Why does everybody hate the Leafs?

[Goonface2k14]

I don’t even pay attention to the hate, because it’s plain old ignorance.

We’re the best fans in hockey. Sure, there are obnoxious fans of all pro sports teams and the Leafs are no exception. For the vast majority of us, however, we know the game, and can criticize and praise the Leafs and any other team intelligently and objectively.

Unfortunately for us, since the 80s, we’ve suffered through some horrific eras under Ballard and Burke. The Stavro years were a tease, we could never get over the hump. We saw so many other teams dominate, patiently waiting our turn. Hoping for a proper rebuild. Maybe we’re finally there now with JT joining the fold. Time will tell. The haters come with the poor eras, just part of the territory. We’ve been an easy target for many years.

At the same time, especially at the ACC/SBA, there’s too many suits filling the platinum seats more interested in wining and dining clients than cheering for the team. I guess it also comes with the territory, but it’s not a good image.

Finally, the Leafs are a wealthy team. Yet another incentive for people to spit venom at the club, mostly out of envy. Kind of like the New York Yankees “evil empire”.

So there are lots of reasons to hate, which only makes our bond as pure fans that much stronger. Those who cheered in the Ballard years remember how the team was horrible yet still made the playoffs here and there in the crappy Norris division. We “be-leafed”. Those games at MLG were classics. How the camera would shake after a big goal, and how wonderful Paul Morris’ monotonous voice sounded over the PA announcing a Leafs goal. That’s where my love for the Leafs was born. Lots has changed since then, and sometimes for the worse, like the empty platinum seats when the second and third period starts. But it doesn’t bother me one bit, because I remember my first days as a Leaf fan and how pure and innocent it was.

Regardless of when or how you started cheering for the Leafs, you’ve earned your stripes. Bring on the hate.

 

[Superstar]

Ain't seen nothing yet, wait til we win!

 

[as Pure as Evil]

its a compounding factor but it really got bad after the kessel debacle, it went from feeling bad for us too laughing at us because burke had such a horrible assessment of our team. which is why im still completely against trading a future first round pick till the deadline has come and we are firmly ahead of the rest of the teams. The real hate seemed to come after shanny came along and stripped everything down. accumulating the big 3 with winning the lotto for Mathews really pissed them off. but to be fair we do have a few rotten apples that like to jump in other teams forums and rub salt and shit on them which really doesn't help

 

[Ratboy]

There's so many of us, that we have a lot of loud idiots amongst us. Plus the media is centred on us in Canada cause it's the biggest market.

We are like the NHLs Yankees, minus the modern success, but that is coming, oh yes it is..

 

[Holymakinaw]

The team has been the laughing stock of the NHL for a decade recently, I get that. But as soon as things start getting better, everybody just brings out rabid hate. I don’t think even MTL or OTT fans hate Toronto as much as some other fans do. Just look at the main board on these forums. Matthews is never given enough credit, McDavid is on a whole other level than him, and the Leafs in general are just lucky and taking advantage of teams having bad seasons. All Leafs prospects are overrated.

Even the damn NHL has no respect for this city or franchise which they’ve shown simply by giving it **** all for it’s centennial year.

Its because so many Leaf fans are morons. Very LOUD morons.

 

[Morbo]

It mostly comes down to people not understanding how media and television works.

 

[Notsince67]

We are misunderstood

 

[Brown Dog]

They hate to love us!

 

[SweLeafsFan]

It is the same with my favorite team in Sweden, also a classic team with lots of fans who are very passionate (also blue and white btw). Seems like it is either love or hate nothing in between. I take it as a good thing, would be worse to cheer for a team that brought up no emotions at all among fans.

 

[crump]

Leaf Nation. We are everywhere, we are in your home town, we are in your morning read, we are in your gas stations, movie houses, deer stands, art galleries and beer halls. I guess that would be kind of annoying if you were the fan of another team.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Seriously, who cares?

 

[LeafFever]

It mostly comes down to people not understanding how media and television works.

This. They believe when the Leafs are shown the most it's clear bias and the networks love the Leafs. They don't get that the network paid billions for the TV rights. They need to show the product which brings in the most ad revenue.
I can't believe litterally zero Canuck fans get why the Canucks/Leafs start at 4PM PT in Vancouver on Saturdays.

 

[LeafFever]

Everyone who is not a Leafs fan in Southern Ontario hates them because its all they got to hear about...Reality check you are in Southern Ontario, the Leafs are the team, get over it!

That's the same in every market. The home team is all you hear. At least the guys talking about the Leafs aren't raging homers.

 

[LeafsNation75]

One major example of the Leafs hate is how fans of other teams bash Matthews for never getting 30 assists in his first 2 seasons. I can honestly say I didn't know that getting at least 30 assists is some bench mark number centres need to achieve and I started seeing it when myself or others brought up that he scored 40 goals as a rookie and tied for 2nd in totals that year. Where the hate comes in that I see is this. Those same people never bash Patrik Laine for not reaching 30 assists in his first 2 seasons, so shouldn't he get the same criticism because everyone loved to compare Matthews against Laine.

 

[egd27]

 

[robertmac43]

Yeah, but the Americans hate us too.

I would have a lot of pent up hate too I lived down there

 

[robertmac43]

Yeah, but the Americans hate us too.

I would have a lot of pent up hate too I lived down there

 

[nuck]

Too much exposure. On these forums, with the most posters, Leaf fans are the most frequent invaders of other teams boards and generally speaking who appreciates other fans critiquing their players? You have to be sensitive to what might set other fans off, and even if you are, just having a Leaf representation in your avatar seems to invite criticism. With the fan base so large and avid, sports writers and bloggers love to throw Leaf material out as click bait, even when the club was not worthy of much attention so other fans get testy because of the over exposure. Its funny living in Edmonton, the TSN radio guys take shots at the Leafs and Matthews all the time "Leaf fans planning the parade" or "Leaf fans saying Matthews is generational" and I don't see where they are getting it from. They get almost zero coverage in the Edmonton papers so they must mean TSN Toronto? They were merciless with Kessel but after the Pittsburgh trade he became a "beauty". The Calgary Sportsnet guys are way more even handed, even when discussing the Oilers.

I almost never put anything Leafs related on other boards because there is a lot of territorial people who just like to argue. Lots of Leaf fans here to argue with so why bother

 

[Vexed]

I think it is simply because Leafs get the most exposure of pretty much any team in the league and while I understand completely that it's because of the size and passion of the market, it isn't very well deserved as over the course of the post-expansion era one could argue the Leafs have been the worst club in the league both in terms of on-ice product and most definitely in how it has been run. A lot of those core problems seem to be finally changing though.

 

[Commander Clueless]

To me, it's clearly a vicious cycle of trolling between fans. Both sides believe they are the victim.


What do 'Leaf haters' always say is the reason they hate the Leafs? Is it the players? The coaches? The logo?

More often than not, the answer is "the fans".


Yet here we are wondering why everyone hates us.


It's because both sides are guilty of bias and being defensive, and both seem themselves as being on the receiving end.

 

[Brolaf]

Yeah, but the Americans hate us too.

To a large proportion of Americans (especially the MAGA, Fox News, Breitbart crowd), Canada represents a "far-left" socialist dystopia that free-rides on America for its national security and steals manufacturing jobs through NAFTA. To them it's a chilling warning of the dangers of "socialized medicine", gun control, and multiculturalism.

Likewise, to many western Canadians, Toronto represents the epicenter of "Eastern Elites" who routinely ignore the interests of western Canada in favour of Ontario and Quebec (i.e. National Energy Program, Carbon Tax, Trans-Mountain, Energy East etc).

For Quebec and The Maritimes, needless to say there's been a history of grievances between Upper Canada and Lower Canada well before Confederation.

 

[OVO16]

It doesnt help that you guys are constantly making leaf threads everywhere in the General Board or Trade board.

Even as a leaf fan it gets really annoying when you 30+ pages of leaf threads everywhere. For gods sakes, just stay low key.

I dont need to feel a sense of satisfaction about my team from another fanbase.

 

[Trapper]

Not everyone hates the Leafs.
Just the other fan bases. So what? Like 100 people?

 

[LeafFever]

Too much exposure. On these forums, with the most posters, Leaf fans are the most frequent invaders of other teams boards and generally speaking who appreciates other fans critiquing their players? You have to be sensitive to what might set other fans off, and even if you are, just having a Leaf representation in your avatar seems to invite criticism. With the fan base so large and avid, sports writers and bloggers love to throw Leaf material out as click bait, even when the club was not worthy of much attention so other fans get testy because of the over exposure. Its funny living in Edmonton, the TSN radio guys take shots at the Leafs and Matthews all the time "Leaf fans planning the parade" or "Leaf fans saying Matthews is generational" and I don't see where they are getting it from. They get almost zero coverage in the Edmonton papers so they must mean TSN Toronto? They were merciless with Kessel but after the Pittsburgh trade he became a "beauty". The Calgary Sportsnet guys are way more even handed, even when discussing the Oilers.

I almost never put anything Leafs related on other boards because there is a lot of territorial people who just like to argue. Lots of Leaf fans here to argue with so why bother

Eh, I dunno about that. Have you seen people on this board? And I think the Mods are way too lenient compared to other boards. You get banned immediately other places for nothing.

 

[Placid Perspicuity]

There are many reasons to irrationally "hate" a group, but none of it is justifiable. Unfortunately, it's a common reaction that some people have when they have a negative experience with someone they don't know. People are far more complex and than can be neatly categorized by team affiliation, (or race, gender, religion, age, nationality, etc.) but that is how some brains process the information so that they can understand why it is happening.

For example, if someone has bad experiences with people from "Group X," they may rationalize the reasons for the negative feelings as a result of the little information they have. "I can see that this person is from Group X, and I don't like that person. It can't be me that is at fault; it must be that Group X displays this negative behaviour routinely."

Hockey opinions are largely subjective, despite what many people would like to believe. Why else would so many people watch the exact same thing only to arrive at vastly different perceptions? (eg. Penalty calls/suspensions, controversial hits, value/ability of players, potential, etc.) But instead of understanding that emotions, biases, etc. will skew everyone's view, some people resort to the easy answer of, "he/she must be delusional." These same emotions, biases, etc. also convince us that we are correct and others are wrong. Disagreements don't exactly get handled in a civil manner on these boards, which also escalate the perception that "Group X" is unreasonable.

The result is hate. It's irrational, but it happens. I'm sure there are Leaf fans who "hate" fans of certain other teams. Deep down, you know it doesn't make sense. We obviously have more fans than others, so the potential for negative experiences are greater than other teams.