Mainstream media optimism around the Leafs the usual fare

The mainstream hockey media is funny in Toronto.  At this time of year, they buy pretty much everything the team is selling, and the headlines and resultant stories usually tell a glowing tale of improvement and optimism.  I’ve been seeing this since I first came to the Toronto area as a university student in the early 1970s. And some years, those hopes turn to despair pretty quickly.

But hey, training camp is nothing if not a time of hope.  We talk about that often here, too.

And that’s fine, on the one hand.  Fans need to hear and read about the good things that the organization has done, even the tired and familiar quotes about how players are in “better shape than last year”, or “how this year’s camp is much better than last year’s…”, or “the talent level is so much better…”, etc.  We are all accustomed to hearing returning players make comments such as "I've added more muscle" over the summer or "I changed my workout routine so I'll be quicker...".  

It's all part of the fall routine.  And the beat writers, who need to file a story every day, lap it up because it's easy- if all too familiar.

Fair enough.

But the same media people are the first to turn the knife when the team (which has been the case in recent years) fails to live up to the pre-season hype and  lofty “expectations”.

It’s the nature of things.  Understood.

Myself, I received a couple of notes from readers this week, suggesting my recent article entitled “Every game a try-out doesn’t apply in Toronto anymore” was too negative.  I found that interesting because I’ve always tried to present a balanced perspective here—the good, the hopeful and also what’s realistic, from my point of view.  I just thought it was interesting that the Leaf brass was clearly saying there were virtually no spots open on the team this year, when all last year they ran ads saying “Every game is a try-out”.

Ironic, or something, I thought.

To be clear:  None of us likes reading negative stuff all the time about our team, whether in the daily newspapers or on the internet.  The easiest thing in the world to do is simply criticize the Leafs all the time.  We all do it sometimes, I suppose.

Not having a championship team for 45 years makes being critical a bit easier, eh?

But my “job” here, as I see it, is to try to provide one person’s perspective on the Leaf situation.  I post pretty much every day.  It’s not a humor site, or a stats site. I don't do predictions or a lot of research.  I simply share stories about my memories of the old days and when it comes to the current Leafs, try to assess things with an awareness of what has come before. (Certain “movies”, as I like to say, I’ve seen over and over again, including the optimism that abounds annually at this time of year in Leafland…)  This means there will be times when I, like any of you, will love what the team, or certain players, are doing, and times when I don't.  In either situation, I just comment on what I see, and what I sense is going on, good or not so good.

Do we remember last year, for example, that Wilson saw the Leafs as a playoff team (as Burke does now)?  And when Wilson said that the power play was “scary good”?

Neither comment stood the test of time.  And that’s fine.  I want our coach and our GM to be bullish on the team, to believe in the roster they have created - and that Wilson will teach and lead for the next 8 months.

But I can’t ignore reality, or neglect to call out the organization if or when I believe they are off-base, inconsistent, or simply “spinning”.  (Perhaps not surprisingly, when I put on my hopeful, optimistic hat about the Leafs, some people say I'm looking at the team through rose-colored glasses...) 

We’re all fans.  Some see the glass as half-empty, others as half-full.  It’s the same glass.  Sometimes fans change their mind the very same day.  It’s all in how we look at it.

And as I often say, that's the fun of being a fan.  We can disagree.  And that's why I always welcome your comments.  All I ask is they be respectful, as I try to be in my posts.