What Can You Say About The Toronto Maple Leafs?

Being a Leaf fan since I can remember I'm saddened to say that the horse is starting to pull the wagon and I might not want to stay on it anymore. 

 Maybe this is my stop.  Maybe it's here that I'm going to set up shop and start a new life as a supporter of my second favourite team.  I won't even say who that is in fear of taking a sniper bullet by some crazed Leaf fan.  But the name rhymes with Pottawa.

 But why....why now...  why after putting up with losing for 30 years do I finally throw in the towel?  After a lot of soul searching, and about a dozen beers I think I finally figured it out.

 It's Heart.

 That's what's not there anymore.  No fan ever really cared about a lost game or 2 or 10 because we could see that the team was in just as much pain and heartache as the fans were.  But recently you can't see that. 

 Heart and Soul players of the Leafs organization no longer have either of those 2.  They show up, lose their game, get their paycheque and go home and wait for another team to call them and take them away.

 Remember Tucker's crazy eyes?  Domi's little smirk after a fight?  Gilmour's love of the game?  Joseph's tearful apology for his abandonment of Toronto?  Clark crying like a little school girl when he retired?  Who has that now?  Who on the Toronto Maple Leafs shows up to the game actually excited to play?  Who's pissed off when they lose?

 Nobody.  They're dead inside.  Or at least that's the way it looks to me.

 But who's to blame for this?  Is it actually the players fault?  Not really.  They're broken.  Their will to live is gone.

 So who needs to step up and take control of the situation?  One man..  Paul Maurice.

 Paul if you ever read this, please take this one piece of advice.  When you lose your next game, don't skate off the home ice right away.  Stay on the damn ice, make the team run some drills, and show the players and fans that you are serious about re-creating the team known as the Toronto Maple Leafs.

 If the team has lost it's heart, you can rebuild it, but at least one person needs to show that he cares.