Tuesday, November 10, 2009

We Stand on Guard for Thee

This week, I'm writing the Dawg Blog from the football centre of the USA.....just outside of Dallas!

For those of you who have never been to Texas, football is a way of life. In the stores.....Cowboys rule.......on the interstate as you head from town to town, the water towers are painted to pay tribute to the local high school team and the championships they've earned. Even in Walmart you can buy the local team merchandise. Perhaps the person who put it best was my driver, Jimmy Stewart (yes, that's his real name!), who said, "when we win on Sunday, people are happy on Mondays and when we lose, tempers flare for the rest of the week". Ennis, Texas, is home to the Lions whose roar stretches throughout the town and whose bite is only parallelled by the pride of the parents and alumni!

There is much that hockey fans in Toronto can learn from Ennis, TX fans. The loyalty for the home team runs deep but the love of the game is paramount. People love football in Texas. In fact, there have been 40 000+ fans at a single high school game!

This week, the Yorktown Terriers, the DDP ball hockey team had its first scrimmage and it was awesome. We played for the love of the game and the score didn't matter. It was, more than anything, a return to our hockey roots with a stick, ball, net, and friends: We've all done it a thousand times before but it never gets old!

As the MLSE organzation prepares to bid for a Winter Classic at BMO Field, and an All-Star Game and NHL Entry Draft at the ACC, it's important that we recognize our roots and our pride, as Canadians, in our game. We are guardians of the sport. We play it on the street, in school yards, in rinks we build ourselves, and the many, many arenas we fill. This is OUR game and we love it. We may not decorate our water towers with the Blue and White, but our basements, bedrooms, closets are loaded to the brim with it. Our memories are filled with ball hockey, MLG, and the teams we played for (in my case the Aeros!).

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention our troops, past and present, who have fought for our freedom in the quiet hope that they never have to travel down the Highway of Heroes as their final act as a Canadian soldier. Thank you.


You can email Chris with comments and questions about the blog, Duke’s Dog Pound Supporters Club, or the Marlies anytime to dukesdogpound@yahoo.ca.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

No I in TEAM

On Friday night, I had the chance to spend some time with Marlies player Alex Foster who was sitting out nursing an injury. You could tell that he wanted to be on the ice (and should be soon). What struck me most about the conversation was his commitment to the team.

At a time when the Leafs organization is struggling to put together W's, it is amazing to me that the players are less about themselves and more about their play as a team; players are starting to gel, player transactions between the Marlies and Leafs are becoming seamless, and as OT loss after OT loss piles up at the ACC and we continue to put together wins at the Ricoh, you can tell that the rebuilding is underway and that patience will be key.

There is no I in team and it is up to all of us as fans to remember that. It is certainly easy to criticize (especially when the Leafs' W column is so sparse) but as I heard one fan tell a young boy at the ACC one night, a real fan supports the team even when they lose so that victories are even that much sweeter!

The road to Lord Stanley's Mug is a long one and even though it is a virtual impossibility (even playoffs are distant at this point as October was a month where Leafs really did fall from the tree!), at least the prospect of a Cup in the not-so-distant future is certainly welcome. Although we shouldn't start planning the victory parade now, Burke is starting to do something that hasn't been done in a long time with the Leafs franchise.....he's giving it a direction and that is the first step on the road to success!

GO MARLIES GO!!! GO LEAFS GO!!!

You can email Chris with comments and questions about the blog, Duke’s Dog Pound Supporters Club, or the Marlies anytime to dukesdogpound@yahoo.ca.