El Hombre

There were.

By the by, there were rules at one point. I should know, I posted them. They're here. Decent starting point.

You want to reach people, other than thru the forum? Only way to do that is to have content. You gotta sling that 'tent, baby. A couple posters have said that they come here for information about Canadian soccer that they wouldn't necessarily find elsewhere. You can leverage that to provide content that might bring other likeminded folks around. Take the best part of the forum and put it out front by itself. Some examples of what could appear: 1) Weekly recap of the Canucks Abroad (provided @Fussball_eh is okay with that because its his team that does the most work in that respect). 2) Weekly, in-depth player profiles (active and retired and more than what you would find in Wikipedia) 3) Classic Canadian game recaps from over the years (highlights would definitely help). 4) CPL weekly recaps. 5) Weekly academy, young Canucks abroad recap. Those are just a few that have come to mind in the last five minutes. In order to get this to work, you would need the following: 1) A team of 20 or so dedicated content providers so that there is always something new in the hopper. Spreading that out, the commitment should be minimal, especially for those passionate about Canadian soccer (I could bang out a profile of Rob Friend in a week that would make his mama cry). 2) A dedicated twitter presence. I would say that you would need one really dedicated resource or a couple so that you're averaging 4 or 5 tweets a day to get a following and point people to the new 'tent. Potential pitfalls: The only one I can think of is if someone writes something that gets torn apart by the forum. Firstly, that would look terrible. When something developed by a group is then dismissed by that group, that looks amateur-hour. Secondly, you'll lose a writer. You'll notice that none of the five topics above are opinion based. I think it's be fun. Not sure if that's what you were looking for, but I think after awhile it would get some traction. The team would have to make sure they keep it up. Things like this start gangbusters for 2 months but then fall off. I volunteer to writer "El Hombre's Musings" where I take issue with millennials in a weekly column. Works already in process: "My Lawn Ain't Green Cause Y'All Stand On It All The Time", "Who Moved the Thermostat?", and "What's A Snapchat?"

Exhibit 1A of why moderating was so draining and an emotional slog day in and day out. Also, get rid of the Off-Topic section. No point in having it if you want to focus the forum.

(note: this is not an offer to be a moderator. I did my time. I still have scars.)

Fuck free speech. Moderate the shit out of this. You don't like it, then leave.

I was kind of hoping he'd offer to clear the water bottles for you. I remember him being really good at that in Edmonton.

Man, this beer meetup with Socceronly just took a turn for the awesome! Finally I'll be able to talk to someone who comprehends my inclinations.

Oh man, IT IS ON! From now on, I'm bringing my laptop to all Vees get togethers and if you're there, we're going to throw down, excel-style. It'll be like "Step Up" but instead of dance competitions, it'll be two nerds (I'm assuming) whipping up pivot tables and vlookups! You're gunna git served, son!

That's hilarious!

Damn straight. That's why I posted this here. Only for the true Voyageurs (and me, apparently).

No, like I made abundantly clear, I'm socially awkward and a pussy. Not a good combination. Although, I still think I had a positive impact on his life, what with the surrendering of my armrest and not reporting him to the stewardess about his bag not being under the seat in front of him. I was doing God's work, I figure.

He smelled great. So good, in fact, that I panicked for 5 minutes that the hoodie zipped up above the nose might have something to do with me. True story.

Just wanted to let you know that the Voyageurs' leadership may want to review my membership status. Yesterday, I was on a quick flight from Ottawa to Toronto when I noticed that Julian De Guzman, my second favourite CanMNT player of all time, was on the same flight. I was already seated so when I saw him board the plane, I had the following three thoughts in the span of 30 seconds: - "Oh cool, JdG is on my flight!" - "Hey neat, JdG is sitting near me." - "Oh shit, JdG is sitting right beside me and will continue to do so for the next 48 minutes!" A thousand questions then went through my head: - Should I mention that I'm a big fan and have been watching him since is time with Hannover? - Should I congratulate him on the all-time caps record? - Should I make plans to go out drinking with him after the next home WCQ? After carefully evaluating all options available to me, I decided that the best course of action would be to pretend to sleep for the next 45 minutes (because I'm a wimp). In my defence, my previous encounters with other players have ranged from awkward (Brennan and Bircham on the streets of Kingston) to unintentionally insulting (Hainault after a game in Montreal). Before I started to "sleep", I did make sure that I stopped listening to Adele's "25" on my iPod and changed it to early At The Drive In so as to seem super cool. So, upon getting the chance to sit next to one of my soccer idols, I said exactly 0 words to him. Again, in my defence, at one point he had his hoodie zipped up over his nose and, if I've learned anything from my 6 year old, that means that someone is not in the mood to talk. However, I did learn a couple things: - JdG is hard as fuck. If you think his carry-on went anywhere close to under the seat in front of him, then you don't know how JdG rolls. He kept that shit firmly between his feet. He also has a Louis Vuitton case for his iPad and he doesn't care who knows it. - I am horrible at social interaction. - Unfortunately, JdG doesn't observe standard airplane armrest etiquette. I'll give him a pass on that though because he scored against Real Madrid. So, if I'm in the middle seat and your name isn't Julian De Guzman or Gabe Gala, then those armrests are mine dammit! So in light of all this, if Voyageur leadership wants to review my membership status and kick me out for behaviour unbecoming of a true Voyageur, I completely understand. I'd do the same to any of you.

I'll be happy to oblige next game I attend.