Canucks & Beyond
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Distorting Reality with the Leafs
by Alanah McGinley on 09/21/07 at 01:42 PM ET
Comments (12)
William Houston at the Globe & Mail takes note of the pre-season cheerleading going on in Leafs Land this week, and takes a few shots at Greg Millen:
Millen went as far as to describe Raycroft’s 2006-07 season as “excellent.” Excellent? Is that why the team rushed out to acquire another starting goalie? What is he talking about?
Millen makes himself look foolish by making these sorts of remarks and he also undermines the credibility of the channel. Why listen to Millen and his fellow housemen dish pap when you can get real commentary, sometimes hard-hitting, from TSN, Rogers Sportsnet and the Score?
But as Houston himself points out, it’s not just Millen, it’s the flavor of Toronto… particularly at Leafs TV:
At the Toronto Maple Leaf owned channel Leafs TV, the rah-rah types were in full Stanley Cup mode this week.
The experts, Bob McGill, Mark Obsorne and Greg Millen, predicted great things from virtually everybody on the team.
Defenceman Tomas Kaberle is a serious Norris Trophy candidate. Forward Matt Stajan is ready for a breakout season. Forward Alex Steen is ready to become a star…
Ugh.
But again in the interests of fairness, it must be said that this isn’t just limited to Leafs Land, or even Leafs TV for that matter. Coverage of teams all across the country is tinted with rose-eyed-glasses for the most part. It’s the time of year when networks want to suck us into thinking our boys have a chance—and get us hooked into the season—before reality settles in and crushes our dreams.
But while “reality” will provide some tough days for fans of all Canadian teams in the months ahead, it’s nice to know that the Leafs fan is being set up for a harder fall.
And who doesn’t enjoy that?
Filed in: nhl general | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: media, nhl, toronto+maple+leafs,
Comments
OklahomaWingNut - Thanks! And I must say, the Kool-Ade is the tonic of all hockey fans, of every team. For instance, I spent years talking up Dan Cloutier… (oh dear)
Regardless, sooner or later I’ll be firing broadsides at everyone once the season starts. But the Leafs are easy targets - and I find it’s always best to start with familiar territory. 
w2j2 - Glad you got a laugh!
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 09/21/07 at 02:49 PM ET
The Leafs, their fans and their media are just Canada’s version of the Red Wings.
Posted by Thomas on 09/21/07 at 03:46 PM ET
Wo! Thomas!
First, Wings’ fans can only dream of the news coverage that the Leafs get.
Second, what Leafs’ fan would not give their right arm for 3 Stanley cups in the last 10 years, and most recently a visit to the final 4, only a couple of injuries away from another Cup?
Fans of all teams are excited about the potential success of a new season. You, an Avs’ fan, should be particularly excited. The Avs will be a very good team this year!
Posted by w2j2 on 09/21/07 at 04:05 PM ET
You’re slipping Tommy, that’s far below your usual trolling standards.
Posted by shep from california on 09/21/07 at 04:23 PM ET
Isn’t Dan Cloutier available again?
(Now there’s a horrible nightmare.)
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 09/21/07 at 05:45 PM ET
Thomas, are you crazy? The wings fan base (on their best day) are minute compared to the leafs.
Secondly, most of you should thank the leafs and their fans for being so intense. Because if they weren’t, espn wouldn;t have an NHL tab on its page at all.
P.S. You are all smoking if you believe that the leafs won;t do well this year.
Posted by Ryan from Toronto on 09/21/07 at 10:38 PM ET
I am very excited about the Avs this year. I am especially excited, since the consensus amongst Wings fans is that the Wings are the better team. This year will be a hell of a lot of fun.
One thing I have to admit is that in moving back to Detroit after being away so long, it’s nice to see that there are no Wings fans anymore. No stupid car flags on grocery-getters, no morons in Yzerman jerseys screaming like idiots when they see me in my Avs jersey, nothing. In the past three weeks, I have seen one Wings t-shirt and no jerseys other than my Konstantinov that I wear from time to time.
With the Lions getting off to their hot start, the Wings are #4 amongst the pro sports in Detroit now.
It’s nice. If it had always been like that, I wouldn’t have hated the Wings so much.
Posted by Thomas on 09/21/07 at 10:50 PM ET
Now, now, hockey fans. This is my post and I get to start all the fights around here (and I picked a fight with Toronto fans, dammit!)
So just be patient. I promise to be obnoxious to everyone in good time. I just need to get back into practice, that’s all. 
(And naturally, it’ll be anti-Wings or anti-Avs next, anyway. So I’ll be sure to piss you all off equally, sooner or later…)
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 09/21/07 at 11:17 PM ET
It’s the best time of the year because everyone is tied for first place and nobody can do anything wrong.
Posted by GZ Expat from Chiner on 09/22/07 at 06:39 PM ET
I think Raycroft was pretty good last year as well. I don’t get all the haters. I’ve always said it, but the Leafs’ team defence sucked again last year. It will probably suck again this year and Toskala will have to bail them out…which is a massive task. We’ll see how good Toskala is outside of cozy San Jose.
Posted by Zanstorm from Smithers on 09/25/07 at 06:03 PM ET
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About Canucks & Beyond
Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003 (with a notable gap in time through 2010, kicking it with new baby Lucy while living knee-deep in chaos while reading “parenting for complete idiots” during every spare minute) sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen.
In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah was one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast. She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
So that’s me. Who the hell are you?
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Alanah sends a broadside to Leaf Nation!!
Thats gonna leave a mark!!!
Kool-Ade drinkers, or “group-think”. An affliction to most casual soprt fan. But at least doesn’t affect the serioudly jaded and pessimistic. Unfortunately, I like my kool-ade. Go Wings.
Funny Alanah.
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 09/21/07 at 01:59 PM ET