Lamentations in the T-Dot Part 3 - by wongoz

Ahh, finally something to rebut. But before I get into it, lemme just take a moment to guffaw at the brouhaha over nicknames... hello?!? Apollo? APOLLO?!? Surely the irony of your rant doesn't escape you. I'm surprised that such a venomous anti-nickname proponent as yourself would, in fact, take a nickname!

Alright, let's get down to it. I don't blame Apollo for not liking Toronto sports teams; it happens if you're from another town with a team in the same league/sport as Toronto. In fact, I think it's only natural to follow teams from your hometown. So while you can have your Canadiens, I'm a little more than perplexed that you followed both the Blue Jays and the Argos, when you had your respective hometown choices, the Expos and the Alouettes.

Now why would you choose the Toronto teams instead? I suppose it's because you actually grew up in Waterloo, just an hour outside of Toronto. Naturally, most media coverage of big-league sports would've centred around Toronto, so I suppose that could be a factor. However, access to media coverage doesn't fully explain why you would've done so.

Are you such a fan that you absolutely need to watch a team in order to follow it? Certainly not; this would negate your love for the Canadiens and hatred for the Maple Leafs. Perhaps you, as a Montrealer (do you hate that term too?), simply didn't profess your love for all things Montreal in your last post. Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt...

But this love/hate relationship that people have with Toronto sports teams says more about those people than it does about the teams. Your biggest point of contention is that Toronto expects its teams to win. But why wouldn't you? After all, do you not support your own favourite teams with equally ardent fervour? Do you not think that your teams should try to succeed every year? Do you not want your teams to try hard, give a good effort, and be rewarded for those efforts?

On the contrary, I think many people are pessimistic about the chances for success. Certainly, many media reports (namely, the Toronto Star's coverage of the Jays and Raptors) expound on how unlikely it is for those teams to succeed. So where is this expectation, this so-called birthright, to winning? It's just that we think the organizations running the teams could be doing better. Isn't that in fact what we always talk about? Why other teams' organziations always seem to be better, or more capable? The last time the Leafs really won a trade was when they ripped off Calgary in the Doug Gilmour-Gary Leeman deal, and that was about 10 years ago.

Actually, what I think is the key matter, is that most fans think that they can do better. Certainly you and I both think so. Never has there been such dysfunction in so many sports teams' management in any given city. The Leafs and the awkward Ken Dryden-Pat Quinn duo. The Jays and the inept Gord Ash/Tim Johnson/Jim Fregosi years. The Raptors and the disappointing Glen Grunwald/Butch Carter/Lenny Wilkens/Kevin O'Neill quartet (not to mention the meddlesome CEO Richard Peddie). The Argos and the embarrassing Sherwood Schwarz ownership fiasco. Do we expect them to be better? Hell yeah.

Maybe it's the overwhelming media coverage of the Toronto sports scene that bothers you. Well, you can hardly fault that. More people live in the Greater Toronto Area than 7 of the 10 Canadian provinces. Historically, Toronto teams were one the few teams to cheer for (in the case of the Raptors, they are the only team to cheer for), so fans of the Leafs and Jays spread from coast to coast, without shame.

Anyways, I won't get into why it's frustrating to be a Toronto fan - you seemed to have covered that part adequately. I just don't see how people can think that Toronto expects more out of its teams than other cities do out of theirs; if they do, it's because they don't support their team as well (or as blindly). Is it Toronto's fault that Vancouver lost the Grizzlies to Memphis? Is it Toronto's fault that Québec lost the Nordiques, or that Winnipeg lost the Jets? No, no and no. So whine all you want. At least we have something to whine about.