Ottawa Sun: Everybody hates the Leafs because I say so

The "Is this the worst it's ever been" series will conclude on Monday. In the meantime, I couldn't resist posting this latest piece of Ottawa Sun goodness.

Here's a story by media critic Crash Cameron from Friday's paper, in which he trots out the old argument (much beloved in Ottawa) that the CBC should show fewer Leaf games.

Unfortunately too many broadcast decision-makers don't understand that, while the numbers can look good on paper, there's a widespread, well-entrenched hate on in our hockey nation for the Maple Leafs.

Yeah, those dumb broadcast decision-makers, so caught up in "the numbers". Always trying measure things like ratings with objective, indisputable statistics and data. What a bunch of eggheads!

I mean sure, the numbers might seem to show that the Leafs are the most popular team to watch in the country, which would make it moronic for the CBC to stop showing them. But that's only if you look at the numbers "on paper". If you crumple that paper into a little ball and throw it into your wastebasket, what do those numbers say now? Not much!

Luckily, Crash Cameron is here to set everyone straight. People hate the Leafs. And not even in the good way.

But it's not like, say, a hate for the New York Yankees where people will tune in to watch the Boston Red Sox lay a smack on A-Rod's Evil Empire. Or to see the Florida Marlins or Arizona Diamondbacks or any team beat them in the World Series.

Cameron then goes on to cite several studies that back up his theory that everyone hates the Leafs and nobody wants to watch them.

Ha ha! Just kidding. He just states his opinion as fact, and hurries on to the next paragraph.

With the Leafs, it's as much tune out as tune in. For too long (with the brief exceptions of the Sittler-Salming and the Dougie Gilmour "What a guy, I tell ya" eras) the Leafs have been a dull, hopeless hockey team, an over-ripe product that has been forced down our throats.

So bad news, Leaf fans. Those six straight years from 1998-2004 under Pat Quinn when the Leafs averaged 98 points a season? Never happened.

Which is odd, because I could swear the Leafs won a lot of playoff rounds during that time. Many of them were even against the same team. I'll have to look that up some day...

So, Crash, now that you're done making your air-tight case that CBC should dump the Leafs because everyone hates them, would you like to completely contradict your own argument in the very next paragraph?

Speaking of teams you love to hate: The Dallas Cowboys are back... Love-plus-hate added up to 12.95 million American homes and 18.6 million viewers for the Cowboys-Eagles Monday Night Football tilt. And since MNF is now on ESPN, that, by default, makes it the largest audience ever for a program on a cable network.

Sure, sure, record-breaking numbers... on paper.