Distorting Reality with the Leafs

William Houston at the Globe & Mail takes note of the pre-season cheerleading going on in Leafs Land this week, and takes a few shots at Greg Millen:

Millen went as far as to describe Raycroft’s 2006-07 season as “excellent.” Excellent? Is that why the team rushed out to acquire another starting goalie? What is he talking about?
Millen makes himself look foolish by making these sorts of remarks and he also undermines the credibility of the channel. Why listen to Millen and his fellow housemen dish pap when you can get real commentary, sometimes hard-hitting, from TSN, Rogers Sportsnet and the Score?

But as Houston himself points out, it’s not just Millen, it’s the flavor of Toronto… particularly at Leafs TV:

At the Toronto Maple Leaf owned channel Leafs TV, the rah-rah types were in full Stanley Cup mode this week.
The experts, Bob McGill, Mark Obsorne and Greg Millen, predicted great things from virtually everybody on the team.
Defenceman Tomas Kaberle is a serious Norris Trophy candidate. Forward Matt Stajan is ready for a breakout season. Forward Alex Steen is ready to become a star…

Ugh.

But again in the interests of fairness, it must be said that this isn’t just limited to Leafs Land, or even Leafs TV for that matter. Coverage of teams all across the country is tinted with rose-eyed-glasses for the most part. It’s the time of year when networks want to suck us into thinking our boys have a chance—and get us hooked into the season—before reality settles in and crushes our dreams.

But while “reality” will provide some tough days for fans of all Canadian teams in the months ahead, it’s nice to know that the Leafs fan is being set up for a harder fall.

And who doesn’t enjoy that?

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Distorting Reality with the Leafs

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