News Article: Toronto Star: "The Leafs vs. Habs rivalry is over — and Montreal has won"

[JLP]

link to article

Every night, the fans sing. Okay, it’s one word — Ole — over and over again. But still.

Compare that to Toronto, where every time Leaf fans dare to begin chanting “Go Leafs Go,” they are inevitably drowned out at the stoppage of play by some marketing moment disguised as a moronic trivia game, or the ear-blaring sounds of rock music (classic or alternative).

That usually is followed by — and the irony here is delicious — the scoreboard telling the fans to “get loud.”

Toronto is a swamp of denial, but some writers can see things clearly. Several avid leafs fans have -- almost shyly -- admitted to me they are supporting these Habs in these playoffs.

It's a huge shot of humility for Toronto and I'm loving it.

Click to read more...

 

[Bob b smith]

Toronto is a swamp of denial, but some writers can see things clearly. Several avid leafs fans have -- almost shyly -- admitted to me they are supporting these Habs in these playoffs.

I personally accept with open arms all Leaf fans in our bandwagon and will make a serious effort not to pick on their team until after the playoffs.

PS: that goes for any club with fans in our bandwagon.

 

[Le Tricolore]

it's funny because it's true. Go Habs.

 

[CrAzYNiNe]

The marketing behind the leafs is pathetic. The crowd at the ACC is equally pathetic. They need to get back to the basics of having hockey loving people in attendance making their own noise. I won't believe those fans don't exist in Toronto, just not at the ACC with prices of tickets being far too expensive for young guys that like to go and have fun.

 

[Analyzer*]

The whole lower bowl in Toronto is owned by corporations who never show up.


Toronto is a lot like Montreal in that they can't allow themselves to be on the bottom. Unfortunately for Toronto, they haven't been able to get themselves good and be good consistently.

There's nothing wrong with supporting another Canadian team in the playoffs. It's harder for us(Canadian teams) to win.

Mayors? Theirs is only controversial once in a while.

Way to English.

 

[Bob b smith]

The whole lower bowl in Toronto is owned by corporations who never show up.


.

These corporate types really look like they know how to party.

 

[Avengers*]

Great read. Thanks for the link.

The maple laffs are and will always be the eternal losers. Only made the playoffs once in the last 10 years. Oh yeah it was a shortened season.

 

[Rapala]

The whole lower bowl in Toronto is owned by corporations who never show up.


Toronto is a lot like Montreal in that they can't allow themselves to be on the bottom. Unfortunately for Toronto, they haven't been able to get themselves good and be good consistently.

There's nothing wrong with supporting another Canadian team in the playoffs. It's harder for us(Canadian teams) to win.



Way to English.

The rivalry hasn't existed for decades and decades.
Interesting remark and take on "corporations"
Toronto's deep seated problem since Harold is that "Corporation" approach to running a hockey team.
Far too many cooks in the kitchen and egos getting in the way of each other.
It is truly a sorry spectacle to witness.
My dad grew me up a Leafs fan but my brain out voted my heart in 87 and i dumped them after Roy hoisted that cup. I despise them now but nothing like my hatred of the Bruins.

 

[Team_Spirit]

While Leaf front office types have grumbled for years that the Habs hijacked In Flanders Fields to get their hands on that torch, the Leafs have tried various copy-cat approaches. Most recently, they placed a boulder from the Canadian Shield outside their locker room to make the team feel “rock solid.†Get it?

 

[oleHABSole*]

What rivalry. I can't even respect their organization. What I hate about the Leafs fans the most, they genuinely think Canadiens suck.

 

[Claimed Off Waivers]

Hopefully Shanahan can get them turned around. I would like for our games vs Toronto in the future to actually mean something.

 

[Le Tricolore]

This post is perfect.

 

[Campoozmstnz]

Compare that to Toronto, where every time Leaf fans dare to begin chanting “Go Leafs Go,†they are inevitably drowned out at the stoppage of play by some marketing moment disguised as a moronic trivia game, or the ear-blaring sounds of rock music (classic or alternative).

To be fair, it's the same thing at the Bell Centre (and probably at all the venues in the league).

 

[Colezuki]

The whole lower bowl in Toronto is owned by corporations who never show up.


Toronto is a lot like Montreal in that they can't allow themselves to be on the bottom. Unfortunately for Toronto, they haven't been able to get themselves good and be good consistently.

There's nothing wrong with supporting another Canadian team in the playoffs. It's harder for us(Canadian teams) to win.



Way to English.

Lived in toronto, the reason the lower bowl is always empty is poor entrances out of it that make it difficult to get back in, trust me it gets raucous as well, just not as good as montreal. Torontos a fun team to watch don't look down on them

 

[Bob b smith]

Lived in toronto, the reason the lower bowl is always empty is poor entrances out of it that make it difficult to get back in, trust me it gets raucous as well, just not as good as montreal. Torontos a fun team to watch don't look down on them

If that was the Bell Center, I would say it's totally unacceptable and the team needs to do something about this physical access problem, RIGHT NOW!!! As far as the ACC is concerned, it's just fine as is.

 

[Price is Wright]

I think the rock was actually for the Raptors, so once again the Leafs are not even trying.

 

[Compile]

The issue is the ownership group doesn't give a **** because even with losing teams they still make the most out of any team.

Look at the Raptors for example. One playoff appearance in 8 years and ticket prices are higher then the Miami Heat who have an all-star line up. The avg ticket for Raps playoffs are $160 compared to (I think I heard ~90).

If the people that cared actually stopped going and the ownership starts making less profit then the team would be fixed.

They hired a guy known to be a marketing guru to run MLSE, like it needs to be marketed.

I laugh when I hear people say the biggest rivalary in hockey is Leafs/Habs. Its more like Bruins/Habs and will never change.

I wish Toronto years of failure in all of their sports avenues.

 

[Rondo Hatton]

So Leaf fans are too quiet and then they are too noisy and excitable and start planning parade route when they win.

Sounds like FOX News when they criticize Obama - the wimp who leads from behind that is the worst dictator in the world, shredding the constitution and is gonna get your guns.

Haters gonna hate.

The on ice rivalry doesn't exists - hasn't for decades. The fans hate each other equally only one side likes to pretend otherwise.

 

[Ice Poutine]

...
I wish Toronto years of failure in all of their sports avenues.

The Leafs have already started working on that that wish way back in '67...

 

[Frankenheimer]

Among the many problems the Leafs have is a lack of identity. It's clear the Habs have one and for that matter so do Boston and Detroit. In the NFL I think of the bears, in baseball you have the Yanks. That makes these franchises more interesting by nature because despite changing rosters the identity persists, which is something very difficult to achieve. When a new player joins the franchise, they know they're joining a family.

The Leafs haven't allowed that identity to come through. To me, the players that most embodied the Leafs in the last twenty or so years were Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour. They were tough, played hard, but were fair and clean. I didn't mind cheering for the Leafs during that era (keeping in mind that they were in a completely different conference at the time). Today's Leafs are easy to root against.

 

[Mrb1p]

The more love we get, the better.

It feels good to be the loved child for once.

 

[Fozz]

Why would Toronto even come up right now? They are irrelevant to what we have to do.

 

[Doc McKenna]

So Leaf fans are too quiet and then they are too noisy and excitable and start planning parade route when they win.

Sounds like FOX News when they criticize Obama - the wimp who leads from behind that is the worst dictator in the world, shredding the constitution and is gonna get your guns.

Haters gonna hate.

The on ice rivalry doesn't exists - hasn't for decades. The fans hate each other equally only one side likes to pretend otherwise.

I think Hab fans hate the media more than the fans. I live in a city that is very weird. We have 35% Wings fans, 35% Leaf fans and about 15-20% Hab fans with a few fans of anything that isn't a southern team. We live on the border with Detroit and leafs are the closest canadian team. I can say that leaf fans are annoying down here, but because their team always craps the bed, we don't really care about them.

When we were terrible it was the best the leafs had in 20 years. Now that we are decent again the leafs are no where. The whole rivalry is fairly contrived. My distatse for the leafs is less than Tampa, Pens, Philly, Ottawa, Buffalo, Carolina(still cheesed about those playoffs) Rangers and of course our actual rival Boston. Even with cheap shot Kadri it is only slightly there. Tucker use to be a burr under our saddle, but again thats cause the leafs could kinda make the playoffs back then.

Until we have a post season that goes more than 5 games I will be less concerned with leaf losers. Even with all the media love, they always manage to screw it up making the media look stupid for being homers in the process. I just don't feel the rivalry much and I live in a city with TONS of leaf fans. They THINK they compete with us, but they don't so the point is moot. Perhaps for leaf fans it is, but not to me. In Windsor the leaf-wing hate is waaay more visible than any other team, even than wings-hawks. They use to play each other often enough during the 80s for it to be meaningful.

 

[Rondo Hatton]

Why would Toronto even come up right now? They are irrelevant to what we have to do.

Exactly - the team's up 3-0 on the verge of a sweep and this is relevant how? That is why any Montreal fans saying "The Leafs aren't important - I don't even think of Toronto as a rival" is being disingenuous. Montreal is flying high and the temptation to kick an enemy while it's down has proven too great.

 

[CupInSIX]

Every time I catch a Leaf game I see at least a dozen white haired jet-set greaseballs with open collars unbuttoned to expose their liver spotted leathery chest and fresh Florida bronze tans, chatting away behind the bench about their latest merger with absolutely zero regard for anything going on the ice in front of them. These could be another set of boobs if tickets were reasonable.