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Michiganonymous · 02-25-2022, 11:46 AM

In light of current events, I have come to the conclusion that Vasily Arkhangelsky must retire immediately. I had a lot of fun creating this silly cartoonish Russian character and coming up with traits like his exuberant love of beets, his obsession with big hits, and his broken English. I hope that other members of the league found him as entertaining as I did.

However, I have found that I cannot segregate the fictional character of Vasily in my mind from the very real actions of Russia and its military. I cried at my desk at work today when I read about the 13 heroic Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island who defiantly refused to surrender, knowing full well they were about to be murdered via naval bombardment. And their story is not unique. At this very moment, Russian planes and artillery are bombarding Ukrainian cities and Russian soldiers are murdering Ukrainian citizens. As a husband and a father, my heart especially breaks for the children affected by this. For the children whose innocence has been shattered as they flee for their lives. For the children who will never see their fathers again. I'm angry. I'm sad. I'm scared. I'm ashamed at how quickly I take for granted the enormous privilege that it is not to go to sleep fearing for my family's lives, and not to wake up in a war zone. And I feel so helpless in the face of it all, frustrated that the sphere of things I can control is so small and insignificant in comparison to all the brokenness of the world.

I realized that immediate retirement was simply the only morally correct thing I could do with this player. To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine and make light of the suffering of its people. I don't know if the post-retirement "zombie season" is a thing here like it is in the ISFL; but if so, please opt this player out. Vasily must never play another game in the SHL. I don't like to put my teams in a difficult spot, but I trust that management in Anaheim and Manhattan will understand why I have to do this.

This is some heavy stuff. This is probably a tough announcement to read. It was tough to write. But I didn't want to hold back anything that's been on my heart. Be good to each other. Hug your loved ones. Stand with Ukraine.

In closing, let me do my part to immortalize the final words of the brave defenders of Snake Island: "Russian warship, go fuck yourselves."

***brickwall35*** · 02-25-2022, 12:08 PM

Says a lot about your character to do this! And just so you know, since you're retiring now, the player won't participate next season.

Looking forward to your next player!

RainDelay · 02-25-2022, 01:15 PM

Respect. Looking forward to your recreate! Hope you recapture the same energy and entertainment

***boom*** · 02-25-2022, 01:15 PM

Much love to you. This is just a game at the end of the day. Looking forward to the recreate!

***aleks*** · 02-25-2022, 03:07 PM

I wish I was half the person you are bro

sash · 02-25-2022, 03:12 PM

im sorry this comes off as really xenophobic lol, and really performative

"I realized that immediate retirement was simply the only morally correct thing I could do with this player. To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine and make light of the suffering of its people"

why are you demonizing being russian???? lmfao. not all russians align with putin. being a russian does not make you anti ukranian. this is really weird, im sorry. i really couldnt care less about this post, but saying that "being a character thats Russian is disrespectful towards Ukraine" is really, really fucking odd. just implies that being russian==prowar==anti ukraine, which is simply NOT TRUE.

cut the performative bullshit

***aleks*** · 02-25-2022, 03:16 PM

02-25-2022, 03:12 PMSamee Wrote: im sorry this comes off as really xenophobic lol, and really performative

"I realized that immediate retirement was simply the only morally correct thing I could do with this player. To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine and make light of the suffering of its people"

why are you demonizing being russian???? lmfao. not all russians align with putin. being a russian does not make you anti ukranian. this is really weird, im sorry. i really couldnt care less about this post, but saying that "being a character thats Russian is disrespectful towards Ukraine" is really, really fucking odd. just implies that being russian==prowar==anti ukraine, which is simply NOT TRUE.

cut the performative bullshit

Maybe you should retire your Russian player to stand with ukraine

***boom*** · 02-25-2022, 03:21 PM

02-25-2022, 03:12 PMSamee Wrote: im sorry this comes off as really xenophobic lol, and really performative

"I realized that immediate retirement was simply the only morally correct thing I could do with this player. To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine and make light of the suffering of its people"

why are you demonizing being russian???? lmfao. not all russians align with putin. being a russian does not make you anti ukranian. this is really weird, im sorry. i really couldnt care less about this post, but saying that "being a character thats Russian is disrespectful towards Ukraine" is really, really fucking odd. just implies that being russian==prowar==anti ukraine, which is simply NOT TRUE.

cut the performative bullshit

It's not just the name/nationality in this case, but if you actually spent more than three seconds looking into this you'd see that Vasily was characterized as very aggressively Russian with one previous post referring to striking people down. I totally get why someone would be uncomfortable keeping that character up, and it's not like a complete in-universe personality swap is easy to write.

If people want to keep their Russian players, I have no issue with that if they're not hurting anyone else. This was just Michiganonymous' decision and I get why he did it.

Loco · 02-25-2022, 03:22 PM

thank you for your service ✊

DELIRIVM · 02-25-2022, 03:23 PM

As fucked as this situation is we have to remember that many many Russian people do not want this war. And like samee said, it’s really xenophobic.

I don’t want people to hate me because of decisions of my president or leader. So don’t do the same to others.

There is nothing wrong with being Russian. There is everything wrong with being a Putin bootlicker or sycophant.
If you really want to distance yourself from everything Russian — pay for a name change.

sash · 02-25-2022, 03:26 PM

02-25-2022, 03:21 PMboom Wrote:
02-25-2022, 03:12 PMSamee Wrote: im sorry this comes off as really xenophobic lol, and really performative

"I realized that immediate retirement was simply the only morally correct thing I could do with this player. To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine and make light of the suffering of its people"

why are you demonizing being russian???? lmfao. not all russians align with putin. being a russian does not make you anti ukranian. this is really weird, im sorry. i really couldnt care less about this post, but saying that "being a character thats Russian is disrespectful towards Ukraine" is really, really fucking odd. just implies that being russian==prowar==anti ukraine, which is simply NOT TRUE.

cut the performative bullshit
It's not just the name/nationality in this case, but if you actually spent more than three seconds looking into this you'd see that Vasily was characterized as very aggressively Russian with one previous post referring to striking people down. I totally get why someone would be uncomfortable keeping that character up, and it's not like a complete in-universe personality swap is easy to write.

If people want to keep their Russian players, I have no issue with that if they're not hurting anyone else. This was just Michiganonymous' decision and I get why he did it.

proudly russia=/=proudly a putin supporter!!!!!!!!!! its xenophobic. if the dude really wanted to not come off as pro putin, dont have to put this whole performance on and say shit like "To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine", which paints ALL russians in a negative light.

just make some sort of fucking media post that says "i dont support going to war with ukraine lol", not demonizing all russians like this.

***aleks*** · 02-25-2022, 03:28 PM

Legitimately it just comes off as xenophobic

sash · 02-25-2022, 03:29 PM

no matter how "aggressively or proudly russian" a person is, that does NOT make them pro putin. pro war. anti ukraine. this post implies that the opposite.

***boom*** · 02-25-2022, 03:29 PM

02-25-2022, 03:26 PMSamee Wrote:
02-25-2022, 03:21 PMboom Wrote: It's not just the name/nationality in this case, but if you actually spent more than three seconds looking into this you'd see that Vasily was characterized as very aggressively Russian with one previous post referring to striking people down. I totally get why someone would be uncomfortable keeping that character up, and it's not like a complete in-universe personality swap is easy to write.

If people want to keep their Russian players, I have no issue with that if they're not hurting anyone else. This was just Michiganonymous' decision and I get why he did it.
proudly russia=/=proudly a putin supporter!!!!!!!!!! its xenophobic. if the dude really wanted to not come off as pro putin, dont have to put this whole performance on and say shit like "To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine", which paints ALL russians in a negative light.

just make some sort of fucking media post that says "i dont support going to war with ukraine lol", not demonizing all russians like this.

I don’t see where Mich is demonizing all Russians. He’s just not comfortable playing this character anymore and that’s his call.

sash · 02-25-2022, 03:30 PM

02-25-2022, 03:29 PMboom Wrote:
02-25-2022, 03:26 PMSamee Wrote: proudly russia=/=proudly a putin supporter!!!!!!!!!! its xenophobic. if the dude really wanted to not come off as pro putin, dont have to put this whole performance on and say shit like "To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine", which paints ALL russians in a negative light.

just make some sort of fucking media post that says "i dont support going to war with ukraine lol", not demonizing all russians like this.
I don’t see where Mich is demonizing all Russians. He’s just not comfortable playing this character anymore and that’s his call.

" To continue portraying a character as loudly and proudly Russian as Vasily would be disrespectful to the nation of Ukraine and make light of the suffering of its people."

Implication that being russian is disrespectful to Ukraine,

thats xenophobic

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