TORONTO (June 12) — I suppose it was inevitable, given the utter destruction (by the World Wide Web) of the newspaper industry. And that we live in a country where an alleged competition bureau allows for professional sports teams and national television networks to sleep in the same bed. How can we avoid incestuous coverage, where the print industry grovels at the feet of its electronic counterparts? Even if I never thought I’d see the day.

Throughout the 17 years that I covered the Maple Leafs as a reporter at The FAN–590, my competitive instincts were fueled not by radio or television rivals, but those who covered the team for the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, Globe and Mail and The National Post. The polar–opposite of today, as the majority of my sports–radio brethren were content to open the newspapers and report what they discovered. Sometimes reading, word for word, thereby saving listeners 25 cents. Between the ultra–competitive beat writers and oft–scathing columnists, there was no correlation between print and electronic media. Neither is there today… only in reverse. As I’ve written here on numerous occasions, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet owns the hockey landscape in Toronto. He provides a direct line from ownership at Rogers/MLSE to television viewers and website browsers. Information is selectively leaked through the system to the only person, logically, that should break a big story involving the Maple Leafs.

If, somehow, you are unaware of this unseemly marriage, Rogers owns 100% of Sportsnet and 75% of the Leafs. It’s the rough equivalent of the Chicago Tribune newspaper holding majority interest in the baseball Cubs from 1981 to 2009. A glaring and grotesque conflict–of–interest. But, here in the Great North, Competition Bureau Canada, a largely comical sidekick of the federal government, felt the public would be best–served by having the country’s most–popular team owned by the sports network that partners with the National Hockey League on TV rights. How, then, should any reporter reasonably acquire information faster and more directly than the Friedge?

What I’d like to know — and it truly is a question after 15 years outside the mainstream media — is why have the newspaper sports sections evidently waved the white flag? The Toronto Sun, in particular, with veteran hockey scribes Lance Hornby and Terry Koshan; both of whom have contacts coming out of their ears. Lance, as previously written, is way overdue for the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award and induction into the media wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Koshan’s time covering the Leafs also dates to mine (1994–2010) at The FAN–590. Yet, there seems to be no incentive or encouragement to try and dig up news about the hockey club, as did both writers in the years before the unholy network–team amalgam. Instead, the Sun hockey department is content to “cover” Friedman’s 32 Thoughts podcast and turn it into a newspaper story. The examples are rather numerous.

Here are several of recent ilk:

 
   
While acknowledging, again, that Friedman is an unparalleled wealth of information, this — in my view — is too much reliance on a lateral media source. Presumably, Maple Leaf fans that aren’t illiterate would have already seen Elliotte’s information and/or listened to his podcast. A veteran scribe isn’t needed to report what he reported. Someone on the desk can do that. If not for Steve Simmons, the Sun would no–longer have bite to its hockey coverage. As with a coach, motivation and direction for writers is provided by the sports director; the Sun’s Bill Pierce was among the best in his field before budget constraints curtailed the section… and, likely, his morale. There is no apparent urge to compete for stories and win — as did the tabloid newspaper so often in its glory years.

If morale is tepid at the top, it unavoidably trickles down the editorial chain. Veteran reporters are not immune.

The Toronto Star has similarly hacked its sports budget; only a handful of Leafs road games are attended throughout the season, whereas attendance at all away matches had been routine for decades prior to the pandemic (the Sun no longer travels to Leaf road games). But, the storied broadsheet puts more effort into covering the hockey club. Veteran beat–writer Kevin McGran seems to be working under much encouragement from his bosses, Dave Washburn and Brayden Holmyard. McGran, an old–style journalist, competes for stories and occasionally one–up’s even Friedman. The Star spends money on hockey coverage, outsourcing, as columnists, long–time media figures Damien Cox, Gord Stellick and Nick Kypreos. And, it does travel to important hockey, baseball and basketball games. It’s sort of mind–boggling that the situation has reversed itself; for decades, the Sun lived off its hockey coverage — such scribes as John Iaboni, Scott Morrison, Dave Fuller, Hornby and Koshan sniffing out every Maple Leafs angle, supported by the candor of veteran columnists Simmons, Jim Hunt and Al Strachan. No one could touch the “little paper that grew” in its following of Toronto sports. Sadly, that chapter has long ended.

The Globe and Mail sports section revolves around polarizing columnist Cathal Kelly. It, too, double–covers the Maple Leafs at home with Paul Attfield and Marty Klinkenberg, but Kelly is the runaway star of the editorial staff. And, quite possibly, the premier sports columnist in the land (certainly the best writer). Kelly understands his reading audience and knows how to push every button in Leafs Nation. Along with Simmons and Dave Feschuk at the Star, Cathal digs deep into the Toronto hockey quintessence. It is marvelous entertainment. As for the Globe’s coverage of the Maple Leafs, there was a time when every game, home and away, was attended by such figures as Rex MacLeod, James Christie and David Shoalts. Today, the paper relies on wire copy of Leaf road matches.

HANG IN THERE, MITCHY…

Apart from there being too many hours in the day for so many in the on–line universe (evidence, above), it appears the apex of this season for fans of the Maple Leafs will be hoping that Mitch Marner doesn’t win the Stanley Cup (his Vegas Golden Knights trail the Carolina Hurricanes, 3–2, in the championship series). And, that Jordan Staal scores enough goals against Vegas to wrest the Conn Smythe Trophy from the former Toronto center. In other words, pretty slim pickin’s.

WHEN THE GARDENS SOLD NHL TEAM ALBUMS

FOR THREE SEASONS (1970–71, 1971–72 and 1972–73), FANS ATTENDING GAMES AT MAPLE LEAF GARDENS PURCHASED A PROGRAM ENGULFED IN A COLORFUL ALBUM FOR EACH OF THE 16, THEN 18, NHL TEAMS. A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, I HAD THESE MAGAZINES BOUND INTO BOOK FORM (ABOVE) ACCORDING TO SEASON. THEY REMAIN AMONG THE MOST–TREASURED ITEMS IN MY HOCKEY COLLECTION. LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT IMAGES FROM THE FIRST YEAR, 1970–71: 

 
Each of the 14 NHL teams were represented by these albums, including the expansion entries from Buffalo and Vancouver. As you can see (above and below), the front and rear covers were of exceptional color quality. 

 

At the front of each magazine was a mail–order form for all 14 issues. I got them while attending games.

The Leafs looked to rebound from one of their darkest seasons: finishing with 71 points in 1969–70 to place dead–last in the East Division, 21 points behind fifth–place Montreal. Jim Gregory and John McLellan entered their second season as GM and coach. The club improved by 11 points in 1970–71 and made the playoffs.

In 1970–71, he was — by many lengths — the best hockey player on the planet. The incomparable No. 4.

Typical of the era, the 1970–71 albums were colorfully laid out. Philadelphia’s issue, above; Oakland, below.

The last page of the Oakland issue and the inside–back cover. Each magazine had a sponsorship ad from Hockey Night In Canada, featuring the TV voices of the three Canadian teams: Danny Gallivan/Rene Lecavalier in Montreal; Bill Hewitt in Toronto and Jim Robson with the new Vancouver franchise. All have since passed.

 
Front of the Vancouver and Buffalo expansion albums (above). As part of their first exhibition schedule (Sep. 17, 1970), the Sabres played the California Golden Seals at the Oshawa Civic Auditorium (below), where the Seals held training camp. California wore its green “Oakland” home jerseys from the previous year, 1969–70.

Rear of the Pittsburgh and front of the St. Louis album. With Foster Hewitt’s autograph beneath Glenn Hall.

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