November 4, 2009.
The relationship between the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans is almost like Sid and Nancy. Well, maybe not Sid and Nancy, but more like Lysander and Helena if you know you’re Shakespeare. One’s love is not returned, essentially. Fans of the Leafs have had their love go unrequited for, oh, about 42 years now and you can tell their starting to get a little turned off by their love interest’s hard-to-get attitude. After reading David Feschuk and Michael Grange’s book ¬Leafs Abomination, I have to say I was impressed and intrigued as to how the two reporters addressed this infidelity. The book drew me in and I couldn’t put it down to be honest. It was well written, well-structured, well-researched and gave an updated version of the history of the Maple Leafs while tearing apart the organization in order to anatomically determine the reasons for the team’s 42-year Stanley Cup drought. However, this is not a book review, so I’ll get to the point. There was a chapter of the book called “Blame the Fans” (other chapter titles included “Blame Peddie”, “Blame John Ferguson Jr.” and “Find Hope in Brian Burke”) and I couldn’t help but realize how Feschuk and Grange’s argument was both painstakingly true and horribly false simultaneously.
This paradoxical contradiction is at the heart of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are an isolated market and as such, a unique franchise to the NHL. While other teams align success on the ice with money in their pockets, the Leafs simply don’t have to worry about that. Over the last 4 years, the Leafs have finished in 18th place, 18th place, 24th place, and 24th place in the NHL. In terms of revenue, the Leafs have finished 1st, 1st, 1st, and 1st. Without a doubt, this is fans fault...right? Wait, how can supporting your team so unflinchingly that they make more money annually than any other team, be considered a fault? Feschuk and Grange have a point when they say that it is due to the fans undying loyalty to an inferior product that has instilled a feeling of comfort and therefore indifference to success on the ice among the Leafs franchise. However, the fans should probably not be “blamed” but rather credited with the rescuing of an unsuccessful franchise. Without the financial support of “Leafs Nation”, the team likely would have folded if the market was anything similar to what teams like the Coyotes, Lightning, and Panthers have to deal with. Undoubtedly, the only reason the Leafs still exist is because of the fans. It’s obvious that the people running the team haven’t done anything to keep the team afloat as shown by their complete lack of effort in trying to bring a winning team to the city of Toronto, so the credit is placed solely on the blind faith of about 5,000,000 revered – at least in one blogger’s mind – men, women and children.
Blaming the fans for how lazy the management and players are? That just doesn’t make sense. The infidelity of the relationship between fans and franchise in Toronto is quite clearly the fault of the Leafs, and once the brass (and the media) can get past this fact, perhaps the team will finally requite the perpetual allegiance mirrored by the great people of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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