Howard Berger

Admit It: The Maple Leafs Are Musty

TORONTO (Nov. 27) — If you leave a slice of bread on the kitchen counter for more than an hour, it will begin to grow stale. If you leave the same players together on a National Hockey League team that… Read More

Those First Visits to the Gardens

TORONTO (Nov. 25) — I have countless hockey memories from my youth. Among the earliest was Dad bringing home such monthly periodicals as Hockey Illustrated, Hockey World and Hockey Pictorial. I would barely peruse the contents before cutting out the… Read More

Argos Join the City’s Choke Parade

TORONTO (Nov. 12) — The learning curve in professional sport can be as gruesome and unforgiving as in any vocation on the planet. Just ask Chad Kelly, who turned in, on Saturday, the worst playoff performance by a quarterback in… Read More

Could Roy And Tippett Save Leafs?

TORONTO (Nov. 10) — One man is the most–intriguing figure not currently behind a bench in the National Hockey League. The other ranks among the great defensive practitioners in the coaching industry. Together, they might provide the missing magic for… Read More

A Flashback to the Gory 1980’s

TORONTO (Nov. 9) — At least the Carey Price analogy has been silenced. Thank heaven for small mercies. The wackiest sports city on Earth typically lost its mind when Joseph Woll had a couple of good games in the first… Read More

Marchand Is Still Toronto’s “Daddy”

TORONTO (Nov. 4) — It happens every year… like clockwork. The same arena; the same opponent; the same player; the same result; the same reaction. No one in the modern history of the National Hockey League has gotten under the… Read More

My Pal Stormin’ Norm Rumack

TORONTO (Oct. 30) — There is no way to sugarcoat, embellish or minimize what I’m about to say. So, here it is: On three occasions in the past month, my great friend and former FAN–590 colleague, Stormin’ Norm Rumack, has… Read More

Leafs Blew The Wrong Load

TORONTO (Oct. 28) — The headline to this blog is neither pornographic nor suggestive. It does, however, reflect my long–held opinion that the Toronto Maple Leafs should have traded Auston Matthews before July 1 of this year, rather than binding… Read More

The Leafs Have Been Abandoned

TORONTO (Oct. 22) — It has not happened in the modern history of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Until now. Never before have the Leafs embarked on a five–game road trip without print–media representation. As occurred for the first two matches… Read More

McCown Is Discouraged, Frustrated

TORONTO (Oct. 14) — It was back on June 15, a lifetime ago for Bob McCown, that our country’s most–celebrated sports radio and TV host suffered an ischemic stroke while recording his daily podcast. Four months later, the Bobcat is… Read More

Blue Jays/Leafs are Wickedly Similar

TORONTO (Oct. 12) — I’m starting to think the Blue Jays and Maple Leafs have a blood pact: See no evil; speak no evil; extol the virtues of a good regular season; paper over concerns about repeatedly choking in the… Read More

Ross Atkins Had No Chance

TORONTO (Oct. 8) — I wonder if Ross Atkins truly felt he could pull it off? Sitting, yesterday, in a room full of reporters and columnists smelling blood, did the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays actually think that… Read More

Toronto Sports Wishes Came True

TORONTO (Oct. 4) — The moral of the story is simple and somewhat a cliché: Be careful what you wish for. Moments after the Maple Leafs kind of fluked their way to a playoff elimination of the Tampa Bay Lightning,… Read More

Give Cowan Some Breathing Room

TORONTO (Sep. 28) — Evidently, there is no further space for a bronze statue along Legends Row. Too bad. If not, Easton Cowan would likely be joining Dave Keon, Tim Horton, Johnny Bower, Darryl Sittler and the others outside the… Read More

Truthfully, the Leafs Are Scared

TORONTO (Sep. 22) — Training camp opened on Wednesday for the Toronto Maple Leafs with players and staff offering the same, tired assurances. To wit: Our team is different than its predecessors… the new additions claiming they signed in Toronto… Read More