Victor

What are you talking about? A goalie isn't winning this season as they were all below the true elite tier of goaltending seasons. The only decision to make was whether there was a goalie on the ballot at all. I decided it was more representative to have one and if there's going to be one on the *most outstanding* ballot, it's gonna be the goalie who is statistically best in every single category.

if only you had any sources

If anything, not as shallow as I'd like, but I couldn't exclude the goalies. Which is why Lafontaine, not Bernard, is on the MVP ballot. System's rigged man

Bonus points also for being allowed on the forum but not on discord.

Did you just ask Devise to expand on something???

Vote for who you think was individually the most outstanding player in the VHL in S74.

I feel this narrative is quite close to the "Trump supporters are stupid thugs" - i.e. oversimplication. He's obviously past his "prime" mentally, but I still think he's more despicable than a moron. And I don't think he's a successful businessman and certainly not self-made, but he made it pretty far so he's not an idiot. I tend to lean towards Devise's definition of him as a "troll" - he's pushing the boundaries because he can, not because he doesn't know where they are.

This is valid, I think in an age where echo chambers and media sensationalism has split the population in many countries (including most of Europe), the US is a step ahead and hard to fathom on this side of the ocean. I guess when Spade said Bosnia I thought disintegration of a larger country while it's more the potential civil war/persecution of opposing beliefs type thing. I still think you're a far way from that but I can see the concern. Trump has really done y'all dirty* *although it's not really just Trump, I don't want to give him that much credit.

Sounds very alarmist. Yugoslavia was a combination of distinct people, languages, and religions held together by a tyranny which disproportionately favoured one of its many nations (Serbia). Some of that may apply to the US but I think everyone can admit that Americans are proud of their country and being American above all.

You hate to see it

So you can use it to leave Davos?

Off to Davos with you

Vegas best not choke like they did against Miami eh @Spartan

MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW

Sounds like what's done in the EU elections actually. Germany, France,. (formerly) UK have maybe 80 seats each, with each party getting a percentage equal to the percentage of their vote, all the way down to say 7-8 seats from an Estonia or Malta. Shame no one gives a shit about the EU Parliament.

I think my post was still shorter than either of Devise's. yeah I don't disagree. I think it's just one of those where it's great on paper which you said early on, but annoyingly there's just no evidence because it's fallen through for a variety of societal and individual factors. Which then makes you think, hmm, maybe it's not such a good system then if it is so easily abused. But we won't know unless it's tried somewhere and ultimately I think political reform has stagnated decades ago in the west. That said, Hitler came to power in a very progressive political system in 1920s/30s Germany so if there's will, there's a way... You say that but have you seen what Boris has been up to in the last year? And I think we have pretty much identical systems. There's a two-pronged crisis of 1) lack of public care about anything and 2) increasing lack of principled politicians And yeah, the UK and Canada, and others have more than 2 parties in the House of Commons or equivalent, but how many countries have had a PM from a "third" party in the last 50 years? Coalitions yes but it's one step away from being 2-party.

Yeah but my point is that the country's democratic institutions never developed enough to prevent him from becoming PM in 1999 (when he was a nobody but the pick of a part of a conservative/oligarch wing). What he's done is separate to the fact that Russia only ever legitimately tried using the system for 8 years if that.

MIAMI! INDEPENDENCE! DELETE VHLM!

Very much this for me in the UK (and I've lived in Canada, spent some time in Australia and NZ, plus am actually Eastern European). The US and the UK remain in the very short list of places where I could do my job, earn however much I earn, and not fear for my life. But the political system in the western world is trash. I think there's just not been change for longer than ever before - it's not healthy for there to be the exact same parties consolidated power everywhere. There's a few examples of newcomers in (usually struggling) European nations but it's not enough. The majority of politicians have no real distinguishing characteristics. That said, as Bek says here, US takes it to another level. A system where 1 extra vote in the right place in Florida could in theory sweep its entire 29 "points" or whatever they are... that is deeply flawed. It really turns election into a sporting event and you can see it in the language ("taken the early lead", "mounting a comeback", wtf guys, it's not happened live, the voting happened). It's all very toxic. Yup, similar here - the majority of my colleagues, being white collar, in finance, and pretty well off, will vote Conservative because they will guarantee the rich stay richer. That is enough for a lot of people and the risk caused by helping someone else isn't worth it. This is quite interesting and I will look to read up more on this. I know that not just in Russia, but many African countries and other "failed democracies", the systems set up are probably better than in the west purely on the basis they were written with the experience of the UK, US, etc in mind. But is that just theory? Ultimately these countries went back to their ways largely because the political elite never wanted democracy or the ones who did lost power very quickly after their revolution/independence/dissolution of the Soviet Union/etc. So they were never gonna prove their system actually could have worked. I want to think this but it is simplistic. It's the same argument that I made and still sometimes generalise over here with Brexit voters. Ultimately that's where the left falls down, by insulting the intelligence of the opposition. Yeah some of them are dumb thugs, probably on both sides, but the most influential are the people who truly would rather kill the poor and the blacks and whatever else. And just rich people. Yeah, ultimately though, I understand why people vote for the right. And in most countries you vote for a party, not a person. But the US president is pretty much a separate entity. And people vote for that sleazeball? He is a disgusting human being (a fun Halloween costume but a disgusting human being).

So that was quite an end to the VHLM season. What started off as a “let me sign with a team that's not dog shite and have a starter role and hope for the best” season was in fact that season for about 4 or 5 weeks. Rasputin was distinctly mediocre, Miami was too, and even the playoffs were far from guaranteed (if memory serves we were more than 10 points out one point). Then the recruitment drive happened and.... nothing really changed immediately. Rasputin did start posting shutouts around the same time and we starting winning more than we lost, enough to push us into an actual playoff race. It was still tight. We made it and I was hoping to scare Halifax a bit – this was after all the team that offered me a backup spot “on the way to a cup”. Heh. VHLM logic as I knew it is that big regular season teams win more often than in the VHL. This is slightly outdated but still supported by teams like Saskatoon, Ottawa, and Minnesota in recent seasons. When Miami won Game 1 I gleefully declared that it didn't matter what happened next as I got the scare I wanted. We then won 11 more games en route to the Founder's Cup. Now I'm no VHLM historian but I'm pretty sure that is unprecedented for an 8th seed. So that was great. I'm still not convinced it happened. It also bodes well for the burgeoning #UnholyAlliance – I hope you're all ready for what else Beav and I have in store. @Beaviss And finally, a VHL playoff tidbit. The Continental Cup finals between Helsinki and Vancouver are the sixth meeting between the two franchises – now the joint 3rd-most common intercontinental match-up. What makes that impressive is that Quebec/Vancouver has existed for 30 fewer seasons than everyone else on the list. The Wolves have also not faced any other European team in the playoffs since their relocation from Quebec – Helsinki won in S66 before Vancouver's revenge in S67 and now here we are.

wow ok i see how it is

uh oh

it's a hot pink one

@tcookie25 had no time to waste Well done boys, what a team to captain. Fuck the haters, Miami baby.