I Am Sick Of The Management Comparisons
May 8th, 2008 by SteveHoward Berger couldn’t resist taking a swipe at the MLSE pursuit of an English Footballing side the other day when he typed up this gem:
“Of course, Detroit, Dallas and Montreal offer Brunnstrom what the Leafs cannot: The opportunity to join organizations with a demonstrated committment to winning. It might take him a bit longer to break into the front ranks of players on the Red Wings, Stars or Canadiens, but he’ll never have to question the motives of his employer. Condominuims and soccer teams will not be essential topics of development. The other teams have full-time general managers, and coaches that Brunnstrom is assured of playing for next season. They have combined to win 14 Stanley Cups since the Leafs last made an appearance in the championship round.”
Ok, I have more than a few problems with this completely asinine statement. First off, Detroit has won 3 cups since Toronto last hoisted it, and Dallas has won a single time… ever. Montreal has won the other 10 times he’s mentioning in the paragraph I loathe. UNFORTUNATELY, The current ownership of Montreal, George N. Gillett Jr. and family, were NOT in charge for any of Montreal’s championships. Does that make his ownership incompetent? Probably not… but maybe if he spent less time arguing with Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks about their split on who should really be in charge of the Liverpool Reds Premiership football side, or following his NASCAR team as it drove around making nothing but left hand turns, Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge could get the lead out and actually WIN something meaningful.
Tom Hicks is also the owner of that awesome powerhouse of a MLB franchise, the Texas Rangers. The team most noted for never winning a World Series, and signing Alex Rodriguez to the 2nd most ridiculous contract in baseball history - at the time he signed it, his contract was worth more than the value of 13 other major league franchises. To be fair, he bought this sinkhole of a team from President George W. Bush before he moved on to bigger things like wrecking the US Economy and making the states one of the most despised nations on the planet. Nothing says “winner” like making a team worse than it was under the most despised U.S. president in history. I guess if he paid more attention to hockey he wouldn’t have fired that genius Doug Armstrong, who I’m pretty sure is every media type’s favourite choice for GM after the Brian Burke soap opera ended (to be continued in a year if anyone wants to pay him $6 million a year).
Mike Illitch did turn the Red Wings around after he bought the team in 1982, FOR $8 MILLION DOLLARS!!! It only took him 15 years to get them to the Cup. He also turned around the Detroit Tigers MLB franchise after he watched the team crap its pants to losing records in 12 of the first 13 seasons he owned it. Eventually they won a World Series, but not before he had also taken an interest in the wonderfully exciting world of ARENA FOOTBALL! The Detroit Drive is probably the worst name I’ve ever heard of for a sports team (you might as well call them the Detroit Scenic Route or something).
The guys that currently own MLSE took over soon after Larry Tanenbaum joined up in 1996 alongside Steve “The Grocery Guy” Stavro. That was what? 12 years ago? The Leafs made the conference finals in 1999, then only qualified for the 2nd round in 2000, and 2001! OH MY GOD THEY WERE HORRIBLE! I mean seriously… they even won the division in 2000, what a bunch of morons! Then they made the conference finals again in 2002 before losing to Paul Maurice and those crazy ass Carolina Hurricanes. Then they went out and hired the guy that beat them, only to fire him 2 years later after he lost more games than he won! How backwards of them.
I’m not saying the Leafs are paragons of management virtue or anything. They’re basically one giant rolling miasma of crap in many ways. But the idea that because the ownership group has multiple sporting interests, not to mention ventures outside of sports, is somehow responsible for why this club can’t win the Stanley Cup is BEYOND RETARDED. If you’re basing your assessments of these owners on their skill in building a winner, then you’d better assess EVERYTHING they’ve done, not cherry pick info thus leaving yourself open to total journalistic annihilation.
Fabian Brunnstrom IS gone to Dallas now, but Howard Berger, Damien Cox, Steve Simmons, and the other uninformed media we’re forced to put up with on a daily basis are here to stay. Doesn’t it make you proud to be a Leafs fan?
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7 Responses to “I Am Sick Of The Management Comparisons”
By eyebleaf
on May 8, 2008
i’m with you man. i too am sick of all the bloody negativity in the media. it is sickening.
By LeaferSutherland
on May 8, 2008
I wouldn’t mind negativity so much, just as long as it was intertwined with some credibility.
Why is it that having not won a Stanley Cup in 41 years is akin to having been a basement dweller in each of those seasons? And how many ownerships have changed hands over 4 decades anyway?
You just knew that if Brunnstrom chose not to sign with the Leafs, that it would have been the fault of the evil and diabolical MLSE. And if the Swedish kid did sign with us, they’d be complaining about how the Leafs gave in to an overrated player’s demands.
I for one do not believe that the Leafs were ever a finalist in the sweepstakes anyway. The only people that happened to be reporting that, was our own local media. And if the kid really had Toronto in mind to the bitter end, he would have come to our city.
Keeping Brunnstrom a hot topic when he shouldn’t have been anymore, was more than likely just a ploy to jump on Management when the kid predictably signed with another team.
By Steve
on May 9, 2008
To be fair, J.P. Barry, Brunnstrom’s agent was also on the record as saying that Toronto was one of the final 4 teams he was deciding between. Barry and Brunnstrom had also met with Fletcher and other members of the Leaf management and alumni. It was considered the best “opportunity” to play, but perhaps weaker in regards to overall level of the franchise.
Personally I think he selected Dallas because the team finished middle of the pack and has a good core together, but they also have a number of older forwards they will need to replace in the near future (i.e. Lehtinen and Modano). Brunnstrom can step in slowly over time to fill that void.
By LeaferSutherland
on May 10, 2008
Unless you have read a report that I haven’t, I believe all J.P. did was not discount the Leaf’s chances.
Naming them a “top 4″ seems to have been our own interpretation.
By Steve
on May 11, 2008
I didn’t read a report so much as listen to the man be interviewed. I admit nothing concrete was ever stated, but the Leafs were on his “short list” and he openly stated that the best playing opportunity (as in most available minutes) for Fabian was hands down with the Leafs.
By LeaferSutherland
on May 11, 2008
Fair enough. I just saw the fact that Brunnstrom decided against coming to Toronto during his North American tour, proof that if we were in his top 4, we were a long way from the other 3.