TORONTO (Dec. 6) — Fans of the Maple Leafs have often accused media of wanting the team to lose. Which makes little sense today given the calamitous cross–pollination of media and team ownership. Watch a full episode of Kyper and Bourne on Sportsnet and you’ll quickly be convinced otherwise. The Leafs and the network owned by Edward Rogers (or Ed the Conqueror) are of the same family. No person appearing regularly on Sportsnet can project anti–Leafs bias. Same exists, even if it shouldn’t, on TSN, which no longer holds an ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, having sold its 37.5% share to Ed the Conqueror last year.

Though slightly more objective than Kyper and Bourne, watch an episode of TSN Overdrive and tell me which club the panel leans toward. On a nationally televised program. Jeff O’Neill has openly and rabidly cheered for the Leafs through the years. He can also be the most–ardent critic of the club and its perennial playoff creampuffs; his cachet evolving from a 12–season career in the National Hockey League with Hartford/Carolina and Toronto.

The newspapers were once replete with columnists (Al Strachan, Steve Simmons, Jim Hunt, Dave Perkins, Damien Cox, Jim Proudfoot) who covered the Maple Leafs with a critical eye. Of this group, Simmons is the lone survivor and has softened his approach through the years (though he can still land a haymaker, when so moved). If seeking a modicum of candor today, Toronto readers have a choice between Simmons, Dave Feschuk and the always entertaining Cathal Kelly. The beat writers almost never corner the hockey club, unlike those from the past such as Donald Ramsay, Frank Orr, Paul Hunter and Cox. The long–time Toronto Sun tandem of Lance Hornby and Terry Koshan leans in occasionally, but spares the club blatant censure. Hornby is the dean of Toronto hockey writers and is respected for his balanced reporting. Koshan, once a strong observer of Leafs misadventure, has backpedaled with age. As for those who write on the Leafs–owned website (Luke Fox, Justin Bourne)… well, don’t get me started. Almost all submissions are heavy with boosterism, as likely expected by those who employ them.

So, alleging that current media in Toronto wishes for the Leafs to lose is a stretch. Undeniable, however, is the climate created for writers and broadcasters when the Leafs stumble — enhanced immeasurably by the hysteria of social media. When the Leafs were careening through October and November with a 10–11–3 record after 24 games, columnists pounced on the situation, understanding readership would increase with every setback. Ardent hockey fans need a form of synergy and collaboration when they fret over the Blue and White. The columnists cooperate with a multitude of frightful (and mostly accurate) submissions. I can tell you, unquivocally, that traffic for this website explodes when the Leafs are wobbly. So, even if I abandoned emotional preference for wins or losses during my radio career covering the Leafs (1993–2010), I am rarely at a loss for words (or eyeballs) when fans are in an uproar.  Since the club steadied itself and finished a road trip with conquests in Pittsburgh, Florida and Carolina, tranquility (and tedium) has prevailed. If not for the pernicious goaltending situation, with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll incapable of remaining physically intact, a collective yawn would accompany Leafs coverage.

As such, the aura created automatically for those that still attempt to view the Leafs with a critical eye is remarkably enhanced during stretches of incompetence. Stories appear with potential replacements for the head coach. Wagering sites are consulted to determine the opportunity, at a given moment, for the Leafs to continue their stretch of playoff appearances. It is human nature for sports fans to fuss and worry; a form of perverse gratification. This plays directly into the hands of any media figure that chooses to capitalize. Especially in the current Leafs climate, with nearly a decade wasted beyond mid–April by gifted skaters that atrociously lack character.

When the team was a shambles under Harold Ballard in the 1980’s, expectation disappeared. Columnists and broadcasters routinely lampooned the club, with no viable alternative. Such irreverent figures as Dick Beddoes, Dave Hodge, Allen Abel and the aformentioned Shakey Hunt had a field day with the team and its comical owner.

The environment in Leafs Land today doesn’t permit such frivolity. Enforced, as mentioned, by the social media monolith, hockey has become life and death around the team with the longest Stanley Cup drought. Fans have been teased and tormented during the Core–4 era, watching such regular–season stalwarts as Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander wither when the stakes increase. The opportunity for satire and fun barely exists. Which unrelentingly creates a climate for media figures wise enough to read the situation. Despite the three–game win streak, watch what happens if the Leafs stumble on home ice tonight against Montreal. With Dennis Hildeby and Artur Akhtyamov subbing for the always–injured tandem of Stolarz and Woll. We’ll be right back into the cauldron of delirium that existed prior to the recent upswing. Especially for those who contend, with persistent delusion, that the Leafs have possessed a “Stanley Cup window” during the Matthews–Marner–Nylander era.

Were any such observers willing to view the situation accurately, they would understand that all “windows” have been boarded up since 2017. The local and national media has often contended otherwise, enhancing the frenzy and confusion when the inevitable occurs each spring. All of which creates a delicious atmosphere for those in the media smart enough to recognize. If that implies a preference for the Leafs to lose, we are guilty as charged.

THOSE EXPORT MLG CALENDARS

They are among the rarest and most–coveted articles in my hockey collection. The large and colorful EXPORT Maple Leaf Gardens calenders that decorated barber shops across town in the 1960’s and 70’s. People enjoy looking at these nostalgic items. So, I occasionally feature them in my blogs. Here, you will see selected pages from the MLG calenders of 1964–65 and 1966–67, the latter representing the most–recent Stanley Cup season for the Blue and White:

 
COVERS OF THE AFOREMENTIONED EXPORT CALENDARS, NOW MORE THAN 60 YEARS OF AGE.

EACH MONTH FEATURED HOME AND AWAY LEAF GAMES, PLUS ALL SCHEDULED EVENTS AT THE GARDENS.

FIRST AND SECOND–TEAM ALL STARS FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR WERE PICTURED.

THE LOCAL JUNIOR ‘A’ TEAM OFTEN EMERGED AS CANADIAN CHAMPION BACK IN THAT ERA. OR CONTENDED FOR THE TITLE. HERE IS THE 1963–64 TORONTO MARLBOROS TEAM PHOTO, WITH SUCH FUTURE LEAFS AS PETE STEMKOWSKI, ROD SEILING, MIKE WALTON, WAYNE CARLETON, GARY SMITH, RON ELLIS, JIM McKENNY AND BRIT SELBY. OWNER HAROLD BALLARD SAT FRONT AND CENTRE BEHIND THE MEMORIAL CUP. THE COACH (SECOND FROM RIGHT IN FRONT ROW) WAS FUTURE MAPLE LEAFS GENERAL MANAGER JIM GREGORY.

 
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