from Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail,

Your team is out of the playoffs. You’re alone, and weak. This is when you are vulnerable to hockey charlatans.

Someone is going to come to your front door and hand you a brochure. It’s about their groovy new church, called the Montreal Canadiens. There’s a lot of singing and clapping and everyone’s friendly and they all have ironic mustaches.

“Which church do you go to now? Oh, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Isn’t that the one where you spend a lot of time on your knees? Hey, why don’t you come down and take a look? It’s just for two weeks, against the Rangers. No commitments. You can go back to your old church later.”

No, you can’t. Some villains may try to rationalize rooting for the Canadiens – some in this very paper – but it is wrong.

Just listen to how foolish you sound when you’re trying to explain it.

“It’s just good sportsmanship.”

No. It’s not. It’s front-running.

continued