I am not some kind of hockey-hater, but I am also not a fan. I am just a person from the Greater Toronto Area who is tired of being called less of a Torontonian for being indifferent towards the Toronto Maple Leafs (I am less of Torontonian for being from the ‘burbs). So this is not some kind of nerd vs. jocks attempt to belittle the true fans of hockey; I have nothing but respect for people who are truly passionate about and invested in this game and the NHL. These are the people who watch games even when the team with their city’s name on the jersey isn’t playing, because they actually like hockey itself, and not just the idea of it. They watch hockey for the plays, the strategy, the development, and not just the “he shoots, he scores”. They can tell you why the Leafs are doing better one season than the last without parroting a sports-reporter. What I have a problem with are the fairweather fans who try to lump their lust with the love of actual fans.
So who are the “fairweather fans”? They are the people who couldn’t care less about hockey for years, but the second that the franchise from their city is doing well all of a sudden it’s a flurry of “Go Leaf Go!” tweets, “Beleaf!” status updates, and white-and-blue Facebook banner photos. Hypothetically, if all the players, the coach, the GM, the strategy, and the direction of the Leafs were to completely change one season, their “devotion” would be unphased. This is because their “love” is nothing more than blind idolatry. They don’t love the hockey team, only the blue letters “T-O-R-O-N-T-O” on the jerseys of players who aren’t even from said city (unlike games like the Olympics in which one can at least feel a sense of familial camaraderie). If the Leafs were not a hockey franchise, but rather a soccer team or even a sock-puppet dueling team, it would not matter, so long as there was the same hoi polloi hoopla, history, and heritage associated with them. The game of hockey is irrelevant! What we see every time the Leafs are doing well is dishonest posturing.
To give another example, F. Scott Fitzegerald’s “The Great Gatsby” has recently been in vogue thanks to Leo DiCaprio. Imagine a person suddenly pretended to be a huge literary aficionado, plastering Fitzgerald quotes all over Facebook when instead of reading the book they only browsed SparkNotes. If the moment that the movie’s hype dies down they don’t so much as pick up a book until the next big trend, what would you call this person? Would you call them a “casual literature fan”, or “a Fitzgerald fan”, or would you call them a phony bologna? I suspect the latter, because this is not a genuine interest and pretending that it is one only disrespects the medium and those who actually like it.
Is there anything wrong with having your interest piqued by the Leafs doing well and developing genuine interest in hockey? Of course not, just as I am sure there are plenty of people who read, appreciated, and loved “The Great Gatsby” due to Carey Mulligan. But if this is not something that sticks after the Leafs are knocked out of the playoffs, just as it has failed to stick in years gone by, I suggest that you spend your time and energy developing sincere personal interests, be they Dungeons and Dragons or literature or sock-puppet dueling. Leave hockey for those who actually believe in the game, and don’t just beleaf in it.
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