By HOWARD BERGER
SAN JOSE (Jan. 12) — Every so often in the business of covering a professional sports team — particularly one with an immense following like the Toronto Maple Leafs — I think it’s important to take a step back; draw in a couple of deep breaths, and allow perspective to enter the fray. This is one of those times. Yes, the Maple Leafs are in a dead zone right now, and it appears as if the club will miss the playoffs for a third consecutive year. The feeling on the outside is that dramatic changes at the executive and coaching levels could be on the immediate horizon… perhaps, as soon as the Leafs return from California.
But, don’t we all get just a little carried away with this stuff? Is it really quite as important and all-consuming as we make it out to be?
I’m not here to put myself on a different plane than anyone else — in or out of the media business. Reporting on the Maple Leafs is a competitive, non-stop enterprise. At any given moment, a half-dozen media wags can be feverishly working to out-maneuver one another in a hockey market that is boundless when it comes to the flow of information and opinion. That’s all well and good. And, I’m as guilty of this rivalrous fervor as the next guy (or gal). But, one thing so many of us tend to either forget, or overlook, is that we’re dealing with human beings, not robots. That’s where perspective so infrequently enters the picture.
At the moment, John Ferguson is the perfect subject. Yes, an argument can easily be made that Ferguson should be replaced as GM of the Maple Leafs. This once-storied franchise has not missed out on Stanley Cup competition for three consecutive years since it was called the Toronto St. Pats. In the third season of that famine — 1927-28 — Conn Smythe changed the name to Maple Leafs. That’s how long it’s been since Toronto’s NHL team has suffered a hattrick of post-season flops. So, a reprise, 80 years later, cannot be considered a favorable circumstance for any person with a job in the organization.
What I question is the almost-cataclysmic reaction to such a failure. And again, to repeat, I’m a part of it. We occasionally come to a point where plain cruelty begins to transcend opinion. In our feverish quest — as fans and media — to make ourselves known (a quest that is limitless and insatiable in the Internet world), I think we cross an imaginary line too often. We pay virtually no homage to the fact that our subjects have feelings, just as we do. That they are children, and husbands, and fathers, and uncles. The art of attacking people in the sports world has become so refined in recent years — perhaps not to the extent as in the political world — but to a far greater degree than in any previous era. And, there is no apparent limit to the voracity of the spoken or written word.
It seems that we treat underachieving general managers and drug-enhanced home run hitters with the same abhorrence as serial killers and rapists. And, that’s simply absurd. There is unquestionably a fervent aspect of professional sport that lends itself to madness. In days of yore, sport was considered to be an outlet; a mostly pleasant diversion from our daily responsibilities. Nowadays, it is clearly an extension of the anger that seems to well inside most of us. Because sports figures are of the public domain, it is somehow acceptable to tear these people to shreds. You can feel the wrath; the combustible fury among so many who emote in this comparatively trivial world.
Sports and politics are closely related in perception, mainly because none of us on the outside have any control over the decisions our GMs, coaches, presidents, prime ministers, congressmen and members of Parliament make on our behalf. The convergence of business and public trust is a turbulent place. But, we still go way overboard.
Okay, so John Ferguson is on the hot seat. Richard Peddie has never met a camera, notepad or microphone that he doesn’t like. The proprietors of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment seem incapable of making a prudent hockey decision. Or any notable decision pertaining to the Blue & White. And, yes, the Leafs are sliding towards playoff oblivion once again.
But, two miles north of the Air Canada Centre, children are dying of cancer.
Perhaps we should remind ourselves of that every so often.
Hello Howard,
I am writing to you from Istanbul, I read your posts everyday and I have enjoyed your work in covering the Maple Leafs for years, whether on radio or print.
In reading this last post, I couldn’t help to think of Jerry Maguire and his ”Mission Statement”. Perhaps it is the stress of following an organization which continues to bring disappointment, or just a humane look at athletes and sports figures who are perhaps at times not worthy of the lofty positions which they are privileged to hold.
Especially in a city like Toronto, where you are either a hero or a zero, with basically no grey area, we as fans and the media who I believe are just feeding the hungry mouth of the Lion because the fans DEMAND it, definitely do cross the lines sometimes in the way we take out our frustrations so cruelly on these sports figures, one only needs to tune into the radio sports shows for a few minutes to witness the feeding frenzy.
Is it justifiable to treat these figures as robots without emotion or mercy, perhaps that can be debated, but with the absurd and astronomical salaries these public sports figures are receiving, which is absolutely no fault of their own, it makes it almost impossible for your average ”Joe” to treat them like one of their own, human. When you can’t relate to someone or something, it just makes it that much easier to dehumanize.
In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing more than a sports stage, a ‘’sports theatre” perhaps, where the critics are ready to prey on the actors mercilessly, it has become the tension release for a stressed out society, a society in which the balances are so unevenly tilted, where one human being is compensated so handsomely for being the head of a sports team that performs less than fifty percent, and as you mentioned, there are men and women just down the street form Grand Cathedrals like the ACC, who are working 20 hour shifts to try and save little kids dying of Cancer or our loved ones from diseases we can not even pronounce, and all in an environment where less than a fifty percent average is just not an option! Or the wonderful caring people who spend more time with our kids as their teachers, or the dedicated people who put their lives on the line everyday to keep our streets safe, again, less than just fifty percent will not due.
So in the end, the supply and demand of the business speaks louder than any justification we can bring to the table, the chosen few in the professional world of sports are there for us all to enjoy , night in and night out, they are there to take the brunt of societies frustrations, with every goal they allow, with every swing and a miss, we are there in the stands, on the call in sports shows, just to remind them they are the chosen few. Though our roars may be loud, mean or down right nasty, at the end of the day, we would all love a shot to stand in their shoes, in a world where less than fifty percent can still add up to financial success, in a world where heroes are made by playing a game, perhaps being judged so cruelly at times is a small price to pay.
All the best Howard, keep up the great work as always.
Good bye from Istanbul Turkey, where Leaf Nation is alive and well.
Regards,
Berk Huner
- Berk HunerI’m usually a fan of your stuff, but this entry was rather weak. If you underperform at your job, are you going to give your boss a sob story about children dying of cancer and attempt to convince him to “put things in perspective”? By all means, give it a go if you think it will work, but you will most likely be escorted out of the building before you have time to clear out your desk.
I disgree with your argument that JFJ has been treated unfairly by the media. I’ve never once seen (or read) him attacked personally on television, radio, newspapers, or the interwebs. If anything, I think most articles have been unfairly biased towards him because he’s apparently a great guy. By all account, JFJ *is* a great guy. And I must admit that I find Paul Maurice extremely likeable as well. But what in Jobe’s name does that have to do with coaching or being the GM of a hockey club? Seriously?
JFJ and Maurice deserve fair criticism. Both knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. Neither one is doe-eyed innocent, dragged from obscurity and pushed into the limelight. If either the coach or GM is unhappy with the media attention, they are free to chose a different job.
Legitimate media has been more than fair to both Maurice and Ferguson. The criticism they have received is warranted. Bothy have failed miserably at their jobs and the board is taking no more heat than old Harold did.
As for Peddie… nothing short of front page headlines of “INCOMPETENT BOOB” plastered above his smiling face on every newspaper, every day of the week, would be sufficient.
- SpungoYou heard it here first. The Leafs aren’t quite as bad as cancer.
- stoetenHoward you’re right about the anger, I felt it myself. I heard a radio quip about beheading and agreed with it. but of course that was just hype. I know there’s more important things but the anger is in reponse to feeling like MLSE doesn’t consider the Leafs performance as being important to them. They need to reorganize and do something…soon…please!!!
- a jonesHoward:
Thank you. It’s unfortunate that someone even has to state these obvious facts. As someone who has both felt the kind of pressure and rath the Maple Leaf players and management must be feeling now, and has had a child in Sick Kids, I agree with you.
My heart broke for Paul Maurice during the post-game interview Saturday night. His emotion, dignity, and class touched me. I sincerley hope this situation is resloved quickly.
- Glenn DerbyshireWell spoken as usual Howard. Agreed, these are human beings that are being “shredded” by the fans but rightfully so. I am a fan and only a fan with a small voice that will never be heard by the likes of JFJ or Peddie.
In my line of work it is my duty to work with my team to provide the best product possible for our customer. If we fail, then we get the opportunity to correct our mistakes. If we don’t correct the situation and allow quality to be compromised on a daily basis then our client will eventually search for a new supplier.
- JohnMLSE is the team.
The fans are the customers.
The time for new faces and new ideas has come.
O, boo-hoo — go have your mid-life consciousness-raising crisis-of-conscience elsewhere. The penny might just have dropped for you that hockey is merely a game and Ferguson/Maurice/et al are human just like the rest of us, but we out here in the cheap seats have been well aware of these facts for some time, just like we’ve also been well aware that these humans who play the game of hockey (on or off the ice) are handsomely compensated not only for their skills but also to take the shyte that goes with the game-playing.
Regardless of whether or not his sad-sack team actually wins, coach Paul Maurice still drives home afterwards in his fully-loaded Cadillac SUV to his multi-million dolllar rose-covered mansion in Oakville, to be greeted by his high-maintenance barbie-doll wife and three spoiled designer-clad children (all of whom attend expensive private schools). His salary enables this scenario, just as it enables us, the unwashed hockey-fan hordes, to sling as much shyte as we wish in his direction, if we so desire.
As for trying to bring us some perspective by pointing to children dying of cancer two clicks north of the ACC, why not point instead to the millions of children in Africa who don’t even live to see their first birthday, let alone long enough to develop cancer?
It’s all perspective — right? Then get on with your job of reporting on overpaid sports bozos, and leave the teary-eyed speeches to loser coaches and presidential candidates.
- Charlotte Creamer