A 2000 word rant

[Ledge 1,131]

                    So it’s New Years Eve, and Ontario is in a bit of a covid hotspot right now, so I’m sitting at home with my family, and after playing some board games, everyone’s starting to just sit around and watch TV. So I figured since school is starting next week and it’s likely I won’t have anything to claim for it I’d crank out a media spot to give myself some extra padding if I don’t have any spare time. So here goes.

 

I was thinking about writing a media spot for a long time. I haven’t in a while, for a few contributing factors. For one, I’ve discovered graphic making, which I’ve begun to really enjoy and start to get barely below average at. It also takes significantly less time than media spots, at least in my experiences, which caters to my busy af schedule. 

 

I’ve also been a tad less active than I’ve been in the past for sure, largely on the forums but also on the discord. While, at least in my opinion, I’ve maintained activity for a functioning GM, I haven’t been interacting with other members as much as I would have been in my days of playing in the VHLM. Which I’d like to add has no connection to loss of interest, I still have a fire inside me for this league that brings me back every day, I don’t doubt that. I think over the Christmas holiday break over the past few weeks I’ve been more active than I was during the school year, which of course makes sense. It also helps that hockey has more or less shut down, at least for now. I’ve had more free time, and I’ve tried to spend more of it being with y’all.

 

I am kind of worried for the next month or so though. As aforementioned, school is starting up next week, and that means homework, which sucks away a lot of my VHL time. And it’s looking like, unless everything is further shut down for covid, I have 4 hockey games in the next 8 or so days, which is crazy insane, because in November I had one game a week. So basically what I’m saying is that shit is about to hit the fan big time, and if my activity takes a dip again there’s a valid reason and I’m definitely not losing interest.

 

I did have a purpose for this media spot, and I’ve been debating writing this for the last 36 hours with myself furiously. But I figured it would weigh on me heavily for the next month of not having time to do it, so here I am.

 

I want to start off by saying how although some of my comments in the next few paragraphs are pretty directed at certain people, I’m not going to mention their names to attempt to keep at least a thin level of confidentiality. 

 

I want to talk about some shit that was said about me in a podcast that was recorded not too long ago. I want to start off by saying how making a podcast that is based around rating certain members doesn’t strike me as just a harmless way to earn TPE. Like, you could have consciously chosen not to shit on certain people, but you did anyway. Which kind of pisses me off to begin with, before I had even started the podcast. I started listening to it and was already pretty disgusted when the first member was openly dissed, but I had to listen on, because I know I’m being talked about, right? I already have a bad feeling because I know my management style is fairly uncommon among VHLM GMs (more on that later). But honestly I have to believe I have no real enemies in the VHL, so I was a little surprised when I heard my name being dragged through the mud. And I wouldn’t usually get so pissy about someone calling me bad at something, that happens all the fucking time. But I’m a pretty proud person, and I won’t hesitate to defend myself.

 

Foremost, there were comments made about my activity recently. I believe I addressed those at the start of the article so we can skip this part, which is unimportant in the grand scheme of things here.

 

Then we got to grading the trade talks, where I got a ‘lower than C’ letter grade, which, of course, I’m not thrilled about, but that alone isn’t nearly enough to warrant a whole defensive article. So we get into the details, and at this point I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting to hear why I suck at GMing. Apparently my trade offers are ‘not the greatest’, and went on to say how our trade that would have gone through at the end of the season wouldn’t have been good for me. For the record, here is the trade:

 

Unnamed team receives:

 

Jeremy D (capped center)

Miami receives:

 

Randy (waiver player)

6th round pick

 

So by this point I’m pure fucking fuming. I just got publicly flamed, and like I said, I’m a relatively proud person. So here goes, my defensive statement.

 

Let’s start off with the trade that I put above. I would totally agree that the unnamed team absolutely blew me out of the water with this trade, and honestly I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been revoked by the commishes for being so lopsided. Here is my explanation. Throughout trade deadline week, I had been reaching out to a bunch of different teams, including the unnamed team above, about Jeremy and another forward. I had talked with Jeremy a few days prior and he was open and willing to be traded, so I began searching for a trade partner more intently. After a series of what I’m going to refer to as ‘unlucky’ misses (refusing a capped player for a 3rd and 4th?!??! One went for a goddamn first round pick earlier in the season!), I was running out of time and potential suitors. So I settled on convincing the final team, the unnamed team, about an hour before the deadline, to take him on. They had expressed interest in the past so I figured I’d float a deal that was in their favour just to fulfill my promise to Jeremy and be done with this madness. So I offered Jeremy in exchange for a 3rd round pick. Which I still think is absolutely silly, but I’m not a GM that will put anything on the line in order to win at this level, so I reluctantly proposed it. To my utter dismay and disappointment, that trade was rejected. At this point I’m desperate and a little bit angry. And they say that they’d go for Randy and a 6th rounder. Which is completely ridiculous. But instead of lashing out and calling this bullshit off, I bit my lip and accepted it. I now realize I shouldn’t have done either of those options, because it’s likely that both would have ended up in chaos. Luckily, the trade was submitted after the official trade deadline, so it didn’t go through. But it didn’t change the fact that I was feeling embarrassed and pissed off. If I wasn’t so passionate about the VHL, this is exactly the type of shit that would lead me to quit. And of course they top if off by going on this stupid fucking podcast and calling me out about it. I know there will be people commenting on how I’m overreacting, but this really irritated me, to the point of actually writing up a super long article defending myself. And for the record, I think my trade offers were pretty good. And I’m not going to fall for this bullshit ever again.

 

Now that that’s done, I’d like to address another trade of similar fashion recently executed in the VHLM. I’m sure you know which trade I’m talking about. Philly received a first round pick in exchange for a second rounder and a seventh rounder from Halifax. Which of course is totally bonkers. How it didn’t get vetoed by the commishes for its sheer one sidedness, I have no idea. But I think it for sure relates back to the Jeremy D trade that almost went through. And it leads me perfectly to my next point.

 

The VHLM is broken!!!!!!

 

The developmental league title it has plastered on it is crap. It is, as ever clearly shown by the two trades I have listed above, by no means a league focused on developing new members and ushering recreates into new careers. It is a league focused on winning at all costs, which apparently include robbing and striking down opposing teams. While I don’t by any means want a league where everyone is super nice and everyone wins every season, it’s a brutal bloodbath where it is technically supposed to be the near exact opposite. And I know this point has been repeated and stressed so many times, nevertheless I believe I can shred some light on what is actually happening on the management side of the argument. 

 

I mentioned earlier how my style of management is kind of unpopular among my fellow M GMs, but if I’m being honest, it’s a lot more unpopular than I thought, no doubt about it. As a GM in the lowest-tier, most developmentally-focused league in the VHL, my number 1 goal is to present new players with the tools they need to become a successful VHL member and player, and guide them along their way. My number 2 goal is to make my squad an enticing opportunity for recreating players to come and spend their short time in the juniors, where they can help out with goal number 1 and goal number 3. Goal number 3 is to field a playoff-competitive team every season, to give new players a sense of winning, to lure recreates, and to boost locker room morale. That usually means never going ‘all-in’ on one particular season where we have a good shot at winning it all. My 4th goal, my final and least important goal, is to win championships. While I do attest to the fact that winning cups is a huge morale boost, and everyone wants to win, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice any of the first 3 goals to achieve it. That is my pledge as general manager of the Miami Marauders. And I GUARANTEE you, the reader, that the majority of the general managers in the VHLM do not share my priorities. I believe the league would work much better if more teams adopted my priorities, but alas, I don’t have a ton of respect in the league yet and, laughing my fucking ass off, my skill and experience as a GM was just dragged through the dirt by one of my supposed colleagues.

 

If this is the culture we’ve built, the system that we’ve embraced in order to succeed at the demise of others at all costs, we have to recognize that some of the things that are being practiced here could have negative impacts on the members that this league is designed to be helping. I know that I might be overreacting and this is all just me ranting about nothing and I’ll regret it all tomorrow morning, but some version of this needed to be put out there. If there’s something happening in internet simulation hockey that is making me this worked up, something is probably off. My proposed solution to all this is very straightforward. All GMs of the VHLM, I’m talking to y’all. Can we just not fleece each other? Is it that hard to ask? We may not all be best friends, but can we have some empathy for the other guy? The most you will ever get out of this is one hell of a lot less than what someone else can negatively take out of this. There are a lot of possible parts of this article that could get a lot of heat, and I desperately hope this isn’t one of them. 

 

 

I’d like to end things off by saying that I don’t want to start a war. I’m posting this knowing how little attention it’s going to get compared to what I’m imagining, but I’m still going to put this here. You started it. You very publicly shamed and dissed me. I don’t appreciate that. You know who you are. Please refrain from doing so again.

 

2095 words

Claiming for 4 weeks

Happy New Year everyone

[jhatty8 663]

happy new years ledge, GL with school in 2022

[nurx 914]

Bug read but worth while read. Everything I just read is what I am feeling. I love being in the VHL, but if we want the VHLM to be a development league the way this works is terrible. For this reason I don't really want to deal with the VHLM. I loved my time in Miami and if I do not find a position outside of Miami I will stay in Miami, but the actions and trade offers we have received are ridiculous. I talked about this in my most recent podcast.

 

Here is another example of how bad VHLM trades are.

 

Unnamed team receives 

Jeremy D (Capped C)

Bo Johansson (Shindigs player)

 

Miami Receives

S82 3rd

S83 3rd

 

This trade is arguably closer but in reality  if you are going to complain that we are bad at trading you have to offer something better to start negotiations. I truly believe that Jeremy D is worth at least a 2nd just by himself or even a 1st. This team would also refuse any trade that didn't involve Bo Johansson despite the fact that we did not want to trade Johansson because we really wanted him in our locker room.

 

I want to help advance the league, but until the M is fixed and GMs stop caring about trophies more than they do player development we will continue to have this problem. 

[Spartan 4,375]

There used to be some sort of mutual understanding of trade value of capped players back when I was an M GM. Apparently that's gone away, and capped players are simply worth pennies. You can't want to be competitive and want capped players, while in the same breath saying capped players have no value because they'll be gone after the season. Someone needs to step in and figure this shit out because it looks horrendous. 

 

I also can't believe certain people have the gall to go onto a podcast and explicitly shit talk their co-workers. And that's what you are in the VHLM, co-workers, because your win-loss record as a GM doesn't mean jack shit. You're all working together to give the players in the league the best experience possible, but it seems like all anyone cares about now is their own success. I would have thought the people who recorded that podcast would have known a bit better than to straight up flame VHLM GM's. Did you really think that was a good idea? 

[nurx 914]

29 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Did you really think that was a good idea? 

The reality is that GMs and AGMs in the VHLM are some of the most important people in the league. Someone who is also recruitment staff should understand this but I guess winning records mean more. I will gladly continue to sit at the bottom on the league with an active LR with people who enjoy talking to each other than an inactive locker room and winning the cup.

[Enorama 2,035]

Remove draft pick trading

[Dom 1,445]

I found the first ranking podcast funny because it was just eagle messing around but I feel like ranking trade abilities is not taking those rankings as a joke anymore and I’m also not a fan of this.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Dom

[Beaviss 4,957]

[Moon 575]

I wonder who this is about . This is ridiculous. This was in no way shape or form supposed to dis anyone this was all just in my interactions with y'all. Heck I gave @N0HBDY a F-... Ill leave it at that.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Moon

[N0HBDY 1,115]

Just now, Moon said:

I wonder who this is abou

I have absolutely noooooooo clue??

[nurx 914]

Kinda went into a podcast talked shit about most of the GMs. If you are going to say that the trades are bad trades and say that he is bad at trading you should expect some sort of clap back when from our perspective the trades were awful.

 

[nurx 914]

I am not defending attacking people directly but in reality nobody should be going onto a podcast to attack people. Also as GMs in the M your main goal should be to help new members before anything else and when you see focused on winning that won't happen. I honestly think limiting teams in the M to 5 traded per season would be a fantastic addition to the league.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

the recruitment team member talking shit about trading abilities of vhlm gms 

 

[Ledge 1,131]

Claim 2/4

[Ledge 1,131]

Claim 3/4

[Ledge 1,131]

Claim 4/4 

 

Oh no I have do a PT again