TORONTO (Mar. 9) — Okay… back on the key–pad after getting flattened for nearly a week by what felt like an old–time Bobby Baun hip–check. Or, in my case, the flu — thankfully, a strain more manageable than the H1N1… Read More
“You get the sense (Kyle) Dubas won’t mind blaming (Mike) Babcock if the coach doesn’t get this group to do what it’s supposed to do — which is, at the very least, win the franchise its first playoff series in … Read More
TORONTO (Feb. 16) — That dream match–up between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is beginning to look more like a fantasy. As expected.
Squarely to blame are the Leafs… Read More
TORONTO (Feb. 7) — They are close. So very, very close to possessing all the components of a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. With one notable vacancy. Which needs to be filled in the next 18 days.
Though yielding 44 shots… Read More
TORONTO (Jan. 9) — Isn’t it rather amazing how three losses in four games can alter a team’s posture in the parity–stricken National Hockey League?
Throughout the first half of the 2018–19 schedule, the Toronto Maple Leafs lingered second in… Read More
TORONTO (Dec. 18) — The headline on the Toronto Star website was so understated as to be comical: Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas confident team will sign Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews to long-term contracts.
Confident? The words that come… Read More
TORONTO (Dec. 8) — Somehow, there has to be a trade–fit between the Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues. Clubs arranged in separate Conferences. One building toward Stanley Cup contention; the other within three points of the National Hockey League… Read More
A much–more interesting study will, of course, abound if the Maple Leafs do not match or exceed their lofty expectations. Can you envision the national outcry when the Leafs unavoidably lapse into a four or five–game skid, as will every … Read More
TORONTO (Oct. 9) — I have long felt that the word “leadership” is misused in professional sport; the connotation invariably centering on a player that can rally the troops with provocative chatter. In fact, no one — a sports figure… Read More
TORONTO (Oct. 2) — Circumstance, over the past half–decade, has severely hampered objective coverage of the Toronto Maple Leafs by local and national media. That the Leafs are 75% owned by Bell Canada Enterprises and Rogers Communications presents the most–blatant… Read More
TORONTO (Sep. 19) — So, the Leafs have made it clear that they can win the Stanley Cup by loading up on forwards while comparably ignoring their blue line. Good luck to them. And, to those that concur.
Neither am… Read More
TORONTO (Sep. 8) — It appears as if local hockey fans will be treated to a dying spectacle this season as the Toronto Sun and Toronto Star will dispatch writers/columnists to road games with the Maple Leafs.
This was common… Read More
TORONTO (July 19) — The prevailing response to the Raptors trading DeMar DeRozan this week was so Toronto. The city that has hardly ever known prosperity among its major sports teams went all mushy.
“Poor, mistreated” DeMar has to take… Read More
TORONTO (June 16) — A cynic would contend it is thoroughly emblematic of this city that our three “least–fashionable” sports teams have won championships in the past 6½ months. No disrespect to the Argonauts, Toronto F.C. or the Marlies, but… Read More
TORONTO (May 27) — It was 25 years ago tonight. Really.
May 27, 1993 in Inglewood, California. On the Berger calendar, it ranks as the most compelling game involving the Maple Leafs that yours truly has attended — as a… Read More
TORONTO (May 2) — It’s that date again. For the 51st time. The end of the six–team era in the National Hockey League. The beginning of the longest–ever Stanley Cup famine. Yes, there was pandemonium, Toronto style, 51 years ago… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 25) — Believe, only at your peril, anything you hear about this or that person comprehending what may happen in Game 7 of the Maple Leafs–Boston Bruins Stanley Cup series.
The fact remains that nobody has a clue… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 24) — Ten people are dead after the driver of a van mounted a sidewalk–curb in North York and indiscriminately bowled over pedestrians, making international news. And, yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are once more en route to… Read More
Argos Came Back From The Dead
We Live In A Pathetic Newspaper Era
I’ve been wrong about Dinwiddie
The Leafs Are Great — Today
Bizarre Football Day At The CNE
The Leafs Look Bored — Already
Watch, Admire… and Remember
My Father And Sports
Maybe The Veteran Stuff Will Help
When Your Hero Is No More
Bobcat, Wilbur and the Trial Balloon
It’s Impossible To Predict The Leafs
Toronto Sun Closes Leaf Comments
Dinwiddie Loses Game For The Argos
God Help Fans Of The Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs Are Drug–Addicted
Craig and the Core–4: Hmmm…
How Does Life Go On?
Are The Penguins Pursuing Marner?
They Ambushed The Staff at CHML-900
What About Those Jerseys, Keith?
CFL Command Centre Needs Overhaul
Marner Is Going Nowhere
How Much More Can Be Expected?
There’s No Hope For the Blue Jays
How close we came to Zapruder–2
Toronto Sport Has Gone to the Pits
Damien Was Only Half–Right
Solid Day’s Work by Treliving, But…
Edmonton Is Toronto’s Daddy
Pelley’s Integrity At Stake – Already
The Morning After: May 3, 1967
You Think Marner Is The Problem?
We’re a Bush League Sports Town