Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The worst part about losing

The worst part of losing is not that our hearts are filled with sorrow, or seeing Ron Wilson look like someone shot his dog in the postgame presser, or watching a goalie we traded a first rounder for totally bomb as a professional NHL player.

No, the worst thing that happens to Leaf fans when we are losing is having to read Howard Berger's gleeful I-told-you-so articles (when he actually never really told-us-so. He, if you recall, was in the 'the Leafs have a much improved defense' camp.)

I actually find his writing to be quite offensive. We have a lot of fun here at TOV and we try our hardest to bring you witty, humorous commentary on all things Leafs related (without resorting to name calling or the lowest common denominator of blaming the fans; it ain't my fault) but this type of small-minded bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you journalism that Howard Berger displays is only a thin veil trying to cover the fact that he doesn't actually have anything of worth or import to relay to his dwindling readership.
"I'm just speaking my mind. I'm just telling it like it is" are always the cries of the man who realizes that he has nothing to build up with his words. It is incredibly difficult to write something that doesn't take the easy way out (ie being "controversial" or "being a maverick" or whatever.) It is very hard to be constantly creative in ones writings. But that cannot be an excuse to produce something that is blatantly disrespectful to a vast majority of hockey fans.

It's bad writing, cheap tricks and it's wrong. Constantly wrong. And the more articles like this that he publishes, the bigger a problem it becomes.

But what is the justification? Comment numbers. Readership. Words of value and creativity don't mean anything anymore unless you can get 400 angry comments after your post.

So we here at TOV promise to continue our unique brand of Leafs commentary and we will never, ever resort to cheap tricks.

Keep the faith, remnant!

****
Breaking news: Looks like Toskala is out with an injury. Reimer has been called from the Marlies (along with Bozak).

Ch-ch-ch changes!

Question remains: who plays goal for the baby leafs? In NHL10 a backup goalie just generates out of thin air. Modig, where are you?

In all seriousness, JoeyMac will get the start (and the win) and don't be surprised if this "injury" to Toskala keeps him out....forever! Well...on this team anyway.

4 comments:

Kleric said...

I am glad to see other person who is offended by Berger writing. I read the horror story of an article and was incenced. Wilson is the coach of a hockey team and is not indebted to explain the game to media journalists. I like the fact that Wilson was grumpy and did not want to waste any time with the media. What do they expect the coach to say, "Boy they really sucked tonight. Oh right, sucked is spelled ..."

Grow a pair Mr. Berger and say something of substance and value. If not please break your pen and catapult the laptop into orbit.

It does not take a genious, other than those at TOV, to see how poorly the Leafs are playing.

Berger bite me.

(And Blake still sucks. Man, I can't stand that guy. Shoot for the net not the goalies pads you tool!)

Graeme Donaldson said...

The AHL will appreciate Blake :)

Anonymous said...

0-5-1. ouch.

Anonymous said...

Please never link to hockeybuzz or berger or even cox for that matter. They don't deserve the hits. kthxbai