Fan Abuse

It is Monday morning and my teams have left me with that worthless, hollow feeling that an NDP booster feels after an election. Spending all that energy getting excited for games, taking the time to watch them and have nothing to show for it at the end. But unlike an NDP booster, there is some hope for sports fans in Toronto as long as weekend like these don’t happen too often.

The Leafs dropped two games that were, pardon the cliché, must wins. The sports writers in Toronto were saying that Kyle Wellwood’s return was going to make the difference, boy did they get that one right. A 5-1 smoking by Washington, followed by a 3-2 loss to the Canadians doesn’t make me think that Wellwood is the difference maker. The Leafs aren’t playing good hockey and their efforts are inconsistent. On top of that, they are just plain boring t watch. The grinding, cycling game that Maurice has drilled into them can be effective but it is ugly and dull. When was the last time a Leafs goal was a contender for highlight of the night? There is a serious shortage of scoring talent among the forwards and they traded a young defenseman for an old forward at the deadline. This team needs to find some pieces to rebuild around and hope that they can stay healthy.

The Raptors absolutely stunk yesterday. That third quarter was one of the worst they have played this year. Last week I wrote about how well they have played in the third and then they go and embarrass themselves like that….disgusting. Losing to the Rockets is fine, they split the season series with them and have to be happy with that but the Knicks?!?! Renaldo Balkman!?!?! The Nets also won yesterday which shrinks the Raptors Atlantic lead to 5 games. They need to focus on taking care of the ball and getting good shots.

The best things that happened this weekend were my fantasy baseball drafts. Yes, it is that time of the year again and while it seems exciting now, by midsummer I will be crying for something other than baseball. I am trying to get keeper pools going which are always precarious in their first couple years. You never know who is serious and who isn’t. I ended up with Miguel Cabrera in both first rounds so he better have a great year.

So Toronto, lets sit back and see what out teams do this spring. We aren’t going to have any championship parades for a while but there is always the hope. The Leafs still have a chance, the Raptors are going to the post season and the Jays….well we have a whole summer to talk about them.