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“I just saw a pig fly past my window!”
This was the classic quote my buddy Tom K. used to describe his experience watching the Leaf game last night when he saw Mr. Phil Kessel score his first goal in the last 15 games, but also his first goal ever against the Big Bad Bruins. I replied that he must have seen two, as Phil came back with a pretty impressive one to tie things up in the third.
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How fitting….not even the schoolyard boys want him!! The player who least deserved to be in the all-star game was singled out in the festivities on Friday night. Eric Staal didn’t want him. Nik Lidstrom didn’t either. But poor Nikky drew the short straw, got last pick, and got stuck with Toronto’s own Phil Kessel.
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Fortunately for Nik, this isn’t exactly a close checking contest, so there will not be any worry about Phil’s lack of defensive responsibilities. His -19 should go largely unnoticed here. But one thing was abundantly clear on Friday night….Kessel and his ordinary statistics and attitude are woefully inadequate in this company.
It’s been some time since I’ve provided my views on the Blue & White. Why so long since my last post? Call it a result of hope.
Hope that my next article wouldn’t have to be so negative. Hope that an impressive 10 days where they won 4 of 6 over teams that included the Bruins and Washington might fan the flames of success…..nope – 3 straight losses by a combined 15-6 followed. Hope that a bizarre 4 game winning stretch in early January where 22 goals were scored would signal a turning point……alas they were followed immediately by 6 losses in 7 games – total goals scored in those 6 losses?? 7. And here we are at the all star break…..stuck in 26th place.
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It’s gotten so bad this year the home fans have resorted to throwing breakfast treats (which has led to rival fans like the crazy Vancouver Green Men mocking them) – what’s next??
Some general observations are in order before we sit back and watch the all star “contest”….. Read More
For the second time, hockey lost a great man in Pat Burns. This time, unfortunately, it was permanent.
See for several months everyone knew that Pat was very sick, stricken for the third time with cancer, this time in his lungs. 2 months ago social media got hold of the “fact” that he had died and it was widely broadcast in the sports world. Only one problem…..it wasn’t true – Burns had to make personal phone calls to friends in the media to prove otherwise. What a joke.
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Today we were not so lucky. He leaves us at the ridiculously young age of 58, having accomplished much in his hockey days, with us knowing that he could have accomplished so much more had his body not failed him.
OK….I’m not going to start with any song lyrics or deep thoughts. I’m not going to mince words. Time to get right down to the heart of the matter….in the words of Scaredy Squirrel: This was NOT PART OF THE PLAN!!!
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Three weeks ago I wrote about how astonished I was with the Leafs sitting at 4-0-0. Now, 10 games later, a one win in ten stretch is equally astonishing. With the masses trying to jump off the bandwagon quicker than Charlie Sheen falls off the proverbial wagon himself, I feel I should revisit my 6 points of praise from the “good ol’ days”….how do we explain this?
Seeing as Mr. MacIntyre is effectively my editor, I figured I would write an article that would suck up to him….an assessment of why Mr. Kessel just can’t solve those big bad Bruins!
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Since the Phil Kessel trade prior to the 2009-10 season, the Leafs have faced off against the Boston Bruins 7 times in the regular season. Their record?? Not particularly good, although not as bad as one might have thought. 2 – 3 – 2 for 6 points in 7 games. Aside from 2 blowout games at the beginning of last year when they were outscored 12 – 4, the Leafs have actually played Boston pretty tough. In the last 5 games, the Leafs were outscored only 10 – 9.
So what has been the difference?
“How do I explain this,
I mean how do I put this into words,
It’s one thing or another,
But it’s neither this nor that,
Actually it’s a collection of things…”
The Tragically Hip, 1989
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That, my friends, is what I think of when I try to explain the start of the campaign that the Leafers have put together. 4 – 0 – 0?? Are you kidding me??!! I expected an improvement, but this is something else. To top it off, 3 of those wins have been in regulation, meaning that our opponents have only managed a measly single point. Critical to win in regulation it is!!
For years, some guy named Ripley has been amusing the general public with bizarre bits of news that launched a mega-empire of inane stories. TV shows, museums, books, websites, blogs….you name it, Ripley’s name is now on it.
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Its’ foundation is simply to make viewers / readers marvel in the truly absurd….supposedly with true stories. Here are a couple I found today:
- Octopus with 96 Tentacles….that just oozes with journalistic quality. Bet it doesn’t predict World Cup Soccer Matches.
Long before the days of blogging and the internet, which really wasn’t all that long ago, there certainly were fantasy leagues. Most poolies, however, likely stuck to more basic styles due to the difficulty in tracking more obscure stats and the inability to receive constant results.
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True fantasy leagues as they exist today were probably less common in the 80’s than reruns of Fantasy Island with that creepy little guy Tattoo yelling “ze plane, ze plane, boss” were at the time.
So “Fantasy Island” had a much different meaning than that with which I associate it today.
Everyone has those “guilty pleasures”….those songs they secretly like on the radio…..those TV shows they embarrassingly enjoy. Things that one wouldn’t normally admit for fear of extreme mocking. I am no different. A couple of examples:
- I still like the TV show “Survivor”. Yes….that show. The one that debuted about 10 years ago and created a genre called Reality TV that we now mostly wish would just go away. Never missed an episode. Can’t explain why – it’s pathetic – but it’s a guilty pleasure. Mock, mock, mock!
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So I know what you are thinking….the internet does not need another person blogging about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Surely there isn’t anything that I can say that someone in Leafs Nation hasn’t said already. But when MacIntyre and I got chatting about the Buds and he said I should write the occasional piece for him, I said why the heck not.
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I guess the real question you’ll ask is “who the heck are you and why should I read what you have to say”? Let’s answer this by exploring some bits that are Jeff Silver.
