Move over, Leafs Abomination. There's a new contender in the lucrative "Bitter reporter does a hatchet job on the Maple Leafs" book market.
Why The Leafs Suck, by Al Strachan, apparently went on sale this week even though nobody I know has ever heard of it. The book will feature Strachan's insight into what's wrong with the Leafs, which no doubt means it will be an attempted evisceration of Pat Quinn.
But here's the fun part: As part of the marketing for the book, the promotion team has created a youtube channel with several videos that have been viewed literally dozens of times.
And you have to give Strachan credit here. While he's obviously not the first member of the Toronto media to fantasize about acts of random, brutal violence against Leaf fans, he is the first to actually put it on film.
Wow.
How did the meeting go where they decided to film this?
Executive: OK, what's the pitch here?
Marketing guy: I'm thinking we start off with footage of a Leaf fan being randomly beaten up, with absolutely no context or explanation of what's happening.
Executive: Can we use loud sound effects, and constantly vary the film speed for no reason?
Marketing guy: Of course!
Executive: OK, good start. Then what?
Marketing guy: Then we cut to a closeup of Al Strachan.
Executive: Great idea, the camera loves the guy. How do we bring it all home?
Marketing guy: I'm thinking we do interviews with homeless people.
Executive: Perfect! Get out there and film this!
Marketing guy: What's my budget?
Executive: Seven dollars.
Marketing guy: More than enough. Let's roll!
In all seriousness, this book could be a worthwhile read. Strachan has just the right mix of experience, insight, bitterness and good old-fashioned crazy to come up with something entertaining. Whether you love Al or hate him, you'd have to agree that he's not exactly shy about sticking the knife into an enemy, real or perceived. A full book of finger-pointing could be a lot of fun.
And if the whole author thing doesn't work out for him, it looks like he can always turn to a career in snuff films.
(Glove tap to DGB reader Lowell for letting me know about the videos.)
