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rfmcdonaldI live in Leafs Nation. That's not only the name of the official and heavily promoted Toronto Maple Leafs' fan club; that's the name Toronto has gotten by proxy.
Toronto has traditionally been devoted to the Toronto Maple Leafs. No matter that they haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967, or been in the playoffs since I moved to Toronto back in 2004, or are really any good. They're the Leafs Nation team, and obeisance is due them.
(That sort of attitude upsets me. You've noticed I'm not a hockey fan?)
Obeisance was due, at least; faced with being shut out of the playoffs, early last month the team management made the surprising move of apologizing to the fans for their failure. Over at Torontoist, Jamie Bradburn has an extended two-part essay (1, 2) examining the sad downwards trajectory of the team. For the first two decades of the team's relative failure, its faults could be blamed on one man.
But after Ballard died, things never got better. The most recent iteration of hopes for a revival has been dimmed.
Can there actually be significant change? Will the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup in my lifetime, or at least make it to the playoffs? Stay tuned.
Toronto has traditionally been devoted to the Toronto Maple Leafs. No matter that they haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967, or been in the playoffs since I moved to Toronto back in 2004, or are really any good. They're the Leafs Nation team, and obeisance is due them.
(That sort of attitude upsets me. You've noticed I'm not a hockey fan?)
Obeisance was due, at least; faced with being shut out of the playoffs, early last month the team management made the surprising move of apologizing to the fans for their failure. Over at Torontoist, Jamie Bradburn has an extended two-part essay (1, 2) examining the sad downwards trajectory of the team. For the first two decades of the team's relative failure, its faults could be blamed on one man.
Until his death in April 1990, many of the franchise’s faults could be blamed on one man: Harold Edwin Ballard. From the time he entered the Leafs’ ownership as part of a triumvirate with John Bassett and Stafford Smythe in 1961, Ballard seemed driven less by a love of the game and more by greed and a near-pathological need for attention. The same year the Leafs won their last cup, that greed appeared to drive the decision to sell their top farm teams in Rochester, NY and Victoria, BC for just under $1 million. The move robbed the Leafs of 45 players, many of NHL calibre. The combination of the sale, the expansion draft to stock six new teams in 1967, changes to player development rules that denied the team the use of the junior Marlboros as a feeder team, and aging stars thinned the Leafs’ depth pool, which led to a last place finish during the 1969/70 season.
But after Ballard died, things never got better. The most recent iteration of hopes for a revival has been dimmed.
On paper, the tandem of general manager Brian Burke and coach Ron Wilson appeared to be a swell idea. Burke blew into town full of bluster, speaking of truculence and then demonstrating his intentions by challenging other GMs to fights in barns. And yet, the product he put on the ice in 2009, his first full season, finished dead last in the conference. The acquisitions of defenseman Dion Phaneuf and forward Phil Kessel have proven to be worthwhile, but one wonders if the cost may have been too steep. Signs of incremental improvement in 2011 did not carry over to this past season, leading to a mob mentality that forced Burke’s hand in dismissing Wilson.
And now, here we are, not a taste of the playoffs since 2004, wondering once again how to right the ship. Ask any fan in the city and they will have a detailed plan for success—sturdier defense, a veteran goalie, speedy Europeans, or bruising fighters that will teach opponents a lesson. Toronto is teeming with folks that are, above all else, tired of losing. They are demanding not the apologies that they have been given, but only an immediate honest-to-goodness winner. If that seems unreasonable or irrational, such is the nature of these things. Fair or unfair, rabid fan-bases don’t much care how you do it, just that it gets done.
Can there actually be significant change? Will the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup in my lifetime, or at least make it to the playoffs? Stay tuned.
