RoyalGremlin
The future is now.
- Jun 19, 2007
- 4,123
- 0
These days, much is talked about how the Leafs are an intense market to play in, requiring a person of steely armour to not crumble under the pressure. With the team spiralling down the standings in the biggest hockey market in the world, it seems to me that Leaf Nation is divided into three parts. While each part has their faults, there is one that has the highest penchant of abuse. This part has historically made a mockery of the team and their fans.
First we have the ever loyal fans, second, the always fumbling team and last, the arrogant reporters with press clearance. In this day and age, we are witnessing an exponential increase in content available for consumption. Only a select group of people are allowed to enter the sanctuary of an NHL dressing room. These people are our only link to the player's voices, and they continually frame their questions based on their agendas. While some or many of the questions are legitimate, there still comes to a point where asking the same questions over and over to the same player becomes personal, not professional. There is so much content on the leafs these days that that one player's quote will be plastered on over 10 different media outlets.
Is it really the players' or team's fault when they get sick of seeing the same ugly mugs like Howard Berger and Damien Cox after every game and practice, asking the same questions day after day, hoping to mine a misconstrued quote that will inevitably be twisted into a negative light? Are these people writing for Leafs fans or the bigger market of Leafs haters? While I understand that not everything has to be seen with blue and white glasses, there should be some respect for the players and the team.
There's 29 other teams out there, no team is interrogated more than the Leafs. At what point does the media actually influence the future of the team? Look at Phil, he's a supreme talent, but has many question marks. He's got his haters for sure, and I'm leaning on trading him, but at the same time I have to think, has my judgement been clouded from reading constant negative reports in the news? Has it also impacted other executives around the league? Could they be using this information as leverage to lessen his trade value? Did Wilson really get fired from the Leafs fans chanting "Fire Wilson", or did the fans chant that through subliminal conditioning from the media? Did Tlusty have any idea that millions of people were about to see his junk? Did they subliminally brainwash the Muskoka 5 into taking the devil's advocate route to invoke their NTC's by provoking them? In any case, certain Media personalities have been abusing the Leafs fans, Players, Executives and Owners for a long time now, and it really needs to stop.
We need fresh reporters in the locker rooms. We need an improvement with real content, with professional journalism instead of the sensationalist garbage we've been continually force fed. Let's let the players choose who they want to answer questions from. Let the team kick out the bad reporters and let the outlets bring in a new, reporter. It's time to give these hockey playing professionals an opportunity to actually enjoy these interviews and not dread them when things go bad. I think it's time to change who's allowed to enter that dressing room and ask the questions. It does the team no good when they deflate their players public image and trade value while subsequently making a mockery of the team and rubbing salt in the fans wounds. It's a vicious cycle and one that the media has exploited for decades.
The Leafs have the biggest, richest and most loyal fan base, it's time we were treated right for all our loyalty and stupidity. Especially now that we're going to go through through a rebuild and probably lose more than we'll win going forward the next few years.
There. I said it.
First we have the ever loyal fans, second, the always fumbling team and last, the arrogant reporters with press clearance. In this day and age, we are witnessing an exponential increase in content available for consumption. Only a select group of people are allowed to enter the sanctuary of an NHL dressing room. These people are our only link to the player's voices, and they continually frame their questions based on their agendas. While some or many of the questions are legitimate, there still comes to a point where asking the same questions over and over to the same player becomes personal, not professional. There is so much content on the leafs these days that that one player's quote will be plastered on over 10 different media outlets.
Is it really the players' or team's fault when they get sick of seeing the same ugly mugs like Howard Berger and Damien Cox after every game and practice, asking the same questions day after day, hoping to mine a misconstrued quote that will inevitably be twisted into a negative light? Are these people writing for Leafs fans or the bigger market of Leafs haters? While I understand that not everything has to be seen with blue and white glasses, there should be some respect for the players and the team.
There's 29 other teams out there, no team is interrogated more than the Leafs. At what point does the media actually influence the future of the team? Look at Phil, he's a supreme talent, but has many question marks. He's got his haters for sure, and I'm leaning on trading him, but at the same time I have to think, has my judgement been clouded from reading constant negative reports in the news? Has it also impacted other executives around the league? Could they be using this information as leverage to lessen his trade value? Did Wilson really get fired from the Leafs fans chanting "Fire Wilson", or did the fans chant that through subliminal conditioning from the media? Did Tlusty have any idea that millions of people were about to see his junk? Did they subliminally brainwash the Muskoka 5 into taking the devil's advocate route to invoke their NTC's by provoking them? In any case, certain Media personalities have been abusing the Leafs fans, Players, Executives and Owners for a long time now, and it really needs to stop.
We need fresh reporters in the locker rooms. We need an improvement with real content, with professional journalism instead of the sensationalist garbage we've been continually force fed. Let's let the players choose who they want to answer questions from. Let the team kick out the bad reporters and let the outlets bring in a new, reporter. It's time to give these hockey playing professionals an opportunity to actually enjoy these interviews and not dread them when things go bad. I think it's time to change who's allowed to enter that dressing room and ask the questions. It does the team no good when they deflate their players public image and trade value while subsequently making a mockery of the team and rubbing salt in the fans wounds. It's a vicious cycle and one that the media has exploited for decades.
The Leafs have the biggest, richest and most loyal fan base, it's time we were treated right for all our loyalty and stupidity. Especially now that we're going to go through through a rebuild and probably lose more than we'll win going forward the next few years.
There. I said it.
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