[Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami (III.3); Special 20th Anniversary Thread - Page 4

sterlingice · 09-07-2011, 01:04 PM

3-21-2003

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(19:47) Year End Shakeup and Crazy Earl After the sale of excellent playmaker Julius Acker netted over $600K, the Hippos are looking to upgrade all over the field. Details will be worked out in the next few days

On an unrelated note, the Hippos are looking to give Morrisville some payback for a friendly loss earlier this year. Mick Starks, called out 'Crazy' Earl Frantz by musing "Hmm... he sounds like one of those chease eatin' surrender monkeys. I wonder if he confuses his alternate white uniform for his state flag?"
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3-17-2003

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(07:15) Furious Rally by Dragons Seals Hippos Fate For over 2/3rds of the game, the Hippos kept CC's Dragons in check, but alas, it was not to be and the Dragons 4 goal rally in the second half doomed the Hippos. In the first half, Houston took charge 5 minutes into the game with a goal by Carlos Alberto Benito. He scored his second goal of the match 35 minutes in and the Hippos led 2-0. However, the Dragons scored 4 goals in the 23 minute span between 64 and 87. The loss relegates Houston to 4th for the year behind Atlanta.
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3-10-2003

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(07:32) Hippos Crush Catamounts, 2-3 Battle Next Week After rolling through Vermont, the Hippos are looking to finish strong this year against CC's Dragons next week. Carlos Alberto Benito and Derek Solomon both scored twice and new goalie Vochin threw his second shutout in a row. A win or tie nets us 3rd place but a loss will likely drop us to 4th. FYI, The Hippos have also created a new logo befitting their division V status: not very intimdating.
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3-3-2003

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(04:51) New Hippo Vochin Shuts Out Tea Stealers On the strength of Derrick Solomon's second hat trick of the season and new Hippo goalie, Chiritã Vochin, the Hippos beat the Tea Stealers 4-0. Again, Houston showed they were one of the toughest (dirtiest?) teams in the league, as yet another player, Patrik Jonsson, was shown the door after injuring an opposing player. This win, coupled with Atlanta's loss to the Dragons pushed the Hippos back into 3rd. However, a huge showdown with the Dragons looms the last week of the season.
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2-24-2003

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(04:50) Darksiders Slam Hippos Back into 4th In an ugly game, the Darksiders, the leading team in the race for promotion, crushed Houston 4-0. Ralph Kjellsson had 2 goals for the Darksiders and goalie Dawid Raduli's slump continued. The game got ugly in the second half as the Hippo's star defender Hugh Hebert was shown the door. Soon after, Julius Acker took down Nicusor Plesu and he will be out for a couple of weeks. After the Darksiders put the nail in the coffin, Houston Captain Mick Starks was carded for unsportsmanlike conduct.
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2-17-2003

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(05:56) Hippos Storm Into 3rd It was a slow start, but the Hippos turned it on, scoring 5 goals in the last 30 minutes in the game. Middie Julius Acker scored twice and four others scored for the Hippopotami who have now taken 3rd place. The biggest test since taking over the team will come next week as we travel to take on the Darksiders.
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2-10-2003

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(07:15) Hippos Win; Battle for 3rd Next Week The Hippos started out slow, since they "played it cool" but in the second half, they were red hot. Derrick Solomon had the first hat trick of the Hippos existence and we dominated the possession rate with 73% for the game. Next week, Atlanta United comes to what will likely be a packed Hippodrome as the Hippos will try to win their 6th in a row. If they win by 3, then there will be a new 3rd place team in the league.
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2-3-2003

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(08:54) Hippopotami beat Midgets for 4th in a row, move into 4th place Since I have recently gotten a 3 month supporter membership, I will be throwing out game summaries weekly.

This week, the Flying Midgets paid us a visit in the new, renovated Hippodrome. Keeper Dawid Raduli shut out the Midgets, 3-0. Forwards Edwin Phelan and Derrick Solomon both scored goals, extending their team-leading tally to 4 each. Midfielder Stephen Connors scored the other goal. Next week, we head to The Metal Mulisha Arena, trying to extend our winning streak to 5 in a row

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sterlingice · 09-07-2011, 01:49 PM

5-1-2003

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(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.
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4-28-2003

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(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.
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4-25-2003

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(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.
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4-21-2003

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(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.
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4-17-2003

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(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.
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4-14-2003

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(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!
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(00:46) Congrats To All Still in the Cup At this point, we still have 5 series teams still in the cup!

The Dragons and Blades have quite easy games this week

The Midgets and myself (Hippos) have tough but winnable draws provided we play starters and get some luck (and being at home doesn't hurt)

PRODYGRAF has a really tough matchup in 777 this week.

Good luck to all of you this week! As long as it's not a league game, I'm here to cheer for you

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4-10-2003

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(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.

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4-7-2003

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(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.
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4-3-2003

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(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!
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3-27-2003

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(03:01) Hippos Lose to Yokels in Friendly At Buck Tooth Stadium in the middle of Appalachia and straight out of Deliverance, the Hippos 4-2 lost a grudge match to rival Morrisville. Despite a Hippo high NSI of 47 vs their NSI of 44, the Morrisvillians' home stench advantage was too much to overcome. Four players scored for Morrisville including "Crazy" Earl Nancy-Boy-In-a-Tutu. Thomas Strömlius and Dafoe Chang scored for Houston. No love was lost between the teams as there were 3 yellow cards, 2 injuries, and a penalty kick.
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sterlingice · 09-07-2011, 01:57 PM

6-8-2003

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(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.
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6-2-2003

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(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.
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5-30-2003

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(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.
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5-26-2003

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(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!
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5-23-2003

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(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.
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5-20-2003

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(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.
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5-18-2003

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(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:
FOFC Cup III
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5-12-2003

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(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.
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5-9-2003

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(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.
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5-6-2003

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(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!
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sterlingice · 09-07-2011, 01:59 PM

7-22-2003

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(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.
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7-10-2003

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(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*
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7-8-2003

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(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.
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7-3-2003

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(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.
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7-2-2003

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(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.
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6-28-2003

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(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.
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6-23-2003

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(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.
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6-19-2003

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(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.
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(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.
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6-13-2003

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(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.
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6-9-2003

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(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.
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sterlingice · 09-07-2011, 02:08 PM

8-26-2003

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(01:42) Four Forward Goals Fluster Formidable zfan zfan may now be computer controlled but they still have Sarp Bele who scored his 60th career goal but Edwin Phelan collected his third career hat trick and new striker Gualtiero Spagnuolo started his Hippo career with a goal in the 6th minute, en route to a 4-2 win. The Hippos were possibly aided by pink-orange-lime kits, the price of a lost bet from last week's friendly. The win has the Hippos in 3rd place, but that is likely to change as they play Brooklyn and Kaishaku the next four weeks.
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8-23-2003

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(10:17) Hippos Stumble in FOFC Run-And-Shoot Battle Coach Braden foolishly pulled back the troops early as Houston blew a 3-0 lead, losing 4-3 to Galesburg. The Avengers, coached by one of the FOFC Run-and-Shoot elders in Coffee Warlord, scored 4 unanswered goals despite only having 10 men on the pitch for part of the second half. The match pitted two of the most offensive fomations in the game with Galesburg's 3-4-3 and the Hippos suprising 2-5-3. Next week's friendly against Manhattan will be quite the opposite as NAIWF plays 5-4-1
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8-21-2003

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(02:39) Hippos Get First Home Div IV Victory Over 28000 at the Hippodrome saw a grind-it-out defensive soccer game and the first ever Div IV home win for their beloved Hippos. José María Miquel got a goal and almost connected on a second and Stephen Connors got the second goal, early in the second half. The defense held Team Groomers to only one chance that hit the post and Timber made the 2 goal advantage stand up. The win evens the Hippos record at 2-2 with 6 points and a 0 goal differential with 8 goals for and against.
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8-17-2003

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(09:34) Tryggvesson Leads Hippos Past Visiting Thai Team The Hippos played host to their second ever int'l friendly, this time against Lurking FC of Prathet Thai. UberTrainee(TM) Robert Tryggvesson scored a hat trick and second string keeper Sidney Buckley held Lurking scoreless after a goal in the 18th minute. The Hippodrome saw its largest ever friendly crowd as 2129 Hungry Hungry Hippos saw a sky filled with threatening clouds but no rain fell until after the game concluded. A battle of Run-and-Shoot next week as the Galesburg Avengers visit.
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8-11-2003

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(20:00) Enforcers Have All the Answers in Iowa It was the perfect end to a perfectly frustrating week. Iowa kept Houston at arm's length practically the entire game, handing the Hippos their 3rd straight competitive loss, 4-2. Iowa scored 2 minutes into the game and neither team could muster another chance in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, seconds after Derrick Solomon tied the game, Iowa scored to go up 2-1. The Enforcers scored another quick goal and led either 3-1 or 4-2 the rest of the way. The Hippos host Team Groomers next week.
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8-10-2003

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(03:25) Overconfident Hippos Chased from Cup Overconfidence is a dangerous thing and the Hippos found that out firsthand. Playing a pretty good Div V squad, the midfield could only manage a wretched rating due to a road PIC and Ravenwood City dominated 2nd half possession. Daniel Storm scored both goals for the Hippos after being thrown out of last week's Cup game and Tim Kimber posted his second straight **** rating but allowed 5 goals. Next week, Lurking FC from Prathet Thai comes to the Hippodrome for an international friendly.
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8-5-2003

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(12:29) Hippos Hang Tough but End Streak and Sully Reputation Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Hippos almost pulled off an improbably draw but at what cost? Casting aside their beloved run-and-shoot, the Hippos, with an excess of quality defenders after last week's youth pull, played the gauling 4-5-1 in an attempt to stop Chock and their 96 NSI from last week. The Hippos were down 3-2 most of the second half but could never score the equalizer. They will now begin the search for an atonement quest and continue Cup play Wednesday.
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(12:14) Hippos Carded to Death in Win Coach Rickey Braden had to be retrained midway through the second half after Daniel Storm was kicked off the pitch with his second yellow card of the day. It was the Hippos 4th card during a match where they played it cool but the refs called a very tight game. The computer controlled Boston Knights scored to take an early 1-0 lead but Houston scored 7 unanswered goals for the easy win. Next week, the Hippos, without the services of Storm, face Ravenwood City, their first human opponent.
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7-29-2003

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(16:47) Hippos Win First Division IV Game Last year's leading scorer, Edwin Phelan, and this offseason's wingback acquisition, Lorenzo Cristiano, each scored a goal in Houston's first ever Division IV win. Tim Kimber only allowed one goal and made a key first half save. After some offseason upgrades, the Hippos posted a passable midfield and solid or higher ratings everywhere else on the field to go along with 32.5 stars. Houston's home opener in the newly renovated Hippodrome is next week against Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness.
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7-25-2003

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(05:17) Hippos Cup Offense Firing on All Cylinders Season 19 scoring co-champ Edwin Phelan scored five goals and new Hippo Herschel Meek added a hat trick as Houston rolled 10-1 to open up the US Cup. Four Hippos got 3.5 stars and many others were trying out new positions in preparation for a new season. Due to the all day shower, the crowd was less than stellar in the game against the Montana Panthers from VI.514. Hopefully, next week's game against the Div VI Boston Knights will be better. Hippos open their first season in IV.21 Sunday.
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sterlingice · 09-07-2011, 02:10 PM

9-22-2003

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(19:16) Fans Tear Down Goalposts at Reliant Stadium A group of Hippo fans, in their drunken revelry, got lost on their way home from the Hippodrome and tore down the goalposts at Reliant Stadium where the Houston Texans been drubbed by the Chiefs earlier today. While only 24K and change were at the Hippodrome, thousands more will claim to have seen the Hippos draw with 1st place Brooklyn United, after which fans stormed the field. As for the game, Herchel Meek scored on Houston's only chance and the Hippo defense stopped 1 of Brooklyn's 2.
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(01:16) Hippos Beaten At Their Own Game The Hippos offense came to play for their second round game in the FOFC Cup. However, 4 goals wasn't enough as West Henrietta FC scored a 5th in the 86th minute to win 5-4 and advance to the round of 16. Starting striker Edwin Phelan, new winger Koos Teepen, FOFC Cup stud Juan Miguel Tizon, and defender Elmer Bush all scored for the Hippos but it wasn't enough. Bush's goal tied the game at 4 in the 84th minute, however, West Henrietta's Rich Taylor scored the game winner 2 minutes later.
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9-17-2003

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(17:53) Run and Shoot Shut Out While the Hippos defense may have failed them in the tougher Div IV, their offense had always produced. However, on the road and following a crushing home defeat last week, the Hippos were shut out for only the third fixture in their history, losing 5-0 to Kaishaku FC. Barring major upsets the rest of the year, this loss combined with Iowa's draw at Brooklyn will prevent the Hippos from finishing in the money their first year in Div IV and forcing them into a qualification game.
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9-16-2003

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(01:26) Hippos Lose Tom Sanders Friendly The Hippos lost a friendly to the Spring Grove Fighting Eagles in the "Player We Shall not Refer to by his Name Cup". The weather and Eagles defense conspired against the Hippos to only allow one chance (a Juan Miguel Tizón score). However, by that point, the Eagles already had 3 goals and were pulled back. Also, team captain and starting center defender José María Miquel was hurt and will be out for two games with a leg injury. FOFC Cup play continues next week after a one week layoff.
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9-12-2003

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(13:26) Hippos Blow Lead, Chance to Finish in Money Bleak In his second fixture for Houston, Gualtiero Spagnuolo scored a pair of goals and gave his team a 2-1 lead at the half. Despite winning possession 51-49 in the second half, Houston missed it's only second half chance while Kaishaku scored on all 3 of theirs. The loss is Houston's second straight with another pair against Kaishaku and Brooklyn on the horizon and it dropped them into 5th with 9 points, 3 behind Iowa for 4th and only 2 ahead of The Champion for 6th.
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9-7-2003

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(14:15) Hippos Advance in FOFC Cup While the Hippos aren't expecting to go too far in the FOFC Cup, at least they played up to their #3 seed for one game, beating Yukon Quest 4-2 at the 'drome. Juan Miguel Tizon scored a pair of goals and Herschel Meek helped shore up the midfield after not playing Sunday due to a red card. The teams went into the half tied 2-2 but defender Clement Schrader and winger Ivan Viseslav scored in the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Hippos now wait 2 weeks for their 2nd round opponent.
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9-3-2003

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(12:35) Brooklyn Too Much for Hippos Edwin Phelan scored twice as many goals as Brooklyn United had given up all year but it wasn't nearly enough as Team Chile member Joaquin Otegi scored 2 goals and 3 other players scored for BU. Brooklyn put up only a 90 rating, their "worst" of the season, but Houston could only muster a 63, also a season low. On the road and without an ineligible Herschel Meek, the Hippos only posted an inadequate midfield. This week, FOFC Cup play begins.
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9-1-2003

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(09:43) Marauders Mauled by Hippo Offense Once again, the run-and-shoot proved to be superior to a defensive formation. Last week, when Coach Braden drew back the troops up 2-0, Galesburg's run-and-shoot stormed back for a comeback victory. This week, the Hippos pulled back up 3-0 but the Marauders 5-4-1 and a weak-poor-inad offense could not comeback enough. Next week begins FOFC Cup play as Yukon Quest visits the 'drome. The Hippos enter the cup as a #3 seed, however, do not expect to advance too far as training takes priority.
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sterlingice · 09-07-2011, 02:18 PM

11-6-2003

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(08:40) Hippos beat Cyclones for Rivalry Week Win UberTrainee(TM) turned starter Thomas Little scored twice and Timber pitched a shutout as the Hippos shut out reciprocal supporter Louisiana Cyclones in their rivalry week game. Coach Braden's unpopular decision to sell Herchel Meek and elevate Thomas Little to starter has proven to be the right decision for now as all attacks were outstanding and midfield was excellent. However, the defense suffered without Meek helping out and Braden will have to answer this problem in the coming weeks
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11-3-2003

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(04:24) Hippos a Hit in Hrvatska For the second straight week, the Hippos went on the road and won against a top league opponent. Also, like last week, Juan Miguel Tizon scored a pair as Houston came away from Croatia with a 3-1 win against dada team, who is in 1.HNL. This concludes the Friendly Hippo World Tour with Houston going 5-1 in international play.

Next week is rivalry week and Houston gets their first home friendly in weeks as reciprocal supporter Doug5984 brings his Louisiana Cyclones to visit the Hippodrome.
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10-27-2003

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(03:15) Late Scoring Blitz Buries The Champion, Gets Hippos 4th! With 15 minutes left in the game, the Hippos were staring at a 2-0 deficit and a qualification game. However, Carlos Alberto Benito, who got Houston's first ever 4.5 star game, scored to get the Hippos started. Then, the floodgates opened up as Meek and Phelan both scored a pair of goals, giving the Hippos a 5-2 win and fourth place in their first season in Div IV. Houston also put up their first ever formidable midfield, delighting a full crowd at the Hippodrome on Fan Appreciation Day.
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10-24-2003

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(12:14) Houston Hot In Iceland! Houston got a big win on the Friendly Hippo World Tour, beating Real Reykjavik, a very formidable opponent and a member of Island's top series. Juan Miguel Tizon scored twice while Storm and Tryggvesson added one goal each and led the B Team UberTrainee(TM) midfield to it's first ever inadequate rating. Next week, the Hippos visit another tough team as they travel to play dada team, a club in Croatia's top series. Sunday is the last fixture of Season 20, Fan Appreciation Day at the 'drome
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10-23-2003

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(23:20) Houston Crushed at Creamy Nougat Center Houston, in an essentially meaningless game, PIC'd on the road and was destroyed by Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness. Anders Jansson scored 4 goals and the Hippos only scored 1 (Gualtiero Spagnuolo) as Houston was downed 7-1. A win in next week's game against The Champion locks up 4th place for the Hippos in their first season in Div IV.
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10-20-2003

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(10:07) Oops! The Hippos barely arrived in time for their friendly due to a scheduling snafu and starters were accidentally hustled out onto the field as Houston visited Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in Israel. This resulted in a 5-0 win for the Hippos but forced them to do a week of stamina training instead of the scheduled playmaking. Next week's trip to Iceland has already been checked and double checked with the lineup set as Houston visits Real Reykjavik, in Island I.1, the equivalent to the MLS.
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10-15-2003

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(13:14) In the Money? Hippos Rally In Battle for Fourth Place! Herchel Meek added 2 goals to his 4 from last week as Houston rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 and put themselves in the driver seat for fourth place. A balanced game was key with ratings of excellent across the board save a formidable on the left attack wing. Houston needs one win in their last two games to finish in the money in their first season in Div IV. The Hippos must visit CFoWG at the Creamy Nougat Center before closing out the season at the 'drome against The Champion.
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10-13-2003

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(02:54) Hippos Lose Friendly in Thailand The Hippo World Tour (TM) continues as they visited Samuthprakarn Eagle from Prathet Thai. Robert Tryggvesson scored the only Houston goal and the midfield and wings put up a B Team high of 14 stars. However, Samuthprakarn Eagle and their solid B Team midfield showed why they were # 1 in III.6 in Thailand. We thank eaglez for the friendly and will continue our tour next week in with Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in III.10 Israel.
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10-12-2003

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(03:00) Hippos Slide Into Fourth Place on Meeks Huge Day Veteran midfielder Herschel Meek exploded for 4 goals en route to a 5-1 Houston win over Team Groomers. Meek, along with Hippo star midfielders Carlos Alberto Benito and Stephen Connors (who scored the other goal), collected 11.5 stars and put up a solid midfield rating. The win sets up a showdown next week in Houston for 4th place in IV.21 with the #5 Iowa Enforcers who beat the Hippos 4-2 in Iowa earlier in the season. Coach Braden is expecting an MotS by Iowa and is planning accordingly.
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10-6-2003

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(09:10) Hippos Win 2nd Straight International Friendly In not quite as thrilling fashion as last week's shootout win, the Hippos went this time to Oceania and beat the Royal Magpies of IV.41 by the score of 6-2. Solomon, Tizon, Meek, Storm, Tryggvesson, and Teepen all scored goals as a record 4909 fans saw the Houston friendly. Neither team had any injuries, making it a successful international friendly. Next week, the Hippos will travel to Prathet Thai to face a Div III team called Samuthprakarn Eagle.
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10-2-2003

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(03:37) Hippos Win Walkover Since there was no match to talk about, the Hippos would like to thank all of their fans and supporters in this, their first season in Div IV.

And a special thanks to our supporters:
ausonny
NevStar
vexroid
Doug5984
Eilim
NAIWF
robbgmaier
Coffee Warlord
Flatulon

And to all the guys at:
FOFC
Kraftworks Union

Thanks from the Hippos!

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9-28-2003

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(01:56) Hippos Win First Ever Shootout in Canadian Friendly Ninety minutes were not long enough to decide the match between the Thoroughbreds and Hippos. At the end of regulation, the score was tied 2-2. Denis Aubin, author of the previous Thoroughbreds goals, missed on the only chance in OT so the game went to PKs. Houston won 5-4 after Solomon, Miguel, Schrader, Teepen and Wellens all scored. The difference was a miss by Gregory Murray which went clear past the goal and keeper Ignacio Sánchez. Tizon and Schrader scored Houston's regulation goals.
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sterlingice · 09-07-2011, 02:20 PM

2-23-2004

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(18:08) Sticking Around With the Hippos 3-0 qualification victory over recently renamed Green Country, Houston will be staying in IV.21 for next season and Coach Braden will retain his job for now. Expectations are high for next season even with the transfer of veteran star middie Carlos Alberto Benito on the horizon. Jason Linighan is ready to take his place and there are big improvements on other parts of the pitch.

The Hippos welcome Season 22 and new teams: Stormy_Gales, The War Crabs, and New York Hotspurs.
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2-22-2004

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(21:12) Qualifier Today! After a long injury and card riddled season 21 campaign, the Hippos will be fighting for their very right to play in Div IV next season. Tho the owner has continued to voice his support for Coach Braden, many speculate this his immediate future with the team will be tied to today's outcome. The Hippos have finally healed up (mostly) and will be playing for their IV.21 lives today against the newly renamed Green County and their new star, former Shaolin Landfill keeper Steffen Riedel.
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2-2-2004

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(11:41) Coach Braden In Trouble (Match Report, pt 3) Back-to-back fixture wins may have saved Coach Braden's job for now, but he is still on the hotseat. After finishing 4th last season, the Hippos are all but locked into 5th this season due in no small part to some questionable coaching decisions. Owner SI maintains that Braden will have his job until the end of the season. However, his days beyond that are numbered. Some players have been voicing their displeasure at his lack of leadership in the locker room as well as on the field.
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(11:36) Sunday 2.2.04 Notes (Match Report, pt 2) * Jason Linighan made his Hippo debut, taking over for the departed Stephen Connors. The 26yo veteran and original Hippo sold for $2M and change last week. Linighan, from Oceania, also boasts outstanding playmaking but he is only 18 and "only" cost $1.53M.

* With last week's fixture victory, the Hippos have strung together back-to-back wins for only the second time this season.

* Despite their struggles, the Hippos have sold out 4 of 6 home games with another one 107 shy of capacity.
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(11:33) Hippos Hang On For Win After blowing a 3-0 lead in the Hippos Baltic Tour this past Wednesday, Coach Braden didn't pull back Sunday. Still, the Champion staged a second half rally, scoring twice in the second half before losing. Umur Oruz scored a pair of first half goals for Houston and middies Carlos Alberto Benito and Thomas Little each added a tally. The Hippos have two fixtures remaining as they head to Iowa before the home finale against Chock, who clinched with the IV.21 title with today's win over Kiashaku.
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1-26-2004

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(03:28) Sunday Notes (Match Report, pt 2) * Sunday marked the debut of 21yo Chinese wingback Shuo Ming-Cheung who put up 3.5 stars.

* The Hippos continue their Friendly Baltic Cup with a game in Latvia against Fc Storm. Last week was Lithuania next week will be Estonia.

* The Hippos are all but locked into 5th place so a qualification game awaits in week 15. At least that's an extra week of training.

* FYI: The Hippos first Hattrick birthday was 1/8/2004.
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(03:27) Rainy Day Sees Hippos Break Winless Streak The Hippos broke a 3 game winless streak with a 5-1 win on a muddy pitch over former Div III team The Oompa-Loompas. The Hippos put it all together for the first time in a few weeks as all Hippos starters are back from injuries which have ravaged the team. Five players scored for the Hippos including Umur Oruz's 1st and Gualtiero Spanuolo's team leading 6th. Next week, the Hippos host The Champion at home before finishing up with very tough games at Iowa and back home against Chock.
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1-21-2004

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(07:28) We're Back! The dynasty report hasn't restarted but the Hippos are back. Since the last press release, much has happened:

* The Hippos have been beset by injuries and card trouble and the poor play has all but guaranteed them a qualification game.

* The Hippos were bounced out of the FOFC Cup after a 1-2-0 record in group play.

* Now, the Hippos begin the Hippo Baltic Cup this week in Lithuania.

Next up:

* Friendlies to Estonia and Latvia

* Improved play down the stretch in IV.21
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12-1-2003

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(06:09) Hippos On Hiatus The Hippos bi-weekly press announcement will be on vacation for the next month. With finals fast approaching, there will be less time to devote to the Hippos press functions and other "non-essential" operations.

This will, in no way, affect the day to day operations of the team, just our publications such as the press announcement and the dynasty report at FOFC.

But never fear, Hippo faithful. We'll be back once the new year begins with all new dynasty reports.

SI
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11-25-2003

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(00:51) Last Easy One in USA Cup Koos Teepen got a hat trick and keeper Ignacio Sánchez got a shutout in the Hippos final game against a computer opponent in USA Cup. Houston played it cool with subs, including the debut of 17yo UberTrainee(TM) Jörgen Thyerberg (and his first goal and card), to only an inadequate midfield but it was more than enough to overpower the Div VI New Mexico Panthers and their wretched midfield.

Next week, the Hippos travel up I-45 from Houston to Dallas where they will face InsertCoin F.C.
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11-20-2003

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(07:19) Hippos Shellacked In Season Opener Houston's second season in Div IV started dubiously with a 5-1 dismantling at the hands of Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness. Edwin Phelan's goal briefly tied the game in the 38th minute, however, Chock was just too much as they held the lead for over 70 minutes. With Coach Braden already on the hot seat, the team will need to do something to help save his job.

Next week is the home opener at the 'drome against Iowa. Derrick Solomon will have his #20 jersey retired at halftime.
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11-14-2003

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(22:13) Hippos Squeak By Samurai In Cup Opener It looked bleak for the Hippos... for about 25 minutes as the Mississippi Samurais scored the first goal of the game. However, the Houston scored 8 unanswered goals including 5 by Edwin Phelan as the Hippos destroyed their Div VI computer opponent to open Season 21 USA Cup play. Next week, Houston will travel to the New Mexico Dome to play the New Mexico Panthers, another computer controlled Div VI team. This one promises to be closer as the Hippos won't be playing starters.
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:24 PM

6-11-2004

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(21:16) Hippos Offseason Rumbling * The Hippos are looking to sell off their top line midfielders and get back some new trainees and a new keeper as well as other improvements

* Eric Peiffer led the team with 7 goals on the season

* In another week, Jose Maria Miguel will take over at coach for the Hippos, ending 5 seasons under Ricky Braden

* Also, next week the new stadium expansion will begin as the 'drom grows to 60000+

* And lastly, congrats to Kaishaku for promoting. But why'd you have to let BU back in
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6-3-2004

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(07:34) Another Record Friendly Three weeks after a record 6972 fans at the Hippodrome for the #1 team in all of Norge...

One week after hosting Paceri from the top league in Bosna i Hercegovina and drawing 7374 fans...

Houston played host to the Saigon Saints, # 1 in the V-League of Vietnam and drew a 11078 spectators, a new record.

As for the game itself, the Hippos got out to an early 3-0 lead and held on to win 3-2. They have won 3 straight against top league teams.

Many thanks to the Saints for visiting!
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5-14-2004

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(11:26) A Very Special Friendly Last week, the Hippo Friendly Cup ended two weeks early because of a friendly acceptance by Birkelunden BK, the top team in all of Norge. The past 2 seasons, they won both the Tippeligaen and Norge Cup and their $70M value midfield includes USA Natty Teamer Mickey Dalton. By comparison, the entire Hippo team is worth $8M

As for the game itself, a friendly record 6972 watched a mix of Hippos starters and reserves win 5-1, led by José María Miquel's hattrick

Many thanks go out to Birken
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5-7-2004

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(11:00) Friendly Hippo Mediterranean Cup Ends As of this past week, the Hippos Friendly Mediterranean Cup is over. Houston played host to 6 Div 2 and Div 3 teams from Mediteranean countries and averaged a whopping 3852 people per game even with some bad weather. Thanks to all the teams who came, representing Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Misr, Italia, and Espana. The Hippos went 2-4 in this seasons international cup.

In fixture play, the Hippos visit The War Crabs. And next week: an extra special friendly! Stay tuned.
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5-3-2004

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(22:58) Hippos Hold On To Second The first ever full house (45500) at the recently renovated Hippodrome watched as the Hippos won 2-0 in a battle of 2nd place teams. Tim Kimber put up a shutout and Iowa's had a man thrown off the pitch only 25 minutes into the game. Houston's matchup at The Golden Beers in the season's final week looms large.

The Season 22 Friendly Hippo tour continued last week, hosting an Italian team and this week hosting a team from Espana. There are possibly two weeks left
in the Mediterranean team
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4-19-2004

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(07:43) Hippos First Half Review * Somehow the Hippos find themself in 2nd at the halfway point. The second half likely won't be so kind as they have 4 away games with teams of similar talent.

* After a bad cup loss followed by a 7-0 massacre, coach Rickey Braden was told he will be fired at the end of the season.

* Eric Peiffer leads the team with 4 goals and two others have 3.

* The Hippos are 1-2 on this year's Friendly Hippo Cup. They have hosted 3 teams from the Mediterranean and hope to host at least 3 more.
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4-11-2004

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(21:34) Upcoming Hippos Schedule The Hippos are in the meat of their schedule as games with Kaishaku and Iowa surround games with Stormy Gales and War Crabs. The Hippos are 1-1 so far with a loss at Kaishaku and a win vs War Crabs.

The Friendly Hippo Tour is in full swing. This years theme is the Mediterranean and Houston has already hosted Div 2 teams from Cyprus (win) and Greece (loss). Next week will be ^galatasaray^ from Div 3 Turkey. Other possible countries include Misr, Espana, Italia, and more. Stay tuned!
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3-29-2004

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(10:34) Coach Ricky Braden Fired! Following another early Cup exit and the worst loss in franchise fixtures, the only coach in Hippo history has been reassigned to the front office after two plus disappointing seasons in Div IV.

Defender Jose Maria Miguel is the interim coach and is on the short list of full time candidates to be looked at in the offseason.

This week, the Hippos begin their annual Friendly Hippo Cup. For the first time ever, Houston will play host and this year's features teams from the Mediterranean.
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3-23-2004

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(19:46) Hippo News and Notes The Hippos have started the season 3-0 for the first time since season 19. We're enjoying our perch atop IV.21 before Kaishaku shellacks us next week.

A record 44939 came out to the 'drome to watch the fixture on Sunday! That's only 561 shy of a sellout.

Original Hippo Carlos Alberto Benito sold for a team record $2.75M. There are no immediate plans for the cash. However, a trainee replacement will be bought at the end of the Hippos cup run. There is also money for a new coach and more.
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3-12-2004

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(07:13) Sad Times at the Hippo Hut Only two original Hippos remain: Mick Starks and Carlos Alberto Benito. The time has come for Benito to be sold. I just can't keep a 25yo in a primary training spot any longer. It's difficult to part with him as he has been here from day 1 and was part of the foundation of the team.

With sorrow comes joy. This week, Benito's heir apparent and Hippos youth squad phenom Thomas Little became the first Hippo to break $1M in value!
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3-8-2004

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(07:48) Kicking Off the New Hippo Season! Five different Hippos scored in the season opener as Houston started the season off on the right foot, knocking off last year's 6th place finisher, Golden Beers.

The Hippos put up a franchise best 86 rating and 41 stars with a world class right side attack and Benito's and Little's 4.5 stars leading the way.

A rather disappointing 30917 came out to the 'drome for opening day. Club officials were expecting in excess of 40K after the stadium expansion in the offseason.
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3-4-2004

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(16:59) Get Off Yer Duff and Vote! It's Election Week! Get out there, read the speeches, ask questions of your candidates, and vote! As a (the only?) member of Jude Worshippers Anonymous, I certainly want to see who gets to manage the legend and lead the USA to Cup glory.

I guess it's kindof obvious who I'm voting for. And rather than plug the candidate I'm voting for, just read all the conference threads and decide for yourself who is best for the job.

Anyways, get out there and vote for your candidate!
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:26 PM

9-28-2004

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(01:43) Record Breaking Season Even losing 2-1 Sunday, Hippos fans were happy about this season.

*New high in goals scored (38) and goals against (25), differential (+13), and points (28) for Div IV

*Sunday's game was the Hippos best ever with a 219 rating (112 old NSI), good for 13th in Div IV and 84th in USA

*Eric Peiffer was 1st on the team with 11 goals and Philip Rijk was 2nd with 8

*A record 326,406 fans came out to the Hippodrome (despite horrid crowds from the new algorithm for half of the season)
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9-24-2004

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(05:42) Hippo Fans Ready for Big Finale There is nothing on the line except pride when Houston faces Brooklyn Sunday for the season finale. Brooklyn has already clinched autopromotion while the Hippos are locked into 3rd place.

Brooklyn has gotten the best of Houston in their previous clashes except for a crucial 1-1 draw in our first season in Div IV after which the Hippos went on to win 4 of 5 after a shaky 3-5 start.

Sunday is Fan Appreciation Day where every fan in the packed Hippodrome gets a shard o' glass as they enter
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9-9-2004

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(06:10) Hippos Go Undefeated on Tour! Houston finished up their Six Continents in Six Weeks tour with six road wins! The tour showcased Hippo talent against premiere opposition as 5 of the 6 teams were Div 1 or 2 teams. In the final game, Houston beat TP6 and his USA Division 2 Airborne Penguins 3-0.

Final Results

2-1 Ah Jai's squad (Oceania D2)
6-1 FC La Paz (Philippines D1)
6-1 FC Trulla (Deutschland D4)
3-0 Tunisie Olympic (Tunisiyah D2)
1-0 Diablos Azules (Peru D1)
3-0 Airborne Penguins (USA D2)
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8-27-2004

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(19:32) Hippos World Tour a Smashing Success The Hippos Friendly Tour of "Six Continents in Six Weeks" has gone well so far with 4 wins in 4 games against top competition from around the world.

The last two weeks, Houston has gotten wins in Deutschland (6-0 against FC Trulla) and Tunisiyah (3-1 against Div II Tunisie Olympic).

Next week, the Hippos head to Peru to face Diablos Azules from Div I Campeonato Peruano. Then the tour finishes up against FOFC'er and prominent USA hattricker TargerPractice6 and his Airborne Penguins.
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8-11-2004

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(20:29) Houston Wins First Two Friendly Cup Games The Hippos have completed one third of their "Six Continents in Six Weeks" Hippo Friendly Tour for this season.

In week 1, the Hippos won a hard fought 2-1 victory over Ah Jai's squad from Div II Oceania.

Week 2 featured a more comfortable 6-1 victory over Philippine League team FC La Paz.

Next week, this crazy traveling Hippo show goes to a top team in either an African or European country. Stay tuned!
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7-30-2004

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(01:48) Hippos Begin Hippos Friendly Cup For the first time in five seasons, Hippo faithful were treated to a home Cup game. However, the team couldn't overcome the loss of 3 starters to cards and another to injury in a 3-2 loss to Gnomish Phalanx.

The team will now turn its attention to the Fourth Annual HFC. This season's theme is "Six Continents in Six Weeks". We start in Oceania, playing Ah Jais squad from Div II

FYI:
The first season had no theme
The second was our Baltic Cup
Last season was the Mediterranean
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7-26-2004

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(03:47) Hippos Win Pyrrhic Victory For Third Place The Hippos went on the road, PIC'd, and came away with a 3-2 win against Iowa but it felt like a loss. Three starting Hippos accumulated their third yellow card and will have to sit out Wednesday's match against Gnomish Phalanx. Starting striker Philip Rijk collected two goals but was handed his third yellow from the clearly partisan official. Starting defenders Olav Johansen and Shuo Ming-Cheung also will be riding the pine. Coach José María Miquel has filed a complaint with FIFA.
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7-15-2004

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(08:01) A Cruel Twist of Fate The hattrick gods have dealt Houston a bad blow this week as they have to visit supporter and fellow FOFC'er Flatulon and his Gasmasters in their next cup game.

The two teams have never met before, but it was expected their first match would be under more felicitous circumstances in a friendly.

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7-12-2004

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(20:39) IV.21 Early Season Report It's been a somewhat disappointing start to the season as Houston is 1-1-1 with 4 points. However, with series parity, that's good enough for 3rd place as there is a logjam of 5 teams with either 4 or 3 points. The week 1 loss to Brooklyn was expected, however, the week 2 draw to Stockton was not. Houston held a huge ratings and stars advantage but Stockton was as lucky as the Hippos were unlucky at putting shots on net. But with the win over the Beers, hopefully their fortunes have turned.
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:28 PM

1-21-2005

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(10:30) FOFC Cup Finals! The Hippos staged the most dramatic comeback in team history, beating the Heaters in the FOFC Cup Semifinal.

His team down 2-1 and down a man in the pouring rain, Houston's Philip Rijk scored the equalizer in the final minute of regulation, sending the game into extra time. Just 1 minute into overtime, Roland Janni scored the game winner, sending the soaked crowd into hysterics.

Houston plays Intercourse Ball Kickers next week for the FOFC Cup VIII Championship.
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1-10-2005

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(15:09) Coming Down the Home Stretch With one game to go in the regular season, the Hippos find themselves in 3rd at 9-2-2 only 2 goals behind Elsa's Itch in goal differential. In week 14, Iowa plays host to the Hippos while Elsa's Itch travel to take on The Oompa Loompas, who has already assured promotion to Div III.

Houston has advanced to the round of 8 in FOFC Cup play. After a 4-0-1 showing in group play, we are the #2 seed in this round and will be hosting mutual supporter CW and his Galesburg Avengers this week.
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12-10-2004

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(09:55) Hippo and IV.21 Notes * We started out the FOFC Cup with a draw against longtime supporter vexroid and a win against SA Griffins FC and their puke green socks.

* We've decided to wear our reserve kits for the rest of the season to switch things up.

* In two weeks, we've got a big matchup against Elsa's Itch for 2nd place but we can't look past Little bastards Fc.

* Congrats to the Oompas for their impressive Cup run this season. The Mathochists FC and Iowa Enforcers had nice runs, too. Congrats IV.21!
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11-27-2004

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(05:17) FOFC Cup Play Begins After a 2 season absence, playing many friendlies abroad, the Hippos return to the FOFC Cup. Houston weighs in as the #4 seed in the cup and will have their opening game in group play against longtime supporter vexroid's and his Sidekicks, who have won the previous 2 meetings between the teams.

Group D:
4. Houston Hippopotami - sterlingice
9. NE Oklahoma Sidekicks - vexroid
14. Deacons - ntndeacon
19. CrazyDoods - mrkilla22
24. Sa Griffins FC - TonyR
29. Kalamazoo F.C. - Shawn Snow
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11-18-2004

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(03:40) Congrats to IV.21'ers in the Cup Congrats to our series on some nice cup runs.

The Oompas scored a nice come-from-behind win while the Iowa Enforcers and Mathochists FC got wins in overtime.

Don't get too high of team spirit or cash, guys

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11-11-2004

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(02:51) "This game was freaking horse *bleep* " When asked to clarify his remarks following the 7-2 whitewashing, coach Juan Maria Miguel stated: "What? Did I stutter? We played a team of cheap shot artists and cheaters. They took out Johan, picked up 3 cards, and were roughing up our guys all day and we never got a PK. But what do you expect from a cowardly team who throws matches to get into Div V. The have a *bleep*ing 73K stadium... in Div V?!? They should have to come to the 'drome. What do you expect from *bleep*ing Missourians?"
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11-1-2004

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(03:07) Hippos Get First Loss of Season Houston suffered their first defeat of the new season, sending them back into 3rd place after a week at the top. "I could tell you about how if we hadn't missed 2 shots and hadn't PIC'd we would have won, but that's probably not true," said Coach Jose Maria Miguel speaking to the team's questionable tactics and continued "We're trying to do well in series and make a deep cup run and sometimes you have to sacrifice one for the other."
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10-25-2004

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(04:34) Hippos Walking On Clouds Both in team spirit and in the standings, the Hippos are sky high after a 3-1 PIC win on the road at rockulas. Houston ran the classic run-and-shoot (go AE!) with middies and wingers playing offensive. Original Hippo Mick Starks set up the first score with a beautiful corner kick in his first A Team start in almost a season, after battling form troubles. Defender Shuo Ming-Cheung botched a play in the first half which lead to rockulas's goal but almost scored twice in the second half.
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10-18-2004

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(09:27) Wacky Week One We're in first for a week after beating Iowa at the Drome.

However, in the rest of IV.21, odd games:

* Elsa's came back from 3-1 down at the half to tie the Oompas. But that's a big road point for The Oompas.

* NYFC pulled back much too early and was lucky to get a draw with the bastards who missed on 2 second half chances.

* rockulas was up 2-0 at the half but pulled back and Math blew by them for a 3-2 comeback win.

This week: bot in the Cup, on the road @ rockulas
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10-16-2004

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(08:45) Get Out and Vote Ok, so it's pretty obvious who I'm voting for, but everyone who can get informed should go vote for their candidate.

SI
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10-9-2004

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(23:00) Completely Unscientific Predictions for IV.21 S24 1. The Oompa-Loompas
2. Elsa's Itch
3. Houston Hippopotami
4. Iowa Enforcers
5. Mathochists FC
6. New York FC
7. rockulas
8. laschivas

Oompas and Elsa's will battle for the top spot. I've got an inside track on #3, barring injuries. Beyond that, the teams are quite close. Iowa and Mathochists will battle for that #5 spot while I think New York will just barely avoid relegation like this season, edging out rockulas. Laschivas, well, it's tough to drop into Div IV as a new team.
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:30 PM

5-5-2005

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(22:08) Big Closing Week First, we have what is starting to seem like a seasonal match with The Enforcers which will determine which of us will finish higher. This season the match will be for 3rd place.

Then the Hippo Friendly Cup 5th Anniversary tour moves on with a trip to Slovensko to play FK Rapid Ruzinov. This will be our 10th flag this season and all but 1 were against teams that were in the top Division in their country. We thank all of the great competition who have let us visit this season.
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4-26-2005

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(09:43) Training and Friendly Cup Update Playing their first league 3-4-3 and PIC'ing, the Hippos fought valiantly to a draw with first place and likely promotee Elsa's Itch. Roland Janni is the last middie trainee ticketed out of town and is on sale until he sells at market price.

For the Hippo Friendly Cup Fifth Anniversary, we have visited United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Cymru, Singapore, Panama, Schweiz, and Shqiperia. This week we visit a top league team in Portugal, TheMiddleMan's FC. Two more weeks to go.

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4-4-2005

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(10:25) Pardon Our Mess The Hippos are in the midst of a roster renovation. Longtime Hippo middies Vaseris, Vargha, and Didriksen have been sold on the transfer list as have veteran strikers Rijk and Spagnuolo. Others on their way out of town are Janni, Danielsson, and Satyanarayana.

However, four young strikers have come into town in the past couple of weeks: Brogaard, Jacobsen, Kaminsky, and Mosca.

Lastly, Starks and Timber both popped to solid exp to go with their pass leadership in their chase for coachship
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3-22-2005

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(04:50) First Half Report The Hippos find themselves in a disappointing 5th place at the halfway point of the season with a record of 2-3-2. The primary culprits in this rebuilding season have been a rash of injuries (15 wks) and cards (4 reds) as well as a lack of scoring (9 GF). The rebuilding continues.

Good news, however, as The Hippo Friendly Cup 5th Anniversary is in full swing. Stops in UAE and Indonesia had big crowds and another is expected in Cymru (25th flag) when Houston faces top division Eggy United.
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3-7-2005

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(04:11) 5th Anniversary of Hippo Friendly Cup Houston picked up a point in a 1-1 draw with 1st place super doggstar unit. The Hippos lost middie Hans Didriksen with 2 yellows in 9 minutes just moments after he scored to put Houston up 1-0. Still, a point is a point.

This season marks the 5th anniversary of the Hippo Friendly Cup. Houston has played teams from the Balkans, Mediterranean, Six Continents in Six Weeks, and more. So it's back, starting this week with a visit to a top series team from United Arab Emirates, Al-Istiklal.
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3-5-2005

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(00:17) Time to Regain Focus Houston was probably lucky to only lose 2-0 to the Kingfishers on Wednesday. "They're just a better team than us" said coach Jose Maria Miguel.

After yet another underwhelming cup run ending at week 5, the Hippos will now focus on turning around their dreadful 6th place series start. The team is still battling injury troubles with 3 players out of action.

Sunday, super doggstar united will make their first visit to the Hippodrome, bringing along their undefeated record and 12-1 GD.
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2-21-2005

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(05:12) From Bad to Worse Coach José María Miquel called the game the "sloppy *bleep*ing soccer" and could be heard shouting some choice words in the locker room after Houston's 5-1 loss to Elsa's Itch left them in 7th with 1 point on the season.

Philip Rijk and new $5M middie Erwin Vickers and both got red cards. To add injury to insult, winger Magnus Fridin (+6) and OCD Olav Johansen (+3) got hurt.

After the game, co-captain Tim Kimber was heard to say "These are as dark of days as I have seen here."
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2-14-2005

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(21:31) Disastrous Start Two games into the season, the Hippos are struggling to keep their heads above water with only 1 point in two games and Elsa's Itch coming to the Hippodrome Sunday.

In a rare appearance, GM Sterling Ice was quoted as saying: "The retooling of the team has been worse than we thought. It's not as if we expected to get better after selling $9M of players but we've taken a step back and are fighting to stay in IV."

Apologies to the two fans expecting Hippos/Enforcers trivia this week

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2-6-2005

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(00:23) Something Old, Something New A new season in IV.21 brings a lot of new change with 4 new teams in the series. Welcome to super doggstar unit, FC JunJun, Clarksburg Lightning, and Cerrano United.

However, there's still an old feeling in the air as longtime rival Wisconsin (formerly Iowa) Enforcers visit the newly expanded Hippodrome to start the season. Houston holds a 6-4 edge in this series between teams which have finished within 1 place of each other all but one season.

More Enforcers/Hippo trivia next week.
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:32 PM

6-20-2005

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(05:04) Aftermath Part 1 Following what could only be described as the worst loss in Hippos history, the team held a closed door meeting.

Coach Juan Maria Miguel had little to say but promised the media outside the locker room that if the Hippos didn't win IV.21 then he would resign in the offseason.

Franchise icon and starting keeper Tim Kimber was stunned at his performance and could only muster "I let down my team and everyone. I'm very, very sorry."
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(04:59) Aftermath Part 2 Contrarily, a clearly agitated Mick Starks, captain, talked to anyone who would listen: "This should be a huge wakeup call to some of the guys. I kept hearing all week how this was going to be a pushover match. It showed in our performance- only half the team was trying out there."

The Hippos face a rought week as they look to rebound from this devistating loss. Wednesday the team travels to face a tough Las Temitas Asesinas and Sunday the Div III relegee Triumphs visit the Hippodrome.
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(03:01) Embarrassed The Hippos suffered their worst loss ever in Hippos history.

Houston jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but grew overconfident and pulled back, giving up 4 straight goals and digging themselves a hole they could never get out of. In the 80th minute, Houston cut the lead to 1 but the Airknights answered to push the lead back to 2.

The Airknights played their best game all season and got their first 3 points in Div IV while the Hippos remained in 1st, but only by GD.
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6-16-2005

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(07:28) Cupdate, Week 4 Another week and 5 teams still remain. Math FC, Triumphs, Enforcers, NYFC, and the Hippos move on. Two IV.21 teams fell as FC JunJun ran into a 200+ rating team while super doggstar united ran into a titanic midfield.

Houston gave up their first goal but ran their cup GD to 33-1, beating the tsifter broncos 6-1. Kris Jacobsen led the attack with a pair of goals, running his cup tally to 7. Next week the Hippos will face their largest cup challenge to date in Las Temitas Asesinas from V.11
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6-9-2005

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(05:53) Cupdate, Week 3 The seven remaining teams in IV.21 all won their games in the cup this week and, while it wasn't as convincing as the first two weeks, the 7 wins were still by a 33-5 margin.

The Hippos won 9-0 against FC FTMD. Jacobsen got a hat trick while Starks and Mosca each had 2 goals. Timber managed a shutout despite low form.

Next week the competition heats up as IV.21 has to face Div V teams.

In series the Hippos face a tough opponent in last season's 2nd place team, super doggstar unit.
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6-2-2005

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(03:16) Cupdate, Week 2 This week, 7 of 8 IV.21 teams won 54-0. However, the Airknights fell to FC Martini99, a team which placed 2nd in their series last season. That game aside, all other games were won 6-0 or more.

The Hippos won 8-0 as 4 different striker trainees accounted for 6 of the 8 goals. Unfortunately, Ronny Brogaard had to leave the game in the first half with an injury and, for the second game in a row, Kris Jacobsen came in as an injury replacement. Brogaard is expected to be out about a week.
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5-31-2005

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(09:04) Season 26 Off and Running IV.21 had a spectacular showing in week 1 of the USA cup with a 68-0 collective whitewashing of opponents. 6-0 was the "closest" of the games.

This season is shaping up to be the toughest in quite a while in IV.21 with a 197 Hatstats average. Once Hatstats updates, 4 of the teams should be in the top 100 for IV.

The Hippos started off the season with a 3-1 win over rival Wisconsin Enforcers. Even in the pouring rain, Houston put up a 244 and hopes to crack 250 by season's end.
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5-20-2005

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(19:13) Boring Offseason Compared with the second half of last season, the Hippos will be fairly silent. The rebuilding ended as 20yo American keeper Quintin Staples joined the team, replacing Johan Larsson

Team captain and assistant coach Mick Starks thinks the team has a good shot at competing for the top spot in the series: "With Elsa's gone, there's no consensus top team. Wisconsin, doggstar, and us all finished within 5 points and we've been improving".

Season ticket sales are brisk so get your orders in
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:33 PM

8-31-2005

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(22:33) Hippo Hearts go out to New Orleans I've only been there once for our 8th grade class trip. The face of a Lutheran school teacher accidentally walking into a porno store is something everyone should see once in their life

It's such a cool and historical town. However, since the levee broke, it seems the worst fears have been realized and the city is all but gone. Bravo to all helping out and I know the hearts of everyone goes out to them.

Proud to see Houston is helping out with the refugees and sending supplies.

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8-26-2005

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(09:01) Season 26 Closing Out Houston looks like they're going to end the season at 3rd place in IV.21 for the 4th season in a row regardless of the outcome of Sunday's game at the hated Enforcers Arena.

Next week's trip to play Athletic Vila-Mar will result in Houston being presented their 38th flag. The Hippos Friendly Tour has been a success yet again this year with stops in 7 different countries, including 1st Division teams in 3 countries and 2nd Division teams in 2 others.
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8-19-2005

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(11:07) Two Weeks to Go For the first time all year, we won a game we shouldn't have instead of the other way around. Bad luck and Q combined to beat SDU 2-1 last week

The Hippo Friendly Tour continues with a game against Irish Premier and Ireland Cup champ Clarinbridge City. We thank and are humbled by croga for agreeing to host us and we will collect flag #37 against this high profile team

Lastly, FOFCer and former USA natty team coach ArdentEnthusiast has agreed to get beaten by us during the off week

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8-7-2005

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(00:46) Support Comes at a Good Time In a showing of divine providence, Hippos supporter was re-upped this week by MountainHawk of the Mathochists. This wasn't some bizarre version of collusion but a contest in Kraftworks concerning when the major players in the NHL CBA would resign. When Goodenow was the first to fall on his sword (or more specifically, the swords of many upset union members) and, by some freak chance, it was closest to August 1st and Hippos GM SterlingIce won. Thanks to MH and KU for hosting the contest.
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8-2-2005

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(02:38) Fall From Grace Returning from his 3 week (mostly) absence due to wedding and resulting honeymoon, GM SterlingIce has found his team in disarray. The team has a 4 game winless streak and pretty much all hope of 1st place is gone. "There are going to have to be some changes made and that starts at the top. There were some awful TS decisions that we have learned from and mistakes we hope not to repeat. Also, no more weddings." According to rumors, Coach Miguel has been told he will not be back next season.
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7-18-2005

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(19:43) Oof! From parade to 3rd place in a week. Houston has put up three straight games with big hatstats advantages but only has a 0-2-1 record to show for it and a 6-3 GD. Math FC is quickly becoming a Houston nemesis, with a win and 2 draws against them in 6 games. Coach Miguel: "The kids are just having a tough time of putting the ball in the net and now we have to win out to even have a chance at promotion."

Up next for Houston is a tip to Cyprus to battle A Katigoria team F.C Kipros.
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7-14-2005

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(19:46) It's Parade Day! The streets are littered with confetti today as Houston threw the Hippos a ticker tape parade. For the first time ever, the Hippos advanced to the 8th round (of 64).

The Hippos now must concentrate on the second half of the league season which opens up with Houston on top of IV.21 but with only a 1 point lead and a tough schedule ahead.

Lastly, this year's Hippo Friendly Cup will be the Home and Away Tour. The Hippos will visit countries who have visited the Hippodrome in the past.
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7-4-2005

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(11:03) Hippos Bounce Back Houston has put together a modest win streak of 4 games over the past two weeks including home wins against Triumphs and FC JunJun by combined score of 11-2.

76K fans watched the Hippos shut out The Prestidigitators 3-0 for only the 3rd home cup win in franchise history and the 1st since season 19. Div III's St. Cloud Muskies will visit Wednesday.
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6-25-2005

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(06:36) Huge Week for Hippos There's no time for the Hippos to rest after last week.

Miraculously, the Hippos are still in 1st place, but that will be on the line Sunday when Triumphs come calling. The Div III relegee will be one of this year's toughest matchups.

For the first time in 3 seasons, Houston will play host to a cup game. Wednesday, The Prestidigitators, long time IV.17 powerhouse, now III.9 leader will clash with the Hippos.

Two big games in the Hippodrome and full crowds expected so get tickets now
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:34 PM

11-3-2005

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(20:56) Halfway Point For the first time in... ever(?), the Hippos are in 1st at the halfway point, a slim 1 GD lead over Triumphs. Coach Miguel: "We can't think about that at all. Our schedule in the second half is absolutely brutal with games at 2nd Triumphs, 3rd SDU, 4th Wisconsin, and vastly improved 5th Math. Maybe the hardest schedule I've ever seen."

This year's Hippo Friendly Tour started out great with over 5000 at Cosmos 1982 in Bolivia. Next up, Egy Red Devils from Div I Misr and our 40th flag.
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10-28-2005

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(05:20) Hosed Again For the second year in a row, the Hippos get bounced from the cup despite outhatstat'ing an opponent by 30 at home and matching up well tactically. Following Houston's 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Evil Beavers, witnesses reported seeing a drunk Coach Miguel making obscene gestures at a nearby 1979 Buick and yelling something unintelligible about "that bleeping hattrick engine".

Once again, the Hippo Friendly Tour will start early. This year, Bolivia's Div I Cosmos 1982 is the first stop
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10-20-2005

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(19:14) Hippodrome Gets Facelift With the new Arena Viewer, the Hippodrome has gotten a facelift. Houstonians are invited to check it out at an Open House this Friday or for the Hippos-Enforcers game on Sunday.

Fan reactions have been mixed:
"I like the classic brick- it barely clashes with the rest of the stadium"
"Yay! Now no one will notice the ugly people"
"Purple is not a good stadium roof color"
"Has all the Hippos colors! I like it. Now where's my seeing eye dog"
"Wow. that's uglier than my mule Hortense"
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10-17-2005

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(06:03) Unlucky 13 The Hippos win streak ends at 13 in front of the largest crowd in the history of the Hippodrome. Nearly 77000 fans turned out to watch the Triumphs edge out Houston 1-0 despite the Hippos holding a 268-234 hatstats edge.

No time to dwell on this loss as Houston has a touch matchup with Pingchester United in the Cup this week and Wisconsin comes calling to the 'drome for a 2nd place showdown next week.
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10-11-2005

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(18:21) Win Streak Prompts Beardliness Now that I mention it, I'm sure we'll be jynxed and lose the cup game tomorrow, but best to seize the moment while we have it. The Hippos have won 12 in a row and are on the USA list for most wins in a row.

Veterans Mick Starks and Tim Kimber have been seen sporting hockey-style "playoff beards" in the clubhouse, promising to not shave until they lose.
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10-10-2005

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(01:14) Wow. I know it's not about the Hippos but what a game between the Astros and Braves today.

Actually, that's not entirely true as it was dull as watching paint dry until the 8th. But the other 10 innings made up for it.
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9-30-2005

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(20:07) When the Hippodrome is a 'Rockin... This week, the SDU Red Devils come calling for an early season tilt with big standings implications. Houston is still smarting from finishing 3rd last year, 1 point behind SDU.

Houston may have caught a break with SDU superstar Norman Ivey in bad form, but he has 98 career goals and their midfield is very good.

FIY: Classic promotion on Sunday as it's "sharp rocks" day at the stadium. Everyone gets one upon entering the stadium and we can't be held responsible for what fans do with them
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9-23-2005

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(06:48) Worry in Hippo Country The Hippos are happy to be up in Philly for this week's match against FC Tholcrist. It will mark the 100th IV.21 match for the squad. However, there is concern as many Hippo players including the GM have family members still living in the hurricane targeted city.

As a metafictional aside, I've been living in Kansas for over 7 years, attending school and working, so I'm not actually in Houston but my parents are there and we're all hoping for the best for everyone there.
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9-17-2005

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(20:30) Houston Hippopotami Tenth Anniversary (pt 1) It's a brand new day in IV.21 as Houston celebrates their 10th season in hattrick. Today was the there was a press conference and kickoff pep rally, highlighted by a speech from GM SterlingIce.

"We're a little disappointed to not be opening with the rival Enforcers" Next week, both teams celebrate their 100th IV.21 game. "But Math is a real challenge to us," referring to the team which Houston only managed 1 point against last season and who plays in the Hippodrome Sunday.
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(20:30) Houston Hippopotami Tenth Anniversary (pt 2) "We would like to welcome Green Mtn. Blizzard, NRH Bulls, and FC Tholcrist to our little neck of the hattrick woods. If only we could have gotten rid of Triumphs or SDU- that would have been nice (last year's series winner and runner up)".

The Hippos have a minor fashion update as the reserve and match kits have been swapped for this season. "We wanted to remind our fans that we have 2 good kits."

Lastly, "We hope to be playing this game another 10 seasons so here's to 10 more!"
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:36 PM

12-20-2005

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(00:38) Thanks for the Memories At long last, after calling IV.21 home for 8 seasons, the Houston Hippopotami are promoting. The best projections place them in III.3

Said next season's head coach Mick Starks: "Only 3 of us around from our V.62 days. Just coach (Miguel), Timber, and I. Heck, some of the guys weren't playing professionally when we were in V"

A fond farewell to all of the teams we ever played in IV.21, particularly the Enforcers who have been here all eight seasons we have. This was and is a great series
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(00:31) Coach Miguel Retiring After Sunday's game, Jose Maria Miguel announced that he will be stepping down after 5 seasons as head coach due to health reasons. In each of his first four years, Houston finished 3rd. From his press conference: "I'm proud of the team. Every coach wishes he could go out on top like this." When asked about his future plans: "I can now pursue my other lifelong dream of becoming an Armadillo farmer".

Long time team captain Mick Starks is expected to be named head coach as early as next week
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12-12-2005

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(10:31) Hippos Clinch IV.21 Title The Hippos broke a 2-2 halftime tie with 2 second half goals, beating FC Tholcrist. However, the stadium erupted once the 2-2 draw between Triumphs and Green Mtn. Blizzard went final, has clinching Houston's first ever IV.21 title.

A win next week against streaking Mathochists FC would clinch autopromotion for the Hippos. However, Math is still in the running for 3rd place and their 7 game unbeaten streak is on the line so it will be no easy match. Houston beat Math FC 2-0 back in week 1.
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12-7-2005

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(22:41) Winds of Change After last week's disappointing loss, due largely to the injury to Martin Cameron, a couple of changes have been made and a couple more might be coming.

Coach José María Miquel has said that this season will be his last, win or lose.

The aforementioed Cameron is on his way out of town, to be replaced by Charlie Partridge. "We need more help on the midfield and less offense."

Next week or in the offseason, Houston is also looking to upgrade at one of their winback spots as well.
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11-30-2005

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(21:51) New Logo and Flags It's not anything really new- the same Hippo logo that our fans know and love is still there. However, it has been tweaked using the (brace yourself for shameless plug) flagcreator at http://www.sigcreator.be/ to display our collected flags.

The club is up to 44 flags with trips this season to top division Bolivia, Misr, Brasil, Hellas, and Turkiye. We've had an average of over 5000 fans per game despite two rainy games. We're looking to visit Norge and 2 others before the season ends.
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11-21-2005

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(03:03) Hippo Heaven! In the clash of the Hippos season, Houston wins the I-10 shootout with the Triumphs 3-2 in New Orleans. The win gives them sole possession of first, 3 points clear of Triumphs with a 5 GD cushion. However, the Hippos are by no means guaranteed 1st with games at SDU and scarily improved Math still to go. But for tonight, Houston is filled with celebrating fans.
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11-10-2005

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(20:28) 40 Flags! Despite pouring rain in Luxor, Egypt, nearly 5000 fans came out to the Hippos friendly with the Egy Red Devils of Dawry El Momtaz, Misr's top league. At halftime, Houston GM SterlingIce was presented with the club's 40th flag. The quest has taken 10 seasons and covered 6 continents.

Next week, the squad heads to Brasil and MFM of the Campeonato Brasileiro. They look to continue their flag collecting and should reach 50 next season.
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:37 PM

4-11-2006

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(05:23) Div II Qualifier and Flag Logo While it seems unlikely the Hippos will win their qualifier Sunday, at least they can say they had a chance to make it to Div II. Houston faces Lake Superior Dogfight of II.4, albeit without Erwin Vickers who was red carded in Sunday's draw with Miami Redskins SC. Coach Starks: "First place in this tough division is a quite a feat."

With flagcreator.be back up and running, the globetrotting Hippo logo is back. The little team from Houston has now visited over half the countries in hattrick.
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4-7-2006

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(14:29) Final Week for Season 28 Riding the most unlikely tide of luck, the Hippos go into week 14 on top of III.3. While last week's loss to RTFC took autopromotion out of the picture, Houston will set their sights on getting a qualifier and the possibilities that entails.

In flag collecting news, the Hippos will be presented with flag #54 in Slovenija next week when they play VNK Carniola. They have visited Div 1 teams from Foroyar, Magyarorszag, Venezuela, Danmark, Uruguay, and Chile thus far this season.
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3-20-2006

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(04:56) Lady Luck, Good and Bad Even the Hippos were marveling at the bad luck of the Misfitz. Houston went a 3 for 3 on scoring chances while Maniacal went only 1 for 7. Not all luck is good as Vickers and Partridge will be out with red cards next week.

The Hippos will collect their 52nd flag this week as they travel to Superligaen team Honas FC in Danmark. While statisticians have no idea if this is some sort of record, they will mark the 36th Div I team Houston has played in a friendly.
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3-6-2006

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(04:21) First Place and 50 Flags! Ok, sure it's for one brief shining moment, the Hippos are in 1st in Div III after Sunday's 3-1 win at home against PCFC. It's unlikely to last but the players are celebrating anyway. "Any day that ends in 'y' is a good day for me to drink" mused Amsterdam native Joost Oosterhof.

The Hippos will be heading to Magyarország on Tuesday for a friendly against Div I Fehervar FC. GM SterlingIce will be presented with the team's 50th flag at halftime: "We're still not even halfway done!"
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3-2-2006

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(02:56) Call an Ambulance! (Part 2) Just last week, the Hippos fired the spare doctors who nursed the team back to health in the first half of the season. They're back.

The Hippos lost both Vickers and Little to injuries in the first half of a 2-0 cup match with Div II Hokuten. Q and the defense fought valiantly but couldn't overcome the injuries.

After Little fell, Coach Starks barked "whoever wants to play middie, take a step forward". The entire team took a step back except Xacobo Armengol who speaks very little English.
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2-27-2006

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(21:45) Huh? Echoing the sentiment from around the series, Hippos management is confused today as the series was upside down Sunday. But it's a good surprise as the Hippos, expecting a loss following last week's 1-1 draw at home, left Philly with a 6-1 PIC blowout win against Budvar.

It was a bizarre week all over III.3 as PCFC over Exile was the only "expected" result. The 7th and 8th place teams kept their hopes alive as RTFC drew the Misfitz and Miami beat the offensively challenged Camels.
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2-16-2006

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(17:14) And now for something... completely different The HT Masters has thrown a bit of a kink into their TS plans as the Hippos will have a friendly next week instead of their next cup game. Coach Starks: "I didn't know about this asinine no-cup week nonsense"

So, Houston will host their next Cup game in 2 weeks against Hokuten. In the interim, the Hippos will go to Føroyar and collect their 49th flag against the #2 team in Div 1, SI Sørvágur.

In series, a huge home-and-away with 1st place Budvar Kings looms the next two weeks.
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2-10-2006

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(21:29) Crucial Matches Upcoming The Hippo faithful are ecstatic about the deep cup run yet again, this time with a home game. Looming Wednesday is a matchup with fellow FOFC'er fflix and his booger ballers.

Hopefully that doesn't distract the fans from the bigger picture: the Hippos next four games, home-and-away's with PCFC and Budvar. Said coach Starks: "If we can just manage a split with these guys, we'd be in a really good spot, coming down the stretch."
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1-31-2006

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(06:27) Slow Day in Houston A lazy day at the Hippos front office led to this pretty boring press announcement...

Four games into III, and the Hippos have 9 points despite all of their injury troubles. Sunday, the team got a really nice win at home against the FOFC rival Misfitz, showing that injuries and home field advantage best horrible form when the latter keeps players back for the cup.

That's all we've got. Seriously...
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1-16-2006

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(02:55) Call an Ambulance! The Hippos have started out their first season in III with a bang, with a pair of wins.

However, with that bang is a bit of a whimper as Mosca, Jacobsen, Brogaard, and Partridge have already suffered injuries this young season. That, coupled with Cameron, Kettich, Vickers, Brogaard, Speckfeld, and Doornenbal all getting injuries in the last 4 weeks of last season and the Hippos clubhouse is starting to look like a hospital.

Coach Starks will have his hands full filling out lineup cards.
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12-29-2005

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(22:36) Houston Settling In to New Series Houston's been making some adjustments, getting ready for III after moving up from our "Home Sweet Home" of 8 years in IV.21.

Gone are offensive middie Martin Cameron, in exchange for a bit more of a playmaking presence in Charlie Partridge. Henrik Dyholt, former wingback, has gone to play in Latvija and replaced by Croatian Jure Rašetina.

Finally, next week, before the start of the new season, long time team captain Mick Starks will become the new player-coach.
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:38 PM

7-16-2006

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(00:50) New Players and New Places A new generation of trainees has been trying out for the Hippos and the team has already signed one player. Houston's Ferruccio Mosca and Igno Kettich are on the transfer list as we speak.

The Hippo Friendly Tour #9 is moving across Europe. This week the Hippos will visit Divizia A pretender's. Romania is one of the "Big 4" countries who the Hippos have yet to recieve a flag from.

They also hope to visit Nederland, Belgie, and Ceska Republika soon to claim flags from all top 30 countries.
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7-9-2006

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(21:50) Miquel: Retired and Honored The newly christened Hippo Hall of Heroes has its first member as coach Juan Maria Miguel joins honorary members Ricky Braden, former coach, and Edwin Phelan, star striker.

Miguel oversaw the team's ascension from IV to III. In 5 seasons in IV.21, Miguel led the Hippos to a 47-15-8 record with 4 3rd place finishes before a 1st place finish in his final season.

As a player, he was a competent central defender and set pieces ace with 13 career goals in 102 matches.

Farewell, Miguel!
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6-16-2006

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(14:37) Midway Point Notes In series, after a disappointing loss to Budvar, Houston finds itself (barely) in 2nd. The team is pleased but knows there is no room for error.

The Hippo Friendly Tour 9 looks like a European jaunt with stops in Moldova, Suomi, and Srbija i Crna Gora.

Ideally, we'd love to play teams from Div I Nederland, Belgie, Romania, and Ceska republika in the coming weeks as well as others in Europe.

Two weeks from now, former coach Juan Maria Miguel will play his 100th match for the Hippos.
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6-5-2006

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(03:00) Hippos End Losing Streak After a brief 2 game losing streak, Houston finds itself back in the winning column with a 5-1 victory against the Chipmunks. The win keeps the Hippos in 2nd place, 3 points behind the Misfitz.

After the tough luck cup loss last week, the Hippos will begin their 9th season of the Hippo Friendly Tour. Last season saw Houston visit 8 different Div I teams in Europe and South America.

This season begins with a trip to Moldova to take on G.Life of Divizia Naţională for their 57th flag.
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5-8-2006

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(04:28) Hippo Luck Runs Out After sailing through all of season 28 on the winds of good fortune to 1st place in III.3, the Hippos got their first major taste of bad luck since last season's cup loss.

Sunday, the Jacksonville Tea Men raced out to a 4-0 lead and hung on to win 4-3. Houston only got 1 chance in the first half despite equal possession and missed a shot on a brilliant (vl) attack versus a poor (vh) defense. A 269 to 229 hatstats advantage could not overcome Jacksonville who recorded their first Div III win.
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4-30-2006

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(08:31) III.3 Season 29 The Hippos have new duds, or at least initial designs for new uniforms.

Here are the Houston predictions for III.3
1. Maniacal Misfitz
2. Panther City FC
3. Houston Hippopotami
4. Chipmunks
5. FC Exile
6. GoDucks
7. Jacksonville Tea Men
8. Budvar Kings

Unlike last season, where we had different "classes" of teams, the teams this season are very close in talent. There are no free games and I wouldn't be surprised if I were horribly off.
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4-26-2006

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(05:20) Happenings at the Hippodrome Some big dates coming up for the Hippos:

* May 1st, during halftime of the game against the Misfitz, Houston will raise their III.3 Season 28 banner.

* May 22nd is Hippo Supporter Day. All supporters of the Hippos will enjoy a special game in the Hippodrome executive suite as thanks for their support.

* July 3rd, the Hippos will celebrate the induction of Jose Maria Miguel into the Houston Hippopotami Hall of Heroes. He will officially retire after playing his 100th game with Houston.
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4-20-2006

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(04:27) Hippos Feeling More Supportive Without much to do on the player front this offseason but with many new supporter features, Houston's front office has gone to work on the marketing side of things for the team rather than on field.

With some new supporter slots, the Hippos have added a new team in ibnsgirl's The Smacky Packers and have gone back to an old friend with vex's NE Oklahoma Sidekicks after their hiatus from supporter for part of last year. They have both supported the Hippos since last October.
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4-17-2006

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(04:25) III.3 Gets a Facelift The Hippos couldn't hold up their end of the bargain and move up to II. The loss of Vickers was too much to overcome against an excellent Lake Superior Dogfight team who downed Houston 4-1 in their qualifier Sunday.

Next season will be tough with 3 new teams joining III.3. We say goodbye to Miami Redskins SC, Hooligan Camels FC, and Roasted & Toasted FC. A hearty welcome to GoDucks, Chipmunks, and the Jacksonville Tea Men.

III.3 is looking to be even tougher than last season!
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:41 PM

10-23-2006

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(03:31) We're Number Three! Houston has clinched 3rd place in III.3. With an upcoming walkover, the Hippos will finish with no less than 26 points. However, even with a win against Clarion next week, the squad will still need help to catch the Taffurs for 1st

In the milestone department, three Hippos are closing in on the 200 match mark. Coach Mick Starks should reach it this season as he is at 195. Starting middie and former youth pull Thomas Little is at 182 while backup keeper and Houston legend Tim Kimber is at 172
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10-19-2006

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(03:12) Welcome Back, Edwin! The Hippos are thrilled to announce that all time leading scorer Edwin Phelan has been bought back and will play one final season for Houston before entering the Hall of Fame

Houston has also collected three new flags this season, most recently from Blanicti Rytiri, the #1 team in Česká republika. Thanks to all of our hosts for their hospitality

Finally, the Hippos are in a fierce battle for #2 in III.3 after a heartbreaking draw with Jacksonville after leading most of the game last week
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9-29-2006

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(05:03) Hippos Almost Halfway Home Houston finds themselves out of the cup as the loss of Quintin Staples was just too much against a strong S.A. United side.

So the Hippos will now turn their attention to the series race as well as the Hippo Friendly tour.

In series, after last week's stunning win against Jacksonville, Houston finds itself in 2nd, only 2 points behind Clarion Taffurs for the series lead.

For this week's friendly, the Hippos travel to Paraguay for a match with Tricolor de Corazón of División de Honor.
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8-21-2006

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(01:58) Supportee Supports Supporting of Supporters Two supporters who have supported the Hippos since 2005 have secured supporter status since supporter slots spawned at season start.

"S" silliness aside, JAG's Vermont Blizzard and Maltby's Heaters join the ranks of Houston's mutually supported teams, which number 9. The Hippos have a total of 15 supporters and will mutually support them as soon as more slots open up.
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8-13-2006

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(00:06) III.3 XXX As season 30 dawns, the Hippos are, as always, in a state of transition. The current generation of training draws nigh and uncertainty with the market betrays a solid growth plan.

This will be the first season since back in season 21, where the Hippos have a legitimate chance of not finishing in the top 4. Hard to imagine that a series without Havok would actually be harder but here we are.

That said, the Hippos, led by Coach Starks, are back and ready to battle again in III.3.
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:42 PM

3-11-2007

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(14:16) Thanks to Hippo Friendly Cup 11 Participants As our flag collection grows, it's getting harder to get friendlies. It just seems that in some countries, it's expected that you you have pony up supporter or something else ludicrous to teams just to play them for a week or, at the very least, get in a 4 year waiting list.

Not the case with anyone this season, so a hearty thanks to everyone we have played this season:

act77
.Dark Angels.
d3vilz
Beirut Sun
Belfast United FC
adey1974
Dinamo-Tbilisi
St. Clair Diamonds
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2-22-2007

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(05:21) Hasty Hippo Musings * With the upcoming Jacksonville match, we've brought back an old favorite of the promotions department: sharp rocks. Aim for the green and yellow, kids!

* The Hippos traveled to Costa Rica this past week to collect flag #80. A big thanks goes out to Belfast United FC for hosting

* The team has changed up the logo slightly, adding the world map and switching to sphere flags but with the same great Hippos

* Lastly, congrats to fellow FOFC'er Brillig for his amazing run in this year's cup
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1-21-2007

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(17:06) Hippo Friendly Cup #11 It's that time of year again: The season is about half over and the Hippos have been bounced from the cup in a game they likely should have won. All weekday gaming eyes in Houston turn away from the Hippodrome and to the team's travels around the world.

A theme for this year's Hippo Friendly Cup, for this 11th season, has yet to be determined but the first location has been plotted out. This week, the Hippos will visit act77 from GNF1, Div I of Al Maghrib.
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1-7-2007

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(21:07) Early Season Musings A week ago, this would have been a bit more celebratory as Houston had fought to a draw in Jacksonville and Staples would be looking forward to his upcoming 100th match as a Hippo, in which he would be putting up a team record 8.5 *'s.

What a difference a week makes, however, as a loss to Gutek puts Houston in 4th instead of 1st and a game is looming against a Div V Jacksonville clone in the cup.

Still, the Hippos season is far from lost and a good week could put things back on track

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11-30-2006

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(03:37) Houston Hippopotami Season 14 The team is quickly approaching its third anniversary and has much to be happy about.

-Houston is about to begin their 4th season in Div III. As our goal was to make it to III when we started, this has to be considered a smashing success.

-The Hippos collected flag number 75 this week. The collection includes over 50 from Div I teams and flags from the 60 most populous countries in hattie.

-This season we're hoping for another good finish, a deep cup run, and even more flags.

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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:43 PM

6-18-2007

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(05:24) Thankless Series and Thankful Friendlies Once again III.3 is proving to be unforgivingly close with all 6 of the top teams vying for final placement. Your Hippos find themselves in 3rd with 2 weeks to go.

Many thanks to our friendly opponents from the past few weeks. The Hippos have been playing in some hard to schedule places and these teams have been gracious enough to allow us to play there:

*Seun FC from Nigeria
*CoreaItalia from Hanguk
*ramareem from Al Urdun
*Door doorate from Senegal
*Cruz de Malta FC from Honduras
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4-30-2007

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(03:24) Fall From Grace Houston's stay in 1st was short lived as the team, plagued by bad execution, lost 3-1 at home Sunday to Park Panthers EFC. The team only converted on 1 of 5 chances while the Panthers were a perfect 3 for 3.

Lost among the bad news is that Marcin Tetkowski has 4 straight gold stars and is tied for the series lead with 6 goals. Also, middies Ervin Vickers and Thomas Little are playing some of the best midfield of their career.

Sixth round cup game coming Wednesday!
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4-16-2007

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(03:00) Late Goal Leads Hippos into Logjam After a dramatic win Sunday, the Hippos are among 5 teams with 6 points atop the III.3 leaderboard.

Having been stifled all day by the brilliant play of amblerabsbestos's keeper Franco Miceli, an unnamed Hippo player blasted him out of his cleats and out of the game with 5 minutes to go. Then, in the 87th minute, Marcin Tetkowski scored the game's only goal.

Coach Mick Starks, known for his, ahem, aggressive tactics on the pitch, only offered up: "That's not quite how I drew it up".
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4-2-2007

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(03:30) Inauspicious Start to Season The season started out on a sour note for the Hippos as both Charlie Partridge and Mirco Curiger joined Xacobo Armengol on the injury list.

Still, there is good news:
- Houston survives the red card loss of Tetkowski and the injuries to pick up an important 3 points
- Next week's cup team is a bot after last week's win against Ace Deuce Assassins
- Finally, the Houston youth academy Hungry Hungry Hippos are born; This causes the fan club to be renamed the Hippo Helpers
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3-24-2007

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(23:26) Season 32 Supporter Shakeup Due to fluctuating interest among the FOFC ranks, the Hippos have some supporter unrest to take care of

Unfortunately, the following teams will no longer be supported:
* ausonny's Bees
* vexroid's NE Oklahoma Sidekicks
* flatulon's Gasmasters

However, we welcome the following teams into the Hippo family:
* Masked's South Bay Saints
* kingfc22's Royal Knights FC
* Pilotman's Midwest Ice Storm FC
* tonyr8888's SA Griffins FC

Your new supporter gift baskets will arrive shortly
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 12:44 PM

10-20-2007

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(03:39) Huge Final Weekend: Phelan Retires, Finale, Flag #100 (part 1) Houston is trying to avoid relegation as the final week approaches.

Both Houston and amblerabsbestos have 18 points but the Hippos are behind due to a GD difference of 2. Houston hosts Exile who badly needs a win to avoid auto-relegation while amb. hosts FC Real Deal

The Hippos are no stranger to the relegation line, finishing 4th and 5th in III.3 the last two seasons

(Houston Friendly Tour Lucky #13 seeks 100th flag, see part 2)

(Houston Legend Edwin Phelan retires, see part 3)
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(03:38) Huge Final Weekend: Phelan Retires, Finale, Flag #100 (part 2) Houston is still looking for a friendly this weekend, in search of flag #100 and really would like a special one, hopefully from a country with under 100 teams but we welcome any new flag.

The Hippos are very thankful to the teams who have played them so far on Hippo Friendly Tour #13: (Kenya) The Tricky Twitchers, Black Rock City Burners, (Cabo Verde) SL Benfica CV, (Bahrain) Al_Sharia FC, (Angola) Petro United, (Côte d’Ivoire) Gekar FC, (Andorra) Cintra Constellacio, and (Kyrgyzstan) FC N&N
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(03:20) Huge Final Weekend: Phelan Retires, Finale, Flag #100 (part 3) This week sees the end of a career for a Houston legend. An original Hippo, Edwin Phelan, is retiring due to injury with 139 career goals

He was Houston's best scorer from the start, carrying the mantle of franchise scoring leader until this year. He led V.62 in scoring in S19 with 15 goals and still holds the Hippo record of 5 hat tricks

He left the team at the end of S21 but came back home 3 seasons ago so he could retire into the Hippo Hall of Heroes

His number will be retired Sunday
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8-23-2007

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(14:52) Hippo Friendly Tour, Lucky #13 Houston, being bounced from the cup in round 6 this season, are preparing for their annual pilgrimage to other countries. That's right, it's Hippo Friendly Tour time.

This will mark the 13th season for Houston and this one promises to be special with the Hippos collecting flag #100 this season.

So, thanks to all the teams who graciously allow us to visit this and every season.
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8-4-2007

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(14:42) Hans Jón Egholm named to Føroyar U20 squad For the first time in Houston Hippopotami history, a player has been named to a national team. Føroyar-born defender Hans Jón Egholm has been named to the country's U20 team

Said new coach Xacobo Armengol "Hans is one of the best young defenders to come through the team and I'm glad he was rewarded"

GM SterlingIce added "We've never actively sought national team prospects as the market always seemed too expensive so I think this is a huge testament to our coaches and training program"
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7-19-2007

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(15:02) Starks Retires; Armengol new coach Legendary Hippo Mick Starks retired as coach this offseason. He was an original Hippo dating back to January 03 and had been coach since January 06. He will be immediately retired to the Hippo Hall of Heroes and 07/30/07 will be Mick Starks Day as he is formally retired at the home opener.

Replacing Mick will be longtime defender Xacobo Armengol. Says he, having been with the team since October 05 and being groomed for coach since he got here, "I look forward to this new challenge"
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 01:06 PM

7-25-2008

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(15:15) Hippo Friendly Cup #16 It's that time of the season again!

The grass is green, the air is fresh, league season is heating up, the Hippos are coming off a frustrating loss in the Cup to a sandbagging lower division team, and now it's time to travel.

In it's 16th season, the Hippo Friendly Cup has spanned 117 of hattrick's 124 countries. Below are where we hope to visit this season.

Maldives
Qatar
Uganda
Al Yaman
Suriyah
Benin
Tanzania

Our first stop is Al Yaman and Kamal Team sana'a next week.

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4-3-2008

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(15:04) Hippo Friendly Tour #15 and Facts This is the 15th season of the Hippo Friendly Tour. Wow.

The Hippos have thus far visited 111 countries across 15 seasons.

Technically, the first HFC was in season 21 but we have played international friendlies dating back to season 18, our first.

Across all international friendlies (home and away), we have played in front of 405457 fans, an average of 3193.

Al Iraq
Al Yaman
Benin
Mocambique
Kampuchea
Mongol Uls
Suriyah
Tanzania
Qatar
Ghana
Northern Ireland
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3-3-2008

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(03:22) Season 35 Begins The Hippos find themselves in III.3 for a remarkable 8th season. Last season was one of their best ever with a 2nd place finish.

However, gone are the two walkover teams at the bottom and an extremely tough Wahoos team slipped down from II in the #1 spot.

Houston will be retooling on the fly a little this season as some of the older players will move on to greener pastures, replaced by younger talent.

"It will be a tough transition but we have to do it" says coach Armengol.
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12-17-2007

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(00:44) Hippo Friendly Tour #14 With the Hippos departure from the cup, Wednesdays become a time to focus on the Hippo Friendly Cup

We lack flags from the following, so we will be looking to visit these countries:

Benin
Suriyah
Al Iraq
Al Yaman
Mongol Uls
Kampuchea
Suriname
Ghana
Mocambique
Uman
Bangladesh
Brunei
Kazakhstan
Azərbaycan
Northern Ireland
Liechtenstein
Crna Gora
South Africa

A big thanks to this week opponent, Hayoc Qajer, as we have been trying for the Hayastan flag for 5 seasons
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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 01:09 PM

1-28-2009

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(18:14) New Coach Falls in the Forest; Will he make a sound? Tim "Timber" Kimber has been named the new head coach of Houston after Xacobo Armengol retired Tuesday. From the Hippo legend, who will keep his #1 jersey: "It is an honor to coach this team and I hope to live up to the standards of past coaches".

Armengol will be retired into the Hippo Hall of Heroes along with Vaikhan Satyanarayana this season as part of the Houston Hippopotami 20th Anniversary Celebration, which commemorates the 20th full season of the club. More to come...
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1-20-2009

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(02:10) Thanks to all who visited! While we were unable to visit any new countries this season, we hosted some great teams:

Dhaka Football
los guayaberos
Aussiedog
Voltaren
Cowtown Seacows
FA Red Boys 05
AC LUANDA
##Kenya##
Académica de Maputo
The Dubai Desert Devils
FC Gornik Zabrze
black keris977
Al-Sihba

In the US, we are currently:
* 3rd in coolness and 2nd in countries visited
* 15th in coolness and 104th in countries hosted
* 2nd in coolness and 6th in countries visited PLUS hosted
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1-13-2009

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(22:08) Newcomers, new kits, and a new coach Former Hippo Donald Sidorczak has been brought back into the fold, to be retired to the Hippo Hall of Heroes. Houston paid a club record $7.4M for him many seasons ago.

Also, the Hippos have new kits! Team management is pleased with the exciting new jerseys and excited about the new revenue streams from them. Designer and team GM SterlingIce was quite pleased with his work.

Lastly, Xacobo Armengol has said he will step down as coach. More about that later.
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12-7-2008

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(07:12) VIP's for Hippo Friendly Cup We've attracted some major guests for HFC #17.

Last week, we hosted FA Red Boys 05 from Nationaldivisioun in Lëtzebuerg. Superjhemp is an LA and he's the U-20 coach there. Houston responded with 5026 fans for the friendly, which netted over $21K ($15K profit for him, after travel expenses)!

We expect another big crowd this week for AC LUANDA. JN85AG's team has won the Girabola 5 straight seasons and is in 1st currently. He's also the Angola national coach.

Thanks to both for visiting!
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11-26-2008

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(21:36) Hippo Friendly Cup #17 This season's friendly cup is underway with visits already from Dhaka Football (Bangladesh), los guayaberos (Nicaragua), AussieDog (S Africa), and Voltaren (Malta) and an average of 3500 fans per game.

We're taking a week off to play mutual supporter evillincoln and his Cowtown Seacows. Then back to flags! We'd really like to visit these this season:

Maldives
Qatar
Uganda

We've updated the logo and made a hosted one:
http://www.flagcreator.org/flaglogo....ed&teamid=8574
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10-30-2008

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(18:42) Hippos New and Old The Hippos are extremely happy to announce that GM-CableGuy was kind enough to release Carlos Alberto Benito from his contract so he can retire with Houston. Longtime fans will remember #15 as one of the original Hippos along with retired Hippo Hall of Heroes members Starks and Phelan.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the night, Houston also signed a new middie, Carlos Thacker. He may carry a hefty salary but he joins Marsh as the only Houston middie under 30 and will a key Hippo for a long time.
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10-20-2008

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(16:31) New Milestones: Highest Rank, 3000 Supporters! We've never been big on achievements for hattrick, but this week we had two of note as we've been at this a long time and we still have things to accomplish

1) We are at our highest rank ever: 46. Sure, it won't last as it's more a product of us only being 2 weeks into the new season. However, it's neat to see. It's worth 50 point.

2) We've been over 2900 supporters for 9 seasons but never been able to break 3000. We finally topped it with 3001 this morning, good for 30 points.
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10-1-2008

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(17:14) Ten Seasons in III.3 Wow. It's been a while!

Season 37 will mark the 10th season of the Houston Hippopotami in III.3. We finished in 1st our 1st season here but could not win the qualifier to II. Since then, we've finished anywhere from 2nd to 5th, this most recent season being in 3rd.

We look forward to more good league competition, cup runs, and flag collecting in the coming seasons.

For the new season, welcome to the newcomers, happy returns to the rest of us.

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sterlingice · 09-08-2011, 01:10 PM

And now we're caught up with the beginning of the thread. Actually, those season 36 ones are on the first page, but this puts them in context. From this point on, it's back to the usual banter and seasonal writeups.

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Alf · 09-12-2011, 03:42 AM

Hungry Hungry Hippos !

sterlingice · 10-26-2011, 01:18 PM

A very busy season for us: We had a few transfers, we hit our 100th hosted flag including some rare ones, and we survived II for a second season.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7-14-2011

(19:26) Hippos in Transit

In the last couple of weeks, Houston has reshaped the roster with veteran midfielders Damion Marsh and Arild Jensen leaving the team to pursue other leadership opportunities on younger teams.

Norbert Hiermayer ($6M winger), Hilton Bender, and Roberto De Bacco were transferred in and will all start for the team this season. They will be starting across the midfield with John King and winger Juan Carlos Carreño. Hans Meikar, Carlos Thacker, and August Gunderson will give the team a deep and flexible bench for their first season in II.3.

Last but not least, Adir Weissglass has retired as coach of the Hippopotami. He presided over the team's second visit to III.3 with 2nd, 2nd, and 1st place finishes and auto promotion. He is leaving to spend more time with his family and will be succeeded by his assistant coach of the last few years, Gilceu Bianco.

Hopefully these additions will help keep the team afloat in their first season back in Division II.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8-1-2011

(19:23) Thomas Ovesson, Set Pieces Hall of Famer

Long time Hippo defender and goal scorer Tomas Ovesson retires to the Hippo Hall of Heroes. He was the first ever Set Pieces specialist for the team, purchased for over $4M in season 29 for both his amazing defense but also his ET set pieces skill.

After playing a few seasons for the team, he went to NyFF, an elite team from Sverige in their equivalent of Division II. With Denyson's team, he scored 86 goals in 206 competitive matches.

He took great pride in his physical shape and when he returned to Houston at age 37 he still had magnificent defense and the extraterrestrial set pieces skill that made him great.

At age 40, he retires with 138 career goals and 7(!) hat tricks (5/30, 2/31, 5/33, 2/35, 10/35, 4/36, 3/37) despite playing defense most of his career.

His legacy number has been lost to time so he picked the #44 to retire. He will enter the Hall at halftime of Sunday's game vs Spocker.

Next PA, we'll run down the current and future Hippo Hall of Heroes roster.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8-9-2011

(19:05) Hippo Hall of Heroes and Possible Future Members

Below is the Roster for the HHH and possible upcoming members

Current HHH Members
#15 Carlos Alberto Benito
#22 Edwin Phelan
#13 Mick Starks
#99 José María Miquel
#31 Vaikhan Satyanarayana
#97 Xacobo Armengol
#19 Allan Brik
#18 Thomas Little
Hnr Sergio Chapin (23361083)
Hnr Quintin Staples (28383532)
#01 Tim Kimber
#17 Erwin Vickers
#12 Donald Sidorczak
#44 Tomas Ovesson

Upcoming Honorary Members
Hnr Marcin Tetkowski - Notable goal scorer
Hnr Adir Weissglass - Coach for second stop in III.3 for 3 seasons

Upcoming Locks
#11 Charlie Partridge, 39 - 18 season Hippo PM who played alongside Little and Vickers
#40 Stephen Williams, 30 - WC def, 1st youth pull!

Upcoming Candidates
#39 Juan Alberto Quijada, 39 - 15 seasons with Hippos, many as starting middie
#27 Volfs Treibahs, 35 - 16 seasons as backup forward
#09 Carlos Thacker, 34 - 8 season elite middie
#14 John King, 34 - 7 season elite middie
#05 Birger Manholt, 32 - 8 seasons as backup keeper

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8-23-2011

(04:05) Weissglass Honorarily Retired Sunday at Halftime

#96 Adir Weissglass (118357573) was never much of a player. The highest rating he ever put up was 3 stars as a middie. But it cost the Hippos a $205K transfer fee from LErick to lure him away from another coaching job to train under legendary Hippo Tim "Timber" Kimber. He played mostly in friendlies and as a sub, gaining valuable experience as an assistant coach until he was promoted to Head Coach after Timber retired at the end of season 42.

In his 3 years as coach, Houston finished 2nd, 2nd, and 1st in III.3 with 26, 28, and 34 points, thanks largely to his tactical leadership. In his final season, the team autopromoted back into II.

However, at the end of season 45, he received a call with a job offer he couldn't refuse. Adir left to pursue his dreams of coaching back home in Israel. The Hippo Hall of Heroes typically will not retire a player for 3 seasons, however, the team made a special exception to allow him to retire honorarily as he left to pursue other opportunities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8-30-2011

(19:15) Hippo Friendly Cup #26

After a respectable 7 round cup run, Hippo Helpers know what this time of season brings. It's time for the annual Hippo Friendly Cup! Houston is in its 26th season of flag chasing and this season promises to bring more excitement.

We're actively looking to visit the following:
Al Yaman (H)
Cameroon (A)
Cuba (H/A)
Palestine (H/A)
Suriname (H)
And we'll host more teams along the way.

Currently, here are where the Hippos rank:

Visited (125 Visited Flags; 498 791.28 Coolness)
Coolness: USA-1, World-T117
Flags: USA-T1, World-T54

Hosted (95 Hosted Flags; 475 534.67 Coolness)
Coolness: USA-2, World-208
Flags: USA-T16, World-T1077

Visited+Hosted (222 Total Flags; 974 325.95 Coolness)
Coolness: USA-1, World-92
Flags: USA-2, World-T104

Sometime this season, we should net our 100th Hosted Flag!

It all begins Wednesday night, with steaua orhei from Moldova! Hope to see you all at the Hippodrome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9-16-2011

(06:26) 100th Hosted Flag: Al Yaman!

Houston made their 100th hosted flag Wednesday a special one as Yemen All Star paid a visit to the Hippodrome. This was a flag the team has been chasing for over 10 seasons (since 2008).

Next week, we have another exciting flag as we visit our 126th country in neighboring Cuba. The Hippos will be playing the Div III All_Starts at Ciber Arena.

With 5 weeks left to go in the season, the Hippos are looking to collect the following hard to get flags:
Cameroon (A)
Cuba (H)
Palestine (H/A)
Suriname (H)

In addition, it is likely they will host Scotland and South Korea before the end of the season, leaving only the above as countries to play with less than 1000 users.

Provided HT does not add any more teams, after next week, the Hippos will have 30 flags to go!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9-24-2011

(23:36) Your Number's Up, Part I

Head Equipment Manager Vaikhan Satyanarayana was bored. And when he got bored, the Hippos got a new numbering and position system. Old players who are potential HHH members were able to keep their old numbers but everyone else had to switch to conform to the new format.

Below is a reminder of the HHH Retired Numbers
#01 Tim Kimber
#03 Quintin Staples (28383532) - Honorary
#12 Donald Sidorczak
#13 Mick Starks
#15 Carlos Alberto Benito
#17 Erwin Vickers
#18 Thomas Little
#19 Allan Brik
#22 Edwin Phelan
#31 Vaikhan Satyanarayana
#44 Tomas Ovesson
#83 Sergio Chapin (23361083) - Honorary
#97 Xacobo Armengol
#99 José María Miquel

Rules
------
* Keepers: 00-19 and GK
* Forwards/Wingers: 20-39 and FW/WI, respectively
* Midfielders: 40-59 and MI
* Defenders: 60-79 and CD/WB, respectively
* Coaches: 80-99 and separate designations (E1, for instance)
* Reserves play almost exclusively in friendlies, while the 3rd forward in a 2 forward rotation would still be FW

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9-24-2011

(23:36) Your Number's Up, Part II

Below are the updated numbers and positions for the Hippopotami. Old numbers are in parentheses.

Keepers (00-19)
05 GK Birger Manholt (**)
06 GK Antonio Ricardo De Carlo (**)

Forwards/Wingers (20-39)
20 WI Juan Carlos Carreño (20)
21 FW Giancarlo Schalks (21)
25 FW Joseph Pittesser (25)
27 SU Volfs Treibahs (**)
33 WI Hans Meikar (22- was retired)
34 WI Norbert Hiermayer (--)
38 FW Yohan Coupard (--)

Midfielders (40-59)
09 IM Carlos Thacker (**)
11 SU Charlie Partridge (**)
14 IM John King (**)
39 SU Juan Alberto Quijada (**)
47 IM August Gunderson (--)
54 IM Roberto De Bacco (--)
56 IM Hilton Bender (--)

Defenders (60-79)
40 SU Stephen Williams (**)
62 WB Ciprian Pârvu (32)
63 CD Carlo Teti (33)
68 WB Christian Svatunek (38)
70 WB Iosif-Constantin Chiacu (--)
71 CD Nicu Stoian (41)
72 CD Eddie van Acht (42)
76 WB Niko-Ville Hallasaari (--)
79 CD Rubén Enrique Portas (39)

Coaches (80-99)
96 E1 Adir Weissglass (--)
95 E2 Gilceu Bianco (--)

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10-17-2011

(15:37) Hippopotami Survive II, will return in Season 46

The Houston Hippopotami finished 4th with 21 points, their first ever season in II with no qualifier. The team started out the season with 4 straight losses but went 6-1-3 the rest of the way. This includes a season-ending 7 game unbeaten streak, currently the longest in Div II.

In less relevant games, Houston is 12-1 on Wednesday with the only loss coming in week 7 when the team was bounced from the Cup.

In Sunday's 3-3 draw against the Mudville Kickers, the Hippos tied a franchise record with a 333 Hatstats rating. The previous high of 333 was a II.1 Season 41 loss to the Pythons which rates 2% higher overall.

Joseph Pittesser scored his 15th goal of the season in Sunday's game, netting him the series Top Scorer honor. It his his second scoring title (III.3 S43) and the seventh in franchise history. It is our 1st ever in Div II.

Finally, a minor change to the kits as the home and away kit have been swapped so that visitors to the team page have something new to look at.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10-25-2011

(13:00) Hippos Complete Successful Hippo Friendly Cup 26

After Wednesday's game, Hippo Friendly Cup 26 will have drawn over 25K fans this season. It was an exciting Cup, with the club receiving some very difficult flags this season including newcomer Cuba and two flags we have chased for over 10 seasons(!) in Al Yaman and Suriname.

Thank you to the following teams we played this year:
steaua orhei (Moldova)
Gomel (Belarus)
Yemen All Star (Al Yaman)
All Starts (Cuba)
FC Paramaribo (Suriname)
Uridium Skara Brae (Scotland)
F.C. 13 (Sakartvelo)
ROK Marine Corps (Hanguk)

This leaves 4 difficult flags:
Cameroon (Away)
Cuba (Home)
Palestine (Home/Away)

It also leaves 22 additional flags to host, all from countries with over 1000 users. Next season, the team will likely host a Baltic Cup with teams from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (where the GM's family hails from) as well as many other countries.

Next up: Preparations for Season 47, our second in II.3!

SI

sterlingice · 01-22-2012, 12:05 PM

Only 3 weeks left to go in the season. An unusually large number of press announcements for the team the second half of this season so they'll be posted at the conclusion.

Also, I should post the entire contents of the Hippo Hall of Heroes. There are 13 members now and a couple more that I have "honorarily" retired with press announcements. I have to think I have one of the largest in the game as I have done one every year since they came up with the concept. I love the idea since it allows me to "immortalize" those players who keep the story fresh and interesting. I posted the following to the HT USA Forum. We'll see if I get any takers

Quote:

Originally Posted by HT

Personally, I love the Hall of Fame. It's caused me to hang on to players so I can retire them and regret that I couldn't buy a few of my players back before teams went defunct. But it seems like a feature so few teams use. I'll see one or two players in there just for the achievement point but no writeups, no nothing. The most I've seen from another team is 5 and even then it's a couple of line writeup unless it's the favorite player of the manager.

Conceptually, I get that maybe you don't retire a player every year. I've planned my team out so that I can and I think I've maxed out with 13 in 13 seasons since it's been instituted (HT: it'd be nice if you could put up a calendar on the HOF with the "next time you can retire a player" just like with adding a supporter or federation). Satyanarayana and Brik are the only two of my players who are "stretches" in that they more like career men and not necessarily stars on the team.

Personally, I like to do the following:
* "Retire the number" so no player can use it again- that's part of the writeup and then fill up the 500 characters about him
* Write a PA announcing the game the player will be "retired" at. This gives me another 1000 characters to talk about the player and tell his story. If I can't buy back a player (defunct team), I'll "honorarily" retire a player/coach and that PA will serve as their HOF entry.
* Go through my records (I have a big team spreadsheet that's almost 10 years old now) and find a great game for that player. Bonus points if I can tie it into the team's history
* Try to mix and match "Current Career" so that my players aren't all the same current career but also give a look that's unique to the player and also "Hall of Fame" category so that I don't have too many of one type but a good mix.
* Finally, every couple of seasons, try to do a quick little writeup on the HHH (I've just taken to calling my HOF the Hippo Hall of Heroes) and put every number and player in that's been retired.

I dunno- for me, it helps breathe life into the later stages of playing HT and "immortalize" those players who can no longer play but contributed greatly to the franchise.

Anyone have some good examples of HOFs that are out there- ones with lots of players and good writeups?

Hm... maybe if there's enough interest and material, I'll turn this into a Hattrick Press submission.

Talking a bit more about it:

Quote:

Originally Posted by HT

In my mind, for starting players on your team, there are basically 3 different acquisition career paths:

1) Youth pull from academy or really young (19 or younger) purchase. You train or buy the player young and train them up because it's in what you're training. You have to put in the effort to train them but they also come the cheapest.

2) Buy early in starting career: 20-23yo near max skills where you plan to get their prime 5~7 seasons out of a player. Sure, they cost the most by a wide margin but you get them in prime years.

3) Buy a veteran: 26+ yo who you get on the cheap because he's getting older and going to start to decline soon. It saves a buck but you don't get the longevity.

------------

And 3 different selling career paths (provided you don't up and change your training or tactics completely mid-training cycle):

1) Sell a trainee once they are at their top market value vs training cost. Yeah, you trained them but this player is just money-churning fodder for your team

2) Sell right before the decline around 25 or 26. I used to do this quite a bit until they made older players more valuable. You buy high or invest a lot of training time, but selling at 25 or 26 still nets you a pretty good return so for a 20~30% premium, you can replace the player with someone younger.

3) Retires or fired when old. When the player hits 30, there's very little sales value left- even ex-superstars are worth under $1M so keep them around as low wage, high skill backups

------------

Ultimately, the HOF is all about the selling career paths more than the buying. Trainees, you couldn't care less about- they're all about money. That second group, unless they did something spectacular in their time with your team (4 scoring titles, original team member, or something like that)- they probably aren't worth re-acquiring when old- Ovesson, Phelan, and Benito fit that for my team. However, the market just isn't what it was 20 seasons ago. There is a huge premium placed on super-elite and rare players but every other market is compressed. I don't even see much of a point to selling back my 26 or 27yos and I certainly don't make enough cash on my trainees to frequently buy up players in their prime.

So that brings us to group 3. The way I plan it, I just ease my old starters into becoming new backups. My guys get hurt enough that spending the small wages that older players command for good backups who can step in is a good idea. That way I have a competent player who can play and not cost me a game and I don't have to scramble and pay through the nose on the transfer market for a week or two injury. Heck, right now, I'm cobbling together a 3rd midfielder from a combo of King and Thacker who are both 35 and, when in good form (King has been in a form slump for about a month), each put up 8-8.5 stars for $20K in wages.

Those guys you ease out of the starting lineup are perfect for retiring to your Hall of Fame. They've played with you for a long time, probably have a lot of goals and games player, and are the type of players who have defined your franchise for 10+ seasons.

Coaches are another great example as they probably were on A) your team for a while, B) have crappy playing skills, or C) both. At that point, you can retire them and talk about the team's performance during their tenure.

SI

TargetPractice6 · 01-22-2012, 11:33 PM

That's the career trajectory for most of my players as well, SI. Most of my purchases fall into category 2 and my sales are split pretty evenly between 2 and 3.

I find there is a bit of a lag between when a player's value starts to decline and when they hit their peak. Most often my players are really at their best between 27 and 30, but value starts to fall around 26. So my best players I keep into their 30s and transition them into backups like you said. Usually the only players I sell are around 25-26 and are marginal starters or career backups. Several of my original crop of players are in their mid-30s now so I imagine my hall of fame will start filling up soon.

sterlingice · 02-19-2012, 12:49 PM

Time for the Season 47 PA Roundup. II is a pretty crazy place. I'm pretty sure I had the 6th or 7th best team in the series but that's not where I ended up. Last season, I started out 0-4 and seemed destined for an auto-relegation slot. This season, I got lucky in a couple of early games to build somewhat of a cushion. Everyone knew Spocker was heading back to MLS and Slug Fighters were tanking for relegation. However, slots 2-7 were wide open.

Another storyline was that TargetPractice6 was back up in II with his second team after quitting HT a few years ago so we had 2 FOFCers in the series.

No PAs for the first half of the season but then the updates come regularly:

Quote:

Originally Posted by 12-19-2011

(12:49) Halftime of Season 47

The Hippos find themselves coasting into the midseason break with an 8 game unbeaten streak, tied for 14th in the USA. However, it took a victory Sunday to jump the team from 6th to 3rd in a very close II.3. The schedule gets much tougher in the second half with only 3 home games and it will be a tall task to stay above the relegation line.

The home team is an underdog for Wednesday's cup matchup against FC Walosy. It will take a very good game by the Hippos to advance beyond round 8 of the Cup. There are 5 teams in hotly contested II.3 still in the Cup, so each round is critical both to cup play and to series play.

With the new loyalty bonus, Houston has put up its top 3 ratings performances in team history this season. During the match against the Apollos, they netted an average match rating of outstanding, pushing the "we're so good" achievement to 21 points. The team still is working on their quest for 80 stars (35 points), having posted another 79.5 this past week.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01-02-2012

(19:12) Catching Up, Part I

Season 47's Hippos made a deep cup run this season, before losing to Full Contact Runnerd in Round 9. They have made 9th 3 times in franchise history not including season 44's 10th round showing.

In our thrilling round 8 Cup win against FC Walosy, the Hippos reached 80 stars for the first time ever. This moves our Star collector rank up to 6 with 35 points. The team now has 356 of 998 achievement points. This is one of the team's 19 of 31 possible achievements.

With 5 games left in the season, Houston is in 2nd place in ultra-competitive II.3. Spocker seems to have the series wrapped up but 2nd thru 6th are separated by 3 points and 4 of the 5 teams have exactly +9 GD.

If you haven't seen it yet- our interview is up on the USA front page. Thanks to drew7 for his "Interviews with Members of Series II.3" series! We've had a lot of positive response and it has been fun.

The team has been delinquent in the Press Announcement category this season. Part II will be posted tomorrow

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01-03-2012

(04:43) Catching Up, Part II

The team is reaching the end of a training cycle and we've already waived goodbye to two players: Christian Svatunek and Carlos Teti.

The following players are currently for sale:
Ciprian Pârvu (232223973) - titanic defense, utopian sp
Rubén Enrique Portas (280656856) - 23yo supernatural defense, formidable playmaking

Nicu Stoian (286252936) and Eddie van Acht (291704800) will likely be up for sale in the next season or so as both are 22yo world class defenders with formidable playmaking (inquire, if interested).

Not all is about departing, however, as the team has welcomed the following:
#75 Eduard Masrramon, set pieces ace
#67 Angelo Mellino, offensive central defender

They join trainees Iosif-Constantin Chiacu and Niko-Ville Hallasaari, who are almost ready for the senior squad.

As mentioned before, we've been slow in the PA category. Coming up in the next 2 weeks:
* Charlie Partridge retired to HHH
* Hippo Friendly Cup 27

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01-08-2012

(21:23) Hippo Friendly Cup #27: Hippo European Vacation!

This year, it's time to get back to a theme for the Hippo Friendly Cup. For this season it is "Europe" (rare flags excluded)! First, we start with a Baltic Cup as Houston hosted JK Sakutajad (thanks, rubbe9!) from Eesti last week. The GM is half Lithuanian, by heritage, so expect them up next along with Latvija. Slovenija, Srbija, and Bulgaria may also pay us a visit this season.

Next week, we visit Palestine United (thanks, Shadi-O!), one of our 4 remaining rare flags. The following remain:
Cameroon (Away) - Final away flag
Cuba (Home)
Palestine (Home)

Below are our current flag chasing stats:

Visited (126 Visited Flags; 446 754.61 Coolness)
Coolness: USA-T2, World-T172
Flags: USA-T2, World-T104

Hosted (105 Hosted Flags; 447 961.90 Coolness)
Coolness: USA-2, World-138
Flags: USA-T10, World-T609

Visited+Hosted (231 Total Flags; 894 716.51 Coolness)
Coolness: USA-1, World-81
Flags: USA-2, World-T106

The flag logo has also been updated

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01-22-2012

(18:09) Charlie Partridge, All American Hippo now in Hall of Heroes

#11 Charlie Partridge was part of the Hippos "All American Infield" along with Erwin Vickers and Thomas Little. While Vickers had the highest pure playmaking rating and Little the best all-around, Partridge was the most versatile.

He was purchased 20 seasons ago from Bergen Kamelutleie for $5.1M and his titanic playmaking garnered him a rating of 8 stars, good enough for top 20 in Hippo history.

As a student of the game, he retires with extra-terrestrial experience. With his high (inadequate) leadership, he was often a team captain- 2nd only to the legendary Q with 85 competitive games.

Later in his career, his quickness allowed him to shift to winger and he ended with 62 career goals and 2 career hat tricks.

He was 2nd in games played with 324, sandwiched between Little's 366 and Vickers's 290. Competitive matches were no different as he was poetically positioned between Little and Vickers with 275.

The legendary midfield trio have now all found their way to the HHH.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02-07-2012

(18:42) Hippos Survive II.3 Again!

Against heavy odds, the Houston Hippopotami managed to place 4th in II.3, to live for at least one more season. Just 4 points separated 2nd through 5th and we'll be glad to be rid-- er... wish all the best of luck to emmpee! Also, we'll miss each of the teams leaving but a special mention to Airborne Penguins, our mutual supporter and fellow FOFCer.

Just a Few Season Ending Notes:

* Since our last PA, the team has picked up one last defense trainee: Damiano Volontè, who will primarily be a wingback in the mold of Iosif-Constantin Chiacu

* Joseph Pittesser finished 5th in the series in scoring with 8 goals to go along with 8 in the Cup.

* Coach Gilceu Bianco noted "That form slump really hit us hard in the second half but the guys pulled through".

* Hippo Friendly Cup #27 will conclude next week and then it's time to look forward to the new season.

What is that familiar stench I smell for next season? Is that... BALLCANO? There goes the neighborhood

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02-16-2012

(12:58) Hippos End European Vacation: HFC #27 A Smashing Success

Houston concluded a successful hosting of high level European teams this past week, winning all but one game during this season's Hippo Friendly Cup

We sincerely thank the following teams for their visit:
JK Sakutajad (Eesti, Div 4)
Sergoon (Latvia, Div 5)
FC Sokolas (Lietuva, Div 2)
Salamanca Estudiantes (Slovenija, Div 2)
FK Razvrljavač (Srbija, Div 2)
Tigers_ (Bulgaria, Div 3)

The team took one break to visit Palestine United, one of our two remaining away flags.

Next year, it looks like South America will be the theme of the first 4 weeks, which means that aside from the below, Houston will have all top 100 flags, both home and away:
Cameroon (Away)
Cuba (Home)
Palestine (Home)

Here's how the Team's rankings stack up:

Visited
Cool (452K)
USA-1, World-T145
Flags (127)
USA-T1, World-T108

Hosted
Cool (442K)
USA-2, World-165
Flags (110)
USA-7, World-T478

Host+Visit
Cool (894K)
USA-1, World-84
Flags (237)
USA-1, World-T95

Only 19 flags to go!

Lastly, drew7 of Westchester Fire put together a HT Press set of articles where he interviewed all members of II.3 and they were posted to the HT USA front page. My Q&A is listed below:

Quote:

Originally Posted by 12-28-2011

Interviews with Members of Series II.3 (pt.5)
Written by drew7

This is the fifth article in a series of interviews about life and hattrick with members of USA series II.3. Take a look at some of the personalities in this series, and get to know a few of your fellow users better!

1. You have to tell me the origins of your username and team name.

Houston Hippopotami is the name I've used for fantasy football for as long as I can remember. I was looking for something alliterative and thought "big lumbering animal" and the rest writes itself.

The username is a bit more nonsensical. I used to play a lot of video games in the dorms with a guy who went by DryIce and I was looking for a good non-cliche adjective that described ice. Sterling describes something both of high quality and I was thinking of something that shined like ice. So, not much there, but even weirder-even tho it's nonsensical-if you google it, you'll find a couple of other sterlingices out there that are not me. I mean, I realize it's the internet and you're never going to have something truly unique but I was pretty surprised.

2. You live in Houston? I hear summers are sweltering. True? Any hurricane scares?

Yeah- that's just part of living there. However, I don't actually live in Houston currently and haven't in quite a while. I live in Indianapolis currently, working for a large IT company doing work for a large pharmaceutical company. That said, it's where I'll always be "from" as it's where I grew up and went to high school. As for the weather, yeah, it's always been humid but this year was record breaking, even for them-they had something 23 straight days of 100 degrees which beat the old record by like a week. However, it's not all bad. I was down in Houston for Thanksgiving, visiting my parents, and we grilled steaks in the backyard in shorts on Friday. Why? Because we could.

4. You are a flag collector (hate the phrase "flag chaser"). How has that been? I try to chat with these people even if its one mail. Different fascinating cultures. Do you do that?

These guys get a lot of that stuff and they probably just filter through it. I try to send a "thank you" message but I'm not very good at remembering so I apologize to the teams I have forgotten.

Once I have completed my flag collection, I'll probably arrange an end game to my time with hattrick-an all out push for MLS, get the remaining attainable achievements, and tie up loose ends. Flag "chasing" has increasingly become an ugly business, a mess of people making second and third teams and trading those flags for other rare flags or months of supporter. Of the couple thousand teams in all the rare (<100 user) countries in HT, I'd be surprised if more than 1/3rd were legit. To this day, I'm particularly happy that I have picked up all of my flags in an "honest" way- almost all have just been random challenges or pool challenges but it's a lot of work each week. The only non-random challenges were that I won a couple of flag chasing contests and one team offered to play me so he could be my final away flag (thanks, Inseltraum!)

5. Favorite part of Hattrick?

After almost 8 years of playing, there's really not much of the game left to explore. Sure, I could go experiment with a new formation or new experimental training style or formation, but it's hard when I've put in a good amount of work to get to where I'm at to change things just to maybe see results in a couple of year's real time. It's interesting to think back where I was in life when I started playing compared to now. The best addition in the last couple of years was the youth academy-it was nice to have a second team to play around with and keep track of.

The competition is blase to me with a random match engine when you get to this level in the game and my goal when I started was just to get to III. Keeping that in mind, my favorite accomplishment is that the Hippos have the all-time records for a team in a single Div III in the USA with 210 games played, 401 points, and +278 GD (616-338). In the interest of full disclosure, if you combine Mountain Kings time in III.4 and III.5, they would hold the III records.

At the end of the day, without the competition, it's about the comradery. Back when I joined, I was part of a huge community over at FOFC. At its Hattrick height, there were over 130 HT teams from FOFC in Hattrick from around 2004-2006. There aren't many of us left now. However, it's great to see one back in this series in evillincoln.

6. What do you train? Any team plan in place or just happy to be here?

I started by training playmaking, which improved my team by leaps and bounds. However, that's always been the most important aspect of Hattrick from day 1 so training that introduces a ton of variation to your team quality, depending on where you are in your training cycle. I've been training defending for the last 15ish seasons as it is "least important" and still profitable. I was training 8 last season but a couple made it up to world class+ and it was time to sell earlier this season. I won't replace them until being bounced from the cup and I need to look at that market- it's becoming less and less profitable but I still need to keep the cash rolling in to support wages, old player replacement, etc. Any thoughts as to how many teams in Div II or higher are even still training?

7. Last question-are you seriously a Houston Astros fan?

Nope. I was raised a 4th generation Cubs fan. And because that wasn't enough suffering, I became a Royals fan when I lived in Kansas City. That's the team I follow most now.

8. Okay I liedFavorite meal?

I am a fan of all sorts of food. Some of my favorite meals that come to mind involve Lou Malnati's pizza in Chicago, seafood at a place in Atlanta, a meal called Bursa Kebob I ate in Turkey when I was younger, and steaks from either mine or my Dad's grill. And that's just a small sampling of what I like. My wife makes me run to support my food habit

Good luck sterlingice!

There was a bit of editing done- for instance, I had a more nuanced answer to the Astros question as they're my 3rd team but I haven't lived in Houston for years and I follow KC much more. But I think the "Nope." to cover all of that made it sound more funny to drew7. Also, you noticed we went straight from question 2 to 4. I didn't realize this at the time but he only had 12000 characters to work with and I'm not sure you've noticed but I can be a bit verbose.

I had to send him the answers to the questions in a 9-part HT-mail due to the 1000 character HT Mail limit.

.....

So, what does the future bring?

I'm going to need to use up some of my cash as my team is getting older and skills are starting to erode in the over-30 crowd. But I have the cash to do that (Div 2 Wealthiest Teams):
1. Yoder Hicks II.2 31 215 275 US$
2. FC Drakkar II.4 18 962 698 US$
3. Houston Hippopotami II.3 18 295 437 US$
4. Primetimers II.3 18 103 763 US$

I started back in the middle of season 18 and did this dynasty 10 seasons- about 3 years- ago. Season 49 will be the 30th anniversary. I should do something for that but it won't be a full blown dynasty like the previous one, I don't think.

SI

sterlingice · 02-20-2012, 02:12 PM

Bought a couple of new guys and am selling some older ones. A couple of thoughts I posted to the series forum:

I guess, in the long run, I'm down to $10M in cash, but I have 3 trainees ready to be pushed out of the nest this season or next so hopefully that gets me back up to $15M+ after trainees.

GK at 28
Churn defenders
WI: 27, 28
IM: 24, 28, 31
FO: 29, 30

Looks like I'm set for another couple of seasons. The forwards are getting a little long in the tooth but they can hold on another couple of seasons

I'm kindof wanting to upgrade the 31yo IM while the market is so cheap but that also means I'll get next-to-nothing for selling him, too. Looks like I'd get $1M for selling and pay ~2.5M for buying a 23/24 yo. I suppose that's a pretty good upgrade if I can find a quality American to help offset the wages (Richard was not, unfortunately and that will add up to $150K per season extra).

The "refurbish my keeper" option is intriguing. I could turn De Carlo into a 22 or 23yo of the same skill for ~1.5-2M and that is quite tempting. We'll see if anyone bites on him as I just put him out on the market.

Also, with the loyalty bonus, I don't think I want to totally nuke all of my guys at once. I noticed that was a pretty big deal last year at only half strength. Going to full strength this year should be a pretty big deal again.

SI

sterlingice · 06-28-2012, 03:14 PM

Here's season 48. I think I have been writing more PRs the last couple of seasons and I'm hoping it keeps up for a while longer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-5-2012

(18:30) Hippos Starting Hot

Going back to last season, the Hippos have a 6 game unbeaten streak and have started out season 48 with a win at home and draw on the road. Fans have even remembered that they can also sign up for the fan club instead of just leaving.

Coach Gilceu Bianco: "In a series expected to be this tight, every single point matters. It's huge to get a point on the road and then follow it up with a win at home, particularly when more than half of the games so far have been draws."

It's uncertain how long this good luck with last. Wednesday's Cup opponent, VESPERO, has won 2 in a row. Next Sunday the Primetimers, last season's 2nd place team, come to the Hippodrome, with their own 4 game unbeaten streak. And if Houston survives those two games, the week after, the Hippos visit new II.3er Idiots in Stereo FC, authors of a 5 game unbeaten streak.

A couple of reminders:
* Volfs Treibahs to be inducted into the Hippo Hall of Heroes
* Hippos 30th Anniversary Celebration next season

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-12-2012

(18:45) Leading Scorers in Franchise History

Next season, the Houston Hippopotami will be celebrating their 30th full season in Hattrick. As part of this, the team will be trying to do extra as part of the celebration.

To start, using some spreadsheet-fu, the team was able to determine the highest scorers in Houston history. Below are all of the Hippos who have scored more than 20 goals in a Hippo series match:

67 Schalks
53 Pittesser
48 Jacobsen
46 Tetlie
46 Tetkowski
46 Little
43 Angulo
38 Phelan
33 Kettich
32 Peiffer
31 Partridge
29 Vickers
28 Solomon
27 Treibahs
26 Binst
26 Delcarte
24 Quijada
20 King

Unfortunately, the number crunchers in the basement at the Hippodrome have informed us that it will take quite a bit longer to determine the number of Cup and Friendly goals as the team was not courteous enough to either win the Cup every year or lose in the first round every year.

After further number crunching, we may add more honorary members to the Hippo Hall of Heroes next season

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-31-2012

(01:59) Hippo Friendly Cup #28: First to 128 in USA!

Last week, the Houston Hippopotami became the 120th team in all of hattrick to visit all 128 countries! We also became the first team in the United States!

First, we want to thank Astres for accepting our random challenge and hosting us in Cameroon! This was our 128th flag, re-completing the set after the Hippos had hit 124 a few seasons ago.

As longtime followers of the Hippos know, we get almost all of our friendlies through random challenges- tho we do play lotteries and contests and have won a couple of flags that way. So, we really want to take the time and thank the kindness of all of the strangers who have played against us! Without you, none of this is possible.

Secondly, the amazing friendlies don't stop there. We will be hosting the second of our three remaining rare flags this week as CarlosPal stops by the Hippodrome from Palestine! This leaves Cuba as our only major flag left.

More news next time:
* FOFC Cup Tournament
* HFC #28: South America

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4-12-2012

(15:44) Hippo Friendly Cup 28: Smooth Sailing

We have updated the flag logo as of tonight's game so it shows the ~20 (count) flags we have remaining. First, a huge thanks to the owners of Astres de yaoundé (Cameroon), EstudiantesPal (Palestine), and CubanStorm (Cuba). With their random and pool challenges, we have now collected all of the difficult flags we had left to collect. The Hippos have vaulted into 41st in the world in Coolness visited plus hosted (957K of 959K).

After becoming the first team in the USA with 128 away flags, we plan on visiting the following over the next 2-3 seasons to become the first team in USA to have a complete flag collection, both home and away.

:::South America:::
Venezuela
Peru
Uruguay
Colombia
Chile

:::Middle East:::
Iran
Israel

:::Europe:::
Czech Republic
Hungary
Finland
Belgium
Romania
Switzerland
France
Germany

Unless, of course, HT adds any new flags (grr!)

Finally, the logo has been updated with the three new flags

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4-23-2012

(18:33) Mini FOFC Cup: Hippos vs Penguins (The Battle for Earth!)

FOFC has a long and rich history in Hattrick with more than 150 teams owned by FOFCers. The message board-based FOFC Cup sprung out of this with the largest of these being FOFC Cup III with a whopping 84 teams!

The history of the FOFC Cup was chronicled in the following two posts of the Hippos 20th Anniversary Dynasty Report:
Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - [Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami (III.3); Special 20th Anniversary Thread
Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - [Hattrick] Houston Hippopotami (III.3); Special 20th Anniversary Thread

FOFC may be a shadow of its former self in HT, but 4 owners (a couple on their second teams) met again to revive the cup in the new tournament format:
* Houston Hippopotami (sterlingice, is spending too much time III a claim to fame?)
* Airborne Penguins (evillincoln, formerly TargetPractice6 and USA U-20 coach)
* Oaklandish FC (carligula, featuring current U-20 form sink Rod Rapp)
* SJ Wildcats (TheMaskedOne, formerly Masked, winner of FOFC Cup V)

The Hippos and the Penguins meet tonight for the title!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5-1-2012

(13:01) Cup Hero Treibahs Retires to Hippo Hall of Heroes

Volfs Treibahs was never the most feared Hippopotami scorer of all time. In fact, he was rarely slated to start. And, officially, his tally says 78 goals (4 before he got here), which includes 28 in fixtures and 46 in the cup for Houston. However, that doesn't include his 86 friendly goals, which add up to 160, the most in franchise history.

He was originally purchased as a trainee, but, back in season 30, when the Hippos changed training regimens from scoring to defending, the team elected to keep him as the primary backup behind Jacobsen and Tetkowski.

In an 18 USA Cup stretch from season 29-46, he scored at least one goal in all except season 33. He also scored competitive hattricks in 3 different calendar years: 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Said longtime teammate and now fellow-HHHer, Allan Brik: "He'd probably continue to score goals until he was 40 or 50 and get to 200 if his body would let him."

His #27 was retired during halftime of last Sunday's fixture with Apollos.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5-1-2012

(12:57) Hippo Hall of Heroes Roster

Below is the Current and Future HHH Roster

Current HHH Members
#01 S43 Tim Kimber
#03-Hnr Quintin Staples (28383532)
#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
#44 S46 Tomas Ovesson
#83-Hnr Sergio Chapin (23361083)
#96-Hnr Adir Weissglass (118357573)
#97 S39 Xacobo Armengol
#99 S30 José María Miquel

Upcoming Honorary Members
Hnr Marcin Tetkowski (48395749)
Hnr Kris Jacobsen (46500559)

Upcoming Candidates
S49 #05 Birger Manholt, 35 - 11 seasons as backup keeper
S50 #95 Gilceu Bianco, 41 - Coach during second stint in II
S51 (maybe) #40 Stephen Williams, 32 - WC def, 1st youth pull, career Hippo
S52 #39 Juan Alberto Quijada, 42 - 18 seasons, many as starting middie
S53 #09 Carlos Thacker, 36 - 12 season elite middie
S54 #14 John King, 36 - 11 season elite middie

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5-18-2012

(13:56) A Tale of Two Hippo Friendly Cups

The Hippo Friendly Cup this season can be split into two segments. In our first segment, Houston played against teams from Cameroon, Palestine, and Cuba.

For the last several weeks, we have finished up the South American portion of our flag chasing, hosting high division teams, either I or II, from 6 different countries. A hearty thanks goes out to:
Venezuela's las basuras
Uruguay's Principito Sosa
Peru's Trolls F.C.
Colombia's T.S.T.
Chile's Mare potuM
Argentina's La Looser

This week's game against La Looser will feature the 850,000th fan to see a Hippo Friendly Cup game and we should end the HFC around 900K.

After next week, we will have completed all of South America. The next week is still in the planning stages while season's end will see us in a Texas Consortium battle against a team from Belgium.

Below are what flags remain:

:::Middle East:::
Iran
Israel

:::Europe:::
Czech Republic
Hungary
Finland
Belgium
Romania
Switzerland
France
Germany

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6-6-2012

(12:52) Hippos Qualified to Remain in II

At least for another season, Houston will remain in II.3, a club record 4th consecutive season in II. After their 5th place finish, the team had to play a qualifier against another Texas team, strickers6 from III.13.

The home team was victorious 4-0 with Antonio Ricardo De Carlo and Miika Mielikäinen combining on the shutout. Starting striker Joseph Pittesser scored the eventual winning goal before getting knocked out in the 35th minute. But even with that, the Hippos put up their highest rating ever: a 380 hatstats with magnificent midfield, world class at all 3 defenses, and an all excellent attack.

The team has had a couple of new statistical highs of note:
* Team ratings exceeded an average of brilliant, bumping the "We're so good" achievement up to Rank 8
* The Hippos are above 1M TSI, most recently at 1087800
* Houston has put up 88.0 stars twice with a goal of 90

Next time: the Alcala Cup, the Texas Consortium Belgium challenge, and end of Hippo Friendly Cup #28

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6-13-2012

(21:57) Eight More Flags To Go! HFC #28 Concludes

The Hippos are drawing ever nearer to a complete flag collection.

Earlier this season, the team collected their final away flag in Cameroon (last of the 4 "new" flags after getting up to 124), becoming the first team in the USA to 128, eking out MLS's Sleeping Dragons FC who also achieved the feat this past season.

Now, Houston is only 8 flags away from a complete home flag set. The team is tied for 2nd with 120 flags but 1st in coolness.

The remaining flags are:
Israel
Czech Republic
Hungary
Finland
Romania
Switzerland
France
Germany

Combined hosted plus visited, the Hippos are #1 in the US by far with 248 flags (Mountain Kings's 232 is 2nd) and 982K coolness (Cottbuser FC at 974K and FC Drakkar's 843K are the only others above 700K).

These gifted flags can be seen in the Hippo Flag Plaza beyond the Hall of Heroes in the Hippodrome.

The Hippo logo will revert back to the standard logo for cup play.

Houston's 30th Anniversary starts this weekend!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6-17-2012

(05:01) Hippopotami Prep For Season 49

Just a few notes as the Hippos get ready for season #49

* For the second time in franchise history, Houston's only non-fixture loss was the loss that bounced the team out of the cup. That's a 15-1 record for those keeping track at home. This also happened in season 43 and in season 33, Houston had 1 loss and 1 draw.

* The team broke the 1.2M TSI barrier earlier in the week with 1,205,690 TSI. This should have been good for 50 points and a higher rank on "All that skill" achievement. However, the ranking only lasted for a day and was likely not recorded.

* Starting Hippo goalkeeper #6 Antonio Ricardo De Carlo was transferred for $3.9M. The 29yo was soon to be passed on the depth chart by 21yo #7 Miika Mielikäinen and had requested to join a new team. Also, defense trainee Nicu Stoian sold for $2.9M. Meanwhile Damian Edelmann transferred in for $3.35M and will be a new starting forward. He will wear #30.

Next Up: Hippos Begin 30th Anniversary Season!

So, in summary,
-We survived II for another season, winning our qualifier
-We picked up our last 3 rare flags and are only 8 Home flags away from a complete set
-We became the first team in the USA with 128 Away flags
-We lost the FOFC Mini Cup to TP's Airborne Penguins
-We put our 14th member into the Hippo Hall of Heroes (HOF), largest that I've seen in the game

Plans for Season 49:
-We are celebrating our 30th season now in season 49!
-More stats from my old spreadsheets to make PAs
-Continue rebuild to get younger, going back to season 47. Should have all except wingers and possibly 1 IM under 25 years old when complete and roughly 10M still in the bank. Younger and better

-Hippo Hall of Heroes will likely reach 20 members: 15 actual and 5 honorary

It's a busy time for the Hippos. Tho I'm still considering winding the team down over the next year or so.

SI

sterlingice · 10-03-2012, 09:54 AM

Quote:

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

Quote:

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).

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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!

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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

Quote:

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

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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

sterlingice · 10-03-2012, 10:09 AM

Major Stories
-Became first US team with complete 256 flag collection : 128 home and 128 away
-Thus the Hippo Friendly Tour might have come to an end; I have some ideas, tho so it may not be done
-Barely survived season and took some luck just to get 6th in II.3
-Barely survived qualifier to remain in II.3
-HOF is now 21: 15 actual and 6 honorary

Upcoming
-Season 5 in II.3
-Rebuild is pretty much complete: all players are 25 or under except for 2 wingers and 1 26yo IM; problem: down to around $2M in cash so we'll have to wait for a bit to do much else
-Got some new achievements but those will be in a season 50 PA
-Shrunk the stadium a little and re-optimized seat types
-Looking to run some more stats on my team's history to get more interesting PAs

Still planning on winding my team down in the next calendar year. It's a shame, tho, as I just made my team younger but I'm not sure how to make it much better, honestly. I've finished the flag collection, I'll knock out the achievements that you can't do unless you rebuild your team (old team, young team, angry team- that sort of thing) once I relegate, and I'm not sure how I can move up as I'm about as good as the other teams in II but I just don't have that edge to be better.

SI

Alf · 10-03-2012, 05:44 PM

You still rock !

sterlingice · 10-03-2012, 09:54 PM

I don't know about that but I definitely have enjoyed my time playing HT and tried to develop it as much as possible.

SI

MIJB#19 · 10-12-2012, 03:50 PM

oh yeah, congrats on the flag collecting!

sterlingice · 10-12-2012, 04:17 PM

I was pretty happy about that. I feel like I should try to work 128, 256, or flags or something into every PA from this point on

SI

sterlingice · 03-23-2013, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10-9-2012

(20:39) Hippodrome Repairs Complete

The repairs to the Hippodrome are complete, following the damage done during the, ahem, unofficial "take your seat home with you" promotion during the qualifier against the Wisconsin Omanis. The stadium lost some seats but they have been better distributed to fit the fans needs. The new capacity of the Hippodrome is 68,000. It has been slightly redesigned and fans can see images on the team's "Arena" page.

While the stadium was being repaired, the team took the 30th Anniversary donations and updated the Hippodrome complex.

The Hippo Hall of Heroes is as resplendent as ever. There is a new Houston Hippopotami History Museum, donated as part of the 30th Anniversary Celebration. Fans will be free to visit before every home game.

The International Plaza and museum were miraculously left intact by the hooligans and the complete 256 flag collection untouched.

Even the Hungry Hungry Hippos Mud Pit received a much needed coat of paint, new bleachers, and a lawn mow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10-18-2012

(21:17) Houston Shines in Tournaments
Since Hattrick implemented the new tournament system last season, Houston has used this as a testing grounds for new tactics as there are no flags to collect. Since their inception, the Hippos have played in the following cups:

Mini FOFC Cup - See 4-23-2012 PA

Alcala Cup - This 16 team tourney featured some heavy hitters including 3x Div I, 2x Div II, and 6x Div III teams. Houston made it out of the group round but lost 4-3 in the first elimination round after blowing a 3-0 lead.

International Cup - See 7-23-2012 PA

II. Eagles Cup - Like the International Cup, this featured teams from many different countries. Also, like IC, the Hippos were the only team to go 3-0 in the group stages and won the cup. Houston was home to the leading scorer, Patrov this time, and Edelmann tied for 2nd. It was not without drama as Houston beat South Devils 3-2 in the semifinals in the 99th minute.

Columbia Heights Invitational - Currently participating

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10-29-2012

(19:52) Hippos Continue to Raise Achievement Flag
Houston has now managed to accrue 410 of a possible 998 achievement points. Last season, the team added to two major performance achievements.

*"Star Collector" (35 -> 50 points) After many seasons of chasing 90 stars in a match, the Hippos finally got it: (392023624)

*"All That Skill" (30 -> 65 points) In the offseason player shuffling, the team exceeded not only 1.2M TSI, but 1.5M TSI!

These are the 2nd and 3rd rarest achievements to date by the Hippos. The rarest was "Join my revolution (100 members)" which we could not have done without the help of the now defunct YMCA federations.

Below is a list of achievements we will aim for once the team has demoted out of II and is forced to rebuild:

Match Achievements: 130 possible
+35 (veteran) +35 (youthful) +35 (academy) +25 (home grown)

Manager Achievements: 60 possible
+15 (nice) +15 (dishonest) +15 (nasty) +15 (honest)

With those we would break 600 and be one of the top 5 achieving teams in the USA!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 11-12-2012

(20:09) Back to the Drawing Board? Fit to be Tied? Equal to the Task?
The Houston Hippopotami are unequaled as the only undefeated team in II.3. Typically, this would be cause for celebration but they are flagging into the standings due to an overabundance of ties.

The team is thrilled about points from road deadlocks against AhlyUSA and Garden State Gnomes. However, after home stalemates against Aventura Heroes, United Milan F.C., and Hoboken Hitmen, fans have begun to grow weary.

Even Steven, who is from the team's statistics department, cannot find a MATCH for the team's streak of five consecutive standoffs. The longest streak prior to this season was three in a row to end season 46.

Much will be forgotten if the team can draw up a win against the Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch. The press announcement department will be happy, too, as the spokespeople can put down their thesauruses and just go back to trying to squeeze in flag, 256, or 128 into every PA this season.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 11-27-2012

(20:16) Hungry Hungry Hippo Youth Flag Chasing
Hattrick does not keep track of Youth Flag Chasing. But the bored statisticians for the Hippos do!

First, the raw data, including USA rank (if they were an adult squad).

Visit
32 Flags (25.0%)
138,199.71 Coolness (27.2%) 57th

Host
31 Flags (24.2%)
20,602.65 Coolness (4.1%) 149th

Visit OR Host
55 Flags (43.0%)
158,403.22 Coolness (31.2%) 58th

Visit PLUS Host
63 Flags (24.6%)
158,802.36 Coolness (15.6%) 71st

Highlights
*The Hippos have visited 10 of the 23 rarest countries for a youth friendly including 4 of the top 7 (Yemen, Barbados, Uzbekistan, Palestine).
*On the other end of the spectrum, the Hippos have at least one flag from 20 of the 22 most HT-populated countries.
*It's a bit of feast or famine in between with no flags from 24 to 46.
*The Youth Squad already has both flags for 8 countries.
*Youth friendly flags go back to 2007, tho there is no record for some of the first ones so they did not make the list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 12-7-2012

(23:18) Thacker Adds to Crowded Hall of Heroes Midfield
Carlos Thacker is one of many in a line of great American midfielders for the Hippos. He played with HHH member Juan Alberto Quijada, future HHH member John King, and longtime Hippo Damion Marsh among others before giving way to the next generation which included Roberto De Bacco and Hilton Bender.

He was purchased for $3.3M in season 37 at 25 years old and retired 13 later in season 50. His mythical rating at playmaking was the first in franchise history and his 9 stars are the highest of any HHH member and tied for 10th all-time.

He was a quality team leader, tied for 4th all time with 92 total games as captain and 3rd in competitive games at 74, trailing only Staples and Partridge. He was experienced, too, retiring with titanic experience gained from his 245 matches played for the Hippos, 6th in team history. His 199 competitive matches trail only fellow HHH middies Little, Partridge, and Vickers.

His #9 will be retired at halftime of Sunday's match against Garden State.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 12-20-2012

(19:26) Hippo PA Writers Attempt to Reverse the Curse
After a pun-filled PA earlier this season about the team's promising undefeated start of 1 win and 5 draws, the Hippos have lost 4 of their next 5 games and the writers have been informed that this jinx puts them in danger of unemployment.

The Hippopotami finds themselves in 6th place with 11 points and a -5 GD. The remaining schedule includes games against AhlyUSA and the Maroons at home, sandwiched around a visit to sunny Florida and the AVENTURA HEROES.

The aforementioned 5th place Maroons have a 2 point and 1 GD lead and host AVENTURA and II.3-leading Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch before visiting the Hippos.

The 8th place Garden State Gnomes (9pt -10) host the 7th place Hoboken Hitmen (11pt -11) on Christmas Eve. On New Years Eve, they visit Ahly while Hoboken travels to United Milan F.C. The final week of the season, the Gnomes host Milan and Hoboken hosts AVENTURA.

C'mon, boys! Win one (preferably more) for the PA Authors Local 128th and the Fighting Pencils!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1-2-2013

(05:38) Sad and Uncertain Times at the Hippo Hut

Houston has always been an outsider in II, never finishing higher than 4th. As the clock ran down Sunday on another loss, their promising first half dissolved into relegation, sending the Hippos back to III with a cloudy future.

The team is young, recently completing a youth movement: 5 of the 8 non-trainee positions are 25 or younger. And the team is performing at as high a level as they ever have.

However, there are big problems looming as Hiermayer and Serafino will be 31 and 29, respectively, next season. The club has about $2M in the bank and it will take more than that to replace the multi-skilled wingers Houston requires to run their offense. Another long term economic problem is that the market for defense trainees is drying up, even for the multi-skilled players the Hippos specialize in.

Head Coach Gliceu Bianco, whose fate is as uncertain as the team's: "I don't think anyone knows what the future holds. It's going to take some time and reflection to sort things out."

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1-7-2013

(20:20) Hippos Bid Farewell to II.3
As the final seconds ticked off the clock of Sunday's 2-0 win over Maroons, the mood was anything but celebratory. After the bittersweet game, next up for Houston is III.5.

The Hippos will join the Swords, Ferrets, and FC Phooeysticks. Ambitious Vagrants and A bunch o' bananas will be back, pending qualifiers. Coming up from IV will be The Red Devils 20 and a familiar face: Apollos, team of former II.3 seriesmate and long time MLSer, earlgrey_hot.

The tallies for the Hippos in II.3 are 70 (T-5th) games played, 147-155 (-8) goals scored, and 88 (9th) points. Even in their somewhat lackluster time in the series, Houston has cracked the top 10 in the major categories.

The franchise's only previous home in III, for two stints, was III.3, where they still hold the Div III record for games (210), points (401), goals (616), and GD (+278) in a series. III.4's Ferth is getting close with 182/317/567/+142 and Mountain Kings has 308/522/853/+273 if you count the time in III.4 and III.5.

Here are the PAs from season 50. I had fun trying to work 128, 256, or flag into every PA since I said I wouldn't do it last season after finishing my flag collection. However, that rule went by the wayside for the last pair as there were bigger things going on.

SI

sterlingice · 03-23-2013, 01:21 PM

I'm pretty sure this will be my last active season in HT. Next season, I'm going to have more than 2 straight weeks without HT access when I'm in Russia. But, really, relegation sucks and I don't see my clear path back to II or higher. It would take completely revamping what I'm doing on the economic front and spending more time than I want to devote to HT to get better.

Next season is my 25th straight in II or III and that sounds like a nice round number to end on. I really want to finish a pair (or trio) of articles for HT Press, finish off my achievements, and retire a couple more players into the HHH before I go, tho. Basically, I want to get to my denouement.

The only major goal I never achieved in the game was getting to MLS. I guess one can say I never won the cup but I never expected to win the cup since it's so random and arbitrary.

Here are some of my posts in the III.5 forum. I think this is where I am at mentally right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmf5581

SI- What's your goal this season? Do you expect to win?

I learned a long time ago in HT to expect anything. HTRF, injuries, bad luck, and over/underestimation of one's team just get in the way.

In the long term and in a perfect world, I'd like to get to MLS- even if just for one season- but I'm not sure that's feasible. I have a younger team but I'm pretty sure I'm not good enough and I don't have a lot of cash (~$3M).

On the other hand, I'm also expecting to quit HT in the next year but I've also been saying that for a couple of years now and I haven't done it yet. Also, I need to finish those HT Press articles I've been sitting on for 3 or 4 seasons now and, presumably, I'd have to be in HT to publish those.

So, to answer the questions: I'm going to try to win the series but it's just too hard and there are too many good teams to "expect" anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmf5581

I shouldn't have used the word expect.

In your opinion, why did you fall out of II? What did you learn from last season?

Two things: Tactics and Economy

Tactically, my team doesn't have the flexibility or specialization of a lot of higher level teams. My team is still stuck in a 10+ seasons ago HT mentality: it was (is) a hatstats powerhouse, optimized for special events. However, that only gets you so far when you're running against CAers with defenses you can't break through or someone with stats just as good or better than yours who might have some other edge. I haven't innovated enough with my team. There are newer and better strategies out there and they take time to cultivate and build a team towards and I just haven't kept my head in the game as much.

But, really, it's more about dollars and sense I think. To steal a phrase, "it's the economy, stupid" but to get there, I need to speak to my training regimen. One of the advantages I had over a lot of Div II teams is that I could still churn trainees into cash. I have 8 defense trainees that get full training all but a couple of weeks of the season. Defending is still the least important aspect of HT, in my mind (unless you build around it), and so training it didn't impact my team all that much as a decently designed training regimen still meant I was running out veteran WC+ level defenders. Not only that but I don't train naked defenders, I kept a rotation of three types: high level set pieces (divine or very close to it), OCD (formidable+ playmaking), and wingback (decent winger and passing skills to add one attack). So that means my dropoff is very minimal on the defending side compared with high level players as the slightly lower defense was offset by the specialties they had.

So, you saw how it kept the team competitive but it also meant two things economically: I could keep my team evergreen and I could buy some really stud players. Middies, wingers, forward, or keeper getting up to 28 or 29? Sell them off and buy a stud 21-23yo with a little of the extra cash. There would be a small hit to performance in experience and, later, loyalty but not too bad. I had (still have? tho not nearly as good) a really good feel for the market so I knew where I could get the most bang for my buck.

Quick digression: I love uberwinger and other super specialized trainers with a particular admiration. They're like the crazy third party voting, early gadget adopting, moneyballers. The last part because they're trying to milk every last point out of the match engine, the middle part because they love that shiny uberwinger toy they're making, and the first part because they don't get why everyone else doesn't see it their way because it seems so obvious to them. There's also a hint of pity, tho, as at any moment, the HT devs may decide their shiny toy is too powerful and it gets terribly nerfed.

Back to the Hippos: defense training was never super profitable- that wasn't the goal. It was for good steady income. Buy at $1M, sell at $2.5M after 3-4 seasons: that's good revenue generation! Hare from previous paragraph, meet tortoise. I just plod along, letting them absorb the training risk seasons and cost of specialized trainees. Then I can buy a couple up, playing with the finished product for a few seasons, mainly shielding me from potential crazy market turns, and then putting the player right back onto the market to recoup some of my cost.

Unfortunately, over the past few seasons, the niche market for my little low risk, decent reward defenders has dried up. So, I suffered the same fate as those I mentioned. With my cash flow going away, I'm no longer able to maintain the next egg I once had. Lower nest egg, less flexibility, and less of an ability to take advantage of opportunities in the HT market.

I've drained a lot of resources in staying afloat: this will be my 24th straight season in either II or III. I'm not sure how many other teams out there have spent 20 straight seasons in III or higher without a chance to go down and rebuild. And, as I said earlier, I haven't kept up with the game as much as I had in the past. I just passed my 10th anniversary playing HT and that's, frankly, a long time. I think I'm just becoming one of the game's "old geezers" and am getting passed by those better and hungrier.

SI

finketr · 03-23-2013, 06:29 PM

you're not taking a smartphone with you to Russia? There's a hattrick app for iphone that you can set lineups and what not with.

thealmighty · 03-24-2013, 02:52 AM

What are the 'newer and better' strategies you speak of?

sterlingice · 03-24-2013, 11:24 AM

I see a lot of teams building for 5-10 seasons to tweak their teams just right, keyed on a couple of key players like stud uber wingers, the whole TDF debacle, building towards longshots teams, or some complete team training regimen like all passing training or whatnot. They're all built around beating standard 3-5-2 teams and while they rock-paper-scissors against each other, they seem to all be good at beating standard teams.

SI

sterlingice · 03-24-2013, 05:05 PM

Had a HT Press article published today. It's the first of a 3 part series I'm working on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HT Press

The Hattrick Hall of Fame, Part 1: Who To Add

Written by sterlingice
Personally, I love the Hall of Fame supporter feature. It helps breathe life into the later stages of playing HT and "immortalize" those players who can no longer play but contributed greatly to the franchise. However, it seems like a feature so few teams use. Looking at most teams, I'll see one or two players in there just for the achievement points but no writeups, no nothing. In this three part HP Press series, we'll look to spawn some new ideas and make it a richer experience for all who want to use it.

In Part 1, we look at possible Hall of Fame candidates from your team as well as various buying and selling paths your players can follow. In Part 2, we'll look at ways to make the most use out of the current Hattrick Hall of Fame. And, in Part 3, we'll discuss some suggestions to make the Hall of Fame even better.
The first question is: "Who to Add?" The Hall of Fame shouldn't be for just any old player. Well, actually it can be: as long as you can be creative about it.

This is your team Hall of Fame: pick players who are most important to your franchise. Don't burden them with the requirement of being important to Hattrick, as a whole. I've spent the last 25 seasons in III or II and I've never had a U20 or National Team player. Heck, unless one of my players used to be on my team or you were in a series with me, you probably have never heard of any of my players. Yet, I still have 16 players in my Hall of Fame of all shapes and sizes. Let's look at an example of what I mean.

Three of my most treasured HHHers are Mick Starks, Carlos Alberto Benito, and Edwin Phelan. Between the 3 of them, there was never a skill level above solid but they were legendary as my being original Hippos back in season 18, over 10 real life years ago. Especially early on in your franchise life, lower skilled players will be those threads around which the story of your franchise weaves. They will play a lot of games and score a lot of goals and be the heart of your team. They don't sell for a lot so there's no real financial benefit (tho I realize small amounts of cash are so very important early on). So, in most respects, they are ideal Hall of Fame candidates.

As your training regimen matures, finding Hall of Fame candidates can be difficult. You are cycling younger trainees who won't be on your team long enough to reach HOF status. Your players who are on the team long term might be those you want to buy young and sell as they age to recoup some profits to churn back into your training regimen and to buy upgrades. This can lead to the thought that "It's typically against your own economic self interest to HOF a player." Sometimes it can be and, honestly, sometimes you have to decide between what's best for your team financially and what makes for a richer game experience. However, you can minimize this effect. Let's take a look at skill career paths.

-----------------------------------------
A Brief Sidebar About Skill Paths:
-----------------------------------------

In my mind, for starting players on your team, there are basically 3 different acquisition career paths:

1) Youth pull from academy or really young (19 or younger) purchase: You train or buy the player young and train them up because it's in what you're training. You have to put in the effort to train them but they also come the cheapest.

2) Buy early in starting career: 20-23yo near max skills where you plan to get their prime 5~7 seasons out of a player. Sure, they cost the most by a wide margin but you get them in prime years.

3) Buy a veteran: 26+ yo who you get on the cheap because he's getting older and going to start to decline soon. It saves a lot in acquisition cost and wages but you don't get the longevity.

And 3 different selling career paths (provided you don't change your training or tactics completely mid-training cycle):

1) Sell a trainee once they are at their top market value vs training cost. Yeah, you trained them but this player is just money-churning fodder for your team.

2) Sell right before the decline around 25-27. I used to do this quite a bit until they made older players more valuable. You buy high or invest a lot of training time, but selling at 25 or 26 still nets you a pretty good return. So, for a premium (as little as ~20% sometimes), you can replace the player with someone much younger and similarly skilled.

3) Sell a player when they are too old to be useful, just to get his wages off the books. When the player hits 30, there's very little sales value left as even ex-superstars are worth under $1M.

-----------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------

Ultimately, the HOF is all about the selling career paths more than the buying. Trainees: you couldn't care less about- they're all about money.

That second group: the "sell before they get old" group- they probably aren't worth re-acquiring when old unless they did something spectacular in their time with your team: 3 straight scoring titles, original team member, or something like that. I have only a couple in my Hall of Fame that fit into that category: Ovesson, Phelan, and Benito and two of those are aforementioned original Hippos. Chances are, however, if some other team is buying them at, say, 26, they plan on getting 5+ seasons out of them and may desire them for their own HOF.

These days, the market just isn't what it was 20 seasons ago. There is a huge premium placed on super-elite and rare players but every other market is compressed. I don't even see much of a point to selling back my 26 or 27yos. Now I tend to keep them around as low wage, high skill backups or even platoon with starters in bad form. The way I plan it, I just ease my old starters into becoming new backups.

That makes those players more like group 3. My guys get hurt enough that spending the small wages on older players can be a life saver. That way if I have an injury, I have a competent player who won't cost me a game or cause me to scramble and pay through the nose on the transfer market. Heck, a few seasons ago, I was cobbling together a 3rd midfielder from a combo of King and Thacker. At the time, they were both 35 and, when in good form, each put up 8-8.5 stars for $20K in wages. One could do a lot worse, even in Div III.

Those guys you ease out of the starting lineup are perfect for retiring to your Hall of Fame. They've played with you for a long time, probably have a lot of goals and games played. They are the type of players who have defined your franchise for 10+ seasons.

Customized players who you train for personal use should keep a special place in your franchise's heart and hall of fame. This would include some of the more non-standard training methods like uber-wingers, passing trainers, and set pieces teams. You spent all that time trying to find the perfect player who is a bit older than you standard 17 year old trainee and then you trained him up specifically for use on your team so he should be one of your more memorable players.

Coaches are another great example as they probably were on A) your team for a while, B) have limited playing skills, or C) both. At that point, you can retire them and talk about the team's performance during their tenure. But we're getting ahead of ourselves as we'll cover what to actually talk about with players in Part II.

(NOTE: While many of these are my own thoughts, much credit also goes out to a groupthink thread in the USA Forum a few seasons ago and many personal conversations with other HTers, past and present.)

SI

thealmighty · 03-25-2013, 01:55 AM

I'm one of those standard 3-5-2 teams because I haven't kept up (at ALL) with the upgrades and game mechanics.

I'm sitting in VI. and going to autopromote in a few weeks to V. and thinking about making a final, couple of year, push to see how far I can get.

Since players are cheaper and I am now over $82 million, thought I could get pretty far but haven't much, if any, idea how to proceed.

(or I could buy all your old players for $82 mil.

)

sterlingice · 03-25-2013, 07:08 AM

I'm not sure what I think would be the best strategy right now. That's probably why I'm floundering some. Before blowing a long earned $82M, I'd really study what people say in the forums about good team ideas. It's going to be something that's easy to make a mistake with. Figure out your goals and then really look at what those players have for a team. Don't compete against your own series: compete against the series you want to be in. If your goal is MLS, I think I'd do that in 2 steps: build a Div III quality team and when you get there, sell them off and buy an MLS quality team so you don't kill yourself with MLS wages and Div V supporters. Then again, if you think you can make the jump in 4-5 seasons (few managers can), you could just go for the MLS team - eat the wages but save yourself the buying and selling costs.

However, I've always been an advocate that when you're getting ready to make the big leap, you train up those players hardest to buy. Like Uberwingers? Why spend $7M on each when you could buy a trainee for $2M and train him up? The side effect is that you could also train up some middies at the same time, train up some more uberwingers for extra cash, and then be that much closer to where you want to be. That might even save you the above "buy a team for Div III" step. Need players with lots of passing- buy that team you want minus the passing and train up the passing. Look at the opportunity costs. You're going to need a big chunk of that cash to keep your wages afloat so don't look to blow it all at once.

One of the places where I'm stumped is what to train to continue to make money. Churning defenders with good secondaries has worked for me for a long time but it's become less and less profitable so I've found it harder and harder for it to keep up with the other players I need. I always loved it because it minimized the hit I took to my primary team in terms of skill as I still feel defense is the least important in the match engine. And I could get cute with my defender types: usually on defender with good playmaking (exc-form) and a good specialty like head, a divine set pieces player at one WB or a second central defender, and a quality wingback with good winger and passing who sold pretty well once he skilled up.

Finally, keep in mind that we might get some inflation in the next few months with people getting second teams. It's another thing to put into the equation. Then again, while there are more teams and more money, they will also need players so the inflation may be a temporary spike followed by continued deflation as those getting platinum supporter and a second team should be fairly training savvy and that will just increase the level of "desirable" trained players. Hard to say, honestly, but I think this offseason and early next season should be a good time to sell. So I'd stock up on trainees now and sell off your next round in the upcoming offseason.

SI

sterlingice · 05-05-2013, 08:15 PM

Part II of my HT Press Article was published today. Check it out on the USA front page

Quote:

Originally Posted by HT Press

The Hattrick Hall of Fame, Part 2: What to Write

Written by sterlingice
In the first part of this three part series, we looked at the "Who". This time, we'll look at the "What". How do you maximize the current Hall of Fame format and how do you tie the rest of the Hattrick experience into the Hall of Fame?
Before adding a player to the Hall of Fame, some preparations could be in order. We'll talk in Part 3 about the eligibility requirements and Hall of Fame planning, but just remember, there are limits to how often you can add a player, particularly if you only have Gold supporter. Also, if you want your player to have a nickname before they enter the Hall, they will need to have it before they enter. If the nickname does not exist in the database, you will have to budget some approval time.

For some players, I like to include information from a previous team. You're collecting information about a player who has probably been on multiple teams in Hattrick, some for many seasons. While some were just trainees, a means to more hattrick bucks, others may have been youth pulls or have other special attachments to a team. In particular, if I pick up a player as a veteran, that previous owner may have some good stories from the prime of that player's career. You'll want to give said owner a few days time to put virtual pen to paper. Of course, don't spam others or break any other rules of the game.

While you can edit your player information at a later time, I find it helpful to collect and write everything for a new player at once to limit redundancy and inconsistency. One of the things I will do is open up every browser tab I'm going to use before starting and also start a little text file.

Once a player is named to the Hall of Fame, you lose access to some of that information. A Hall of Fame player's entry only includes access to "Transfer History", "Memorable Moments" and "Best Performance". However, "Player Development" and "Performance History" are gone as are access to "Supporter Statistics" showing the player's 10 best games. This is not to be confused with some of your team history records under "Supporter Statistics". "Highest rating", "Most matches played", "Clean sheets", and "Captain most often": these are kept for all of your players and over all time. However, "Most red + yellow cards", "Most goals", and "Most times best player" are single season only. This can be unfortunate as, by the time you're retiring a player, he likely won't be filling up the stat sheet in his final season as you'd keep him around rather than retiring him. Think about which of those are applicable to the player you are writing about. If you retire a player to the Hall of Fame, those windows will be forever unavailable.

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Let's look at the Hall of Fame entry for a single player. As there is not a manual for the Hall of Fame, let's look a little more closely at exactly what is included. In the Hall of Fame interface itself, many items are static and self explanatory. They cannot be edited and are broken down into a few categories:

1) Important dates: "First day with club", Date "retired"
2) Clubs: "Last club", "Former clubs"
3) Stats specific to your team: "Seasons with club", "Total matches for club"
4) Matches specific to your team: "Last match for club", *"Best match", *"Best Performance"
5) Career stats for all teams: "Career Goals", "Career Hattricks"
*Appears to be specific to your team (unconfirmed)

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After that, there are two dynamic items where I would suggest taking the entire Hall of Fame into consideration: "Hall of Fame Category" and "Current career". I say "dynamic" because you can go back and edit them late. I am certainly guilty of swapping around some of my "current career"s. After all, what's to say that your Hall of Fame players don't change jobs from time to time? Though, I do think the "Hall of Fame" category is a bit more static as a big time goal scorer probably won't suddenly change into a "Great Keeper" or "Great Coach". On the whole, I like to keep a balance for aesthetics. For instance, with my 17 player Hall of Fame, I try to keep, at most, 5 of each type of career or category.

First, there's current career. Personally, I like to coordinate them so all of my players do not look alike. I could see others trying to get them all as similar as possible. However, one player as an "Actor" does not look like another player as an "Actor": they have different clothes and a different look. Personally, I assign the careers arbitrarily based on whatever strikes my fancy. To give a peek into my thought process: Erwin Vickers had the look of an old tv newsman- clothes, face, and all; I like Xacobo Armengol's snazzy looking suit; and Allan Brik is "only" a hotdog vendor because he was a career backup. But I could see a team make all forwards into actors, pick the most colorful outfits for each players, or whatever. Just like everything in the Hall of Fame: it's your team so do what fits your personality and desires.

The "Hall of Fame category" is more of a statistical category. For most types, you get an additional statistic displayed on the main Hall of Fame page and those are noted on the table below. The ones with asterisks are "bonus stats" - the only way to see that statistic for a Hall of Fame player is to put them into that category. Just a note: if you have really old players-from before 2006- this can play havoc with their stats. For instance, Mick Starks was an original Houston Hippopotami, dating back to January 2003 but it lists has first date at 2006. This causes his days with the club count to be off by several hundred. I suspect some older stats just aren't in the system as they were kept at that time.

Hall of Fame category - "Additional Statistic"
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Great Scorer - "Career Goals"
Great Rating - "Great Rating" (highest star rating)
Hattrick Scorer - "Hattricks"
Total Matches Hero - "Matches for club"
Training Matches Hero - "Best player in X training matches" *
Faithful to Club - "Days on Club" *
Member of Honour - No additional statistic
Great Keeper - "Clean sheets for club" *
Great Coach - No additional statistic

These more or less pick themselves, depending on the player you retire. Forwards will probably be "Great Scorer" or "Hattrick Scorer", coaches will be "Great Coaches", etc. The "Training Matches Hero" one was the only one I hadn't used prior to starting work on this series. While playing around with what each title did, Volfs Treibahs, a backup forward most of his career in Houston, was perfect for that as he was the best player in an astounding 46 training matches. He truly was the best guy on the team who didn't start for a long time. However, there is some flexibility in that if a player is in the Hall of Fame, he likely excelled in different aspects of the game including good ratings, longevity, or, failing all else, qualifies for the "catch all" category of "member of honour".

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Next, there is the "most memorable match" which asks for a match number and a 500 character summary.

I have a giant spreadsheet of all of my games where I name a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best player for each game, as well as goals, cards, injuries, etc. If not for that, I think this would be the most difficult section for me, especially considering your Hall of Fame players have been on your team at least 100 games if not 300 or more. Also, I try not to pick the game where the player had his best rating. That game is already noted in the Hall of Fame record, so I try to add another one.

For forwards, this can be easy. If you have a player who scored 4 goals in a single game, you're probably done. Go to "memorable matches", pick one of the games where the player scored a hattrick, and tell the story of that game. However, for middies, wingers, defenders, and keepers - a hattrick is rare and finding a hattrick in a meaningful game is even moreso. Typically, any hattrick would be in a 10-1 1st round cup game which is probably not your most notable or exciting.

This is one of those cases where one of those windows I mentioned earlier in the article can come in handy. If you go to a player and select "Supporter Statistics" prior to retiring the player, it will list the top 10 games, rating-wise. Also, it's not just for your team but for each team he played for: maybe the player's most memorable game was not sporting your jersey but someone else's. It will give you additional games to data mine for those players who put up high ratings but not many goals.

Another possibility is to pick a game that has significance to the team. Look at some of the most meaningful games in your team's history like qualifiers, first games in a new series, games in long cup runs, etc. Maybe the player had the highest rating in a qualifier or that fluke hat trick mentioned above was in a 10-1 first round cup match of the season where you made your deepest cup run ever. In short, you can wrap the player around a game where the story writes itself.

Finally, there's always the brute force method of going through every game the player played and finding that time he made a crucial stop in the 89th minute or scored a goal in extra time. This can get a bit time consuming for those players who had 200 or 300 games and you might have 5 or 20 tabs open with games that you have to compare.

Speaking to three entries for the Hippos: John King's chronicles Houston's record setting run in III.3; Donald Sidorczak's describes how having an uber winger was a huge advantage to the team; and Edwin Phelan's highlights a 5 goal outburst. Tie it to your franchise's or player's history however you want.

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Finally, there is the most important entry: the blank box right under the player's name. I saved this for last as you may have collected information throughout this entire process which you could use. It's 500 characters in length and can be tied together with a Press Announcement, where you have an additional 1000 characters. Keep in mind: your PA changes while this is static and will always stay with the player. Now is the time to choose which items are important enough to put in the player's entry and which are "relegated" to the Press Announcement. If you've been taking notes as you've been going through this process, it's likely you'll have a lot of information to use. More often than not, the harder part is editing down to fit the space.

Team statistics are a large cluster of information to pull from. Along with the aforementioned tabs with stats like "most matches played" and "highest rating", there are some other free tools at your disposal. One I have recently started using is called HT-History. On your "My Hattrick page, go to the green "Community" header and select "CHPP Products". Under "Manager Assistants", look for "HT-History". It lists franchise totals for everything from goals to minutes to cards and can filter based on game type, season, or a number of other criteria. Just a head's up: some of the stats are slightly off compared to what HT produces. For instance, I have a "Total Matches Hero" player in my Hall of Fame with have 4 more games than in HT-History. And, no, at 200+ matches, I don't know where the discrepancy lies.

Some other ideas are to speak more to that memorable match or list some "famous" teammates such as other team Hall of Fame members. Talk about your upcoming league game where you are "retiring the player's jersey". Make up quotes by the player or from his coach or teammates. It's your team and your players, color it with your personal brush. One thing I like to do to start the Hall of Fame entry is "retire the number" so no player can use it again. Every couple of seasons, I'll do a quick little writeup on the HHH (I've just taken to calling my HOF the Hippo Hall of Heroes) as a whole and list every number and player in that's been retired. Plus it helps remind me which numbers not to reuse.

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In a simulation that is so often purely about the numbers, telling these stories can be a way to add a nice dose of your own personality and flavor to the game. In Part III, we'll look at some long term planning and possible ways the HT devs could enhance the experience further.

SI

sterlingice · 09-05-2013, 12:32 PM

Whoops - forgot PAs for the last 2 seasons so time to catch up with that

SI

sterlingice · 09-05-2013, 12:33 PM

Going to finish off this page and flip over at post 201. This page has been acting a little quirky and they tend to do that when they're text heavy

SI

sterlingice · 09-05-2013, 12:34 PM

And one more should do it

SI

09-07-2011, 01:04 PM	#151
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 18 Press Announcements 3-21-2003 Edit Delete (19:47) Year End Shakeup and Crazy Earl After the sale of excellent playmaker Julius Acker netted over $600K, the Hippos are looking to upgrade all over the field. Details will be worked out in the next few days On an unrelated note, the Hippos are looking to give Morrisville some payback for a friendly loss earlier this year. Mick Starks, called out 'Crazy' Earl Frantz by musing "Hmm... he sounds like one of those chease eatin' surrender monkeys. I wonder if he confuses his alternate white uniform for his state flag?" (0) (0) 3-17-2003 Edit Delete (07:15) Furious Rally by Dragons Seals Hippos Fate For over 2/3rds of the game, the Hippos kept CC's Dragons in check, but alas, it was not to be and the Dragons 4 goal rally in the second half doomed the Hippos. In the first half, Houston took charge 5 minutes into the game with a goal by Carlos Alberto Benito. He scored his second goal of the match 35 minutes in and the Hippos led 2-0. However, the Dragons scored 4 goals in the 23 minute span between 64 and 87. The loss relegates Houston to 4th for the year behind Atlanta. (0) (0) 3-10-2003 Edit Delete (07:32) Hippos Crush Catamounts, 2-3 Battle Next Week After rolling through Vermont, the Hippos are looking to finish strong this year against CC's Dragons next week. Carlos Alberto Benito and Derek Solomon both scored twice and new goalie Vochin threw his second shutout in a row. A win or tie nets us 3rd place but a loss will likely drop us to 4th. FYI, The Hippos have also created a new logo befitting their division V status: not very intimdating. (0) (0) 3-3-2003 Edit Delete (04:51) New Hippo Vochin Shuts Out Tea Stealers On the strength of Derrick Solomon's second hat trick of the season and new Hippo goalie, Chiritã Vochin, the Hippos beat the Tea Stealers 4-0. Again, Houston showed they were one of the toughest (dirtiest?) teams in the league, as yet another player, Patrik Jonsson, was shown the door after injuring an opposing player. This win, coupled with Atlanta's loss to the Dragons pushed the Hippos back into 3rd. However, a huge showdown with the Dragons looms the last week of the season. (0) (0) 2-24-2003 Edit Delete (04:50) Darksiders Slam Hippos Back into 4th In an ugly game, the Darksiders, the leading team in the race for promotion, crushed Houston 4-0. Ralph Kjellsson had 2 goals for the Darksiders and goalie Dawid Raduli's slump continued. The game got ugly in the second half as the Hippo's star defender Hugh Hebert was shown the door. Soon after, Julius Acker took down Nicusor Plesu and he will be out for a couple of weeks. After the Darksiders put the nail in the coffin, Houston Captain Mick Starks was carded for unsportsmanlike conduct. (0) (0) 2-17-2003 Edit Delete (05:56) Hippos Storm Into 3rd It was a slow start, but the Hippos turned it on, scoring 5 goals in the last 30 minutes in the game. Middie Julius Acker scored twice and four others scored for the Hippopotami who have now taken 3rd place. The biggest test since taking over the team will come next week as we travel to take on the Darksiders. (0) (0) 2-10-2003 Edit Delete (07:15) Hippos Win; Battle for 3rd Next Week The Hippos started out slow, since they "played it cool" but in the second half, they were red hot. Derrick Solomon had the first hat trick of the Hippos existence and we dominated the possession rate with 73% for the game. Next week, Atlanta United comes to what will likely be a packed Hippodrome as the Hippos will try to win their 6th in a row. If they win by 3, then there will be a new 3rd place team in the league. (0) (0) 2-3-2003 Edit Delete (08:54) Hippopotami beat Midgets for 4th in a row, move into 4th place Since I have recently gotten a 3 month supporter membership, I will be throwing out game summaries weekly. This week, the Flying Midgets paid us a visit in the new, renovated Hippodrome. Keeper Dawid Raduli shut out the Midgets, 3-0. Forwards Edwin Phelan and Derrick Solomon both scored goals, extending their team-leading tally to 4 each. Midfielder Stephen Connors scored the other goal. Next week, we head to The Metal Mulisha Arena, trying to extend our winning streak to 5 in a row SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 09-07-2011 at 01:47 PM.

09-07-2011, 01:49 PM	#152
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 19 Press Announcements, Part I 5-1-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 4-28-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 4-25-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 4-21-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 4-17-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 4-14-2003 Edit Delete (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! (0) (0) Edit Delete (00:46) Congrats To All Still in the Cup At this point, we still have 5 series teams still in the cup! The Dragons and Blades have quite easy games this week The Midgets and myself (Hippos) have tough but winnable draws provided we play starters and get some luck (and being at home doesn't hurt) PRODYGRAF has a really tough matchup in 777 this week. Good luck to all of you this week! As long as it's not a league game, I'm here to cheer for you (0) (0) 4-10-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 4-7-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 4-3-2003 Edit Delete (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! (0) (0) 3-27-2003* Edit Delete (03:01) Hippos Lose to Yokels in Friendly At Buck Tooth Stadium in the middle of Appalachia and straight out of Deliverance, the Hippos 4-2 lost a grudge match to rival Morrisville. Despite a Hippo high NSI of 47 vs their NSI of 44, the Morrisvillians' home stench advantage was too much to overcome. Four players scored for Morrisville including "Crazy" Earl Nancy-Boy-In-a-Tutu. Thomas Strömlius and Dafoe Chang scored for Houston. No love was lost between the teams as there were 3 yellow cards, 2 injuries, and a penalty kick. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 09-07-2011 at 01:55 PM.

09-07-2011, 01:57 PM	#153
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 19 Press Announcements, Part II 6-8-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 6-2-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 5-30-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 5-26-2003 Edit Delete (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! (0) (0) 5-23-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 5-20-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 5-18-2003 Edit Delete (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: FOFC Cup III (0) (0) 5-12-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 5-9-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 5-6-2003 Edit Delete (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! (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid:** "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-07-2011, 01:59 PM	#154
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 19 Press Announcements, Part III 7-22-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 7-10-2003 Edit Delete (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 (0) (0) 7-8-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 7-3-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 7-2-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 6-28-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 6-23-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 6-19-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 6-13-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) 6-9-2003 Edit Delete (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. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-07-2011, 02:08 PM	#155
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 20 Press Announcements, Part I 8-26-2003 Edit Delete (01:42) Four Forward Goals Fluster Formidable zfan zfan may now be computer controlled but they still have Sarp Bele who scored his 60th career goal but Edwin Phelan collected his third career hat trick and new striker Gualtiero Spagnuolo started his Hippo career with a goal in the 6th minute, en route to a 4-2 win. The Hippos were possibly aided by pink-orange-lime kits, the price of a lost bet from last week's friendly. The win has the Hippos in 3rd place, but that is likely to change as they play Brooklyn and Kaishaku the next four weeks. (0) (0) 8-23-2003 Edit Delete (10:17) Hippos Stumble in FOFC Run-And-Shoot Battle Coach Braden foolishly pulled back the troops early as Houston blew a 3-0 lead, losing 4-3 to Galesburg. The Avengers, coached by one of the FOFC Run-and-Shoot elders in Coffee Warlord, scored 4 unanswered goals despite only having 10 men on the pitch for part of the second half. The match pitted two of the most offensive fomations in the game with Galesburg's 3-4-3 and the Hippos suprising 2-5-3. Next week's friendly against Manhattan will be quite the opposite as NAIWF plays 5-4-1 (0) (0) 8-21-2003 Edit Delete (02:39) Hippos Get First Home Div IV Victory Over 28000 at the Hippodrome saw a grind-it-out defensive soccer game and the first ever Div IV home win for their beloved Hippos. José María Miquel got a goal and almost connected on a second and Stephen Connors got the second goal, early in the second half. The defense held Team Groomers to only one chance that hit the post and Timber made the 2 goal advantage stand up. The win evens the Hippos record at 2-2 with 6 points and a 0 goal differential with 8 goals for and against. (0) (0) 8-17-2003 Edit Delete (09:34) Tryggvesson Leads Hippos Past Visiting Thai Team The Hippos played host to their second ever int'l friendly, this time against Lurking FC of Prathet Thai. UberTrainee(TM) Robert Tryggvesson scored a hat trick and second string keeper Sidney Buckley held Lurking scoreless after a goal in the 18th minute. The Hippodrome saw its largest ever friendly crowd as 2129 Hungry Hungry Hippos saw a sky filled with threatening clouds but no rain fell until after the game concluded. A battle of Run-and-Shoot next week as the Galesburg Avengers visit. (0) (0) 8-11-2003 Edit Delete (20:00) Enforcers Have All the Answers in Iowa It was the perfect end to a perfectly frustrating week. Iowa kept Houston at arm's length practically the entire game, handing the Hippos their 3rd straight competitive loss, 4-2. Iowa scored 2 minutes into the game and neither team could muster another chance in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, seconds after Derrick Solomon tied the game, Iowa scored to go up 2-1. The Enforcers scored another quick goal and led either 3-1 or 4-2 the rest of the way. The Hippos host Team Groomers next week. (0) (0) 8-10-2003 Edit Delete (03:25) Overconfident Hippos Chased from Cup Overconfidence is a dangerous thing and the Hippos found that out firsthand. Playing a pretty good Div V squad, the midfield could only manage a wretched rating due to a road PIC and Ravenwood City dominated 2nd half possession. Daniel Storm scored both goals for the Hippos after being thrown out of last week's Cup game and Tim Kimber posted his second straight ** rating but allowed 5 goals. Next week, Lurking FC from Prathet Thai comes to the Hippodrome for an international friendly. (0) (0) 8-5-2003 Edit Delete (12:29) Hippos Hang Tough but End Streak and Sully Reputation Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Hippos almost pulled off an improbably draw but at what cost? Casting aside their beloved run-and-shoot, the Hippos, with an excess of quality defenders after last week's youth pull, played the gauling 4-5-1 in an attempt to stop Chock and their 96 NSI from last week. The Hippos were down 3-2 most of the second half but could never score the equalizer. They will now begin the search for an atonement quest and continue Cup play Wednesday. (0) (0) Edit Delete (12:14) Hippos Carded to Death in Win Coach Rickey Braden had to be retrained midway through the second half after Daniel Storm was kicked off the pitch with his second yellow card of the day. It was the Hippos 4th card during a match where they played it cool but the refs called a very tight game. The computer controlled Boston Knights scored to take an early 1-0 lead but Houston scored 7 unanswered goals for the easy win. Next week, the Hippos, without the services of Storm, face Ravenwood City, their first human opponent. (0) (0) 7-29-2003 Edit Delete (16:47) Hippos Win First Division IV Game Last year's leading scorer, Edwin Phelan, and this offseason's wingback acquisition, Lorenzo Cristiano, each scored a goal in Houston's first ever Division IV win. Tim Kimber only allowed one goal and made a key first half save. After some offseason upgrades, the Hippos posted a passable midfield and solid or higher ratings everywhere else on the field to go along with 32.5 stars. Houston's home opener in the newly renovated Hippodrome is next week against Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness. (0) (0) 7-25-2003 Edit Delete (05:17) Hippos Cup Offense Firing on All Cylinders Season 19 scoring co-champ Edwin Phelan scored five goals and new Hippo Herschel Meek added a hat trick as Houston rolled 10-1 to open up the US Cup. Four Hippos got 3.5 stars and many others were trying out new positions in preparation for a new season. Due to the all day shower, the crowd was less than stellar in the game against the Montana Panthers from VI.514. Hopefully, next week's game against the Div VI Boston Knights will be better. Hippos open their first season in IV.21 Sunday. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid:** "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-07-2011, 02:10 PM	#156
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 20 Press Announcements, Part II 9-22-2003 Edit Delete (19:16) Fans Tear Down Goalposts at Reliant Stadium A group of Hippo fans, in their drunken revelry, got lost on their way home from the Hippodrome and tore down the goalposts at Reliant Stadium where the Houston Texans been drubbed by the Chiefs earlier today. While only 24K and change were at the Hippodrome, thousands more will claim to have seen the Hippos draw with 1st place Brooklyn United, after which fans stormed the field. As for the game, Herchel Meek scored on Houston's only chance and the Hippo defense stopped 1 of Brooklyn's 2. (0) (0) Edit Delete (01:16) Hippos Beaten At Their Own Game The Hippos offense came to play for their second round game in the FOFC Cup. However, 4 goals wasn't enough as West Henrietta FC scored a 5th in the 86th minute to win 5-4 and advance to the round of 16. Starting striker Edwin Phelan, new winger Koos Teepen, FOFC Cup stud Juan Miguel Tizon, and defender Elmer Bush all scored for the Hippos but it wasn't enough. Bush's goal tied the game at 4 in the 84th minute, however, West Henrietta's Rich Taylor scored the game winner 2 minutes later. (0) (0) 9-17-2003 Edit Delete (17:53) Run and Shoot Shut Out While the Hippos defense may have failed them in the tougher Div IV, their offense had always produced. However, on the road and following a crushing home defeat last week, the Hippos were shut out for only the third fixture in their history, losing 5-0 to Kaishaku FC. Barring major upsets the rest of the year, this loss combined with Iowa's draw at Brooklyn will prevent the Hippos from finishing in the money their first year in Div IV and forcing them into a qualification game. (0) (0) 9-16-2003 Edit Delete (01:26) Hippos Lose Tom Sanders Friendly The Hippos lost a friendly to the Spring Grove Fighting Eagles in the "Player We Shall not Refer to by his Name Cup". The weather and Eagles defense conspired against the Hippos to only allow one chance (a Juan Miguel Tizón score). However, by that point, the Eagles already had 3 goals and were pulled back. Also, team captain and starting center defender José María Miquel was hurt and will be out for two games with a leg injury. FOFC Cup play continues next week after a one week layoff. (0) (0) 9-12-2003 Edit Delete (13:26) Hippos Blow Lead, Chance to Finish in Money Bleak In his second fixture for Houston, Gualtiero Spagnuolo scored a pair of goals and gave his team a 2-1 lead at the half. Despite winning possession 51-49 in the second half, Houston missed it's only second half chance while Kaishaku scored on all 3 of theirs. The loss is Houston's second straight with another pair against Kaishaku and Brooklyn on the horizon and it dropped them into 5th with 9 points, 3 behind Iowa for 4th and only 2 ahead of The Champion for 6th. (0) (0) 9-7-2003 Edit Delete (14:15) Hippos Advance in FOFC Cup While the Hippos aren't expecting to go too far in the FOFC Cup, at least they played up to their #3 seed for one game, beating Yukon Quest 4-2 at the 'drome. Juan Miguel Tizon scored a pair of goals and Herschel Meek helped shore up the midfield after not playing Sunday due to a red card. The teams went into the half tied 2-2 but defender Clement Schrader and winger Ivan Viseslav scored in the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Hippos now wait 2 weeks for their 2nd round opponent. (0) (0) 9-3-2003 Edit Delete (12:35) Brooklyn Too Much for Hippos Edwin Phelan scored twice as many goals as Brooklyn United had given up all year but it wasn't nearly enough as Team Chile member Joaquin Otegi scored 2 goals and 3 other players scored for BU. Brooklyn put up only a 90 rating, their "worst" of the season, but Houston could only muster a 63, also a season low. On the road and without an ineligible Herschel Meek, the Hippos only posted an inadequate midfield. This week, FOFC Cup play begins. (0) (0) 9-1-2003 Edit Delete (09:43) Marauders Mauled by Hippo Offense Once again, the run-and-shoot proved to be superior to a defensive formation. Last week, when Coach Braden drew back the troops up 2-0, Galesburg's run-and-shoot stormed back for a comeback victory. This week, the Hippos pulled back up 3-0 but the Marauders 5-4-1 and a weak-poor-inad offense could not comeback enough. Next week begins FOFC Cup play as Yukon Quest visits the 'drome. The Hippos enter the cup as a #3 seed, however, do not expect to advance too far as training takes priority. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-07-2011, 02:18 PM	#157
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 20 Press Announcements, Part III 11-6-2003 Edit Delete (08:40) Hippos beat Cyclones for Rivalry Week Win UberTrainee(TM) turned starter Thomas Little scored twice and Timber pitched a shutout as the Hippos shut out reciprocal supporter Louisiana Cyclones in their rivalry week game. Coach Braden's unpopular decision to sell Herchel Meek and elevate Thomas Little to starter has proven to be the right decision for now as all attacks were outstanding and midfield was excellent. However, the defense suffered without Meek helping out and Braden will have to answer this problem in the coming weeks (0) (0) 11-3-2003 Edit Delete (04:24) Hippos a Hit in Hrvatska For the second straight week, the Hippos went on the road and won against a top league opponent. Also, like last week, Juan Miguel Tizon scored a pair as Houston came away from Croatia with a 3-1 win against dada team, who is in 1.HNL. This concludes the Friendly Hippo World Tour with Houston going 5-1 in international play. Next week is rivalry week and Houston gets their first home friendly in weeks as reciprocal supporter Doug5984 brings his Louisiana Cyclones to visit the Hippodrome. (0) (0) 10-27-2003 Edit Delete (03:15) Late Scoring Blitz Buries The Champion, Gets Hippos 4th! With 15 minutes left in the game, the Hippos were staring at a 2-0 deficit and a qualification game. However, Carlos Alberto Benito, who got Houston's first ever 4.5 star game, scored to get the Hippos started. Then, the floodgates opened up as Meek and Phelan both scored a pair of goals, giving the Hippos a 5-2 win and fourth place in their first season in Div IV. Houston also put up their first ever formidable midfield, delighting a full crowd at the Hippodrome on Fan Appreciation Day. (0) (0) 10-24-2003 Edit Delete (12:14) Houston Hot In Iceland! Houston got a big win on the Friendly Hippo World Tour, beating Real Reykjavik, a very formidable opponent and a member of Island's top series. Juan Miguel Tizon scored twice while Storm and Tryggvesson added one goal each and led the B Team UberTrainee(TM) midfield to it's first ever inadequate rating. Next week, the Hippos visit another tough team as they travel to play dada team, a club in Croatia's top series. Sunday is the last fixture of Season 20, Fan Appreciation Day at the 'drome (0) (0) 10-23-2003 Edit Delete (23:20) Houston Crushed at Creamy Nougat Center Houston, in an essentially meaningless game, PIC'd on the road and was destroyed by Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness. Anders Jansson scored 4 goals and the Hippos only scored 1 (Gualtiero Spagnuolo) as Houston was downed 7-1. A win in next week's game against The Champion locks up 4th place for the Hippos in their first season in Div IV. (0) (0) 10-20-2003 Edit Delete (10:07) Oops! The Hippos barely arrived in time for their friendly due to a scheduling snafu and starters were accidentally hustled out onto the field as Houston visited Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in Israel. This resulted in a 5-0 win for the Hippos but forced them to do a week of stamina training instead of the scheduled playmaking. Next week's trip to Iceland has already been checked and double checked with the lineup set as Houston visits Real Reykjavik, in Island I.1, the equivalent to the MLS. (0) (0) 10-15-2003 Edit Delete (13:14) In the Money? Hippos Rally In Battle for Fourth Place! Herchel Meek added 2 goals to his 4 from last week as Houston rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 and put themselves in the driver seat for fourth place. A balanced game was key with ratings of excellent across the board save a formidable on the left attack wing. Houston needs one win in their last two games to finish in the money in their first season in Div IV. The Hippos must visit CFoWG at the Creamy Nougat Center before closing out the season at the 'drome against The Champion. (0) (0) 10-13-2003 Edit Delete (02:54) Hippos Lose Friendly in Thailand The Hippo World Tour (TM) continues as they visited Samuthprakarn Eagle from Prathet Thai. Robert Tryggvesson scored the only Houston goal and the midfield and wings put up a B Team high of 14 stars. However, Samuthprakarn Eagle and their solid B Team midfield showed why they were # 1 in III.6 in Thailand. We thank eaglez for the friendly and will continue our tour next week in with Maccabi "Bezeq" Tel Aviv in III.10 Israel. (0) (0) 10-12-2003 Edit Delete (03:00) Hippos Slide Into Fourth Place on Meeks Huge Day Veteran midfielder Herschel Meek exploded for 4 goals en route to a 5-1 Houston win over Team Groomers. Meek, along with Hippo star midfielders Carlos Alberto Benito and Stephen Connors (who scored the other goal), collected 11.5 stars and put up a solid midfield rating. The win sets up a showdown next week in Houston for 4th place in IV.21 with the #5 Iowa Enforcers who beat the Hippos 4-2 in Iowa earlier in the season. Coach Braden is expecting an MotS by Iowa and is planning accordingly. (0) (0) 10-6-2003 Edit Delete (09:10) Hippos Win 2nd Straight International Friendly In not quite as thrilling fashion as last week's shootout win, the Hippos went this time to Oceania and beat the Royal Magpies of IV.41 by the score of 6-2. Solomon, Tizon, Meek, Storm, Tryggvesson, and Teepen all scored goals as a record 4909 fans saw the Houston friendly. Neither team had any injuries, making it a successful international friendly. Next week, the Hippos will travel to Prathet Thai to face a Div III team called Samuthprakarn Eagle. (0) (0) 10-2-2003 Edit Delete (03:37) Hippos Win Walkover Since there was no match to talk about, the Hippos would like to thank all of their fans and supporters in this, their first season in Div IV. And a special thanks to our supporters: ausonny NevStar vexroid Doug5984 Eilim NAIWF robbgmaier Coffee Warlord Flatulon And to all the guys at: FOFC Kraftworks Union Thanks from the Hippos! (0) (0) 9-28-2003 Edit Delete (01:56) Hippos Win First Ever Shootout in Canadian Friendly Ninety minutes were not long enough to decide the match between the Thoroughbreds and Hippos. At the end of regulation, the score was tied 2-2. Denis Aubin, author of the previous Thoroughbreds goals, missed on the only chance in OT so the game went to PKs. Houston won 5-4 after Solomon, Miguel, Schrader, Teepen and Wellens all scored. The difference was a miss by Gregory Murray which went clear past the goal and keeper Ignacio Sánchez. Tizon and Schrader scored Houston's regulation goals. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-07-2011, 02:20 PM	#158
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 21 Press Announcements 2-23-2004 Edit Delete (18:08) Sticking Around With the Hippos 3-0 qualification victory over recently renamed Green Country, Houston will be staying in IV.21 for next season and Coach Braden will retain his job for now. Expectations are high for next season even with the transfer of veteran star middie Carlos Alberto Benito on the horizon. Jason Linighan is ready to take his place and there are big improvements on other parts of the pitch. The Hippos welcome Season 22 and new teams: Stormy_Gales, The War Crabs, and New York Hotspurs. (0) (0) 2-22-2004 Edit Delete (21:12) Qualifier Today! After a long injury and card riddled season 21 campaign, the Hippos will be fighting for their very right to play in Div IV next season. Tho the owner has continued to voice his support for Coach Braden, many speculate this his immediate future with the team will be tied to today's outcome. The Hippos have finally healed up (mostly) and will be playing for their IV.21 lives today against the newly renamed Green County and their new star, former Shaolin Landfill keeper Steffen Riedel. (0) (0) 2-2-2004 Edit Delete (11:41) Coach Braden In Trouble (Match Report, pt 3) Back-to-back fixture wins may have saved Coach Braden's job for now, but he is still on the hotseat. After finishing 4th last season, the Hippos are all but locked into 5th this season due in no small part to some questionable coaching decisions. Owner SI maintains that Braden will have his job until the end of the season. However, his days beyond that are numbered. Some players have been voicing their displeasure at his lack of leadership in the locker room as well as on the field. (0) (0) Edit Delete (11:36) Sunday 2.2.04 Notes (Match Report, pt 2) * Jason Linighan made his Hippo debut, taking over for the departed Stephen Connors. The 26yo veteran and original Hippo sold for $2M and change last week. Linighan, from Oceania, also boasts outstanding playmaking but he is only 18 and "only" cost $1.53M. * With last week's fixture victory, the Hippos have strung together back-to-back wins for only the second time this season. * Despite their struggles, the Hippos have sold out 4 of 6 home games with another one 107 shy of capacity. (0) (0) Edit Delete (11:33) Hippos Hang On For Win After blowing a 3-0 lead in the Hippos Baltic Tour this past Wednesday, Coach Braden didn't pull back Sunday. Still, the Champion staged a second half rally, scoring twice in the second half before losing. Umur Oruz scored a pair of first half goals for Houston and middies Carlos Alberto Benito and Thomas Little each added a tally. The Hippos have two fixtures remaining as they head to Iowa before the home finale against Chock, who clinched with the IV.21 title with today's win over Kiashaku. (0) (0) 1-26-2004 Edit Delete (03:28) Sunday Notes (Match Report, pt 2) * Sunday marked the debut of 21yo Chinese wingback Shuo Ming-Cheung who put up 3.5 stars. * The Hippos continue their Friendly Baltic Cup with a game in Latvia against Fc Storm. Last week was Lithuania next week will be Estonia. * The Hippos are all but locked into 5th place so a qualification game awaits in week 15. At least that's an extra week of training. * FYI: The Hippos first Hattrick birthday was 1/8/2004. (0) (0) Edit Delete (03:27) Rainy Day Sees Hippos Break Winless Streak The Hippos broke a 3 game winless streak with a 5-1 win on a muddy pitch over former Div III team The Oompa-Loompas. The Hippos put it all together for the first time in a few weeks as all Hippos starters are back from injuries which have ravaged the team. Five players scored for the Hippos including Umur Oruz's 1st and Gualtiero Spanuolo's team leading 6th. Next week, the Hippos host The Champion at home before finishing up with very tough games at Iowa and back home against Chock. (0) (0) 1-21-2004 Edit Delete (07:28) We're Back! The dynasty report hasn't restarted but the Hippos are back. Since the last press release, much has happened: * The Hippos have been beset by injuries and card trouble and the poor play has all but guaranteed them a qualification game. * The Hippos were bounced out of the FOFC Cup after a 1-2-0 record in group play. * Now, the Hippos begin the Hippo Baltic Cup this week in Lithuania. Next up: * Friendlies to Estonia and Latvia * Improved play down the stretch in IV.21 (0) (0) 12-1-2003 Edit Delete (06:09) Hippos On Hiatus The Hippos bi-weekly press announcement will be on vacation for the next month. With finals fast approaching, there will be less time to devote to the Hippos press functions and other "non-essential" operations. This will, in no way, affect the day to day operations of the team, just our publications such as the press announcement and the dynasty report at FOFC. But never fear, Hippo faithful. We'll be back once the new year begins with all new dynasty reports. SI (0) (0) 11-25-2003 Edit Delete (00:51) Last Easy One in USA Cup Koos Teepen got a hat trick and keeper Ignacio Sánchez got a shutout in the Hippos final game against a computer opponent in USA Cup. Houston played it cool with subs, including the debut of 17yo UberTrainee(TM) Jörgen Thyerberg (and his first goal and card), to only an inadequate midfield but it was more than enough to overpower the Div VI New Mexico Panthers and their wretched midfield. Next week, the Hippos travel up I-45 from Houston to Dallas where they will face InsertCoin F.C. (0) (0) 11-20-2003 Edit Delete (07:19) Hippos Shellacked In Season Opener Houston's second season in Div IV started dubiously with a 5-1 dismantling at the hands of Chock Full of Wholesome Goodness. Edwin Phelan's goal briefly tied the game in the 38th minute, however, Chock was just too much as they held the lead for over 70 minutes. With Coach Braden already on the hot seat, the team will need to do something to help save his job. Next week is the home opener at the 'drome against Iowa. Derrick Solomon will have his #20 jersey retired at halftime. (0) (0) 11-14-2003 Edit Delete (22:13) Hippos Squeak By Samurai In Cup Opener It looked bleak for the Hippos... for about 25 minutes as the Mississippi Samurais scored the first goal of the game. However, the Houston scored 8 unanswered goals including 5 by Edwin Phelan as the Hippos destroyed their Div VI computer opponent to open Season 21 USA Cup play. Next week, Houston will travel to the New Mexico Dome to play the New Mexico Panthers, another computer controlled Div VI team. This one promises to be closer as the Hippos won't be playing starters. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:24 PM	#159
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 22 Press Announcements 6-11-2004 Edit Delete (21:16) Hippos Offseason Rumbling * The Hippos are looking to sell off their top line midfielders and get back some new trainees and a new keeper as well as other improvements * Eric Peiffer led the team with 7 goals on the season * In another week, Jose Maria Miguel will take over at coach for the Hippos, ending 5 seasons under Ricky Braden * Also, next week the new stadium expansion will begin as the 'drom grows to 60000+ * And lastly, congrats to Kaishaku for promoting. But why'd you have to let BU back in (0) (0) 6-3-2004 Edit Delete (07:34) Another Record Friendly Three weeks after a record 6972 fans at the Hippodrome for the #1 team in all of Norge... One week after hosting Paceri from the top league in Bosna i Hercegovina and drawing 7374 fans... Houston played host to the Saigon Saints, # 1 in the V-League of Vietnam and drew a 11078 spectators, a new record. As for the game itself, the Hippos got out to an early 3-0 lead and held on to win 3-2. They have won 3 straight against top league teams. Many thanks to the Saints for visiting! (0) (0) 5-14-2004 Edit Delete (11:26) A Very Special Friendly Last week, the Hippo Friendly Cup ended two weeks early because of a friendly acceptance by Birkelunden BK, the top team in all of Norge. The past 2 seasons, they won both the Tippeligaen and Norge Cup and their $70M value midfield includes USA Natty Teamer Mickey Dalton. By comparison, the entire Hippo team is worth $8M As for the game itself, a friendly record 6972 watched a mix of Hippos starters and reserves win 5-1, led by José María Miquel's hattrick Many thanks go out to Birken (0) (0) 5-7-2004 Edit Delete (11:00) Friendly Hippo Mediterranean Cup Ends As of this past week, the Hippos Friendly Mediterranean Cup is over. Houston played host to 6 Div 2 and Div 3 teams from Mediteranean countries and averaged a whopping 3852 people per game even with some bad weather. Thanks to all the teams who came, representing Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Misr, Italia, and Espana. The Hippos went 2-4 in this seasons international cup. In fixture play, the Hippos visit The War Crabs. And next week: an extra special friendly! Stay tuned. (0) (0) 5-3-2004 Edit Delete (22:58) Hippos Hold On To Second The first ever full house (45500) at the recently renovated Hippodrome watched as the Hippos won 2-0 in a battle of 2nd place teams. Tim Kimber put up a shutout and Iowa's had a man thrown off the pitch only 25 minutes into the game. Houston's matchup at The Golden Beers in the season's final week looms large. The Season 22 Friendly Hippo tour continued last week, hosting an Italian team and this week hosting a team from Espana. There are possibly two weeks left in the Mediterranean team (0) (0) 4-19-2004 Edit Delete (07:43) Hippos First Half Review * Somehow the Hippos find themself in 2nd at the halfway point. The second half likely won't be so kind as they have 4 away games with teams of similar talent. * After a bad cup loss followed by a 7-0 massacre, coach Rickey Braden was told he will be fired at the end of the season. * Eric Peiffer leads the team with 4 goals and two others have 3. * The Hippos are 1-2 on this year's Friendly Hippo Cup. They have hosted 3 teams from the Mediterranean and hope to host at least 3 more. (0) (0) 4-11-2004 Edit Delete (21:34) Upcoming Hippos Schedule The Hippos are in the meat of their schedule as games with Kaishaku and Iowa surround games with Stormy Gales and War Crabs. The Hippos are 1-1 so far with a loss at Kaishaku and a win vs War Crabs. The Friendly Hippo Tour is in full swing. This years theme is the Mediterranean and Houston has already hosted Div 2 teams from Cyprus (win) and Greece (loss). Next week will be ^galatasaray^ from Div 3 Turkey. Other possible countries include Misr, Espana, Italia, and more. Stay tuned! (0) (0) 3-29-2004 Edit Delete (10:34) Coach Ricky Braden Fired! Following another early Cup exit and the worst loss in franchise fixtures, the only coach in Hippo history has been reassigned to the front office after two plus disappointing seasons in Div IV. Defender Jose Maria Miguel is the interim coach and is on the short list of full time candidates to be looked at in the offseason. This week, the Hippos begin their annual Friendly Hippo Cup. For the first time ever, Houston will play host and this year's features teams from the Mediterranean. (0) (0) 3-23-2004 Edit Delete (19:46) Hippo News and Notes The Hippos have started the season 3-0 for the first time since season 19. We're enjoying our perch atop IV.21 before Kaishaku shellacks us next week. A record 44939 came out to the 'drome to watch the fixture on Sunday! That's only 561 shy of a sellout. Original Hippo Carlos Alberto Benito sold for a team record $2.75M. There are no immediate plans for the cash. However, a trainee replacement will be bought at the end of the Hippos cup run. There is also money for a new coach and more. (0) (0) 3-12-2004 Edit Delete (07:13) Sad Times at the Hippo Hut Only two original Hippos remain: Mick Starks and Carlos Alberto Benito. The time has come for Benito to be sold. I just can't keep a 25yo in a primary training spot any longer. It's difficult to part with him as he has been here from day 1 and was part of the foundation of the team. With sorrow comes joy. This week, Benito's heir apparent and Hippos youth squad phenom Thomas Little became the first Hippo to break $1M in value! (0) (0) 3-8-2004 Edit Delete (07:48) Kicking Off the New Hippo Season! Five different Hippos scored in the season opener as Houston started the season off on the right foot, knocking off last year's 6th place finisher, Golden Beers. The Hippos put up a franchise best 86 rating and 41 stars with a world class right side attack and Benito's and Little's 4.5 stars leading the way. A rather disappointing 30917 came out to the 'drome for opening day. Club officials were expecting in excess of 40K after the stadium expansion in the offseason. (0) (0) 3-4-2004 Edit Delete (16:59) Get Off Yer Duff and Vote! It's Election Week! Get out there, read the speeches, ask questions of your candidates, and vote! As a (the only?) member of Jude Worshippers Anonymous, I certainly want to see who gets to manage the legend and lead the USA to Cup glory. I guess it's kindof obvious who I'm voting for. And rather than plug the candidate I'm voting for, just read all the conference threads and decide for yourself who is best for the job. Anyways, get out there and vote for your candidate! (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:26 PM	#160
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 23 Press Announcements 9-28-2004 Edit Delete (01:43) Record Breaking Season Even losing 2-1 Sunday, Hippos fans were happy about this season. New high in goals scored (38) and goals against (25), differential (+13), and points (28) for Div IV Sunday's game was the Hippos best ever with a 219 rating (112 old NSI), good for 13th in Div IV and 84th in USA Eric Peiffer was 1st on the team with 11 goals and Philip Rijk was 2nd with 8 A record 326,406 fans came out to the Hippodrome (despite horrid crowds from the new algorithm for half of the season) (0) (0) 9-24-2004 Edit Delete (05:42) Hippo Fans Ready for Big Finale There is nothing on the line except pride when Houston faces Brooklyn Sunday for the season finale. Brooklyn has already clinched autopromotion while the Hippos are locked into 3rd place. Brooklyn has gotten the best of Houston in their previous clashes except for a crucial 1-1 draw in our first season in Div IV after which the Hippos went on to win 4 of 5 after a shaky 3-5 start. Sunday is Fan Appreciation Day where every fan in the packed Hippodrome gets a shard o' glass as they enter (0) (0) 9-9-2004 Edit Delete (06:10) Hippos Go Undefeated on Tour! Houston finished up their Six Continents in Six Weeks tour with six road wins! The tour showcased Hippo talent against premiere opposition as 5 of the 6 teams were Div 1 or 2 teams. In the final game, Houston beat TP6 and his USA Division 2 Airborne Penguins 3-0. Final Results 2-1 Ah Jai's squad (Oceania D2) 6-1 FC La Paz (Philippines D1) 6-1 FC Trulla (Deutschland D4) 3-0 Tunisie Olympic (Tunisiyah D2) 1-0 Diablos Azules (Peru D1) 3-0 Airborne Penguins (USA D2) (0) (0) 8-27-2004 Edit Delete (19:32) Hippos World Tour a Smashing Success The Hippos Friendly Tour of "Six Continents in Six Weeks" has gone well so far with 4 wins in 4 games against top competition from around the world. The last two weeks, Houston has gotten wins in Deutschland (6-0 against FC Trulla) and Tunisiyah (3-1 against Div II Tunisie Olympic). Next week, the Hippos head to Peru to face Diablos Azules from Div I Campeonato Peruano. Then the tour finishes up against FOFC'er and prominent USA hattricker TargerPractice6 and his Airborne Penguins. (0) (0) 8-11-2004 Edit Delete (20:29) Houston Wins First Two Friendly Cup Games The Hippos have completed one third of their "Six Continents in Six Weeks" Hippo Friendly Tour for this season. In week 1, the Hippos won a hard fought 2-1 victory over Ah Jai's squad from Div II Oceania. Week 2 featured a more comfortable 6-1 victory over Philippine League team FC La Paz. Next week, this crazy traveling Hippo show goes to a top team in either an African or European country. Stay tuned! (0) (0) 7-30-2004 Edit Delete (01:48) Hippos Begin Hippos Friendly Cup For the first time in five seasons, Hippo faithful were treated to a home Cup game. However, the team couldn't overcome the loss of 3 starters to cards and another to injury in a 3-2 loss to Gnomish Phalanx. The team will now turn its attention to the Fourth Annual HFC. This season's theme is "Six Continents in Six Weeks". We start in Oceania, playing Ah Jais squad from Div II FYI: The first season had no theme The second was our Baltic Cup Last season was the Mediterranean (0) (0) 7-26-2004 Edit Delete (03:47) Hippos Win Pyrrhic Victory For Third Place The Hippos went on the road, PIC'd, and came away with a 3-2 win against Iowa but it felt like a loss. Three starting Hippos accumulated their third yellow card and will have to sit out Wednesday's match against Gnomish Phalanx. Starting striker Philip Rijk collected two goals but was handed his third yellow from the clearly partisan official. Starting defenders Olav Johansen and Shuo Ming-Cheung also will be riding the pine. Coach José María Miquel has filed a complaint with FIFA. (0) (0) 7-15-2004 Edit Delete (08:01) A Cruel Twist of Fate The hattrick gods have dealt Houston a bad blow this week as they have to visit supporter and fellow FOFC'er Flatulon and his Gasmasters in their next cup game. The two teams have never met before, but it was expected their first match would be under more felicitous circumstances in a friendly. (0) (0) 7-12-2004 Edit Delete (20:39) IV.21 Early Season Report It's been a somewhat disappointing start to the season as Houston is 1-1-1 with 4 points. However, with series parity, that's good enough for 3rd place as there is a logjam of 5 teams with either 4 or 3 points. The week 1 loss to Brooklyn was expected, however, the week 2 draw to Stockton was not. Houston held a huge ratings and stars advantage but Stockton was as lucky as the Hippos were unlucky at putting shots on net. But with the win over the Beers, hopefully their fortunes have turned. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:28 PM	#161
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 24 Press Announcements 1-21-2005 Edit Delete (10:30) FOFC Cup Finals! The Hippos staged the most dramatic comeback in team history, beating the Heaters in the FOFC Cup Semifinal. His team down 2-1 and down a man in the pouring rain, Houston's Philip Rijk scored the equalizer in the final minute of regulation, sending the game into extra time. Just 1 minute into overtime, Roland Janni scored the game winner, sending the soaked crowd into hysterics. Houston plays Intercourse Ball Kickers next week for the FOFC Cup VIII Championship. (0) (0) 1-10-2005 Edit Delete (15:09) Coming Down the Home Stretch With one game to go in the regular season, the Hippos find themselves in 3rd at 9-2-2 only 2 goals behind Elsa's Itch in goal differential. In week 14, Iowa plays host to the Hippos while Elsa's Itch travel to take on The Oompa Loompas, who has already assured promotion to Div III. Houston has advanced to the round of 8 in FOFC Cup play. After a 4-0-1 showing in group play, we are the #2 seed in this round and will be hosting mutual supporter CW and his Galesburg Avengers this week. (0) (0) 12-10-2004 Edit Delete (09:55) Hippo and IV.21 Notes * We started out the FOFC Cup with a draw against longtime supporter vexroid and a win against SA Griffins FC and their puke green socks. * We've decided to wear our reserve kits for the rest of the season to switch things up. * In two weeks, we've got a big matchup against Elsa's Itch for 2nd place but we can't look past Little bastards Fc. * Congrats to the Oompas for their impressive Cup run this season. The Mathochists FC and Iowa Enforcers had nice runs, too. Congrats IV.21! (0) (0) 11-27-2004 Edit Delete (05:17) FOFC Cup Play Begins After a 2 season absence, playing many friendlies abroad, the Hippos return to the FOFC Cup. Houston weighs in as the #4 seed in the cup and will have their opening game in group play against longtime supporter vexroid's and his Sidekicks, who have won the previous 2 meetings between the teams. Group D: 4. Houston Hippopotami - sterlingice 9. NE Oklahoma Sidekicks - vexroid 14. Deacons - ntndeacon 19. CrazyDoods - mrkilla22 24. Sa Griffins FC - TonyR 29. Kalamazoo F.C. - Shawn Snow (0) (0) 11-18-2004 Edit Delete (03:40) Congrats to IV.21'ers in the Cup Congrats to our series on some nice cup runs. The Oompas scored a nice come-from-behind win while the Iowa Enforcers and Mathochists FC got wins in overtime. Don't get too high of team spirit or cash, guys (0) (0) 11-11-2004 Edit Delete (02:51) *"This game was freaking horse bleep* "** When asked to clarify his remarks following the 7-2 whitewashing, coach Juan Maria Miguel stated: "What? Did I stutter? We played a team of cheap shot artists and cheaters. They took out Johan, picked up 3 cards, and were roughing up our guys all day and we never got a PK. But what do you expect from a cowardly team who throws matches to get into Div V. The have a bleeping 73K stadium... in Div V?!? They should have to come to the 'drome. What do you expect from bleeping Missourians?" (0) (0) 11-1-2004 Edit Delete (03:07) Hippos Get First Loss of Season Houston suffered their first defeat of the new season, sending them back into 3rd place after a week at the top. "I could tell you about how if we hadn't missed 2 shots and hadn't PIC'd we would have won, but that's probably not true," said Coach Jose Maria Miguel speaking to the team's questionable tactics and continued "We're trying to do well in series and make a deep cup run and sometimes you have to sacrifice one for the other." (0) (0) 10-25-2004 Edit Delete (04:34) Hippos Walking On Clouds Both in team spirit and in the standings, the Hippos are sky high after a 3-1 PIC win on the road at rockulas. Houston ran the classic run-and-shoot (go AE!) with middies and wingers playing offensive. Original Hippo Mick Starks set up the first score with a beautiful corner kick in his first A Team start in almost a season, after battling form troubles. Defender Shuo Ming-Cheung botched a play in the first half which lead to rockulas's goal but almost scored twice in the second half. (0) (0) 10-18-2004 Edit Delete (09:27) Wacky Week One We're in first for a week after beating Iowa at the Drome. However, in the rest of IV.21, odd games: * Elsa's came back from 3-1 down at the half to tie the Oompas. But that's a big road point for The Oompas. * NYFC pulled back much too early and was lucky to get a draw with the bastards who missed on 2 second half chances. * rockulas was up 2-0 at the half but pulled back and Math blew by them for a 3-2 comeback win. This week: bot in the Cup, on the road @ rockulas (0) (0) 10-16-2004 Edit Delete (08:45) Get Out and Vote Ok, so it's pretty obvious who I'm voting for, but everyone who can get informed should go vote for their candidate. SI (0) (0) 10-9-2004 Edit Delete (23:00) Completely Unscientific Predictions for IV.21 S24 1. The Oompa-Loompas 2. Elsa's Itch 3. Houston Hippopotami 4. Iowa Enforcers 5. Mathochists FC 6. New York FC 7. rockulas 8. laschivas Oompas and Elsa's will battle for the top spot. I've got an inside track on #3, barring injuries. Beyond that, the teams are quite close. Iowa and Mathochists will battle for that #5 spot while I think New York will just barely avoid relegation like this season, edging out rockulas. Laschivas, well, it's tough to drop into Div IV as a new team. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:30 PM	#162
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 25 Press Announcements 5-5-2005 Edit Delete (22:08) Big Closing Week First, we have what is starting to seem like a seasonal match with The Enforcers which will determine which of us will finish higher. This season the match will be for 3rd place. Then the Hippo Friendly Cup 5th Anniversary tour moves on with a trip to Slovensko to play FK Rapid Ruzinov. This will be our 10th flag this season and all but 1 were against teams that were in the top Division in their country. We thank all of the great competition who have let us visit this season. (0) (0) 4-26-2005 Edit Delete (09:43) Training and Friendly Cup Update Playing their first league 3-4-3 and PIC'ing, the Hippos fought valiantly to a draw with first place and likely promotee Elsa's Itch. Roland Janni is the last middie trainee ticketed out of town and is on sale until he sells at market price. For the Hippo Friendly Cup Fifth Anniversary, we have visited United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Cymru, Singapore, Panama, Schweiz, and Shqiperia. This week we visit a top league team in Portugal, TheMiddleMan's FC. Two more weeks to go. (0) (0) 4-4-2005 Edit Delete (10:25) Pardon Our Mess The Hippos are in the midst of a roster renovation. Longtime Hippo middies Vaseris, Vargha, and Didriksen have been sold on the transfer list as have veteran strikers Rijk and Spagnuolo. Others on their way out of town are Janni, Danielsson, and Satyanarayana. However, four young strikers have come into town in the past couple of weeks: Brogaard, Jacobsen, Kaminsky, and Mosca. Lastly, Starks and Timber both popped to solid exp to go with their pass leadership in their chase for coachship (0) (0) 3-22-2005 Edit Delete (04:50) First Half Report The Hippos find themselves in a disappointing 5th place at the halfway point of the season with a record of 2-3-2. The primary culprits in this rebuilding season have been a rash of injuries (15 wks) and cards (4 reds) as well as a lack of scoring (9 GF). The rebuilding continues. Good news, however, as The Hippo Friendly Cup 5th Anniversary is in full swing. Stops in UAE and Indonesia had big crowds and another is expected in Cymru (25th flag) when Houston faces top division Eggy United. (0) (0) 3-7-2005 Edit Delete (04:11) 5th Anniversary of Hippo Friendly Cup Houston picked up a point in a 1-1 draw with 1st place super doggstar unit. The Hippos lost middie Hans Didriksen with 2 yellows in 9 minutes just moments after he scored to put Houston up 1-0. Still, a point is a point. This season marks the 5th anniversary of the Hippo Friendly Cup. Houston has played teams from the Balkans, Mediterranean, Six Continents in Six Weeks, and more. So it's back, starting this week with a visit to a top series team from United Arab Emirates, Al-Istiklal. (0) (0) 3-5-2005 Edit Delete (00:17) Time to Regain Focus Houston was probably lucky to only lose 2-0 to the Kingfishers on Wednesday. "They're just a better team than us" said coach Jose Maria Miguel. After yet another underwhelming cup run ending at week 5, the Hippos will now focus on turning around their dreadful 6th place series start. The team is still battling injury troubles with 3 players out of action. Sunday, super doggstar united will make their first visit to the Hippodrome, bringing along their undefeated record and 12-1 GD. (0) (0) 2-21-2005 Edit Delete (05:12) From Bad to Worse Coach José María Miquel called the game the "sloppy bleeping soccer" and could be heard shouting some choice words in the locker room after Houston's 5-1 loss to Elsa's Itch left them in 7th with 1 point on the season. Philip Rijk and new $5M middie Erwin Vickers and both got red cards. To add injury to insult, winger Magnus Fridin (+6) and OCD Olav Johansen (+3) got hurt. After the game, co-captain Tim Kimber was heard to say "These are as dark of days as I have seen here." (0) (0) 2-14-2005 Edit Delete (21:31) Disastrous Start Two games into the season, the Hippos are struggling to keep their heads above water with only 1 point in two games and Elsa's Itch coming to the Hippodrome Sunday. In a rare appearance, GM Sterling Ice was quoted as saying: "The retooling of the team has been worse than we thought. It's not as if we expected to get better after selling $9M of players but we've taken a step back and are fighting to stay in IV." Apologies to the two fans expecting Hippos/Enforcers trivia this week (0) (0) 2-6-2005 Edit Delete (00:23) Something Old, Something New A new season in IV.21 brings a lot of new change with 4 new teams in the series. Welcome to super doggstar unit, FC JunJun, Clarksburg Lightning, and Cerrano United. However, there's still an old feeling in the air as longtime rival Wisconsin (formerly Iowa) Enforcers visit the newly expanded Hippodrome to start the season. Houston holds a 6-4 edge in this series between teams which have finished within 1 place of each other all but one season. More Enforcers/Hippo trivia next week. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:32 PM	#163
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 26 Press Announcements, Part I 6-20-2005 Edit Delete (05:04) Aftermath Part 1 Following what could only be described as the worst loss in Hippos history, the team held a closed door meeting. Coach Juan Maria Miguel had little to say but promised the media outside the locker room that if the Hippos didn't win IV.21 then he would resign in the offseason. Franchise icon and starting keeper Tim Kimber was stunned at his performance and could only muster "I let down my team and everyone. I'm very, very sorry." (0) (0) Edit Delete (04:59) Aftermath Part 2 Contrarily, a clearly agitated Mick Starks, captain, talked to anyone who would listen: "This should be a huge wakeup call to some of the guys. I kept hearing all week how this was going to be a pushover match. It showed in our performance- only half the team was trying out there." The Hippos face a rought week as they look to rebound from this devistating loss. Wednesday the team travels to face a tough Las Temitas Asesinas and Sunday the Div III relegee Triumphs visit the Hippodrome. (0) (0) Edit Delete (03:01) Embarrassed The Hippos suffered their worst loss ever in Hippos history. Houston jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but grew overconfident and pulled back, giving up 4 straight goals and digging themselves a hole they could never get out of. In the 80th minute, Houston cut the lead to 1 but the Airknights answered to push the lead back to 2. The Airknights played their best game all season and got their first 3 points in Div IV while the Hippos remained in 1st, but only by GD. (0) (0) 6-16-2005 Edit Delete (07:28) Cupdate, Week 4 Another week and 5 teams still remain. Math FC, Triumphs, Enforcers, NYFC, and the Hippos move on. Two IV.21 teams fell as FC JunJun ran into a 200+ rating team while super doggstar united ran into a titanic midfield. Houston gave up their first goal but ran their cup GD to 33-1, beating the tsifter broncos 6-1. Kris Jacobsen led the attack with a pair of goals, running his cup tally to 7. Next week the Hippos will face their largest cup challenge to date in Las Temitas Asesinas from V.11 (0) (0) 6-9-2005 Edit Delete (05:53) Cupdate, Week 3 The seven remaining teams in IV.21 all won their games in the cup this week and, while it wasn't as convincing as the first two weeks, the 7 wins were still by a 33-5 margin. The Hippos won 9-0 against FC FTMD. Jacobsen got a hat trick while Starks and Mosca each had 2 goals. Timber managed a shutout despite low form. Next week the competition heats up as IV.21 has to face Div V teams. In series the Hippos face a tough opponent in last season's 2nd place team, super doggstar unit. (0) (0) 6-2-2005 Edit Delete (03:16) Cupdate, Week 2 This week, 7 of 8 IV.21 teams won 54-0. However, the Airknights fell to FC Martini99, a team which placed 2nd in their series last season. That game aside, all other games were won 6-0 or more. The Hippos won 8-0 as 4 different striker trainees accounted for 6 of the 8 goals. Unfortunately, Ronny Brogaard had to leave the game in the first half with an injury and, for the second game in a row, Kris Jacobsen came in as an injury replacement. Brogaard is expected to be out about a week. (0) (0) 5-31-2005 Edit Delete (09:04) Season 26 Off and Running IV.21 had a spectacular showing in week 1 of the USA cup with a 68-0 collective whitewashing of opponents. 6-0 was the "closest" of the games. This season is shaping up to be the toughest in quite a while in IV.21 with a 197 Hatstats average. Once Hatstats updates, 4 of the teams should be in the top 100 for IV. The Hippos started off the season with a 3-1 win over rival Wisconsin Enforcers. Even in the pouring rain, Houston put up a 244 and hopes to crack 250 by season's end. (0) (0) 5-20-2005 Edit Delete (19:13) Boring Offseason Compared with the second half of last season, the Hippos will be fairly silent. The rebuilding ended as 20yo American keeper Quintin Staples joined the team, replacing Johan Larsson Team captain and assistant coach Mick Starks thinks the team has a good shot at competing for the top spot in the series: "With Elsa's gone, there's no consensus top team. Wisconsin, doggstar, and us all finished within 5 points and we've been improving". Season ticket sales are brisk so get your orders in (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:33 PM	#164
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 26 Press Announcements, Part II 8-31-2005 Edit Delete (22:33) Hippo Hearts go out to New Orleans I've only been there once for our 8th grade class trip. The face of a Lutheran school teacher accidentally walking into a porno store is something everyone should see once in their life It's such a cool and historical town. However, since the levee broke, it seems the worst fears have been realized and the city is all but gone. Bravo to all helping out and I know the hearts of everyone goes out to them. Proud to see Houston is helping out with the refugees and sending supplies. (0) (0) 8-26-2005 Edit Delete (09:01) Season 26 Closing Out Houston looks like they're going to end the season at 3rd place in IV.21 for the 4th season in a row regardless of the outcome of Sunday's game at the hated Enforcers Arena. Next week's trip to play Athletic Vila-Mar will result in Houston being presented their 38th flag. The Hippos Friendly Tour has been a success yet again this year with stops in 7 different countries, including 1st Division teams in 3 countries and 2nd Division teams in 2 others. (0) (0) 8-19-2005 Edit Delete (11:07) Two Weeks to Go For the first time all year, we won a game we shouldn't have instead of the other way around. Bad luck and Q combined to beat SDU 2-1 last week The Hippo Friendly Tour continues with a game against Irish Premier and Ireland Cup champ Clarinbridge City. We thank and are humbled by croga for agreeing to host us and we will collect flag #37 against this high profile team Lastly, FOFCer and former USA natty team coach ArdentEnthusiast has agreed to get beaten by us during the off week (0) (0) 8-7-2005 Edit Delete (00:46) Support Comes at a Good Time In a showing of divine providence, Hippos supporter was re-upped this week by MountainHawk of the Mathochists. This wasn't some bizarre version of collusion but a contest in Kraftworks concerning when the major players in the NHL CBA would resign. When Goodenow was the first to fall on his sword (or more specifically, the swords of many upset union members) and, by some freak chance, it was closest to August 1st and Hippos GM SterlingIce won. Thanks to MH and KU for hosting the contest. (0) (0) 8-2-2005 Edit Delete (02:38) Fall From Grace Returning from his 3 week (mostly) absence due to wedding and resulting honeymoon, GM SterlingIce has found his team in disarray. The team has a 4 game winless streak and pretty much all hope of 1st place is gone. "There are going to have to be some changes made and that starts at the top. There were some awful TS decisions that we have learned from and mistakes we hope not to repeat. Also, no more weddings." According to rumors, Coach Miguel has been told he will not be back next season. (0) (0) 7-18-2005 Edit Delete (19:43) Oof! From parade to 3rd place in a week. Houston has put up three straight games with big hatstats advantages but only has a 0-2-1 record to show for it and a 6-3 GD. Math FC is quickly becoming a Houston nemesis, with a win and 2 draws against them in 6 games. Coach Miguel: "The kids are just having a tough time of putting the ball in the net and now we have to win out to even have a chance at promotion." Up next for Houston is a tip to Cyprus to battle A Katigoria team F.C Kipros. (0) (0) 7-14-2005 Edit Delete (19:46) It's Parade Day! The streets are littered with confetti today as Houston threw the Hippos a ticker tape parade. For the first time ever, the Hippos advanced to the 8th round (of 64). The Hippos now must concentrate on the second half of the league season which opens up with Houston on top of IV.21 but with only a 1 point lead and a tough schedule ahead. Lastly, this year's Hippo Friendly Cup will be the Home and Away Tour. The Hippos will visit countries who have visited the Hippodrome in the past. (0) (0) 7-4-2005 Edit Delete (11:03) Hippos Bounce Back Houston has put together a modest win streak of 4 games over the past two weeks including home wins against Triumphs and FC JunJun by combined score of 11-2. 76K fans watched the Hippos shut out The Prestidigitators 3-0 for only the 3rd home cup win in franchise history and the 1st since season 19. Div III's St. Cloud Muskies will visit Wednesday. (0) (0) 6-25-2005 Edit Delete (06:36) Huge Week for Hippos There's no time for the Hippos to rest after last week. Miraculously, the Hippos are still in 1st place, but that will be on the line Sunday when Triumphs come calling. The Div III relegee will be one of this year's toughest matchups. For the first time in 3 seasons, Houston will play host to a cup game. Wednesday, The Prestidigitators, long time IV.17 powerhouse, now III.9 leader will clash with the Hippos. Two big games in the Hippodrome and full crowds expected so get tickets now (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:34 PM	#165
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 27 Press Announcements, Part I 11-3-2005 Edit Delete (20:56) Halfway Point For the first time in... ever(?), the Hippos are in 1st at the halfway point, a slim 1 GD lead over Triumphs. Coach Miguel: "We can't think about that at all. Our schedule in the second half is absolutely brutal with games at 2nd Triumphs, 3rd SDU, 4th Wisconsin, and vastly improved 5th Math. Maybe the hardest schedule I've ever seen." This year's Hippo Friendly Tour started out great with over 5000 at Cosmos 1982 in Bolivia. Next up, Egy Red Devils from Div I Misr and our 40th flag. (0) (0) 10-28-2005 Edit Delete (05:20) Hosed Again For the second year in a row, the Hippos get bounced from the cup despite outhatstat'ing an opponent by 30 at home and matching up well tactically. Following Houston's 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Evil Beavers, witnesses reported seeing a drunk Coach Miguel making obscene gestures at a nearby 1979 Buick and yelling something unintelligible about "that bleeping hattrick engine". Once again, the Hippo Friendly Tour will start early. This year, Bolivia's Div I Cosmos 1982 is the first stop (0) (0) 10-20-2005 Edit Delete (19:14) Hippodrome Gets Facelift With the new Arena Viewer, the Hippodrome has gotten a facelift. Houstonians are invited to check it out at an Open House this Friday or for the Hippos-Enforcers game on Sunday. Fan reactions have been mixed: "I like the classic brick- it barely clashes with the rest of the stadium" "Yay! Now no one will notice the ugly people" "Purple is not a good stadium roof color" "Has all the Hippos colors! I like it. Now where's my seeing eye dog" "Wow. that's uglier than my mule Hortense" (0) (0) 10-17-2005 Edit Delete (06:03) Unlucky 13 The Hippos win streak ends at 13 in front of the largest crowd in the history of the Hippodrome. Nearly 77000 fans turned out to watch the Triumphs edge out Houston 1-0 despite the Hippos holding a 268-234 hatstats edge. No time to dwell on this loss as Houston has a touch matchup with Pingchester United in the Cup this week and Wisconsin comes calling to the 'drome for a 2nd place showdown next week. (0) (0) 10-11-2005 Edit Delete (18:21) Win Streak Prompts Beardliness Now that I mention it, I'm sure we'll be jynxed and lose the cup game tomorrow, but best to seize the moment while we have it. The Hippos have won 12 in a row and are on the USA list for most wins in a row. Veterans Mick Starks and Tim Kimber have been seen sporting hockey-style "playoff beards" in the clubhouse, promising to not shave until they lose. (0) (0) 10-10-2005 Edit Delete (01:14) Wow. I know it's not about the Hippos but what a game between the Astros and Braves today. Actually, that's not entirely true as it was dull as watching paint dry until the 8th. But the other 10 innings made up for it. (0) (0) 9-30-2005 Edit Delete (20:07) When the Hippodrome is a 'Rockin... This week, the SDU Red Devils come calling for an early season tilt with big standings implications. Houston is still smarting from finishing 3rd last year, 1 point behind SDU. Houston may have caught a break with SDU superstar Norman Ivey in bad form, but he has 98 career goals and their midfield is very good. FIY: Classic promotion on Sunday as it's "sharp rocks" day at the stadium. Everyone gets one upon entering the stadium and we can't be held responsible for what fans do with them (0) (0) 9-23-2005 Edit Delete (06:48) Worry in Hippo Country The Hippos are happy to be up in Philly for this week's match against FC Tholcrist. It will mark the 100th IV.21 match for the squad. However, there is concern as many Hippo players including the GM have family members still living in the hurricane targeted city. As a metafictional aside, I've been living in Kansas for over 7 years, attending school and working, so I'm not actually in Houston but my parents are there and we're all hoping for the best for everyone there. (0) (0) 9-17-2005 Edit Delete (20:30) Houston Hippopotami Tenth Anniversary (pt 1) It's a brand new day in IV.21 as Houston celebrates their 10th season in hattrick. Today was the there was a press conference and kickoff pep rally, highlighted by a speech from GM SterlingIce. "We're a little disappointed to not be opening with the rival Enforcers" Next week, both teams celebrate their 100th IV.21 game. "But Math is a real challenge to us," referring to the team which Houston only managed 1 point against last season and who plays in the Hippodrome Sunday. (0) (0) Edit Delete (20:30) Houston Hippopotami Tenth Anniversary (pt 2) "We would like to welcome Green Mtn. Blizzard, NRH Bulls, and FC Tholcrist to our little neck of the hattrick woods. If only we could have gotten rid of Triumphs or SDU- that would have been nice (last year's series winner and runner up)". The Hippos have a minor fashion update as the reserve and match kits have been swapped for this season. "We wanted to remind our fans that we have 2 good kits." Lastly, "We hope to be playing this game another 10 seasons so here's to 10 more!" (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 09-08-2011 at 12:35 PM.

09-08-2011, 12:36 PM	#166
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 27 Press Announcements, Part II 12-20-2005 Edit Delete (00:38) Thanks for the Memories At long last, after calling IV.21 home for 8 seasons, the Houston Hippopotami are promoting. The best projections place them in III.3 Said next season's head coach Mick Starks: "Only 3 of us around from our V.62 days. Just coach (Miguel), Timber, and I. Heck, some of the guys weren't playing professionally when we were in V" A fond farewell to all of the teams we ever played in IV.21, particularly the Enforcers who have been here all eight seasons we have. This was and is a great series (0) (0) Edit Delete (00:31) Coach Miguel Retiring After Sunday's game, Jose Maria Miguel announced that he will be stepping down after 5 seasons as head coach due to health reasons. In each of his first four years, Houston finished 3rd. From his press conference: "I'm proud of the team. Every coach wishes he could go out on top like this." When asked about his future plans: "I can now pursue my other lifelong dream of becoming an Armadillo farmer". Long time team captain Mick Starks is expected to be named head coach as early as next week (0) (0) 12-12-2005 Edit Delete (10:31) Hippos Clinch IV.21 Title The Hippos broke a 2-2 halftime tie with 2 second half goals, beating FC Tholcrist. However, the stadium erupted once the 2-2 draw between Triumphs and Green Mtn. Blizzard went final, has clinching Houston's first ever IV.21 title. A win next week against streaking Mathochists FC would clinch autopromotion for the Hippos. However, Math is still in the running for 3rd place and their 7 game unbeaten streak is on the line so it will be no easy match. Houston beat Math FC 2-0 back in week 1. (0) (0) 12-7-2005 Edit Delete (22:41) Winds of Change After last week's disappointing loss, due largely to the injury to Martin Cameron, a couple of changes have been made and a couple more might be coming. Coach José María Miquel has said that this season will be his last, win or lose. The aforementioed Cameron is on his way out of town, to be replaced by Charlie Partridge. "We need more help on the midfield and less offense." Next week or in the offseason, Houston is also looking to upgrade at one of their winback spots as well. (0) (0) 11-30-2005 Edit Delete (21:51) New Logo and Flags It's not anything really new- the same Hippo logo that our fans know and love is still there. However, it has been tweaked using the (brace yourself for shameless plug) flagcreator at http://www.sigcreator.be/ to display our collected flags. The club is up to 44 flags with trips this season to top division Bolivia, Misr, Brasil, Hellas, and Turkiye. We've had an average of over 5000 fans per game despite two rainy games. We're looking to visit Norge and 2 others before the season ends. (0) (0) 11-21-2005 Edit Delete (03:03) Hippo Heaven! In the clash of the Hippos season, Houston wins the I-10 shootout with the Triumphs 3-2 in New Orleans. The win gives them sole possession of first, 3 points clear of Triumphs with a 5 GD cushion. However, the Hippos are by no means guaranteed 1st with games at SDU and scarily improved Math still to go. But for tonight, Houston is filled with celebrating fans. (0) (0) 11-10-2005 Edit Delete (20:28) 40 Flags! Despite pouring rain in Luxor, Egypt, nearly 5000 fans came out to the Hippos friendly with the Egy Red Devils of Dawry El Momtaz, Misr's top league. At halftime, Houston GM SterlingIce was presented with the club's 40th flag. The quest has taken 10 seasons and covered 6 continents. Next week, the squad heads to Brasil and MFM of the Campeonato Brasileiro. They look to continue their flag collecting and should reach 50 next season. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:37 PM	#167
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 28 Press Announcements 4-11-2006 Edit Delete (05:23) Div II Qualifier and Flag Logo While it seems unlikely the Hippos will win their qualifier Sunday, at least they can say they had a chance to make it to Div II. Houston faces Lake Superior Dogfight of II.4, albeit without Erwin Vickers who was red carded in Sunday's draw with Miami Redskins SC. Coach Starks: "First place in this tough division is a quite a feat." With flagcreator.be back up and running, the globetrotting Hippo logo is back. The little team from Houston has now visited over half the countries in hattrick. (0) (0) 4-7-2006 Edit Delete (14:29) Final Week for Season 28 Riding the most unlikely tide of luck, the Hippos go into week 14 on top of III.3. While last week's loss to RTFC took autopromotion out of the picture, Houston will set their sights on getting a qualifier and the possibilities that entails. In flag collecting news, the Hippos will be presented with flag #54 in Slovenija next week when they play VNK Carniola. They have visited Div 1 teams from Foroyar, Magyarorszag, Venezuela, Danmark, Uruguay, and Chile thus far this season. (0) (0) 3-20-2006 Edit Delete (04:56) Lady Luck, Good and Bad Even the Hippos were marveling at the bad luck of the Misfitz. Houston went a 3 for 3 on scoring chances while Maniacal went only 1 for 7. Not all luck is good as Vickers and Partridge will be out with red cards next week. The Hippos will collect their 52nd flag this week as they travel to Superligaen team Honas FC in Danmark. While statisticians have no idea if this is some sort of record, they will mark the 36th Div I team Houston has played in a friendly. (0) (0) 3-6-2006 Edit Delete (04:21) First Place and 50 Flags! Ok, sure it's for one brief shining moment, the Hippos are in 1st in Div III after Sunday's 3-1 win at home against PCFC. It's unlikely to last but the players are celebrating anyway. "Any day that ends in 'y' is a good day for me to drink" mused Amsterdam native Joost Oosterhof. The Hippos will be heading to Magyarország on Tuesday for a friendly against Div I Fehervar FC. GM SterlingIce will be presented with the team's 50th flag at halftime: "We're still not even halfway done!" (0) (0) 3-2-2006 Edit Delete (02:56) Call an Ambulance! (Part 2) Just last week, the Hippos fired the spare doctors who nursed the team back to health in the first half of the season. They're back. The Hippos lost both Vickers and Little to injuries in the first half of a 2-0 cup match with Div II Hokuten. Q and the defense fought valiantly but couldn't overcome the injuries. After Little fell, Coach Starks barked "whoever wants to play middie, take a step forward". The entire team took a step back except Xacobo Armengol who speaks very little English. (0) (0) 2-27-2006 Edit Delete (21:45) Huh? Echoing the sentiment from around the series, Hippos management is confused today as the series was upside down Sunday. But it's a good surprise as the Hippos, expecting a loss following last week's 1-1 draw at home, left Philly with a 6-1 PIC blowout win against Budvar. It was a bizarre week all over III.3 as PCFC over Exile was the only "expected" result. The 7th and 8th place teams kept their hopes alive as RTFC drew the Misfitz and Miami beat the offensively challenged Camels. (0) (0) 2-16-2006 Edit Delete (17:14) And now for something... completely different The HT Masters has thrown a bit of a kink into their TS plans as the Hippos will have a friendly next week instead of their next cup game. Coach Starks: "I didn't know about this asinine no-cup week nonsense" So, Houston will host their next Cup game in 2 weeks against Hokuten. In the interim, the Hippos will go to Føroyar and collect their 49th flag against the #2 team in Div 1, SI Sørvágur. In series, a huge home-and-away with 1st place Budvar Kings looms the next two weeks. (0) (0) 2-10-2006 Edit Delete (21:29) Crucial Matches Upcoming The Hippo faithful are ecstatic about the deep cup run yet again, this time with a home game. Looming Wednesday is a matchup with fellow FOFC'er fflix and his booger ballers. Hopefully that doesn't distract the fans from the bigger picture: the Hippos next four games, home-and-away's with PCFC and Budvar. Said coach Starks: "If we can just manage a split with these guys, we'd be in a really good spot, coming down the stretch." (0) (0) 1-31-2006 Edit Delete (06:27) Slow Day in Houston A lazy day at the Hippos front office led to this pretty boring press announcement... Four games into III, and the Hippos have 9 points despite all of their injury troubles. Sunday, the team got a really nice win at home against the FOFC rival Misfitz, showing that injuries and home field advantage best horrible form when the latter keeps players back for the cup. That's all we've got. Seriously... (0) (0) 1-16-2006 Edit Delete (02:55) Call an Ambulance! The Hippos have started out their first season in III with a bang, with a pair of wins. However, with that bang is a bit of a whimper as Mosca, Jacobsen, Brogaard, and Partridge have already suffered injuries this young season. That, coupled with Cameron, Kettich, Vickers, Brogaard, Speckfeld, and Doornenbal all getting injuries in the last 4 weeks of last season and the Hippos clubhouse is starting to look like a hospital. Coach Starks will have his hands full filling out lineup cards. (0) (0) 12-29-2005 Edit Delete (22:36) Houston Settling In to New Series Houston's been making some adjustments, getting ready for III after moving up from our "Home Sweet Home" of 8 years in IV.21. Gone are offensive middie Martin Cameron, in exchange for a bit more of a playmaking presence in Charlie Partridge. Henrik Dyholt, former wingback, has gone to play in Latvija and replaced by Croatian Jure Rašetina. Finally, next week, before the start of the new season, long time team captain Mick Starks will become the new player-coach. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:38 PM	#168
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 29 Press Announcements 7-16-2006 Edit Delete (00:50) New Players and New Places A new generation of trainees has been trying out for the Hippos and the team has already signed one player. Houston's Ferruccio Mosca and Igno Kettich are on the transfer list as we speak. The Hippo Friendly Tour #9 is moving across Europe. This week the Hippos will visit Divizia A pretender's. Romania is one of the "Big 4" countries who the Hippos have yet to recieve a flag from. They also hope to visit Nederland, Belgie, and Ceska Republika soon to claim flags from all top 30 countries. (0) (0) 7-9-2006 Edit Delete (21:50) Miquel: Retired and Honored The newly christened Hippo Hall of Heroes has its first member as coach Juan Maria Miguel joins honorary members Ricky Braden, former coach, and Edwin Phelan, star striker. Miguel oversaw the team's ascension from IV to III. In 5 seasons in IV.21, Miguel led the Hippos to a 47-15-8 record with 4 3rd place finishes before a 1st place finish in his final season. As a player, he was a competent central defender and set pieces ace with 13 career goals in 102 matches. Farewell, Miguel! (0) (0) 6-16-2006 Edit Delete (14:37) Midway Point Notes In series, after a disappointing loss to Budvar, Houston finds itself (barely) in 2nd. The team is pleased but knows there is no room for error. The Hippo Friendly Tour 9 looks like a European jaunt with stops in Moldova, Suomi, and Srbija i Crna Gora. Ideally, we'd love to play teams from Div I Nederland, Belgie, Romania, and Ceska republika in the coming weeks as well as others in Europe. Two weeks from now, former coach Juan Maria Miguel will play his 100th match for the Hippos. (0) (0) 6-5-2006 Edit Delete (03:00) Hippos End Losing Streak After a brief 2 game losing streak, Houston finds itself back in the winning column with a 5-1 victory against the Chipmunks. The win keeps the Hippos in 2nd place, 3 points behind the Misfitz. After the tough luck cup loss last week, the Hippos will begin their 9th season of the Hippo Friendly Tour. Last season saw Houston visit 8 different Div I teams in Europe and South America. This season begins with a trip to Moldova to take on G.Life of Divizia Naţională for their 57th flag. (0) (0) 5-8-2006 Edit Delete (04:28) Hippo Luck Runs Out After sailing through all of season 28 on the winds of good fortune to 1st place in III.3, the Hippos got their first major taste of bad luck since last season's cup loss. Sunday, the Jacksonville Tea Men raced out to a 4-0 lead and hung on to win 4-3. Houston only got 1 chance in the first half despite equal possession and missed a shot on a brilliant (vl) attack versus a poor (vh) defense. A 269 to 229 hatstats advantage could not overcome Jacksonville who recorded their first Div III win. (0) (0) 4-30-2006 Edit Delete (08:31) III.3 Season 29 The Hippos have new duds, or at least initial designs for new uniforms. Here are the Houston predictions for III.3 1. Maniacal Misfitz 2. Panther City FC 3. Houston Hippopotami 4. Chipmunks 5. FC Exile 6. GoDucks 7. Jacksonville Tea Men 8. Budvar Kings Unlike last season, where we had different "classes" of teams, the teams this season are very close in talent. There are no free games and I wouldn't be surprised if I were horribly off. (0) (0) 4-26-2006 Edit Delete (05:20) Happenings at the Hippodrome Some big dates coming up for the Hippos: * May 1st, during halftime of the game against the Misfitz, Houston will raise their III.3 Season 28 banner. * May 22nd is Hippo Supporter Day. All supporters of the Hippos will enjoy a special game in the Hippodrome executive suite as thanks for their support. * July 3rd, the Hippos will celebrate the induction of Jose Maria Miguel into the Houston Hippopotami Hall of Heroes. He will officially retire after playing his 100th game with Houston. (0) (0) 4-20-2006 Edit Delete (04:27) Hippos Feeling More Supportive Without much to do on the player front this offseason but with many new supporter features, Houston's front office has gone to work on the marketing side of things for the team rather than on field. With some new supporter slots, the Hippos have added a new team in ibnsgirl's The Smacky Packers and have gone back to an old friend with vex's NE Oklahoma Sidekicks after their hiatus from supporter for part of last year. They have both supported the Hippos since last October. (0) (0) 4-17-2006 Edit Delete (04:25) III.3 Gets a Facelift The Hippos couldn't hold up their end of the bargain and move up to II. The loss of Vickers was too much to overcome against an excellent Lake Superior Dogfight team who downed Houston 4-1 in their qualifier Sunday. Next season will be tough with 3 new teams joining III.3. We say goodbye to Miami Redskins SC, Hooligan Camels FC, and Roasted & Toasted FC. A hearty welcome to GoDucks, Chipmunks, and the Jacksonville Tea Men. III.3 is looking to be even tougher than last season! (0) (0) __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!" Last edited by sterlingice : 09-08-2011 at 12:40 PM.

09-08-2011, 12:41 PM	#169
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 30 Press Announcements 10-23-2006 Edit Delete (03:31) We're Number Three! Houston has clinched 3rd place in III.3. With an upcoming walkover, the Hippos will finish with no less than 26 points. However, even with a win against Clarion next week, the squad will still need help to catch the Taffurs for 1st In the milestone department, three Hippos are closing in on the 200 match mark. Coach Mick Starks should reach it this season as he is at 195. Starting middie and former youth pull Thomas Little is at 182 while backup keeper and Houston legend Tim Kimber is at 172 (0) (0) 10-19-2006 Edit Delete (03:12) Welcome Back, Edwin! The Hippos are thrilled to announce that all time leading scorer Edwin Phelan has been bought back and will play one final season for Houston before entering the Hall of Fame Houston has also collected three new flags this season, most recently from Blanicti Rytiri, the #1 team in Česká republika. Thanks to all of our hosts for their hospitality Finally, the Hippos are in a fierce battle for #2 in III.3 after a heartbreaking draw with Jacksonville after leading most of the game last week (0) (0) 9-29-2006 Edit Delete (05:03) Hippos Almost Halfway Home Houston finds themselves out of the cup as the loss of Quintin Staples was just too much against a strong S.A. United side. So the Hippos will now turn their attention to the series race as well as the Hippo Friendly tour. In series, after last week's stunning win against Jacksonville, Houston finds itself in 2nd, only 2 points behind Clarion Taffurs for the series lead. For this week's friendly, the Hippos travel to Paraguay for a match with Tricolor de Corazón of División de Honor. (0) (0) 8-21-2006 Edit Delete (01:58) Supportee Supports Supporting of Supporters Two supporters who have supported the Hippos since 2005 have secured supporter status since supporter slots spawned at season start. "S" silliness aside, JAG's Vermont Blizzard and Maltby's Heaters join the ranks of Houston's mutually supported teams, which number 9. The Hippos have a total of 15 supporters and will mutually support them as soon as more slots open up. (0) (0) 8-13-2006 Edit Delete (00:06) III.3 XXX As season 30 dawns, the Hippos are, as always, in a state of transition. The current generation of training draws nigh and uncertainty with the market betrays a solid growth plan. This will be the first season since back in season 21, where the Hippos have a legitimate chance of not finishing in the top 4. Hard to imagine that a series without Havok would actually be harder but here we are. That said, the Hippos, led by Coach Starks, are back and ready to battle again in III.3. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:42 PM	#170
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 31 Press Announcements 3-11-2007 Edit Delete (14:16) Thanks to Hippo Friendly Cup 11 Participants As our flag collection grows, it's getting harder to get friendlies. It just seems that in some countries, it's expected that you you have pony up supporter or something else ludicrous to teams just to play them for a week or, at the very least, get in a 4 year waiting list. Not the case with anyone this season, so a hearty thanks to everyone we have played this season: act77 .Dark Angels. d3vilz Beirut Sun Belfast United FC adey1974 Dinamo-Tbilisi St. Clair Diamonds (0) (0) 2-22-2007 Edit Delete (05:21) Hasty Hippo Musings * With the upcoming Jacksonville match, we've brought back an old favorite of the promotions department: sharp rocks. Aim for the green and yellow, kids! * The Hippos traveled to Costa Rica this past week to collect flag #80. A big thanks goes out to Belfast United FC for hosting * The team has changed up the logo slightly, adding the world map and switching to sphere flags but with the same great Hippos * Lastly, congrats to fellow FOFC'er Brillig for his amazing run in this year's cup (0) (0) 1-21-2007 Edit Delete (17:06) Hippo Friendly Cup #11 It's that time of year again: The season is about half over and the Hippos have been bounced from the cup in a game they likely should have won. All weekday gaming eyes in Houston turn away from the Hippodrome and to the team's travels around the world. A theme for this year's Hippo Friendly Cup, for this 11th season, has yet to be determined but the first location has been plotted out. This week, the Hippos will visit act77 from GNF1, Div I of Al Maghrib. (0) (0) 1-7-2007 Edit Delete (21:07) Early Season Musings A week ago, this would have been a bit more celebratory as Houston had fought to a draw in Jacksonville and Staples would be looking forward to his upcoming 100th match as a Hippo, in which he would be putting up a team record 8.5 's. What a difference a week makes, however, as a loss to Gutek puts Houston in 4th instead of 1st and a game is looming against a Div V Jacksonville clone in the cup. Still, the Hippos season is far from lost and a good week could put things back on track (0) (0) 11-30-2006* Edit Delete (03:37) Houston Hippopotami Season 14 The team is quickly approaching its third anniversary and has much to be happy about. -Houston is about to begin their 4th season in Div III. As our goal was to make it to III when we started, this has to be considered a smashing success. -The Hippos collected flag number 75 this week. The collection includes over 50 from Div I teams and flags from the 60 most populous countries in hattie. -This season we're hoping for another good finish, a deep cup run, and even more flags. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:43 PM	#171
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 32 Press Announcements 6-18-2007 Edit Delete (05:24) Thankless Series and Thankful Friendlies Once again III.3 is proving to be unforgivingly close with all 6 of the top teams vying for final placement. Your Hippos find themselves in 3rd with 2 weeks to go. Many thanks to our friendly opponents from the past few weeks. The Hippos have been playing in some hard to schedule places and these teams have been gracious enough to allow us to play there: Seun FC from Nigeria CoreaItalia from Hanguk ramareem from Al Urdun Door doorate from Senegal Cruz de Malta FC from Honduras (0) (0) 4-30-2007* Edit Delete (03:24) Fall From Grace Houston's stay in 1st was short lived as the team, plagued by bad execution, lost 3-1 at home Sunday to Park Panthers EFC. The team only converted on 1 of 5 chances while the Panthers were a perfect 3 for 3. Lost among the bad news is that Marcin Tetkowski has 4 straight gold stars and is tied for the series lead with 6 goals. Also, middies Ervin Vickers and Thomas Little are playing some of the best midfield of their career. Sixth round cup game coming Wednesday! (0) (0) 4-16-2007 Edit Delete (03:00) Late Goal Leads Hippos into Logjam After a dramatic win Sunday, the Hippos are among 5 teams with 6 points atop the III.3 leaderboard. Having been stifled all day by the brilliant play of amblerabsbestos's keeper Franco Miceli, an unnamed Hippo player blasted him out of his cleats and out of the game with 5 minutes to go. Then, in the 87th minute, Marcin Tetkowski scored the game's only goal. Coach Mick Starks, known for his, ahem, aggressive tactics on the pitch, only offered up: "That's not quite how I drew it up". (0) (0) 4-2-2007 Edit Delete (03:30) Inauspicious Start to Season The season started out on a sour note for the Hippos as both Charlie Partridge and Mirco Curiger joined Xacobo Armengol on the injury list. Still, there is good news: - Houston survives the red card loss of Tetkowski and the injuries to pick up an important 3 points - Next week's cup team is a bot after last week's win against Ace Deuce Assassins - Finally, the Houston youth academy Hungry Hungry Hippos are born; This causes the fan club to be renamed the Hippo Helpers (0) (0) 3-24-2007 Edit Delete (23:26) Season 32 Supporter Shakeup Due to fluctuating interest among the FOFC ranks, the Hippos have some supporter unrest to take care of Unfortunately, the following teams will no longer be supported: * ausonny's Bees * vexroid's NE Oklahoma Sidekicks * flatulon's Gasmasters However, we welcome the following teams into the Hippo family: * Masked's South Bay Saints * kingfc22's Royal Knights FC * Pilotman's Midwest Ice Storm FC * tonyr8888's SA Griffins FC Your new supporter gift baskets will arrive shortly (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 12:44 PM	#172
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 33 Press Announcements 10-20-2007 Edit Delete (03:39) Huge Final Weekend: Phelan Retires, Finale, Flag #100 (part 1) Houston is trying to avoid relegation as the final week approaches. Both Houston and amblerabsbestos have 18 points but the Hippos are behind due to a GD difference of 2. Houston hosts Exile who badly needs a win to avoid auto-relegation while amb. hosts FC Real Deal The Hippos are no stranger to the relegation line, finishing 4th and 5th in III.3 the last two seasons (Houston Friendly Tour Lucky #13 seeks 100th flag, see part 2) (Houston Legend Edwin Phelan retires, see part 3) (0) (0) Edit Delete (03:38) Huge Final Weekend: Phelan Retires, Finale, Flag #100 (part 2) Houston is still looking for a friendly this weekend, in search of flag #100 and really would like a special one, hopefully from a country with under 100 teams but we welcome any new flag. The Hippos are very thankful to the teams who have played them so far on Hippo Friendly Tour #13: (Kenya) The Tricky Twitchers, Black Rock City Burners, (Cabo Verde) SL Benfica CV, (Bahrain) Al_Sharia FC, (Angola) Petro United, (Côte d’Ivoire) Gekar FC, (Andorra) Cintra Constellacio, and (Kyrgyzstan) FC N&N (0) (0) Edit Delete (03:20) Huge Final Weekend: Phelan Retires, Finale, Flag #100 (part 3) This week sees the end of a career for a Houston legend. An original Hippo, Edwin Phelan, is retiring due to injury with 139 career goals He was Houston's best scorer from the start, carrying the mantle of franchise scoring leader until this year. He led V.62 in scoring in S19 with 15 goals and still holds the Hippo record of 5 hat tricks He left the team at the end of S21 but came back home 3 seasons ago so he could retire into the Hippo Hall of Heroes His number will be retired Sunday (0) (0) 8-23-2007 Edit Delete (14:52) Hippo Friendly Tour, Lucky #13 Houston, being bounced from the cup in round 6 this season, are preparing for their annual pilgrimage to other countries. That's right, it's Hippo Friendly Tour time. This will mark the 13th season for Houston and this one promises to be special with the Hippos collecting flag #100 this season. So, thanks to all the teams who graciously allow us to visit this and every season. (0) (0) 8-4-2007 Edit Delete (14:42) Hans Jón Egholm named to Føroyar U20 squad For the first time in Houston Hippopotami history, a player has been named to a national team. Føroyar-born defender Hans Jón Egholm has been named to the country's U20 team Said new coach Xacobo Armengol "Hans is one of the best young defenders to come through the team and I'm glad he was rewarded" GM SterlingIce added "We've never actively sought national team prospects as the market always seemed too expensive so I think this is a huge testament to our coaches and training program" (0) (0) 7-19-2007 Edit Delete (15:02) Starks Retires; Armengol new coach Legendary Hippo Mick Starks retired as coach this offseason. He was an original Hippo dating back to January 03 and had been coach since January 06. He will be immediately retired to the Hippo Hall of Heroes and 07/30/07 will be Mick Starks Day as he is formally retired at the home opener. Replacing Mick will be longtime defender Xacobo Armengol. Says he, having been with the team since October 05 and being groomed for coach since he got here, "I look forward to this new challenge" (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 01:06 PM	#173
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 34-35 Press Announcements 7-25-2008 Edit Delete (15:15) Hippo Friendly Cup #16 It's that time of the season again! The grass is green, the air is fresh, league season is heating up, the Hippos are coming off a frustrating loss in the Cup to a sandbagging lower division team, and now it's time to travel. In it's 16th season, the Hippo Friendly Cup has spanned 117 of hattrick's 124 countries. Below are where we hope to visit this season. Maldives Qatar Uganda Al Yaman Suriyah Benin Tanzania Our first stop is Al Yaman and Kamal Team sana'a next week. (0) (0) 4-3-2008 Edit Delete (15:04) Hippo Friendly Tour #15 and Facts This is the 15th season of the Hippo Friendly Tour. Wow. The Hippos have thus far visited 111 countries across 15 seasons. Technically, the first HFC was in season 21 but we have played international friendlies dating back to season 18, our first. Across all international friendlies (home and away), we have played in front of 405457 fans, an average of 3193. Al Iraq Al Yaman Benin Mocambique Kampuchea Mongol Uls Suriyah Tanzania Qatar Ghana Northern Ireland (0) (0) 3-3-2008 Edit Delete (03:22) Season 35 Begins The Hippos find themselves in III.3 for a remarkable 8th season. Last season was one of their best ever with a 2nd place finish. However, gone are the two walkover teams at the bottom and an extremely tough Wahoos team slipped down from II in the #1 spot. Houston will be retooling on the fly a little this season as some of the older players will move on to greener pastures, replaced by younger talent. "It will be a tough transition but we have to do it" says coach Armengol. (0) (0) 12-17-2007 Edit Delete (00:44) Hippo Friendly Tour #14 With the Hippos departure from the cup, Wednesdays become a time to focus on the Hippo Friendly Cup We lack flags from the following, so we will be looking to visit these countries: Benin Suriyah Al Iraq Al Yaman Mongol Uls Kampuchea Suriname Ghana Mocambique Uman Bangladesh Brunei Kazakhstan Azərbaycan Northern Ireland Liechtenstein Crna Gora South Africa A big thanks to this week opponent, Hayoc Qajer, as we have been trying for the Hayastan flag for 5 seasons (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 01:09 PM	#174
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 36 Press Announcements 1-28-2009 Edit Delete (18:14) New Coach Falls in the Forest; Will he make a sound? Tim "Timber" Kimber has been named the new head coach of Houston after Xacobo Armengol retired Tuesday. From the Hippo legend, who will keep his #1 jersey: "It is an honor to coach this team and I hope to live up to the standards of past coaches". Armengol will be retired into the Hippo Hall of Heroes along with Vaikhan Satyanarayana this season as part of the Houston Hippopotami 20th Anniversary Celebration, which commemorates the 20th full season of the club. More to come... (0) (0) 1-20-2009 Edit Delete (02:10) Thanks to all who visited! While we were unable to visit any new countries this season, we hosted some great teams: Dhaka Football los guayaberos Aussiedog Voltaren Cowtown Seacows FA Red Boys 05 AC LUANDA ##Kenya## Académica de Maputo The Dubai Desert Devils FC Gornik Zabrze black keris977 Al-Sihba In the US, we are currently: * 3rd in coolness and 2nd in countries visited * 15th in coolness and 104th in countries hosted * 2nd in coolness and 6th in countries visited PLUS hosted (0) (0) 1-13-2009 Edit Delete (22:08) Newcomers, new kits, and a new coach Former Hippo Donald Sidorczak has been brought back into the fold, to be retired to the Hippo Hall of Heroes. Houston paid a club record $7.4M for him many seasons ago. Also, the Hippos have new kits! Team management is pleased with the exciting new jerseys and excited about the new revenue streams from them. Designer and team GM SterlingIce was quite pleased with his work. Lastly, Xacobo Armengol has said he will step down as coach. More about that later. (0) (0) 12-7-2008 Edit Delete (07:12) VIP's for Hippo Friendly Cup We've attracted some major guests for HFC #17. Last week, we hosted FA Red Boys 05 from Nationaldivisioun in Lëtzebuerg. Superjhemp is an LA and he's the U-20 coach there. Houston responded with 5026 fans for the friendly, which netted over $21K ($15K profit for him, after travel expenses)! We expect another big crowd this week for AC LUANDA. JN85AG's team has won the Girabola 5 straight seasons and is in 1st currently. He's also the Angola national coach. Thanks to both for visiting! (0) (0) 11-26-2008 Edit Delete (21:36) Hippo Friendly Cup #17 This season's friendly cup is underway with visits already from Dhaka Football (Bangladesh), los guayaberos (Nicaragua), AussieDog (S Africa), and Voltaren (Malta) and an average of 3500 fans per game. We're taking a week off to play mutual supporter evillincoln and his Cowtown Seacows. Then back to flags! We'd really like to visit these this season: Maldives Qatar Uganda We've updated the logo and made a hosted one: http://www.flagcreator.org/flaglogo....ed&teamid=8574 (0) (0) 10-30-2008 Edit Delete (18:42) Hippos New and Old The Hippos are extremely happy to announce that GM-CableGuy was kind enough to release Carlos Alberto Benito from his contract so he can retire with Houston. Longtime fans will remember #15 as one of the original Hippos along with retired Hippo Hall of Heroes members Starks and Phelan. Meanwhile, in the middle of the night, Houston also signed a new middie, Carlos Thacker. He may carry a hefty salary but he joins Marsh as the only Houston middie under 30 and will a key Hippo for a long time. (0) (0) 10-20-2008 Edit Delete (16:31) New Milestones: Highest Rank, 3000 Supporters! We've never been big on achievements for hattrick, but this week we had two of note as we've been at this a long time and we still have things to accomplish 1) We are at our highest rank ever: 46. Sure, it won't last as it's more a product of us only being 2 weeks into the new season. However, it's neat to see. It's worth 50 point. 2) We've been over 2900 supporters for 9 seasons but never been able to break 3000. We finally topped it with 3001 this morning, good for 30 points. (0) (0) 10-1-2008 Edit Delete (17:14) Ten Seasons in III.3 Wow. It's been a while! Season 37 will mark the 10th season of the Houston Hippopotami in III.3. We finished in 1st our 1st season here but could not win the qualifier to II. Since then, we've finished anywhere from 2nd to 5th, this most recent season being in 3rd. We look forward to more good league competition, cup runs, and flag collecting in the coming seasons. For the new season, welcome to the newcomers, happy returns to the rest of us. (0) (0) SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-08-2011, 01:10 PM	#175
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	And now we're caught up with the beginning of the thread. Actually, those season 36 ones are on the first page, but this puts them in context. From this point on, it's back to the usual banter and seasonal writeups. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

09-12-2011, 03:42 AM	#176
Alf Pro Starter Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Rennes, France	Hungry Hungry Hippos ! __________________ FOFL - GML - IHOF - FranceStats

01-22-2012, 11:33 PM	#179
TargetPractice6 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Lexington, KY	That's the career trajectory for most of my players as well, SI. Most of my purchases fall into category 2 and my sales are split pretty evenly between 2 and 3. I find there is a bit of a lag between when a player's value starts to decline and when they hit their peak. Most often my players are really at their best between 27 and 30, but value starts to fall around 26. So my best players I keep into their 30s and transition them into backups like you said. Usually the only players I sell are around 25-26 and are marginal starters or career backups. Several of my original crop of players are in their mid-30s now so I imagine my hall of fame will start filling up soon.

02-20-2012, 02:12 PM	#181
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Bought a couple of new guys and am selling some older ones. A couple of thoughts I posted to the series forum: I guess, in the long run, I'm down to $10M in cash, but I have 3 trainees ready to be pushed out of the nest this season or next so hopefully that gets me back up to $15M+ after trainees. GK at 28 Churn defenders WI: 27, 28 IM: 24, 28, 31 FO: 29, 30 Looks like I'm set for another couple of seasons. The forwards are getting a little long in the tooth but they can hold on another couple of seasons I'm kindof wanting to upgrade the 31yo IM while the market is so cheap but that also means I'll get next-to-nothing for selling him, too. Looks like I'd get $1M for selling and pay ~2.5M for buying a 23/24 yo. I suppose that's a pretty good upgrade if I can find a quality American to help offset the wages (Richard was not, unfortunately and that will add up to $150K per season extra). The "refurbish my keeper" option is intriguing. I could turn De Carlo into a 22 or 23yo of the same skill for ~1.5-2M and that is quite tempting. We'll see if anyone bites on him as I just put him out on the market. Also, with the loyalty bonus, I don't think I want to totally nuke all of my guys at once. I noticed that was a pretty big deal last year at only half strength. Going to full strength this year should be a pretty big deal again. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-03-2012, 10:09 AM	#184
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Season 49 Summary Major Stories -Became first US team with complete 256 flag collection : 128 home and 128 away -Thus the Hippo Friendly Tour might have come to an end; I have some ideas, tho so it may not be done -Barely survived season and took some luck just to get 6th in II.3 -Barely survived qualifier to remain in II.3 -HOF is now 21: 15 actual and 6 honorary Upcoming -Season 5 in II.3 -Rebuild is pretty much complete: all players are 25 or under except for 2 wingers and 1 26yo IM; problem: down to around $2M in cash so we'll have to wait for a bit to do much else -Got some new achievements but those will be in a season 50 PA -Shrunk the stadium a little and re-optimized seat types -Looking to run some more stats on my team's history to get more interesting PAs Still planning on winding my team down in the next calendar year. It's a shame, tho, as I just made my team younger but I'm not sure how to make it much better, honestly. I've finished the flag collection, I'll knock out the achievements that you can't do unless you rebuild your team (old team, young team, angry team- that sort of thing) once I relegate, and I'm not sure how I can move up as I'm about as good as the other teams in II but I just don't have that edge to be better. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-03-2012, 05:44 PM	#185
Alf Pro Starter Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Rennes, France	You still rock ! __________________ FOFL - GML - IHOF - FranceStats

10-03-2012, 09:54 PM	#186
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	I don't know about that but I definitely have enjoyed my time playing HT and tried to develop it as much as possible. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

10-12-2012, 03:50 PM	#187
MIJB#19 Coordinator Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Maassluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands	oh yeah, congrats on the flag collecting! __________________ * 2005 Golden Scribe winner for best FOF Dynasty about IHOF's Maassluis Merchantmen * Former GM of GEFL's Houston Oilers and WOOF's Curacao Cocktail

10-12-2012, 04:17 PM	#188
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	I was pretty happy about that. I feel like I should try to work 128, 256, or flags or something into every PA from this point on SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

03-23-2013, 06:29 PM	#191
finketr College Prospect Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inland Empire, PRC	you're not taking a smartphone with you to Russia? There's a hattrick app for iphone that you can set lineups and what not with.

03-24-2013, 02:52 AM	#192
thealmighty Pro Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: heaven	What are the 'newer and better' strategies you speak of? __________________ Check out The Unofficial FOFC Movie Guide Here