From a Toronto fan, to New York fans: you have my sincere apologies

[viktor_haag]

The Boston Celtics have arrived. Clearly, signing Garnett and Ray Allen as compadres for Paul Pierce has, to date, been an enormous success. Despite the Raptors' undeniably deep bench, the hometown Raps have staggered out of the gate, whereas the Celts (and the Magic) have clearly taken the Eastern conference by the throat.

Last night the Celts put a Wilbonian beat-down onto the sorry New York Knickerbockers. Beat. Down.

Toronto: if you think your Leafs are in turmoil, your Jays are in turmoil, or your Raptors are not perhaps playing up to expectation, then the New York Knicks are here to show you how bad it could be.

Please to remember: the current front office in New York is mostly made up of a guy who once made an ill-fated bid to purchase the Toronto Raptors.

As the days pass, and I watch the Raptors' maddeningly inconsistent play keep them at .500 while a Celtics team with three all-stars and a crowd of also-rans tear up the conference, I can at least thank heavens that things would be far, far worse if Thomas' mad chicken-scratchings on the back of a cocktail napkin had actually led him to successfully purchase our hometown team. Instead, he was practically dusted on the butt by the door on his way out of town.

To Mars Blackmon and all his pals, I must say, "We're so sorry; we know (a bit) how you must feel right now."

There but for the grace of God, etc, etc, etc.

Comments

[jkahane.livejournal.com]

On the subject of hockey, I have to say that we Ottawa Senator fans have our own woes right now on the ice, but at keast we're not the Leafs! :)

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Yes; part of the problem with the Leafs is that for years they have been manipulating their roster to provide (a) a bare scrape into the playoffs and (b) over the hill big names for the Leaf fans and lapdog media to feel all warm about.

Under the salary cap era, (b) has become a lot more impractical, and they find themselves on the wrong edge of the knife as far as (a) is concerned, and things are turning ugly really quickly. Now the lapdog media gets to moan and complain about the state of the union, and how the Leafs have sucked for so long, and don't the fans deserve better, and when will things turn around.

Whatever. The plain matter of fact is that, once the Leafs stop continuing to make money hand over fist peddling the glories of a franchise that existed half a century ago, only then will the current owners have any reason at all to do anything different than they're doing now.

At least the Raptors look like they're on the right road, and the Jays are occasionally interesting to watch.

I still somewhat sympathetic for Mats Sundin, however; if he hadn't been traded from the Nordiques for essentially a glad hand and a cup of coffee, he would be a locked-in Hall Of Fame candidate with several cup rings under his belt from a storied career with the Avs. As it is, he's stuck in "Downtown Big Smoke" as McCowan calls it, with no supporting cast of characters, a building full of corporate season ticket holders who can't be bothered to watch the game between cell-phone calls, and working his way towards the title of "Best Leaf Ever" on a team that isn't relevant and hasn't been relevant for decades.

That said, I know you're a Sens fan, but you also must realize that I cannot thereby extend you any sympathy whatsoever. 8)

[jkahane.livejournal.com]

You pretty much summed up the Toronto Maple Leafs franchise there quite nicely. Bad business management for the last few years, both on and off the ice. Like you say, at least the Raptors and the Jays have something going for them.

Are you a fan of the Toronto F.C. football (soccer) team? They're entertaining to watch as well, I hear.

Poor Mats Sundin...he would have been a nice fit in an Ottawa uniform this past couple of years! :) But I do see your point about Mats and all.

I also knew that you can't offer me any sympathy for the Senators, being a Leaf fan. That would be...a betrayal. :)