I have posted this in Thunder Forum as it is my home forum.

Hi Guys,

With RZA recently celebrating it's 5th anniversary, I checked back to when I joined.
December 20th 2011, so my own 5th anniversary of being a participant of this glorious game will soon be upon us.

So to start off and break open the facade of Bovakian here is a bit about the real me.

My name is David Kendall. I have been married to Elizabeth for 29 years and we have 10 children, 6 boys and 4 girls, aged between 17 and 28 and also have 4 grandsons aged between 2 and 7. I now live in Nairn in Scotland, hence the name of my present team, Inbhir Narann, the gaelic name for the town and I consider myself in part time retirement, only because the official retirement age for me is 66 and I cannot get my pension until then, so I do part time seasonal work as I no longer need to work full time, which gives me opportunity to explore the beautiful Highland Region of Scotland.

I first took an interest in American Football one September night in the bar at the Holiday Inn, Norfolk, Virginia the year 1977. The game was New England Ptriots against Cleveland Browns. The Browns won the game in overtime after a very topsy turvey match that could have gone either way, but the geriatric crew, starring Brian Snipe at QB, won out in the end.

Ironically I am originally from the ancient district of Cleveland in North Yorkshire of which Guisborough, my hometown, is the historical capital. So I follow the Browns, you can laugh all you want, also for you Association Football fans I follow Middlesbrough and at the age of 59 I am surprised I have not had a heart attack or two with the rollercoaster ride those two teams have given me over the years.

My first team in RZA was called Guisborough Priors after my hometown and the remains of the 11th century priory there. I joined Thunder 2.2 part way through the 2nd season and was promoted through the relegation play offs having lost the AC Championship game to Patoruzu Athletics, who became General Roriguez Warriors. I was fortunate not to have a losing season in Thunder 1.1 NC South from when I was promoted in Season 3 to when I moved house in Season 15.

I restarted for the start of Season 16 with a new team, Inbhir Narann. Partly because I wanted to and partly because of the house move I could not guarentee when I would get the internet and I did not want to waste my supporter account. So in the end it was easier to start afresh and thanks to Pete I was able to keep my game name because the old account ended up being timed out.

During my first stint in Thunder 1.1 I enjoyed the fact that the leaue was very competative, eventhough notsch kept winning most of the bowls, I especially miss my two opportunities a season to turn the table on Buddy. There were times when you could not predict the divisional winners as more often than not there was at least two teams in the division that could win the division, though all four in some divisions could do it. We also had a good record in the Super Cup and the CoC, plus a forum that was only being beaten by Admirals in activity.

Then the debate for an Elite League came about and I personally think that this has caused more disagreements and arguments than the occassional slanging matches that go on with suggestions and discussions. In principle it is not a bad idea and the way it works I like, but it has taken out some of the heart and soul in some of the regions of which, basing it mainly on Thunder 1.1, is still not back to the same level of competativeness prior to the Elite League's introduction, though the forum is as good if not better because there are people who are willing to contribute.

I enjoy the camaradarie within the game, in general, there are times when some go over the top and times where some take things the wrong way. Come on guys this is a GAME, it is ENTERTAINMENT, lighted up and enjoy this wonderful thing that Pete has brought us.

Though there are even things I do not agree with, but it is not my place to say whether they are right or wrong as I am not a coder, I am not a maths wiz, I am a user, a player, if things get changed it is up to me to adjust, if I want, to the new set up and endeavour to continue to have winning seasons.

Not all of us are going to make it to the Elite League and personally I am not bothered. It would be nice to try myself against them, but originally that what the Super Cup was for (which I feel is more competative now).

Lastly I just want to say thanks to mainly to Pete for allowing me to play his game, but to others like notsch, Buddy Ryan, Wiesengrund, stizz and janos, who I have played against lots of times with my old team and occassionally with my new team. To passionatelad, jetto, smorketeer, Cheesehead, eistee, JonatanRiver and JimBob who have mainly played against my new team. To bwadders76, Jack6, Solana_Steve, Toni Gorilla, JohnnyP and quite a few others I have messed words with or played against over the 5 years I have been here. OOPs nearly forgot the tanker, thomastem....
Also to anyone else I have forgot to mention as five years and 22 seasons is a long time and a lot of water and names have passed me by.

Happy Christmas for 2016 and continued prosperity for the years to come.

Bovakian

Thanks Bova. And 10 kids. Someone's been a busy bova lol

Hey Bova, what a great letter. Really interesting to read. Especially that as a Dutch guy I support Middlesbrough as well (and last weekend's last second penalty caused some heartbreak as well).

Re Browns, I am seriously considering taking them as my second supported team once my mate moves out of Green Bay (the reason I support the Packers). I am intruiged and excited about what's happening there!

It's great to read your view on RZA and the time you've been here. I really hope I can say the same in 4 years time as juggling priorities in RL is indeed a struggle at times.

I can only finish with that I'm honoured to play in Thunder 1.1 with you mate

Great read Bova and thanks for sharing!
On my mind you're kind of "father" of Thunder Region, espially with your coverage earlier when the forum was not that busy as it is now.
You're THE Gentleman of Thunder and RZA in general.

All the best in RZA and real life

That's a great read, thanks for sharing!

Thunder wouldn't be Thunder without our patriarch. As great as the league and forum is, I think i speak for everyone, we missed your predictions and commentary this season. The preseason show also missed your organized polish.

10 children though, wow. You are a better man than me. I have 4. You must have fond memories of a 'loud' house. It's funny, the same way kids can't wait to be adults until they are adults and wish they were kids again the full loud house is the same. While it's loud you wonder what it would take to get a little quiet but then the children start leaving the nest and everything becomes so quiet and you realize you miss the noise.

Thanks for sharing.

1 son, 8 years old...

As much as I tried, I couldn't manage as many turnovers against you Bova to match the number of children you have, although after five minutes I was quite confident of beating it!

Got 5 myself and first 4 were girls, therefore when the little man arrived I was allowed to stop by the boss!!!

Great post though and good luck with that retirement, sounds like you've earned it :-)

Yeah my first 3 were girls before I got my son. We were stopping at 4 though one way or another.

Really enjoyed your letter, very well said Bova!

EDIT: and I really agree with your assessment of the impact the EL brought. I argued and voted against it from the beginning, because it would go on to thin out the 1.1 regions with impact on forum activity and so on, and thats exactly what happened. I really loved the relaxed life in RZA before, when the SC and CoC implied so much mystery about these great teams from other regions, it almost had an "olympic" feeling to it. now of course I do enjoy the EL, but its a bit of a stressful gaming experience in comparison, every week is a playoff game basically and 90% of opponents are well prepared, so you got a lot of homework too. but still, most of the time I do long back for the old days, fighting SimKon and Bova and all the others for the Conference and for a chance to (most of he time) face notsch in the bowl - boy I got my share of those previously rare big games in the EL I have to say