I'm neutral about the Sens, but when I saw the beating the guy was taking behind the net you can't blame the guy, he was being brutalized in a way that he couldn't fight back.

"Brutalized?" What game were you watching?

"Every now and again one hears someone claim that the Toronto media are biased in favour of the Maple Leafs."

I don't think the bias is in the sense of "the Buds are the greatest team ever, blah blah blah..." It's more along the lines of "The buds are the only team that matters." Hence we get endless handwringing over what's wrong with the Leafs (hint - they suck). We get very rare gloating about things going well with the Leafs (hint - they were lucky and the referees sucked). At the same time, we get cursory discussion of the Oilers, the Flames, the Sens, the Habs, and the Nucks (that is, if there's time after the in-depth profile of Tie Domi, the update on Quinn's diet, and the feature on the guy who drives the Zamboni). Fair enough - after all, it is fair to assume that the local media will carry detailed discussion of the local team anyway. The national problem is that Toronto's "local media" are the national media by default, so we get the crazed local-fan view of the buds (and the Jays, and the Argos, and the Rock -sigh- ).

Dean

The Globe has a definite Leaf-obsession problem. But then again, the Leafs will always be "English Canada's team" for the age groups that still buy newspapers. If Generation X wants a vote in the matter, maybe it should shell out for a few subs. (Or, alternatively: if the Globe want to sell copies to Generation X, maybe it should start acting like the NHL has expanded beyond the Original Six.)

Two words: Damien Cox. This mofo has made a living shitting all over everything the Leafs have ever done, which, I'll admit, isn't that hard to do. If he ever gives any credit to anyone in the organization, it is done with such tooth-pulling begrudging smugness and qualified with yet another criticism. While he performs an invaluable service as a nay-sayer when everyone is planning the parade route because Lindros scores four goals, he is still proof that the hardest media to face is in Toronto.

"the Leafs will always be "English Canada's team" for the age groups that still buy newspapers...."

And who believe: (1) that there is such a thing as "English Canada;" (2) that they are part of it, and; (3) that it has or needs a team. Personally, I think the high intensity promotion of the buds as "English Canada's Team" while Harold Ballard was enthusiastically screwing over every Canadian hockey fan outside Quebec was the genesis of 'western alienation.'

"...he is still proof that the hardest media to face is in Toronto."

Or that the team least capable of facing the media (or satisfying their fans) is in Toronto.

Dean

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