End of the Year Sentiments

So the curtain comes down on the 2009-2010 Maple Leafs season. I know many readers are upset because we as Leaf fans must once again adopt and follow an entirely different team as a sort of playoff hockey avatar in order to fully enjoy the postseason (I find the only way to really get in to it is to pick a surrogate rooting interest). The angst is ramped up in Leaf land as well because the team finished so low in the standings, yet come draft day the guys clustered around our table won’t be studying anything more intently than the lunch menu, because we won’t likely have a pick for the first day and a half (unless Burkie has a miracle relating to a certain Czech defenceman tucked up inside those French cuffs).

Alec mentioned to me that MLHS would be doing a kind of “end of year” thing today, so I thought it would be appropriate to chip in a couple of words; that’s what this post is about. As for the series of posts I have been sporadically writing, the ones about the Good News in Maple Leaf Blue and White, if I can convince real life not to get too terribly much in the way over the next couple of months, I’ll continue writing those until I feel they’ve reached a logical end, and then I’ll find something else to write about.

As for my end of year thoughts, I know from many years of experience as a Leafs fan that the hardest part of this for all of you out there is going to come in the next couple of weeks as you deal with the idiots in your life who want to give you grief about being a Leafs fan in the first place. No matter how old you are or where you spend your time during the week, you’re going to run into these tools; maybe it’s the loudmouth Habs fan on your floor in residence at university, or the Daniel Alfredsson fan in the office down the hall at work, or the kid in your gym class who just hasn’t shut up about Sidney Crosby and the Penguins since the Olympics. Whatever the particulars and wherever you are in your life, there’s going to be somebody who wants to bring you misery and gloom and basically call you an asshole because the team you love missed the playoffs again. Truth be told, there’s often a lot of so-called Leaf fans who want to participate in this type of crap too. There’s a guy where I work who claims to be a Leaf fan but who has been on so many self-imposed “boycotts” and anti-Leaf tirades over the last ten years that I wonder who he’s really kidding.

Anyway, my point is that there are tough times ahead for you, and I know that you’re not in much of a frame of mind to deal with these idiots. Here’s some survival equipment for you. When one of these loudmouth purveyors of misery and gloom approaches, here’s what to do:

  • Kick them in the junk, that hurts.
  • In case your tormentor is a fellow “Leaf fan”, do us all a favour and don’t even try to talk them out of the misery. Suggest strongly that they switch allegiances, or better yet, follow tennis.
  • Remember back to the way you felt about this team in October and November; you know, the team that opened the season oh and a bajillion, featuring the Finnish Obscenity in net and Jason Blake boring a hole in each and every NHL goalie’s midsection one thirty foot shot at a time. Really focus on the shitshow of a team that managed to get Luke Schenn playing like the second coming of Jeff Ware, or worse, sitting in the press box watching. Got it? Okay, now think about the way you feel about this team in the last couple of months, the team that’s been led by the physical presence of Dion Phaneuf, has featured the coming out of Nikolai Kulemin as the real deal full on complete package NHL’er and has given us a peek at some possible real talent in the person of Tyler Bozak. Add in the improved play of Jonas Gustavsson and Carl Gunnarsson, remember that I haven’t even mentioned Phil Kessel or Nazem Kadri yet, and that feeling of relief that just came over you? That feeling is the measurement of the team’s progress this year. Remember that word: progress.
  • In case your tormentor is an Ottawa supporter, inquire earnestly after the performance of Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire, feign surprise when the Sens fan expresses some doubt about their performance, then “console” the poor fool by sagely observing that, if their goaltending is bad, at least they’ll be able to rely on Dany Heatley to get some goals.
  • If I told you at the beginning of the season that I could wave a magic wand and that by year’s end the Leaf team would feature Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel, but our first round draft picks over the next two years would never become Leafs, you would have taken that deal. You would have said, “okay, so we screw up our 1st round picks for two years, I am a Leaf fan and I was fairly certain that this was going to happen anyway, at least this way we get Phaneuf and Kessel”. That’s essentially the position the team is in right now; we have those two guys, and we know we’re not getting help through top-round picks in the next two years.
  • On second thought, maybe another kick in the junk wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
  • In case your tormentor is a Habs fan, just smile and ask if you can make an appointment to speak with them again in approximately four games.
  • You have an excellent reason to hate Taylor Hall and/or Tyler Seguin for the entirety of their NHL careers – at least until one or the other joins the Leafs someday.

All kidding aside, it’s been a tough year, and we know that there are tough times ahead still. Stick with your team, even when the going is tough. That’s what a fan does. Remember this when the team starts to win again and the bandwagon fans begin to return.

On a personal note, I want to thank Alec and the team of contributors here at MLHS for welcoming me aboard around here; I especially want to thank them all for not continuously mocking me for producing so very little. I am the Rickard Wallin of this team, of this there can be no doubt (except that I hope my chances of sticking with the club are a bit better than his). Thanks to all the readers here at MLHS too, it’s been my pleasure putting up the occasional empty-netter for you to make of what you will.

Here’s to brighter times ahead, and let’s all get ready to cheer for….whoever is playing the Canadiens.

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  • Mike

    You know, since this site went up, I realized that I don’t listen too often to the radio anymore for Leafs news….I just come here!

    Keep up the great work, MLHS!

  • dawriter67

    I would also make the comments link bigger – the first thing I wanted to do was click on the twitter which I don’t use so I think it would be helpful if the comments link was a button of different color next to the twitter but same size…

  • rockydundas

    Sorry for the repeat post. I guess I’m getting used to it too! LOL!!!

  • KGL24

    TheBreakawayKing wrote:

    -Sheldon Souray, with a big contract with two years left, wants out.
    -We need to trade Kaberle, but are reluctant because we don’t have a replacement.
    -We are willing to take on salary:
    To Edm:
    T. Kaberle
    M. Grabovski
    To Tor:
    S. Souray
    D. Penner.
    M. Paajarvi-Svensson

    I doubt Edmonton would give up quite that much.

    If you subtract MPS (so they’ll give us Souray+Penner) from that deal you’ll perhaps have something much more realistic.

  • http://cartika.com Andrew R

    Bob is your uncle wrote:

    @ Andrew R a.k.a. Howard B jr. a.k.a. Voice of Doom(or V.D.):
    Isn’t it funny how you recognized yourself, from just these words.
    “there’s going to be somebody who wants to bring you misery and gloom”
    I actually did look up the word fan, before posting, but decided to use a little license to make a point.
    But thanks for your petty explanation.
    Hold on there, I’ll save you the trouble.
    Petty: Little; trifling; inconsiderable; unimportant; also, inferior; subordinate; as, a petty fault; petty complaints; a petty prince. –Denham. [1913 Webster]
    Syn: Little; diminutive; inconsiderable; inferior; trifling; trivial; unimportant; frivolous. [1913 Webster]
    176 Thesaurus words for “petty”: Mickey Mouse, abject, abominable, arrant, atrocious, authoritarian, base, beggarly, bickering, bigot, bigoted, borne, captious, casual, caviling, cheap, cheesy, choplogic, close, closed, constricted, contemptible, cramped, creedbound, crummy, cursory, deaf, deaf to reason, debased, deficient, degraded, depraved, depthless, despicable, dinky, dirty, disgusting, equivocatory, evasive, execrable, fanatical, few, flagrant, footling, foul, fulsome, grave, gross, grudging, hairsplitting, hedging, heinous, hidebound, illiberal, imperfect, impertinent, inadequate, incompetent, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsiderable, inessential, inferior, insignificant, insufficient, insular, irrelevant, jerkwater, light, little, little-minded, logic-chopping, low, low-down, lumpen, maladroit, mangy, meager, mean, mean-minded, mean-spirited, measly, mediocre, mingy, miniature, minor, miserable, miserly, monstrous, narrow, narrow-hearted, narrow-minded, narrow-souled, narrow-spirited, nearsighted, nefarious, negligible, niggardly, niggling, nit-picking, no great shakes, not comparable, not in it, nugatory, obnoxious, odious, of no account, one-horse, out of it, paltering, paltry, parochial, parsimonious, peanut, peddling, pettifogging, picayune, picayunish, piddling, piffling, pimping, poky, poor, provincial, punk, puny, purblind, pussyfooting, quibbling, rank, reptilian, scabby, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, shabby, shallow, shoddy, shoestring, short, shortsighted, shuffling, skin-deep, slight, small, small-beer, small-minded, small-time, squalid, stingy, straitlaced, stuffy, superficial, tight, tight-fisted, tinhorn, tiny, trichoschistic, trifling, trinal, trivial, two-bit, two-by-four, twopenny-halfpenny, uncatholic, uncharitable, unchivalrous, unconsidered, ungenerous, unimportant, unliberal, unmentionable, unskillful, vile, wretched
    petty – adj: contemptibly narrow in outlook.
    There’s one thing that comes through when I read your articles(Okay, I mean article. You know the one you periodically post, with the different titles at the top). You seem to have a quirk of personality, that leaves you with a desperate need to attempt to show that you could do a better job than an NHL GM, hence your targeting and constant and repetitive criticism of Brian Burke, especially earlier this season, when you were critical of most of his moves. But then he got a little tough to nail, didn’t he.
    Oh, by the way, you might want to straighten out junior as well. Looks like he used a little license too. He thinks,
    “Stick with your team, even when the going is tough. That’s what a fan does.”
    PS. I do apologize to you for one thing. A while ago, when I used the word martyrdom, in a post, you seemed confused and excited. Believe me, if I knew it meant ‘bend over sailor’, in Greek, I never would have used it.

    wow – “pettty” ?? honestly – YOU are talkng about “petty”???? seriously dude, stop. Im dieing over here.

    PS. I do apologize to you for one thing. A while ago, when I used the word martyrdom, in a post, you seemed confused and excited. Believe me, if I knew it meant ‘bend over sailor’, in Greek, I never would have used it.

    an ethnic slur?? Is that honestly the best you have got? man, I thought we had a legitimate thing going on here. If you are willing to resort to ethnic slurs, well, I am extremely disappointed. I thought we had something good (and dare I say special) going here. I could find mindless, uneducated crap on the street corner dude. Honestly man, please step up here. If I have to resort to old man WASP jokes, I may off myself.

  • Bob is your uncle

    Andrew R wrote:

    Bob is your uncle wrote:
    Hey…? There’s a blogger like that here. Reminds me a lot of Howard Berger
    why thank you!
    /Andrew R takes a bow
    I don’t have to look in the dictionary to know the meaning of the word fan.
    maybe you should take a quick peak at the dictionary
    fan-noun – an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc.: a baseball fan; a great fan of Charlie Chaplin.
    It doesn’t mean rip on your team, it means support and cheer for them.
    actually, no where in the definition of the word “fan” does the notion exist of blindly believing everything is positive whether you personally agree with it or not. A true “fan” is a follower and devotee, regardless of anything else. I have been a “fan” for 40 years, through thick and thin. A “fan” sticks with the team, no matter how frustrated or aggravated they may get. Only a “fool” would refuse to see or admit anything negative and allow their emotional investment to dictate their opinion.
    Brian Burke and the management team he has assembled are top notch and give us our best hope of success in years, and a team built to play a style we can enjoy. Whether this means The Cup or just Cup contender, we can’t tell
    hence all of the discussions, opinions, debates – and honestly – hence the existence of outlets and simply amazing sites like this one….
    I think BB’s moves this year have encouraged many of us
    Then just wait to see what he does between now and the start of the next season. There is some absolutely fantastic stuff coming. and pssst – its fair game for every FAN of the team to express their views and opinions on what has happened and what will happen. That is all part of the fun dude – that is what being a “fan” is all about.
    Cheers

    Andrew R wrote:

    Bob is your uncle wrote:
    @ Andrew R a.k.a. Howard B jr. a.k.a. Voice of Doom(or V.D.):
    Isn’t it funny how you recognized yourself, from just these words.
    “there’s going to be somebody who wants to bring you misery and gloom”
    I actually did look up the word fan, before posting, but decided to use a little license to make a point.
    But thanks for your petty explanation.
    Hold on there, I’ll save you the trouble.
    Petty: Little; trifling; inconsiderable; unimportant; also, inferior; subordinate; as, a petty fault; petty complaints; a petty prince. –Denham. [1913 Webster]
    Syn: Little; diminutive; inconsiderable; inferior; trifling; trivial; unimportant; frivolous. [1913 Webster]
    176 Thesaurus words for “petty”: Mickey Mouse, abject, abominable, arrant, atrocious, authoritarian, base, beggarly, bickering, bigot, bigoted, borne, captious, casual, caviling, cheap, cheesy, choplogic, close, closed, constricted, contemptible, cramped, creedbound, crummy, cursory, deaf, deaf to reason, debased, deficient, degraded, depraved, depthless, despicable, dinky, dirty, disgusting, equivocatory, evasive, execrable, fanatical, few, flagrant, footling, foul, fulsome, grave, gross, grudging, hairsplitting, hedging, heinous, hidebound, illiberal, imperfect, impertinent, inadequate, incompetent, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsiderable, inessential, inferior, insignificant, insufficient, insular, irrelevant, jerkwater, light, little, little-minded, logic-chopping, low, low-down, lumpen, maladroit, mangy, meager, mean, mean-minded, mean-spirited, measly, mediocre, mingy, miniature, minor, miserable, miserly, monstrous, narrow, narrow-hearted, narrow-minded, narrow-souled, narrow-spirited, nearsighted, nefarious, negligible, niggardly, niggling, nit-picking, no great shakes, not comparable, not in it, nugatory, obnoxious, odious, of no account, one-horse, out of it, paltering, paltry, parochial, parsimonious, peanut, peddling, pettifogging, picayune, picayunish, piddling, piffling, pimping, poky, poor, provincial, punk, puny, purblind, pussyfooting, quibbling, rank, reptilian, scabby, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, shabby, shallow, shoddy, shoestring, short, shortsighted, shuffling, skin-deep, slight, small, small-beer, small-minded, small-time, squalid, stingy, straitlaced, stuffy, superficial, tight, tight-fisted, tinhorn, tiny, trichoschistic, trifling, trinal, trivial, two-bit, two-by-four, twopenny-halfpenny, uncatholic, uncharitable, unchivalrous, unconsidered, ungenerous, unimportant, unliberal, unmentionable, unskillful, vile, wretched
    petty – adj: contemptibly narrow in outlook.
    There’s one thing that comes through when I read your articles(Okay, I mean article. You know the one you periodically post, with the different titles at the top). You seem to have a quirk of personality, that leaves you with a desperate need to attempt to show that you could do a better job than an NHL GM, hence your targeting and constant and repetitive criticism of Brian Burke, especially earlier this season, when you were critical of most of his moves. But then he got a little tough to nail, didn’t he.
    Oh, by the way, you might want to straighten out junior as well. Looks like he used a little license too. He thinks,
    “Stick with your team, even when the going is tough. That’s what a fan does.”
    PS. I do apologize to you for one thing. A while ago, when I used the word martyrdom, in a post, you seemed confused and excited. Believe me, if I knew it meant ‘bend over sailor’, in Greek, I never would have used it.
    wow – “pettty” ?? honestly – YOU are talkng about “petty”???? seriously dude, stop. Im dieing over here.
    PS. I do apologize to you for one thing. A while ago, when I used the word martyrdom, in a post, you seemed confused and excited. Believe me, if I knew it meant ‘bend over sailor’, in Greek, I never would have used it.
    an ethnic slur?? Is that honestly the best you have got? man, I thought we had a legitimate thing going on here. If you are willing to resort to ethnic slurs, well, I am extremely disappointed. I thought we had something good (and dare I say special) going here. I could find mindless, uneducated crap on the street corner dude. Honestly man, please step up here. If I have to resort to old man WASP jokes, I may off myself.

    Oh, Andrew, it’s you again…………………………………………………………………………. Ho-hum.

  • KGL24

    @ TheBreakawayKing:

    Another possibility if we want to use these two Leafs as trade bait, assuming we want or take back Souray would be:

    To EDM:

    T. Kaberle
    M. Grabovski

    To TOR:

    S. Souray
    S. Gagner OR A. Cogliano (more likely Cogliano IMO)

    As I’m trying to imply, I think the chances of them giving up MPS are very slim, even if we’re trading Kaberle in your example. IMO If we want any chance of getting MPS then we’ll have to include and say bye-bye to Kadri OR Schenn in some deal.

    We were lucky to be able to rape Calgary as badly as we did. I don’t get the feeling we’ll be quite as lucky with Edmonton if we only give back Kaberle and Grabo for Souray, Penner AND MPS. Like I said, if you want this deal to work, IMO it’ll have to be:

    To EDM:
    Kaberle
    Grabo
    Kadri OR Schenn

    To TOR:

    Souray
    Cogliano OR Gagner OR Penner (perhaps)
    MPS

    Now, is that deal I put there worth it for us? IMO, it isn’t. With the way I spun that deal, it’s reasonable to think we’re getting raped here but it’s the only way I can see us getting MPS for what had been proposed.

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