Toronto Maple Leafs: Where Losing Is Not an Option, It's a Given

Decades. 

That's how long it has been since the Toronto Maple Leafs have even competed for a Stanley Cup.

Years. 

That's how long it has been since the Leafs have even made the post season.

Limitless. 

That seems to be the number of reasons why the Leafs are the biggest losers in professional sports, but here are the top five reasons the Leafs are in their most recent mess.

The Fans

Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images

OTTAWA, ON - NOVEMBER 27: Toronto Maple Leafs fan Lee Leroux attends the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place on November 27, 2010 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images)

The Fans.

If losing isn't an option, you'd never know it by speaking to a Leafs fan, or at least enough of them.  Sellouts, hand-over-fist merchandise sales and wall-to-wall media consumption, all in the face of decades of abject failure, says it all.

Toronto Maple Leafs fans don't mind paying to support losing teams.

Owners don't mind giving them what they paid for.

The Media

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

PHILADELPHIA - JUNE 09: CBC sportscaster Don Cherry reports before Game Six of the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wachovia Center on June 9, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruc

The Media.

Like the fans, the media seem willing to accept any degree of abysmal play and still shill out big bucks to support it.

The CBC treats Toronto as the lone team in Eastern Canada, only to lament poor ratings come playoff time when the Leafs once again fail to make the cut.

If all you broadcast are the Leafs, don't be surprised when, like the Leafs, your audience disappears come the postseason.

Add to this the mind-numbing amount of hype and hyperbole spewed to placate the TML fanbase, and it's no wonder Leafs Nation has delusions of grandeur.

The Draft

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 25: Gary Bettman of teh NHL works on the draft floor during the 2010 NHL Entry Draft at Staples Center on June 25, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

It's not just the picks, which have been less than stellar, it's the trading of them, both before selected, or soon there after.

In the past decade of drafts, the Leafs have retained two of their No. 1 picks, Schenn and Kadri, neither of whom are exactly "franchise" players.

Two.

Add to this the impending loss of their 2011 first-rounder and you have the makings of years of futility.

Management Trades/Signings

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

BUFFALO, NY - NOVEMBER 03: Tyler Seguin #19 of the Boston Bruins skates against the Buffalo Sabres at the HSBC Arena on November 3, 2010 in Buffalo, New York. The Bruins defeated the Sabres 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Raycroft for Rask?

Finger?

Kessel for two firsts and a second?

The list goes on and on and on... just like the losing.

The Officiating

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

PHILADELPHIA - APRIL 11: Referee Kerry Fraser #2 takes the ice for the game between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers on April 11, 2010 at Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The game was Fraser's last in the NHL as he is retiri

The Officiating.

Or, at least according to the fans. 

The fact that the Leafs are one of the few teams consistently sporting a positive penalty plus/minus, while being one of the worst teams in the league, notwithstanding.

Whatever.