Probably long overdue one of these...
My name's Michael, 32 and lived up in sunny Brisbane for nearly a decade now. Grew up in NSW but with a Victorian dad who was a reasonably talented footballer himself so I was indoctrinated into AFL very young, but settled on cricket as my major sport growing up. Currently work at Brisbane Airport training new staff - which there's going to be a lot of in the coming months! - but am also finalising my Education degree with a view to starting primary teaching next year.
I spent a bit of time in my 20s working at The Star casino, which had me surrounded by people, both patrons and staff, who were serial gambling addicts, and even then those people all thought there was too much emphasis on sports betting. I quite agreed and have stayed away from it, and anything else that would affect my enjoyment of the game itself - I love sport and will watch just about anything (although I draw the line at golf!) but I wanted to make sure that I was just enjoying the spectacle and the skill for what it was rather than being financially invested in a certain result. For a long time this also included keeping myself away from fantasy - and I did notice when I finally got started with BBL SC that I was watching the game in a different way. But I think, on reflection, it made me more informed about the way teams operate and the roles players have within them, and especially up and coming players. I think it's made me a better fan overall.
That first foray (which was actually the official comp sponsored by KFC, the year that it and Supercoach ran in parallel) was when I discovered this site for the first time - not knowing a thing about loopholes and intentional donuts and plonking the C straight on Henriques, of all people, and having my heart in my mouth as he was dropped first ball! From then I knew I was going to enjoy it, and I spent most of that first year learning tactics and just observing the kinds of questioning people undertake when making their decisions, only feeling confident enough to put my own views forward a bit later on. For a few years coming back was just a summer ritual, getting involved for the BBL season and then dropping away again.
Then 2020 happened. I'd decided I wanted to try AFL SC that year but when the comp was abandoned after one week I forgot about it again, and then everything else started falling apart around me - out of work, no socialising, marriage breakdown, you name it. By the time that year's BBL season rolled around I was much more acutely aware of my need for connection, and equally acutely aware of how strong a community had actually been built here. From then it's been full steam ahead, joining the AFL comps for real so I'd be here year round, as well as several other competitions throughout the year. This is as good a time as any to say thank you all for helping me through a really tough period in my life. You have no idea how much it helped.
I mentioned my dad earlier, being a talented footballer - in 1994 he was the captain of a UNSW team that entered the Guinness Book of World Records (which had an Australian edition in whatever year it was published) for the most dominant senior team result of all time. I believe the score was 81.49 (535) to 0.1 (1). When I got the book and saw this in there I had it in my mind that I'd be good enough at something to get in the book myself one day - and my name is actually in the 2015 Gamer's Edition! My other great love and skill I've developed has been playing through video games really, really quickly - and the particular record I had was for the fastest completion of Sonic 2. (Hence the avatar!) In 2010 I was part of the inaugural Games Done Quick event (and have been to a few more since), which is now a behemoth of a charity event in the gaming world that raises money for cancer research and Doctors Without Borders once a year each - that first event raised about US$11000, nowadays they're more like three million each.
I did take some time a while ago to read through this whole thread, I feel like I know you all a lot better now, and this community is pretty great
Hopefully you all know me a bit better now too.