Dear Brian, please focus on the task at hand…

Look, I know that as soon as I write something perceived as not supportive of Brian Burke, some Leaf faithful will be upset because they love his “style”.  I get that and that’s fine.  I’m not a big "hubris" guy myself, yet I know that many like his public “take-no-prisoners, let’s have a barn fight” macho style.  But recognizing he has unwavering support in many quarters doesn't dissuade me from mentioning his public comments (he can’t seem to help himself) when I see them as, well, ill-timed, counter-productive or senseless.

Monday night, the Toronto Star penned a short piece outlining Burke’s apparent displeasure at a CBC/Hockey Night in Canada post from Elliotte Friedman.  As we all know, Friedman has worked “in the business” for many years and has earned a well-deserved reputation as a fair-thinking and respected guy in the sports media field.

In any event, Friedman evidently ventured into the world of speculation by suggesting that, while he didn’t think it would actually happen, there would likely be an effort by the Leafs to move Luke Schenn (and I think their first pick in the draft this month as well, if I have the story right) to the Oilers for the first overall selection. This drew a predictable reaction from Burke, saying, as he usually does, that the story had no merit, yada, yada, yada….

The part of the Star report that struck me as peculiar, however, was not the denial (what GM says, “yeah, we’re shopping so and so…”) but Burke’s apparent comment that “some editorial control at Hockey Night would be nice for a change…”.

Is Burke suggesting that reporters not have freedom of speech?  What does “editorial control” mean?  That sports writers should only report things that are in his team's interest and with the “spin” that he wants them to put on stories?

Hey, we all get the Burke-Cherry thing that kept people tuned into to “Coach’s Corner” at various points this past season.  Cherry made a comment about Wilson not clapping during the in-game armed forces night tribute "pause" at the ACC. Burke took umbrage with that, and various other things about HNIC’s supposedly unfair “coverage” of the Leafs (Kadri being stuck in the minors, Toronto not having enough Ontario players, etc.).  Ho hum.

C’mon, many GM’s (Burke at the top of the list) play the media all the time and for everything its worth.  GM's and other team management types provide, privately, little nuggets and tidbits of information that they want to get “out there”, knowing that if it sounds anything like a “scoop” (and it's always hidden beneath the standard un-named “source” protection agreement) the media—local or national—will publish it within seconds. 

It has always been thus.  It’s a game, it’s the way the media and hockey executives tolerate one another.

So here’s my point.  Media folks use hockey executives.  Those hockey execs use media folks.  Rumors actually put money in the pockets of GM’s, players, media—and each sports franchise, too.  Why?  Because rumors sell. They pique fan interest, sell hope, drive newspaper sales, enhance overall "media" circulation and viewership numbers and therefore, create big-time ad revenue.  Fans love it and thus, when a GM harps on or castigates the media for simply doing their job—i.e. creating natural speculation about what a sports team like the Leafs might or might not do in the off-season—it makes zero sense to me.  They are killing the golden goose.  There’s nothing tawdry, personal or unfair in what the columnist is doing.  There is no “wrong-doing” of any kind.  Sometimes writers/columnists provide opinions.  Sometimes they present “facts”.  Sometimes they create speculation.  But we’re talking about the world of fun and games- not life and death issues like freedom, justice and poverty.  At worst, it’s idle speculation.  Who is harmed?

If you say, well it’s not fair to the player mentioned in that kind of report, well, again, c’mon.  These are grown men, multi-millionaires virtually all.  You don’t think Luke Schenn knows he was almost traded to the Flyers late last summer?  That Nazem Kadri doesn’t know the Leafs have tried to move him in the “right” deal?  That Mike Komisarek wouldn't know he has struggled in Toronto—if he hadn't seen that opinion put forward in the newspaper or online somewhere?

Reporters have—and should have—pretty broad latitude in their subject matter when it comes to discussing professional sports teams.  Ideally they should be respectful, thoughtful, objective and fair but beyond that, they should not be censured, shut-down in any way, manipulated or threatened.

Burke may not like that Schenn’s name was put out there by Friedman.  Who cares?  It wasn’t the first time Schenn’s name has been (and correctly so) and won’t be the last.  Reporters and columnists, even the ones some people may not like or respect, help sell and promote the game.  If people are talking about the Leafs and Luke Schenn when it’s 90 degrees Farenheit in June in a town (or across the country for that matter) that hasn’t seen this Leaf franchise win anything of consequence in 45 years, then Burke and his handsomely-compensated assistants (and there are many of them) should be jumping for joy.  Our never-ending and passionate interest in a seemingly perpetually (let’s be honest) mediocre product creates the wealth that allows Burke to pull down more than, what is it, three million dollars a year—and his coach (current coach and the still being paid off former coach) more than a million.

That’s why, in part, it used to drive me crazy to see a guy with personality (we rarely got to see it), like Ron Wilson, look so sour 95% of the time in his interaction with the press during his four-year tenure behind the Leaf bench.  Individuals like Wilson and Burke face "pressure" of a sort, sure, but they also have the best jobs in the sports world—maybe some of the best jobs in the world, for crying out loud—yet they look and sound hard-done by and miserable almost constantly.

The media is too hard on them?  Please.

How often have we heard Burke say, basically, "I don't care what the media says...".  Yet he constantly makes a fuss whenever a a media person says something he doesn't like.  More and more, I get the feeling the media will stop caring what he says.

I say:  Brian, please just focus on  what you are good at:  building this team so we look remotely like the Kings, Wings, Predators, Rangers, whoever—just something a lot better than we are right now.  Soon you’ll have been on the job for four years.  Others have done much more in much less time.  So maybe, spend less energy on things you can’t control, and focus on what you can:  your job.