DORIAN GEIGER
Sports Editor
Besides all hailing from the centre of the Canadian sporting universe, the Toronto Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, Argonauts and Raptors also have one painfully obvious characteristic in common: they are seven shades of useless.
In the media hotbed of Canada that is Toronto, a comedy of errors prevails amongst the professional sports teams so often portrayed in the sports media. But yet, the media moguls in Ontario provide a microscopic focus on the losing Toronto teams, at the cost of other stories about sports, athletes or anything else news-worthy.
Between the four Toronto pro sports teams, it has been a combined 76 years since any have managed to win a World Series, Grey Cup, Stanley Cup or NBA Championship title. The Blue Jays have just finished another playoff-less season with a 75-87 record and the Argos won’t make the CFL post-season either and sit at a CFL worst 3-11. Moreover, it is unlikely the Raptors or Leafs will have anything close to a playoff berth in the NBA and NHL in 2009-10.
I was reminded of my indifference towards Toronto teams and why I refrain from such debauchery with the recent firing of Blue Jays’ general manager, J.P. Riccairdi. Riccairdi’s firing, which comes toward the end of another sub-par season, is likely the biggest piece of news the Toronto club has produced all year.
Not once during Riccairdi’s eight-year tenure did the general manager manage to land the Jays a post-season spot. And since back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993, the Jays have had a winning-record drought rivalling the Great Depression.
It was then revealed the Bluebirds have replaced Riccairdi with the unknown Alexander Anthopoulos, one of the youngest ever to be tossed into the GM position. Placing Anthopoulos in the driver’s seat of the club at age 32 seems like yet another poor move on behalf of Jays management. On top of this debacle, manager Cito Gaston is in denial of the flurry of hate that is mounting in the Jays clubhouse towards his old-fashioned coaching strategies. All aside, the season-ending Jays’ huff and puff has more drama than an episode of The Hills.
Besides the Argos, who won a Grey Cup in 2004 (the most recent championship win among Toronto pro sports organizations), these T.O. teams are always in a state of rebuilding. The Leafs, Raptors and Blue Jays have been painfully refurnishing their clubs for upwards of a decade.
Whether management or athletes, the Toronto pro sports organizations are well-versed in cleaning house: blindly trading away good prospects and draft picks for seasoned veterans, prematurely bringing up young athletes from affiliate teams and switching up general managers like children trading hockey cards during lunch break. The trend is all too familiar and still manages to be needlessly regurgitated on TV, radio and Internet blogs.
Since the Raptors’ induction into the NBA in 1995, Canada’s basketball poster child has gained playoff berths on a measley five occasions and only advanced past the first round of the post-season once.
From Damon Stoudamire, to Vince Carter to Chris Bosh, the Raps have always depended on one high-status player to give the illusion of being competitive. And when the season goes downhill for the Raptors — and it always does — the media angle typically degrades to something along the lines of “Will Chris Bosh decide to endure another gruelling season in Toronto?”
At least with the NHL and CFL, there is a variety of Canadian teams you can cheer on instead of relying on the sole Canadian team as in the Jays’ and Raptors’ case. Yet Ontario media shoves the Toronto Maple Leafs, more than other teams, down people’s throats without restraint during the NHL season.
There’s an abundance of hockey history in Toronto in the form of Habs rivalries and a handful of Stanley Cups but it’s been nearly half a century since the Leafs made a successful playoff run. Even then, during the Leafs’ glory days of 13 Lord Stanley victories, the NHL had a significantly lower number of teams, giving Toronto better odds at multiple victories.
Forgive me, Toronto sports fans, for I understand the woes of being a fan following a losing team. I was merely two years old the last time the Riders won the Grey Cup before they hoisted it again in 2007 — the Riders are all Saskatchewan has for anything remotely pro, so it was a vexing 18 years. But that is not my point.
Stepping from a fan’s perspective to critical analysis, what piques me is the over-exposure of such teams in the media when there is nothing to cheer about. No championship in Toronto? Not news-worthy. Player traded? Not news. GM fired? Not news.
The persistent nature of Toronto media reporting on such miniscule developments should be treated as pro-sports propaganda and is akin to gathering political insight from Fox News in the U.S.
For now, Toronto sports teams, I wish for you to be swept under the carpet and not to be heard from until you accomplish something notable. I don’t care if the Air Canada Centre goes up in flames; I just don’t want to hear about it.
12 Responses to “The media’s raging boner for Toronto sports teams”
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you dont wanna hear it dont listen to it or read it lol. quite frankly theres thousands of leaf fans that do wanna hear and read about the leafs no matter how bad they are
That is funny, great title, good copy, but like the people who bitch about sex and violence on TV and radio, don’t watch, don’t read, change the station and the leafs are out of your life baby
AMEN.
One acronym and one name: MLSE & Rogers. MLSE is making money hand over fist so they have no motive ($) to perform better than average. Rogers is focused on bringing the Bills (talk about your winners) to Toronto so it is actually to their advantage to have the Jays underperform. Can you imagine trying to sell corporate boxes for a new Toronto NFL stadium when the CEOs are already spending big bucks to take clients to see a hot Jays team (like in the early 90s)?
This is such a joke. When will the rest of Canada wake up and realize that no matter how much they bitch and complain, T.O. is the only thing even close to a big city in Canada. It makes a lot of sense for media to stop covering Toronto teams b/c they lose. That’s actually the most ridiculous thing ever. They are horrible teams right now, but that’s part of sports. You just can’t ignore it. and your piece lost credibility when you said the raptors won’t get anything close to a playoff birth. You’re kidding right. They will be 4th to 6th in the East.
TO sucks and always will. Someone should drop a bomb on hogtown and be done with it.
I agree with Jay. Toronto has the biggest sports market in Canada. If you don’t like what you see on tv, change the channel.I always feel that there is always a jealousy for Toronto and it’s team and it needs to stop.
i Don’t get it so the only news worthy event worth reporting is winning a championship? This is a poorly written piece.
Junk article…derides coverage of TO sports teams then gives a precis of their sports history. The writing is pretty waek, too. The use of “portrayed” and “poster child” make no sense…not a quibble in conversation, but this is supposed to be writing…
PS I like baseball. I like thinking about pitches and plays and strategies, and this does not depend on a winning team…
I understand your frustration. Even as a Leafs fan, it’s ridiculous to see articles dedicated to Joey Macdonald’s goalie mask. But face it, the only thing lazier than writing trivial articles about Toronto sports teams is writing bitchy pieces about those same articles.
I just want to know what the sports media is supposed to cover, in your opinion. There are four big sports leagues in North America, and Toronto is the sole Canadian rep for two of them. Are TSN or The Score supposed to ignore a Leafs trade (or ignore a GM getting fired? come on, even Western CFL firings get press) happening down the street, in favour of some human interest story about shinny in Regina? Why not write the stories you think the masses should care about and stand by them, rather than playing to the “TO blows” peanut gallery with another article about perceived media oppression?
PS It could be deliberate, as the whole article is about not caring, but it’s spelled Ricciardi.
Your point is well taken. Toronto is the official “City of Losers” these days. However, if you’re going to expound on this point I would recommend some fact-checking, or at least some general reading on the Great Depression. (This just in: The Blue Jays have had a winning record in 3 of the past 4 seasons.)
I get all the angst about being awash in a sea of sports coverage from Toronto. Heck, I live barely an hour from the city and I wish my local Junior A team would get more coverage! Do I bitch about it? Nope. It’s reality.
I would love to hear all about the outcome of the next Blades – Raiders game but I won’t. Come to think of it, I won’t even hear about the Bulls – Petes game and it will be played less than two hours from the headquarters of all three of the major sports networks.
They only have so much time on the air and they like to make money. In order to make as much money as possible they’re going to show what more people will watch so they get more money from their advertisers. Cold hard truth.
I kept my quiet all season as the majority of you proceeded to lampoon my synopsis of the terrible state of Toronto pro sports teams. How did the Raps do again? Playoff-less. Just saying. Here's an article I just saw of what proved my point in my my story. Oh my god, will Chris Bosh stay in Tdot? The only news ever coming out of Raptors-ville at the conclusion of every season for the past 4 or 5 years.
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