Just accept how bad you are!

When the blow-out was completed in the third period the 19,430 at the Air Canada Centre cheered. The problem was they weren't cheering for the Toronto Maple Leafs but for the visiting Florida Panthers who had just embarraced the hometeam 8-0. Coach Paul Maurice said it felt far worse that the crowd applauded Florida than if they had booed the Leafs. In all fairness, you should be applauding the team that is doing something right on the ice, in this case the Panthers.

What still worries me about the Maple Leafs is that they don't seem to realize how bad they really are. The players keep saying stuff like "We were terrible today ... there are no excuses ... we can still turn this around, and ... on a good day we can beat anybody" This is true, on a really good day Toronto can beat almost any team in the NHL (I seriously do believe they are incapable of defeating the Detroit Red Wings, even on the best of days) but that is just not good enough for a team playing in the NHL. So do they really believe all that optimistic media mumbo-jumbo they throw at reporters after each game? I think they do. I think they still believe that they can turn it around, reach the playoffs, and possibly even win the Stanley Cup.

But isn't that a good thing, one might wonder. Yes and no. Yes, because believing you can win is often half of the effort. And no because if you are this bad it really doesn't matter. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in desperate need of rebuilding (by now I think we all agree on this) and it would be best if they realized their situation and, like a drug user or an alcoholic, accepted it because that is the first step to recovery.

The second step, since they have nothing left to lose, is to give every young and talented prospect a chance to show their stuff against the big boys in the NHL. Perhaps they will find something they didn't know they had.

The third step is trading Mats Sundin, not so that he will finally have a chance to win a cup (because we all know there is not place he would rather do that than in T.O.), but for the good of the team.

The fans in Toronto are faithful believers and it is time to give them something worth their effort.