Why I Don't Like the Leafs

Like most Flames fans, I’m eager to see the hometown heroes play the Leafs in Toronto tonight. These games are always special for me, because I loathe the opposition so much.  I wouldn’t say I hate the Toronto Maple Leafs, but that’s because hate isn’t a strong enough word. I dislike them so much, German is likely the only language with strong enough words to properly express my feelings. But then I got thinking this morning about why I despise them so much.

My distaste for the Edmonton Oilers is more natural. The two cities enjoy a healthy rivalry that spans so many different levels, be it politically, socially, economically or hockey…ily, and it only makes sense not to like the people, the city or their teams. And as far as the Vancouver Canucks are concerned, it comes from recent on-ice battles. While the Oilers have been languishing in last place for several years, the Flames and Canucks have been battling each other for top spot in their division, they’ve met each other in the playoffs, and of course there is a bit of a geographical connection, being only an hour’s flight away. But when it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs, none of these situations exist. They’re thousands of miles apart, they rarely play each other, and they’ve never met in the post season. So where does this ‘abneigung’ come from?

I hate some of the trades the Flames have done with Toronto. The Doug Gilmour trade in 1991 still stings for me as it does for all Flames fans. Who can forget sending one of the best players in the league to Toronto for Gary Leeman, he who scored a whopping 11 goals in 59 games over two seasons in Calgary (Gilmour meanwhile scored over 100 goals with the Leafs, and led them to the Conference Finals in 1993)? There’s also the Phaneuf trade from last season, which I’m still trying to figure out. Calgary sent one of its few assets to the ‘Centre of the Universe’ for Hagman and Stajan; two players who could at best be described as ‘serviceable’ (a term that means ‘not very good’). Is any of this enough to breed such hatred though? Probably not. In fact, my bitterness about either of those trades is probably more of a result of my feeling about the Leafs, rather than a cause of it.

I hate how the media covers the Maple Leafs. Watching TSN or Hockey Night in Canada, it seems as if they are the only team in the country. I hated growing up listening to CBC announcers fighting to avoid saying ‘we’ when referring to the Leafs. I hate that if a Leafs-Panthers game goes into overtime, I’ll miss the start of the Flames-Canucks game. I hate that in game five of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, ‘Coach’s Corner’ talked about the Leafs and their chances in 2005.

I hate the Air Canada Centre. Any arenas that sells beer for $14, has a concession stand named after its GM, and has obstructed view seats even though it was built in 1999, sucks. The worst part of course is that its’ rafters are filled with Leafs banners and it’s seats with Leafs fans. And there, I believe, is where it all starts.

I hate Maple Leafs fans. Are there any more annoying fans in sport? (There are, they’re called Canucks fans, but that’s another blog). Maple Leafs fans are a combination of blind loyalty, unfounded optimism and arrogance, which quite frankly, drives me bananas. They’re arrogant like Yankees fans, but they don’t win any championships. They combine loyalty and losing like Cubs fans, but they aren’t ‘lovable’.  They're forever hopeful, thinking that every win is the start of some unprecedented streak.  "Toronto won tonight, start planning the parade."  I was in Toronto in October, when the Leafs were sitting at 4-0-0.  Hearing these fans talk about them then, you'd think they were talking about the 1984 Oilers.  Their optimism doesn't ever seem to be based on any kind of reality.  Perhaps the worst part though, is ‘Leafs Nation’ seems to be continuously growing. Usually a fan base only experiences real growth after winning a championship. Fifteen years ago, there weren’t any Patriots fans outside of Boston, but after a few Super Bowls they seem to grow on trees (I met a guy who described himself as a ‘huge’ Pats fan once, and later that night he asked aloud what position Belichick played). But there are more and more Leafs fans each year, despite not having had even a sniff of a championship in over forty years. Why do people keep jumping on this bandwagon!?

I hate that Leafs fans are everywhere. When the team comes to Calgary, the Dome fills up with these pests, sporting their blue or white jerseys, with names like Sundin, Clark and Domi. Hell, even if the Leafs aren’t in town, there are always two or three numbskulls walking around in Leafs jerseys. Talking to these fans, I’ve learned that most of them were not born in Toronto, many have never seen a game in Toronto, and some haven’t even been to Toronto. I can sort of understand if you’re over fifty years old, and the Leafs were ‘your’ team before the Flames came to town, but when you’re twenty-four and cheering for the Leafs, come on.

But, having said all of that, perhaps I’m just a little jealous of their loyal fan base, their media attention and their grammatically incorrect nickname. Of course I’d never admit that.

-TheRev

twitter.com/TheRevBW

thesportsroundup@gmail.com

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