The Toronto Maple Leafs Fan

Article first published as The Toronto Maple Leafs Fan on Technorati.

With a loss in Detroit on Saturday, it would seem all but a foregone conclusion that the Toronto Maple Leafs will again miss the play-offs this year.

This should come as no bombshell to anybody that has followed the franchise in recent years as stumbling and failing have sort of become the team’s trademark.

They have not won a Stanley Cup or even made the finals since 1967, the longest such drought in the NHL, so you’d think devotees would be used to it by now. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs fan is a complex specimen.

Home to the Hockey Hall of Fame and NHL offices, Ontario’s capital is arguably the epicenter of Canada’s national pastime. Understandably, the citizens take the sport seriously and expect the same out of their club. Their lack of success, consequently, has elicited different reactions from supporters, categorized in three types of behavior.

The Deserter – I have this friend who grew up in Toronto and spent his whole life living there. And yet when I first met him almost ten years ago, he was a die-hard Edmonton Oilers fan. It didn’t take a great deal of arithmetic to figure out how that had happened. No doubt the grass must have looked a lot greener on the other side around 1979, when the Oilers and a kid named Wayne Gretzky joined the NHL. While the Leafs were in the business of losing, Edmonton won five Stanley Cups between 1984 and 1990. With five other Canadian teams in the league, it is understandable that some would be quick to leap from the Leafs’ sinking ship onto a more seaworthy vessel.

The Angry and The Irrational – For some, there is a certain pleasure that comes with complaining and it helps to have such a ubiquitous target at which to aim your arrows. After a while, bashing the Leafs becomes akin to voicing your displeasure regarding the weather or the government. You can be sure to find, in any crowd, another to trade barbs with about what a lousy excuse for a hockey team they are. Another branch of this group includes those that seem to always possess the answer for how to turn things around. This can include minor tweaks such as switching up the lines or a major overhaul, often including firing the head coach or general manager.

The Sad Sack – These are the true believers that live and die by the team’s performance. They are convinced every year that this will be the one; that success is waiting just around the corner. They often have the delusional notion that their own lives are intrinsically linked to the Leafs, and that one day, after all their suffering—perhaps even because of it—they will finally get their ultimate reward. The only thing that gets them up in the morning, that keeps them slogging through another week of drudgery is the mirage of their Leafs hoisting the Stanley Cup. The poor fools press on, waiting for a moment in the sun.