average match rating of brilliant for 25 points during this game: (376295871). This is one of only 2 achievements the team has with under 10K in the game.

*The team has accumulated 88.0 stars three times and might, with some good form and good luck, be able to top the 90.0 star barrier. This would bump the team from 35 to 50 points in "Star Collector".

*As mentioned in a previous PA, the Hippos have flirted with TSI, being over 120K twice but not during weekly updates. This would add another 20 points (30 to 50).

*Lastly, Cup Round 10 (15 points) is a huge hill to climb. The team has made it to Round 9 thrice and only advanced to Round 10 once.

The following points are attainable when starting over:
Match 130: 35 (veteran) +35 (youthful) +35 (academy) +25 (home grown)
Team 60: 15 (nice) +15 (dishonest) +15 (nasty) +15 (honest)

This would be a total of 585 (or 600 with cup).

Originally Posted by 7-23-2012

(19:13) Houston Hippopotami Win Inaugural International Cup

The third time was a charm for the Hippos in Tournament Play. Previously, Houston lost a tight final to the Airborne Penguins in the Mini FOFC Cup and in the Quarterfinals of the Alcala Cup. This time, however, they leave victorious, 3-0 winners over red sioux in the inaugural International Cup and a shiny trophy can be seen on our Prize Shelf.

Gian Paolo Serafino's play was angelic with 2 goals and the team's Gold Star in the Final game. That wasn't the only hardware he collected as he was the team's MVP and the tournament's leading scorer with 5 goals. He had another Gold Star performance with his 2 goals in the 2nd half of the comeback win against SL Bolachas.

The team also posted wins against Spin Doctors and Hackenrun in group play and host FC PUKHOVSKIY in the Semifinals. Hippos management would like to thank pukhovskiy_nikolay for the cup invitation and to all the participants!

As for the USA Cup, a 7th round match against the Cleveland Vipers looms Wednesday.

Originally Posted by 8-1-2012

(20:29) Final Hippo Friendly Cup?

Today kicks off what might be the final Hippo Friendly Cup with a game against Concordia Braunschweig 95 in the German Bundesliga. The Hippos sit at 128 away flags and 120 home flags.

By the end of the season, Houston will have both hosted and visited all 128 countries in Hattrick! 47 teams have already accomplished this feat and another 35 are ahead of the Hippos. However, none are in the United States.

The Hippos will be the first team in the entire USA to complete both flag collections!

Remaining:
Israel
Czech Republic
Hungary
Finland
Romania
Switzerland
France
Germany

To date, 860,046 fans have attended a Hippo Friendly Cup game and 486,184 of those have been at home. That means by the end, we will have broken 500K at home and 900K total.

So, during our 30th anniversary season, we will have completed our flag collection with no payments, a smidge of flag lottery luck, and the kindness of a lot of other team owners. Thanks to all who have helped!

Originally Posted by 8-6-2012

(20:39) Honorary Hippo Hall of Heroes: Kris Jacobsen

Kris Jacobsen (46500559) was one of the most prolific scorers in Hippo history. In 165 matches, he scored 48 fixture goals (3rd in Houston history) and 43 non-fixture goals. In season 31 and 34, he was 4th in III.3 with 10 and 12 goals, respectively.

Kris was titanic scorer with quality secondaries: passable passing and passable wing. He was a trainee brought in at age 18 from iron-maiden (4.3.05 S25) for $1.1M, trained up, and played in Houston for 10 seasons before being sold (3.5.08 S35) to Olimpico Cea for $3.4M.

He also played for Forza Silkeborg and was top scorer of VI.409 (Danmark) for season 37 with 12 goals. His best rating ever came that same season on 1.11.2009 as he put up 8.0 stars. He also played for dresden-dynamo and astrup boys before, at the end of his playing career, on 10.12.09, he became coach for Nivaa Dolphins. In total, he scored 216 competitive goals and 19 hattricks.

This great Hippo scorer will be retired with #48, his number of fixture goals.

Originally Posted by 8-9-2012

(16:19) Honorary Hippo Hall of Heroes: Koos Teepen

Koos Teepen (8057500) achieved fame elsewhere. He was a Hippo during our earliest days, arriving in season 20 for under $80K from kvt-army but leaving in season 21 with his career-high transfer of $273K. He was originally from vv Leek Rodenburg and played for vlaming, Connys Killar, and Castroman. His highest skill was set pieces, only the third Hippo to hit formidable. He was a 3.5 star winger with solid playmaking and winger.

But he made his mark with SC Klarenbeek where he was coach from 8.13.06 until 4.23.08 and was inducted into their Hall of Fame on 4.26.08 with these notes (Google translate): "[He]was the successor of success[ful] trainer Esmundo Díaz... [with] a heavy burden on his shoulders. There was never money for reinforcements and the competition was getting better." It goes on to describe staying in VI as his goal and "this target was achieved".

With Houston he wore the #10 and #22 for SC Klarenbeek. We will retire him as #41 to commemorate his career goals total.

Originally Posted by 8-17-2012

(14:35) Quijada Answers the Hall's Call

Juan Alberto Quijada was a powerful offensive midfield force with the 5th most matches in Houston franchise history with 264 matches played. He scored 55 career goals and played with many current and future HHH members on the midfield. First, he roamed the midfield with Little and Vickers after Partridge moved to wing. Then he played with Marsh, Thacker, and King, all fellow Americans.

He was being groomed to be the next Hippos coach, the first "excellent" coach in franchise history, when his coaching career was tragically cut short. He suffered a brutal +4 injury last season against T.S.T. after which he could no longer travel with the team and gain experience.

A student of the game, and its history, he initially wore the #15 here but gladly gave it "back" to Carlos Alberto Benito when he rejoined the team so he could retire in his original number.

During halftime of Sunday's match against Westchester, everyone is expecting an emotional ceremony when Juan's #10 is retired.

Originally Posted by 8-17-2012

(12:51) Hippo Hall of Heroes

Below is the Current and Future HHH Roster

Current HHH Members
#01 S43 Tim Kimber
#03-Hnr Quintin Staples (28383532)
#10 S49 Juan Alberto Quijada
#11 S47 Charlie Partridge
#12 S45 Donald Sidorczak
#13 S33 Mick Starks
#15 S41 Carlos Alberto Benito
#17 S44 Erwin Vickers
#18 S42 Thomas Little
#19 S40 Allan Brik
#22 S33 Edwin Phelan
#27 S48 Volfs Treibahs
#31 S38 Vaikhan Satyanarayana
#41-Hnr Koos Teepen (8057500)
#44 S46 Tomas Ovesson
#48-Hnr Kris Jacobsen (46500559)
#83-Hnr Sergio Chapin (23361083)
#96-Hnr Adir Weissglass (118357573)
#97 S39 Xacobo Armengol
#99 S30 José María Miquel

Upcoming Candidates
#72-Hnr Marcin Tetkowski (48395749) - Prolific scorer
#95 S50 Gilceu Bianco, 42 - Coach during second stint in II
#05 S51 Birger Manholt, 36 - 12 seasons as backup keeper
#09 S52 Carlos Thacker, 37 - 13 season elite middie
#14 S53 John King, 37 - 12 season elite middie
#40 S54 Stephen Williams, 33 - WC def, 1st youth pull, career Hippo

Originally Posted by 8-23-2012

(17:35) Murray is Mr 500,000!

Murray Mortimer, long time loyal Houston Hippopotami season ticket holder, spent his Wednesday evening just like every other Wednesday evening for the last 30 seasons. He and his wife, Maude, went to a Hippos game.

Today, as he went through the turnstile, fireworks greeted him with the news that he was the 500,000th Hippo Friendly Cup fan. For being the lucky 500K fan, Murray and his wife were honored at halftime and will receive lifetime VIP season tickets.

Murray: "They've been a part of my life for so long now. I think I'd like to see them in MLS, even if just for one season." Little Mike, their grandson, said his dream was to play for the Hippos when he got older.

Across the almost 30 seasons a home Hippo Friendly Cup has been played, they have averaged 4010 fans for a total of 505,239. 879,101 total fans have seen an HFC match. Only 4 teams remain in the team's quest to be the first team in USA with a complete flag collection: Finland, Romania, Switzerland, and France.

Originally Posted by 9-12-2012

(21:54) Honorary Hippo Hall of Heroes: Marcin Tetkowski

Marcin Tetkowski (48395749) was one of the highest scorers in Hippo history, his 46 fixture goals tied for 4th all time with Thomas Little and Tor Tetlie. He was a head specialist with a knack for special event goals but he was also a titanic scorer with excellent passing and even some winger thrown in. He was capable of putting up 8.0 stars and had 26 non-fixture goals for a total of 72.

He came to the Hippos in season 30 and play played in a 3-5-2 opposite Honorary HHHer Kris Jacobsen. He later played with Oliver Angulo, who had 43 fixture goals in his Hippo career, until he he was sold in season 36.

His season 32 was one of the best in Houston history with 22 total goals. His 13 fixture goals were 3rd in III.3. After being held scoreless in the III.3 opener, he scored in 6 straight games including a hat trick. He also had a 3 game cup scoring streak and another 3 game fixture streak.

During Sunday's home game against the Delze Devils, the #72 was retired in his honor

Originally Posted by 9-20-2012

(13:15) Houston Hippopotami First in USA to Complete Flag Collection!

In a pregame ceremony prior to Wednesday's friendly, Houston christened the new International Plaza at the Hippodrome complex. GM SterlingIce accepted the Finnish flag from GM Tai-Turi of FC WinKings and placed it in the final empty display.

The Houston Hippopotami are the first team in the United States to collect all 128 flags, home and away. They are also only the 62nd team in the entire game to have completed this feat.

In our 30th anniversary season, we have completed our flag collection with no payments, a smidge of flag lottery luck, and the kindness of a lot of other team owners. A huge thanks to all who have helped!

The new International Plaza is a green space with fountains and a mural promoting world peace. A small museum is adjacent to the Hippo Hall of Heroes which displays the 256 flags and a history of the Hippo Friendly Cup. All are free, open to the public, and supported by donations.

Next week, the Hippos will play in the Brazil-USA challenge

Originally Posted by 9-29-2012

(19:09) II.3 Unable to Exterminate Hippos This Season

A season filled with maddening HTRF was flipped on its head Sunday in the Hippos qualifier. For the second straight season, Houston faced a qualifier to avoid relegation and HTMS only gave the home eleven a 34% chance to win. However, the Houston Hippopotami converted on 3 of their 4 chances while the Wisconsin Omanis were only 2 for 5, which allowed the team to remain up in II.3 for their 5th season. Mellino, Edelmann, and Hallasaari all scored for the Hippos in an exciting game where there were 3 missed chances in the last 15 minutes.

Denying rumors that Markus Auerochs was purchased just to get the 1.5M TSI achievement, Coach Gilceu Bianco said "We were so worried about the game that we totally brought in old whathisname down at the end of the bench to help us win."

The celebration turned violent, unfortunately, as some fans were circulating a "take your seat home with you" promotional brochure. Repair crews are working overtime to have the stadium ready for the new season.

Originally Posted by 10-3-2012

(12:51) Season 49: That's a Wrap!

Fresh off completing the first flag collection in the USA history (Houston's PA writers assure us they will not be milking that for all it's worth), the Hippos were faced with the unusual situation of an open friendly week. So, the team strapped on their reds, whites, and blues as part of the USA-Brazil week 16 challenge.

Unfortunately, coming off of the qualifier with the Omanis, Houston had to play their backups against Sport Clube Vilinha who hails from Brazil's Campeonato Brasileiro, the top league. They, too, had a qualifier but demonstrated their considerable depth, whipping the Hippos 5-2. Overall, the USA fell to Brazil, 44-39 in the hotly contested challenge.

Coach Gilceu Bianco: "The team's been through a lot this season and it's time to give the guys a break."

With the extremely busy end of the season look for upcoming PAs about:
*Stadium Renovations
*Achievement Update
*Hippo Tournament Play

And there will always be more news as the season develops.

SI