Leafs Nations
On April 11, 2015, another miserable season for the Toronto Maple Leafs will mercifully end. The Leafs have only made the playoffs once in the past decades, and currently has the NHL’s longest Stanley Cup drought (1967). To put that in perspective, when they last won the cup, it was watched in black & white, some of us now watch TV on 3D TV’s or projectors. Yet, the Leafs remains the NHL’s biggest market, the league’s most expensive ticket, and “the centre of the hockey universe” according to Leafs Nation. So, how does a team that hasn`t won in about 50 years continue to make billions of dollars annually in revenues. That`s simple; the Leafs have been around for over 100 years, and many of us have been fans for generations. Also, Toronto is the third biggest sport’s market in North America; so they have a huge market of newcomers to market the Leafs as well. Lastly, everyone wants to be a part of something big, and the Leafs bands the whole city together.
Leafs Nation has a lot in common with New York Knicks fans and Chicago Cubs fans; all three franchises has extremely passionate fans in huge sports markets, and all three teams are atrociously mismanaged. Also, all three teams’ fan bases have false bravado and arrogance, without any recent success to stand upon. All three of those franchises and their fan base are the laughing stocks of their sports respectively. In the Leafs’ situation, it`s hard to find the beta cassette of their glory years in the late 60`s. Our expectations are so low that just making the playoffs is a big celebration. The Leafs has become our mentally challenged son that we don`t get upset with them losing anymore; we applaud them for trying. Most sports fans don`t play that shit; if you`re not winning, they aren`t supporting you.
I use to be a huge fan, but certain things just don’t add up to me. If you`re selling a product and you raised the price of the product, you should be able to justify the raised price of your product. In other words, Apple, for example, comes out with new IPhones yearly. But each time they add on new specs, they explain the difference between the two products, and justify the raised price of the new phone. Not MLSE, they raise the prices because they can (without repercussions), they know that their fans are passionate, and the corporate suits will buy tickets, no matter the price. I have nothing against the fans (I admire their passion), and I don`t hate the players either; we have all worked for mismanaged companies that were hard to work for before. But when will MLSE be held accountable for their mismanagement and sky high prices! Leafs fans have traditionally had a defenseman whipping boy as their scapegoat (Todd Gill, Larry Murphy, Aki Berg and now Dion Phaneuf).
Things are not now changing, and the unthinkable has happened. The Leafs aren`t selling out, and fans are throwing jerseys on the ice, in protest of the bad hockey. This is extremely embarrassing for MLSE and in their latest bullying tactic, they are banning the fans that throw the jerseys, getting the police involved and fining the fans (surprised? More money for them). They claim that it disrupts the game and puts the players at risk. It`s ironic that when fans throw hats on the ice, that isn`t disruptive and no one gets banned. But this is the same corporation that allegedly cockblocked the NHL from bringing another NHL franchise to the GTA. So, in other words, Leafs fans, you`re our bitches; we`ll overcharge you and pay up, and don`t defy us. But on the bright side, we are in the running to get GTA native Connor, McDavid; so hopefully, we`ll get a cup before they come out with hologram projector TVs.