LEAFSANDBILLSFAN
Registered User
- May 3, 2020
- 518
- 683
I spent my early childhood between London and Chatham, and while Wings fans were very visible, it was still mostly Leafs.
I think the 'hometown' label in the Toronto/Ontario context isn't meant to be taken literally, it's almost a Southern Ontario cultural thing. It's a bit like a player from anywhere in Quebec being treated as hometown in Montreal. Even if you're well south of London, you can still feel as if you're in Toronto's orbit. Detroit doesn't feel like it's 'ours' the way Toronto does, an international border does after all make a difference. Though I can imagine in Windsor people don't see it that way since Detroit is right there.
Exactly hometown to me as it pertains to guys signing in the NHL is region proximity not literal hometown. Most guys weren't born in Toronto they were born in the cities/towns around it. It's a silly discussion of semantics. To me Southern Ontario is a culture and a place and from London to Peterborough across to St. Catherine's and up to Barrie and everything in between is in that culture. Toronto is the center of it. Detroit is so far removed from the conscious of anyone in Ontario who does not live in Windsor and Sarnia. No one cares about Detroit. Certainly not people in the London, St. Thomas, and Port Stanley corridor. Again Toronto is as close if not closer to this region than Detroit. The GTA which is where you really start to feel Toronto is alot closer than Detroit. You can be in Milton which is the first part of the GTA in just over an hour from St. Thomas.