TO Sports Fan: April 2012

April 10, 2012

Tim and Sid: Not Cut Anymore, on Fan 590

Tim is smiling like he just ate the last cookie

After a brief feeling out period, it certainly seems as if Tim and Sid have hit their stride on the Fan 590. They have gotten away from athlete interviews with guys who have nothing interesting to say (so...hockey players), and have established a good rotation of guests who "get" what they are doing, and understand that the show isn't just about spouting off stats and 'analysis' that any dummy with an internet connection could provide. In the way that Tony Kornheiser always likes to refer to his show as not a sports program, but an adult talk radio program (but with an obviously strong emphasis on sports nonetheless), Tim and Sid have managed to create sort of a "young adult" talk radio program, with a heavy emphasis on sports. The music, movies, weather, politics talk, it all contributes to the vibe of the show, and I think to the connection it creates with the listeners. Rapid Fire has also improved a ton since the first few weeks. I wonder if they ever caught flack for the rapid fire sound effects from people who might think it glorifies guns.

It seems Tim and Sid have made a successful transition from podcast to radio. Which really, they ought to have anyway. I mean you’re still just yak, yak, yaking, fuck.

Links and Twitter handles: @FadooBobcat @FriedgeHNIC, @DamoSpin, @JeffMarek, @michaelgrange @GloBlair @GordStellick @darrenrovell @Paul__Jones @Wilnerness590 @keithlaw @sportsnetsoccer @bgnewf @LukeWileman @Nigel_Reed @TimSidizen @TSNProducerTim @DShulman_ESPN @gareth_wheeler @_Joe_Ross @tsnotoole @Sid_Seixeiro @JayOnrait @GloBlair @tsnjamesduthie @dshoalts @GregSansone @tim_micallef @jamessharman @bruce_arthur @DarrenDreger Listen Here - http://www.fan590.com/onair/primetimesports/

Why are Toronto Sports fans so angry?

With all the idiocy on display at the Rogers Centre on Monday night, one might characterize it as a sense of entitlement; a sense of being entitled to get drunk and obnoxious. I wonder though, if it isn't more about a sense of resentment. There is a sense of resentment in this city that draws fans to games that don't actually feel connected (of the irony!) to their teams. Professional sports in Toronto isn't just big business, it is big, EXCLUSIVE, business. The people in control aren't just intent on growing their own profits; they are intent on cutting off anybody else that might also stand to gain. The Southern Ontario/GTA market is GIGANTIC, and just like our transit infrastructure, it is criminally underserviced. Especially when it comes to the numbers 1, 2 and 3 sports in this area, hockey, hockey, and hockey.

The faces of pro sports in Toronto

Not only are the Maple Leafs perennially terrible, but their resistance to a second NHL team in the GTA has single handedly prevented more GTA residents from seeing NHL hockey than they could ever possibly provide. The sports fans of Toronto, who almost all love hockey, don't get to create a connection to the team because the closest they get to interacting with the franchise is their TV bill with Leafs TV on it.

The environment among Toronto sports fans right now is one of pure resentment and cynicism. The fans don't expect to be rewarded for their support, so they behave as such. The fans don't expect to win, so they behave as such. The fans simply don't care. The crowds of young, obnoxious, drunk idiots are, to use internet speak, saying "IDGAF". They aren't invested in their teams because the teams are just a business. They're just a brand, like Sobey's and Metro. They are just there to get drunk and give a big middle finger to "the man". Toronto's sports teams have come to embody everything that is wrong with corporate America. They are "the man"; faceless entities taking our money and providing nothing in return.

This is what happens when all of your sports franchises (but especially your most important one) are run by a faceless, earless, voiceless entity. Larry Tannenbaum can apologize all he wants but everybody in Toronto knows that the Leafs are going to be run by yet another unaccountable consortium.

It’s like a sense of pure nihilistic cynicism has set in with a fairly significant portion of Toronto sports fans; enough so that these incidents keep happening anyway. And not that I am about to start spouting off and throwing my beer at people in the Rogers Centre crowd, but I understand where it is coming from.

Face palming his own team...

I have been a died in the wool Maple Leafs fans since I was old enough to understand sports. And to me, choosing a pro sports team to root for has never been about rationalism. It has been about where you were born, where you were from. That is the essence of sports in my view. If everyone just cheered for the best team than sports wouldn't be all that much fun. But even I am moving away from the Leafs. And it isn't necessarily a rational choice. It is just a slow emotional drift. I don't detach easily, and I have never seriously considered switching NHL allegiances, but I have just become so disillusioned not just with the poor play of the Leafs, but with the fact that MLSE are limiting the supply of NHL hockey to a starving consumer base.

Nobody has seriously questioned the validity of a second GTA team for nearly two decades now, and yet we still don't have one. Instead we are stuck with perennial losers who price out more and more GTA residents every season. It is so crass and so calculated that it doesn't seem logical for me to continue supporting the team. I can drive to Ottawa, Detroit or Buffalo for games any time I like. It just seems stupid on my part to continue giving money (or even just the intangible "support") to an organization that clearly does not care if I am a fan.

It has come to the point where I (and I bet a lot of other Leaf fans) have to ask myself, "why am I a fan of this organization?” There are other organizations that are working harder to give back to their fans, and are more successful at creating a winning team. Why shouldn’t I support Buffalo? They may not win it all, but they won’t treat me like a wallet that needs vacuuming.

With all that said, I probably haven't been to a Leafs game in five years. $80 for a nosebleed seat to see the worst organization in hockey? I don't think "no thank you", is a strong enough response. $80 to get in the door to see the Leafs? Go fuck yourself.

April 01, 2012

The Pitiful State of the Toronto Maple Leafs

The embarrassing state of the franchise rests in large part on two judgements made by Brian Burke in his first summer on the job. The fallout from which has created a chain of events hurting the team more and more each time.

Poster boys

Brian Burke’s first mistake was thinking that he had anything other than a bad hockey team. His second mistake was thinking that Phil Kessel was anything more than a complimentary player. From those decisions onward, the team’s fate was all but sealed.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were a team without an identity, and Brian Burke sold the farm to acquire a player who barely had one himself. Phil Kessel is a terrific goal scorer, but he was never going to lead the Maple Leafs. It has always been pretty clear by his demeanor that he was never really going to lead any team. He is the kind of player that makes a good team great and a great team damn near unstoppable. But he is not the kind of player who you can build a winning identity around.

All this left the team with the horribly clichéd “leadership vacuum”. Kessel brought no identity, and the likes of Bozak, Stajan or Komisarek would never be taken seriously as a captain, so Burke went out and traded garbage for garbage. He got a big shiny piece of garbage from Calgary in exchange bunch of gungy little pieces of garbage.

Is it so fucking hard to tie?!

Phanuef came in and did the first thing every jackass does when they want people to think they’re a “leader”; get loud. Enough jokes have been made about Burke’s dressing room music comment, but suffice to say, that sounds more pushy and dickish than “leaderly” to me.

So Dion came in, made a lot of noise, had a “brand name” from the WJHC and the 2004 Cup run, fast forward to the summer and Brian Burke uses the opportunity to fill that leadership void. Burke is brash and somewhat bullyish himself, so why wouldn’t he identify with Phanuef?

I was skeptical of the decision, but I realized it was definitely a horrible mistake at the press conference for his captaincy.

I know public speaking can be difficult, but this is a person who is clearly reading that piece of paper for the first time. I might think a person who understands and appreciates the meaning and value of that press conference, of the Leafs' captaincy, might have attempted to read over, if not full on practice at least the opening of their statement! This is not the mark of an intelligent, thoughtful man. A man who cares about his word, his good name, and his career doesn't just show up to something this important and stare down at the podium reading from a piece of paper.

Now I am not saying that to be a good hockey player you need to be articulate or intelligent but they're a great asset to a good leader. There is a reason people admire (or maybe I should say 'admired') Brian Burke as a GM, and it isn't because of results. It is because of the confidence and gravitas with which he carries himself. His personality and demeanor in press conferences, in any public speaking role, is the reason why he is where he is today.

Bottom line is, when Phanuef is not on the absolute top of his game (which is usually) and "leading by example" he brings nothing to the table. Players like that are not suitable captains.

Leader of men.

So now the Leafs are stuck with a defensively incompetent captain with an albatross contract who, if you believe reports, is not all that popular in the dressing room; a star player who may not be all that inclined to re-sign; and zero goaltending depth. The few nice moves Burke has made can’t even begin to compensate for the colossal shit storm he kicked up during his first summer as GM.

Not that I trust him to change direction and start doing things properly at this point anyway, but hopefully all this embarrassment has taught him something. If he can spend the next couple seasons hoarding draft picks, he just might be able to set this franchise up for a nice run just in time for him to fail upwards and name his own successor as GM.

Though what I more genuinely expect to see is him double down on this "quick rebuild" nonsense and set the franchise up for another 3 or 4 years of purgatory before he gets fired and gets a job at TSN where he can rant about league issues at will without hurting the Maple Leaf franchise.

This is why Leaf fans have such great senses of humour.

Long Time, No Post

Well, I have not posted for a couple months and I bet there are millions of loyal readers dying to know what happened. I moved (basically just to the other side of Toronto), so I didn't have time to sit down and write anything. Now that I have, I will vent about the Maple Leafs, and be done with them for another years. Useless shitheads haven't made the playoffs since I was in high school.....

Funny, I haven't seen this part of London yet.

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