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***sve7en*** · 03-29-2025, 08:40 PM

There’s going to be a lot of excitement and happiness about the news tonight. While I’m grateful for the opportunity and ready to get to work, I feel grief and not joy.

Four and a half years ago, at the end of his time as GM, Fuzz wrote that it was “bittersweet” but also noted that word failed to really encapsulate everything he was feeling that day. I understood the intensity of it then, but it’s not a feeling you can prepare for and I face it now. I’ve spent about two months of my sim league experience not running or helping run the Kraken, and it’s one of the longest running constants I’ve had in my adult life - outside of my current partner, none of the relationships, degree programs, or places I’ve lived have lasted this long. I’ve lamented in the last two years that it’s hard to imagine myself not running Carolina, not just because I don’t know what sim leagues are like if I’m not doing it, but because the identity of the organization has been so intertwined with my own. Now, I have to find that out.

When I joined the SHL, Fuzz, Trella, and ACap welcomed me to Carolina with open arms, and I was smart enough to embrace it back. The community there has always been special, and there’s an essence of family to it that eludes every other place I’ve been in sim leagues. While I loved it then, I applied for expansion in S56 because I knew that to be Fuzz’s team and legacy but I wanted to perpetuate that culture. When I ended up running Carolina instead, I took that framework that closely matched my views, started running, and never looked back. I would run the Kraken until the end of time and love every season of it, and I was very clear about that which is why I almost feel as if I’m betraying those hundreds (yeah, it’s been a long time) of people now.

I owe all of those people so much, from the obvious ones who set me up for success when I joined up, to the six Co-GMs who have been my ride or dies, the dozens of advisors, scouts, and coaches who got be acclimated and bought into the vision, the seemingly infinite list of users who passed through and embraced the community, and all those that took something from Carolina and brought that with them as they started their journeys into the league. The ten GMs for other teams that emerged from my tenure, HO members, Co-Commissioners, department leaders and site contributors all had that shared experience and development, and it’s that which I am most proud of. The “Carolina Way” is occasionally referred to, but in an ambiguous way; it sometimes references how management would approach concepts or build the team, but other times is the simplest way to refer to a very nebulous culture that Fuzz started and I was blessed enough to carry forward and consider what I’m most proud of in these last 27 seasons. It’s that energy, the belief in the value that the league has, a desire to elevate the people around them, and the shared focus on taking new (and sometimes old faces) and showing them the facet of the league that they’ll fall in love with whatever that may be that I hang my hat on.

However, that Carolina Way is also what drove me to this point. I had good ideas, but wasn’t sure I wanted to run an expansion team and my application was as much to convince myself as it was to convince HO. I submitted at the deadline, to buy myself more time, and tried to make sense of what I wanted. I thought about what I valued in Carolina, which made me remember what happened as I was leaving the J on my first player and how I realized that there were a lot of SHL teams which didn’t have the level of community that I had come to greatly appreciate, they were out there of course, but they were not everywhere. It might or might not be called the same thing once I take it to the SHL, and it won’t be an exact replica, but there will always be space for more teams that offer that culture and that family. With Carolina, but also Frenchie and Jimmy operating their own teams in the J with their spins on this, the J will still have teams operating with my spirit for a while longer, and perhaps it’s time (and a special opportunity) to make the team I needed when I was starting out.

Not to overlook in all of this, Montreal, I’m sorry. From the get-go you threw a lot of trust into me and it’s been a blessing to go through this process with everyone. I know at times I likely drove you mad, but I’ve truly enjoyed both getting to know you as people and also going through the growth and development from lotto team to top of the table. It’s hard to describe, but I’m going to miss how comfortable or almost cozy this experience was. There was a stability and familiarity there that I hadn’t really felt since my first stint in Los Angeles and I have a lot of pride in that’s where I’ve spent this second player. I’m sad I will miss some of the payoff, but I’m very glad to have played a role in everything that deserves to come your way.

To keep from going on much longer, thank you,
to all of these friends that I’ve made, from the fleeting, the forever, and to the ones that I dragged in.
to everyone who chipped in, single season players, site changers, and those who let me be the best I could be as a leader.
to the current group who have done the impossible and made me feel like it’s safe to take my hands off the wheel.

Everything that I was able to do in my time with Carolina has been a manifestation of the people behind and beside me.

I will still give Carolina everything I can, my ideas, my energy, and my support, but the voice will come from the rest of you now.

:car_heart:

*sliceruser* · 03-29-2025, 08:41 PM

legend

*kahri* · 03-29-2025, 08:42 PM

IM CRYING IN THE CHAT (BUT IN HAPPINESS)

CONGRATULATIONS

***SchwarzNarr*** · 03-29-2025, 08:42 PM

7, your influence and style of GMing will definitely be missed, and was for sure a boon to the SMJHL. I also am so excited for this next journey for you, and you are going to be a brilliant SHL GM.

***Hetaksh*** · 03-29-2025, 08:42 PM

Ill miss you goat

trella · 03-29-2025, 08:43 PM

Carolina will miss you, 7. You did an amazing job!

Thanks to @karey and @JSS for the sigs!

Former USA Fed Head, Carolina Kraken Co-GM, Tampa Bay Barracuda GM

jacobcarson877 · 03-29-2025, 08:43 PM

GOAT

Kasterborous · 03-29-2025, 08:44 PM

Absolute legend, glad to have had the chance to know you in the J and looking forward to seeing what amazing things you bring in for the big leagues. Go crush it, 7!

Zinny · 03-29-2025, 08:44 PM

I didn't sign up for this feel trip, Sve7en

"I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them"

*Pyro182* · 03-29-2025, 08:45 PM

Gonna be weird not having you as CAR GM, but Im quite excited to see you bring the culture to an expansion SHL team.

GrannyPanPan · 03-29-2025, 09:12 PM

a true legend

BANACKOCK · 03-29-2025, 09:24 PM

Damn. Congrats and thanks for all you’ve done so far.

the5urreal · 03-29-2025, 09:36 PM

My first GM and the one that really showed me the ropes around here. Carolina will miss you but congratulations are in order! You're gonna do great!!!

***Frenchie*** · 03-29-2025, 09:41 PM

I mentioned it on the pod, and i'll say it here once more for the posterity of it : I owe you literally everything. A 2 day old user, 4th overall, unassuming as ever about where I had been drafted. You took me in, showed me the way from day 1, and built me up to not only become your co-GM, an HO member, but a GM of my own expansion team and now co-commissioner. You're one of the closest friends I have here, one of if not the person I trust most, and I can't begin to thank you enough for everything you did.

The Carolina way is one thing, the Sve7en way is the other. While they overlap extensively, I know to spot the differences, and they made all the difference in the world.

I'm excited to see how this next chapter unfolds, congratulations my friend :eolove:

@"jason kranz" sig elite / @sulovilen elite sig

***Reno*** · 03-29-2025, 10:41 PM

man, i dont know what to say. im beyond excited to see you bring this energy to the SHL and bring up a new expansion team to the best they can be, but selfishly im going to miss you so much down in the J. from my days as a fellow GM we had the annual REG/CAR draft day trade, someone who was just always a positive beacon of energy in the position. when I shifted to J HO you were still a gem to work with - always around for the drafts, actively working waivers and similar, and someone who kept the true meaning of the J at heart, so many amazing users came out of the CAR system that have been great members of this website.

love ya dude, you're gonna kill it in the SHL, shit now we're GM buddies again, so does this mean we have to a LAP/Expansion Team trade yearly now?

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