The naysayers were right all along:

[YearsintheWilderness]

The naysayers have always said that MLSE never cared about winning as much as they should because the money will always be there.

Richard Peddie's new autobiography confirms just that fact. It's got to be a sick, vomit-inducing realization that JFJ was hired mainly to...you got it...SAVE MONEY.

But during his 15-year run at the helm, Peddie admits he had concerns beyond the Ws. Consider the lead-up to Peddie’s disastrous hirings of Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr. and Raptors counterpart Rob Babcock, a pair of rookie executives whose bumblings would set back both franchises eons. Peddie acknowledges that things like experience and excellence weren’t his chief concern.

"Things like experience and excellence weren't his chief concern."

Beyond the money angle, there has got to be a monumental load of arrogance in such thinking as well.

Peddie's autobiography

Click to read more...

 

[Damisoph]

The quote that sickened me the most from that article was that Peddie was tired of losing. No acknowledgement that the losing was a direct result of his incompetence.

 

[rojac]

The naysayers have always said that MLSE never cared about winning as much as they should because the money will always be there.

Richard Peddie's new autobiography confirms just that fact. It's got to be a sick, vomit-inducing realization that JFJ was hired mainly to...you got it...SAVE MONEY.





"Things like experience and excellence weren't his chief concern."

Beyond the money angle, there has got to be a monumental load of arrogance in such thinking as well.

Peddie's autobiography

No. That's just life. We have no real influence over what the Leafs or MLSE do, so there's little reason to get too upset about it. Sure, it would have been nice if Peddie had made different decisions, but he didn't. But getting upset over it now is totally pointless.

 

[Bravid Nonahan]

I don't care. At this point, at least the Leafs aren't an embarrassment.

 

[jmart21]

You bought this guys autobiography?

You paid money for?

 

[ACC1224]

The naysayers have always said that MLSE never cared about winning as much as they should because the money will always be there.

Richard Peddie's new autobiography confirms just that fact. It's got to be a sick, vomit-inducing realization that JFJ was hired mainly to...you got it...SAVE MONEY.





"Things like experience and excellence weren't his chief concern."

Beyond the money angle, there has got to be a monumental load of arrogance in such thinking as well.

Peddie's autobiography

If you say this confirms that fact, why not post that quote then?

 

[Porn*]

I wouldn't pay a penny to read Peddies bio. He contributed to holding down Toronto sports for too long.

 

[Duke Silver]

Say whatever you want about Lieweke talking too much, but at least we know he cares about winning.

 

[mcleex]

So happy we have Lieweke at the helm, guy cut back costs by firing a ******** of suits who did absolutely nothing that worked for MLSE, how many no-name corporate guys have we heard of being let go since Lieweke got here, these guys all probably made 300k + salary.

Instead of cheaping out on the actual product (teams GM's, players etc) he cut back all the dead weight corporate suits who have been a part of MLSE's losing culture since the beginning of time.

Think of guys like Anselmi, Payne, Stefanski, Colangelo

Props to Lieweke and I'm really glad we have someone at the top who has the company's priority standing out: winning

 

[Goonface2k14]

Peddie hired Babcock, and he hired JFJ.

Enough said.

 

[Stats01]

Yeah no point in getting upset over it now, what happened happened. I wish Peddie the best, he failed miserably but **** happens. I'm so happy to have a guy like Nonis as our GM, no panic moves everything is methodical. I've always said if this fan base has waited this long and keeps selling out why not just be patient and build the team. This whole B.S about quick fixes and getting a winner now was driven mostly by the media who were looking for quick headlines and names to talk about. It drove guys like JFJ to make stupid moves IMO and let's not forget MLSE's mind frame was to make the team competitive quickly so of course the future was mortgaged. I love the way this team is being built now mostly through drafting and shrewd trades, while tinkering the line-up through free agency.

 

[Mess]

Peddie hired Babcock, and he hired JFJ.

Enough said.

In his interview yesterday on Sportsnet Peddie commented on both his Hockey GM decisions JFJ and Burke where failures and didn't produce the desired results.. Ditto for the Basketball side of things.

 

[New Liskeard]

Dick was on CBC radio a couple of days ago, and was interesting. Depite not being a fan, it is hard to argue his previous successes in other businesses before coming to MLSE and fuflilling his dream of running an NBA team. Of course he would call JFJ a failure, it was afterall, Dick, who was pulling the strings on management and the directions, and what better way to save face and ego, than by blaming the people he hired and not taking accountabilty for stering the ship.

 

[pcruz]

The issue here is context and sample size.

You take a quote from a book, put it on a forum without an iota of context.
But you also don't put enough of a quote to accurately reflect the message being made in the original text.

Case in point. Peddie has made the exact same interview with Prime Time Sports regarding his book. Both times he was asked directly about his successes and failures. Both times he has given the same answer.

Success was taking MLSE and specifically the Toronto Maple Leafs and making them into billion dollar companies.

Failures include hiring 2 general managers without experience who he believed would be less expensive and who could grow in their businesses. Both of them failed. He then did the exact opposite and hired 2 of the best, most sought-after and well respected people in the same 2 sports and both of those ended up being failures as well.

It's pathetic what some people will do to cause up a stir. You, sir, should be writing for the Toronto Sun.

 

[Pyrophorus]

I thought it was common knowledge that JFJ, was the cheapest of all 9 candidates.

 

[TML 13]

The issue here is context and sample size.

You take a quote from a book, put it on a forum without an iota of context.
But you also don't put enough of a quote to accurately reflect the message being made in the original text.

Case in point. Peddie has made the exact same interview with Prime Time Sports regarding his book. Both times he was asked directly about his successes and failures. Both times he has given the same answer.

Success was taking MLSE and specifically the Toronto Maple Leafs and making them into billion dollar companies.

Failures include hiring 2 general managers without experience who he believed would be less expensive and who could grow in their businesses. Both of them failed. He then did the exact opposite and hired 2 of the best, most sought-after and well respected people in the same 2 sports and both of those ended up being failures as well.

It's pathetic what some people will do to cause up a stir. You, sir, should be writing for the Toronto Sun.

Colangelo was never a good GM. It was his father, not him, that was pulling the strings in PHX. His failures were due to Bargnani and his obsession with “ blockbuster" moves that didn't pan out (O'Neal and Turkoglu). Peddie fell for the hype. Burke was the man who laid the foundation in ANA and VAN and now TOR. His biggest failure was holding onto Wilson. You can't not fault Peddie, he is accountable for both the leafs and raps troubles

 

[Drugstorecowboi]

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a John Taffer (Bar Rescue) or Gordon Ramsay (Kitchen Nightmares) star in a reality TV series about saving failing sports franchises. I would have loved to see either/or just rip into Peddie and expose all the bs he created.

"I don't embrace excuses. I embrace solutions" - JT