For our Buds in the Great White North

**Jim Schafer** · 11-30-2005, 04:04 PM

I had to forward this on to our Canadian HQ in Toronto.....

Tampa Trib, today........

Arrogance Wears Maple Leaf Blue

MARTIN FENNELLY
Published: Nov 30, 2005

The Leafs are in town!

We hear the cry from fans whenever the hockey team from Toronto graces us with its presence.

Hold all genuflections.

Why should the Toronto Maple Leafs create more buzz here than, say, the Atlanta Thrashers?

What have they really done?

Sure, there will be Leafs fans in those glorious jerseys. Their sweaters will be all over the Forum tonight as the Leafs play the Lightning. They'll also be in the Leafs' hotel lobby. Anything for a glimpse of their hockey gods.

Maybe while they're here, their hockey gods can stop by the Lightning locker room to see recent photos of the Stanley Cup.

Part Yankees, But More Cubs

I've never understood Leafs mystique. Forget the Red Sox and even the Cubs. The Maple Leafs are the most overrated, overhyped, overwrought "elite" franchise in sports.

They're treated like royalty, but the emperors have no clothes. They're Yankees aura with Cubs success. They're Leafy vegetables at crunch time.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup 11 times, second only to Canada's second-favorite team, the Canadiens. But they last won it in: 1967.

Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk, a former Leaf, was 4.

The Canadiens have won the Cup 10 times since 1967.

And the Lightning have won it once.

Why, the Leafs haven't even made the finals since 1967, remarkably pathetic for a franchise -- and city -- that acts like the center of the hockey universe. Just imagine the revulsion when those scuttling crabs from Tampa hoisted the Stanley Cup.

Teams from Florida, Texas and California and North Carolina have made the finals. The Mighty Ducks are mightier at making the finals than the Leafs. Toronto fans recently have been reduced to dancing in the streets when the boys beat Ottawa in a conference quarterfinal.

The center of the hockey universe?

Small galaxy.

Now Playing: Leafs TV

You wouldn't know it by fans' devotion. Leafs tickets are passed down like Packers tickets. Toronto is fishbowl and gossip central, home to Canada's English-speaking national sports networks. Translation: Every player on the trading block in NHL history has been rumored to be heading to the Leafs.

Add an air of superiority, like after the NHL lockout, when a Leafs' poobah proclaimed, "Well, you know, we are the No. 1 franchise in the NHL ..."

Then there's Leafs TV, a 24-hour network devoted to all Leafy things.

Insanity, anyone?

"Our scrimmages get televised," Leafs coach Pat Quinn said.

Quinn and his boys have put together good seasons, but, really, has there ever been more love -- or hate -- showered on a franchise as bone dry of real success?

Pat Quinn wore the Maple Leaf as a player, too. Right over his heart.

Life as a Leaf.

"There's a lot of scrutiny. But there's always hope in there."

Quinn became a national hero after coaching the Canadian Olympic team to a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Canada's first hockey gold in 50 years. Fifty years? What is it with those guys up there?

Anyway, there'll be more national heroes if the Maple Leafs ever win the Stanley Cup again. Ever. Check Leafs TV for local times and listings.

**Jedi** · 11-30-2005, 04:45 PM

When the Flames made the final 2 years ago, they were Canada's team. I can say that if, (big if) the Leafs ever got to that position, the rest of Canada would be rooting against them. The have to be the most hated team in Canada.

**Shwing** · 11-30-2005, 11:47 PM

It's not even debatable.
I'd tell you Toronto sucks, but then you might infer that I am disparaging not just the hockey team, which may or may not be the case...
:}