Okay, let's lay off Toronto already

This posting only loosely relates to hockey, and has zero real connection to the Canucks. Regardless, I felt like weighing in anyway.

As regular readers know, I am more than happy to take the occasional potshot at Toronto, and in particular the Maple Leafs. Or spend a week doing so. This Toronto-bashing is largely in jest and is intended to be good-natured. It is definitely done with the hopes of encouraging friendly banter, such as that which appeared in the comments section of some of my blog postings about the Canucks/Leafs rivalry. I don't really bear more than a weak West Coast grudge towards Toronto - I did, after all, choose to live in the city for seven years.

In today's Globe and Mail Jeff Blair manages to slam every Toronto sports franchise, as well as the NFL's Buffalo Bills, in an article about the Bills first regular season game in Toronto - a 16-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

The headline of Blair's article is "Another losing team calls Toronto home," and the first paragraph reads:

"Note to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: Can we please pick another team? Seriously. As it is, we're chock full of teams that don't make the playoffs."

Okay, I can see how this is kinda funny. But if I was a Toronto sports fan (I guess I sort of am, as I cheer for the Blue Jays and the Rock, and tacitly support the Raptors) I would be pretty pissed off.

Sure TO had a rough 2007-08: the Leafs missed the playoffs again; the Blue Jays did well, but not well enough to make the playoffs on baseball's toughest division; the Rock missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history; the Argos had an abysmal 4-14 season, despite the presence of a number of ex-NFLers; the Raptors flamed out in the first round of the playoffs; and Toronto FC miss the post-season for the second straight season.

But I sure can't criticize. I mean the Canucks missed the playoffs too, and the BC Lions folded to the Stamps in the Western Division Final. So where does Blair get his smugness from? Why does he feel the need to kick Toronto sport while it's down? Maybe he's a Bostonian, and thus can trash talk about other cities based on the recent success of the Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox. But somehow I doubt it.

I guess I'm bothered by the fact that what should be celebrated as a significant moment in Toronto sports history - after all, this was the first NFL regular season game held in Canada, as well as a chance for the many Bills fans in Ontario to see their team play in their own backyard - gets the shaft because Blair decided that he wanted to use it as a vehicle to diss Toronto.

And c'mon, we all know that Toronto bashing is only really fun when it involves the Canucks whooping the Leafs. Which, by the way, will be going down for the second time this season on February 21. Stay tuned for the trash talk - but in the meantime, lay off Toronto for a bit, kay?