What kind of Leafs fan are you?

[moon111]

I've gone from 4 decades of diehard fan to finally admitting I'm a bandwagon fan.  Frankly I can't stomach to watch this anymore.  My gut tells me management moves are wrong and I try to make sense of them.  Defend them sometimes.  But my gut says the team is doomed.  Right now .500 hockey gives them about a 8.8% chance of making the playoffs... and they're losing tonight.

 

[Stickytape]

I guess I'm diehard, as I'll watch even if they're losing. 

Wins/losses don't actually matter that much to me - it's effort that counts.  I'll watch a crappy team lose every night as long as they're doing their best - but if anything will make me tune out, it's frustrating management decisions, and lack of effort. 

There have been a few nights this year where I've shut the TV off and walked away.. only to regret the decision like 5 minutes later, and come back to finish the game.  But man, it's been a rough season.

EDIT: Been a fan since I was about 5 years old, dressed up as Brad Marsh for Hallowe'en when I was 8.

 

[Keonist]

Diehard. I'll turn it off but keep one eye on it as I watch something else. Have been chasing Stanley for every one of the 46 years as the disastrous history has unfolded.
Strangely enough, as I age, it just gets to be more desperate (my mania). I think, like the rest of Toronto, media included, we become hooked on the drama surrounding the team, looking for, even hoping for, the expected fall. It's a legacy of the Ballard years that Burke tried to end. His truncated efforts are, right now, being tested. Losers (on the team) and losing (as a tradition and habit) must be stopped.
I am in big favour of sticking to this team as it is. They're young and there is a fine core here. Equivocation over the coach is also part of the historical pattern of giving up too soon. Keep Carlyle, at least through this season, which I hasten to say, is not yet over.  Signs of this "slump" soon ending are evident.

 

[drummond]

I have been a fan since 1990. I have been with the Leafs through some miserable years, enjoyed the hights of Burns? years as well as Quinn?s years. As I mostly live overseas I watch the games from 1am to 4 am (in the old days I listened to radio), if that does not qualify for a diehard (bordering on lunatic) fan, nothing else will do.

 

[Bullfrog]

Neither of the options really describes me. Diehard is closest I suppose as I try to watch every game and I stick with the team no matter what players are on it. I watch whether they're winning or losing, a good team or a bad.

The difference is I don't live and breathe the leafs. I don't get overly emotional either way. I mean, I get frustrated when they play poorly and happy when they play well. But, 30 seconds after the game is over, my mind has moved on to other things.

I would say "dedicated" probably is a better description of the type of fan I am.

 

[brothert]

Where's the burnt out category?  Been a Leaf fan since 1981.  The disappointment has been huge but there's been some brief high's Wendel, Dougie, and Mats.  The past 8 years has been soul destroying though.  Does MLSE realize that their Stanley Cup talk is mostly mythology to most of its fan base?  There's actual hate in this love/hate relationship but I'm loyal as dog and will probably die not seeing that parade down young street.

 

[TML fan]

The kind who is tired of watching awful teams.

 

[Peter D.]

Diehard. I don't get all worked up and riled up over losses as I used to, but that's because I've forgotten what's it's like cheering for this team when they are winning and exciting. It's been a decade now.

That inner self came back in Game 7 last year, but apathy is setting in again.

 

[Highlander]

Since 62?we need to drink Champayne again?I'm parched.

 

[Bullfrog]

I'm curious, some of you have stated "been Leafs fan since 1932, etc." Do you remember a defining moment when you became a fan? I was thinking about it the other and I have no idea when I became a Leafs fan or why. It's just sort of something that's always been there. I certainly do remember the early 90's with Clark and Gilmour as probably being when I really started to watch more intently. Sundin was probably what really got me hooked. And Potvin.

 

[Arn]

I guess I'd fall under die hard. Like Drummond I watch every night though only from midnight - 3am. A couple of weeks ago I flew 3400 miles purely on the back of going to see the team (lose to Boston).

The one caveat is that my home town team would be my first team. If ever the Leafs played the Belfast Giants I'd support the Giants. Though I suspect I'd cheer every goal...

 

[LittleHockeyFan]

where's 'long suffering'? or 'beating my head on the desk'? 'actually remember the last Cup'?

;-\

 

[drummond]

I'm curious, some of you have stated "been Leafs fan since 1932, etc." Do you remember a defining moment when you became a fan? I was thinking about it the other and I have no idea when I became a Leafs fan or why. It's just sort of something that's always been there. I certainly do remember the early 90's with Clark and Gilmour as probably being when I really started to watch more intently. Sundin was probably what really got me hooked. And Potvin.

Growing up behind the Iron Courtain I had no or very little idea about the NHL. With increasing number of defections in late 80?s and fall of the Berlin Wall I have discovered as the vast majority of the fans in the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia the NHL for the first time.  The League made a great marketing move when the 1989 Stanley Cup Champions Calgary Flames played 2 games in Prague. The NHL was an instant hit.

At that time I had never been to Canada or the US, I had no particular knowledge about the players or teams. My father told me about the Original six teams and some legendary players. That was the end of Ballard era, the Leafs were dead last almost every year or fighting with similarly atrocious Minnesota for the last playoffs spot. I started cheering for the underdog as most my friends when introduced to the NHL opted for top teams with great stars. Back then there were few Leafs fans in Prague.

As years flew by I learned all about the Leafs, the passion grew and spending 5 years in Canada helped too. I went to both Gardens and the ACC. I remember my first visit to the ACC or Hockey Hall of Fame left me speechless. My friend Karel Pilar was playing for the Leafs. Exctatic times. Not sure if I ever make it to Canada again, but I am a "Leaf" for life, no doubt about that.

Of course I have "my" team in the Czech Extraleague as well and I agree with Arn: should the Leafs ever play Litvinov I would cheer for Litvinov.

 

[maplesyrup]

Somewhere between die hard fanatic and this team can kiss my ass. Often both.

 

[Jalili]

NHL fan first, Leaf fan second.

I'm not the type to get too hung up about the team not playing well. I'm fine with watching other teams play, even if I don't have a horse in the race.

So in general I find myself enjoying hockey more, because I view it as a product, and recognize that there are other superior products in the league compared to the team that plays in Toronto.

 

[Arn]

I'm curious, some of you have stated "been Leafs fan since 1932, etc." Do you remember a defining moment when you became a fan? I was thinking about it the other and I have no idea when I became a Leafs fan or why. It's just sort of something that's always been there. I certainly do remember the early 90's with Clark and Gilmour as probably being when I really started to watch more intently. Sundin was probably what really got me hooked. And Potvin.

Prior to 2000 my exposure to hockey was limited to some British hockey with games that ended 14-11 on local television and very little NHL, if any, other than one game a week on late night television presented by a couple of amateur overly enthusiastic British guys who'd once been on holidayto North America and seen a game along with an ex pat Canadian guy living in the uk for business.

In 2000 the Belfast Giants came along and I went to a game out of pure curiosity to check it out. I was hooked instantly and was a season ticket holder by the second season.

In 2001 I was doing some travelling and found myself in Toronto in May. The day after I arrived the Leafs were playing the Canes in some game 6 or other of something called a conference final or something. Having seen the Belfast Giants where tickets were about ?10 I thought I'd try and get a ticket. I called at the box office and was told it was sold out, but they gave me a wrist band to come back at 6pm for any returns. She also told me the potential price of returns. I decided it'd be more fun to go see the Blue Jays....

Everywhere I went that day there were Leafs flags, on cars, on buildings, people carrying them, TV had nothing else but build up for the game. At the Blue Jays game on the jumbo screen they showed Sundins last minute game tying goal and everyone in the Skydome was up and cheering, nobody cared about the Jays.

So basically my thought was to follow the Leafs from that, despite losing the game.

(I bought a book called Maple Leafs Legends the next day which taught me the history of the team which I read on the flight home and that was me hooked)

 

[Sweenbot]

I'm curious, some of you have stated "been Leafs fan since 1932, etc." Do you remember a defining moment when you became a fan? I was thinking about it the other and I have no idea when I became a Leafs fan or why. It's just sort of something that's always been there. I certainly do remember the early 90's with Clark and Gilmour as probably being when I really started to watch more intently. Sundin was probably what really got me hooked. And Potvin.

Prior to 2000 my exposure to hockey was limited to some British hockey with games that ended 14-11 on local television and very little NHL, if any, other than one game a week on late night television presented by a couple of amateur overly enthusiastic British guys who'd once been on holidayto North America and seen a game along with an ex pat Canadian guy living in the uk for business.

In 2000 the Belfast Giants came along and I went to a game out of pure curiosity to check it out. I was hooked instantly and was a season ticket holder by the second season.

In 2001 I was doing some travelling and found myself in Toronto in May. The day after I arrived the Leafs were playing the Canes in some game 6 or other of something called a conference final or something. Having seen the Belfast Giants where tickets were about ?10 I thought I'd try and get a ticket. I called at the box office and was told it was sold out, but they gave me a wrist band to come back at 6pm for any returns. She also told me the potential price of returns. I decided it'd be more fun to go see the Blue Jays....

Everywhere I went that day there were Leafs flags, on cars, on buildings, people carrying them, TV had nothing else but build up for the game. At the Blue Jays game on the jumbo screen they showed Sundins last minute game tying goal and everyone in the Skydome was up and cheering, nobody cared about the Jays.

So basically my thought was to follow the Leafs from that, despite losing the game.

(I bought a book called Maple Leafs Legends the next day which taught me the history of the team which I read on the flight home and that was me hooked)

You chose the right team to follow follow.

 

[mr grieves]

I lived in Toronto during the best of the Quinn years, and that's when I became a fan. Where I'm from, my circle didn't like hockey -- only the dolts. So it was nice to see an entire city, including the college (or university) nerds taking an interest.

I probably liked the personalities first -- Mogilny, Quinn, Sundin -- and then the team itself, and I quickly developed rooting interests in players not appreciated by many of the fans -- Kaberle, Reichel, Antropov -- which has continued. 

 

[brothert]

I probably liked the personalities first -- Mogilny, Quinn, Sundin -- and then the team itself, and I quickly developed rooting interests in players not appreciated by many of the fans -- Kaberle, Reichel, Antropov -- which has continued.

so you are a Clarkson fan then?

 

[Boston Leaf]

Been a fan for over 40 years.. Back from the days of only getting results the next day in the paper as I live in Boston.. There is the leafs then no one second..