All Heart: Why the Leafs and their Fans Love Grit over Skill and why it's (kinda) Wendel Clarks's Fault

Disclaimer off the top for this article, I was born in 1985, a few months after the Maple Leafs made Wendel Clark their first number #1 overall pick in what must have been infinity at that point in the franchise. I grew up idolizing Wendel Clark, I had a button up Captain Crunch t-shirt (that I'm sure my folks bought at Zellers or something) that I continued to wear far after it was okay for a boy my size to do so. This is a critique born out of love, I promise.

Leafs Nation has always had a weird relationship with the Ideas of Leadership, Character, Grit and Heart as being a major thing the team always lacks. It really isn't difficult to find examples of this thinking. I'm sure it's not just a Toronto problem, I'm sure if I talked to fans of teams in Boston, Montreal, or Philadelphia, I'd be sure to encounter a lot of the same things, particularly from the fans and the media. The weird thing is though, it doesn't appear into the ethos of the franchise like it has here (Though Philly and Boston both love their tough guys to the point of deification, if I've learned anything from reading the hate tweets delivered to Puck Daddy's Ryan Lambert).

It's weird to just pin it on one set of guys or management/coaching teams though, as It's something that's always been a  fixture throughout my years watching this team. And I feel like as an identity (hey another media buzzword!) it's not necessarily bad to have a tough, gritty team with strong leadership.

Here's the problem though, most players in the NHL are given monikers like "character guy in the dressing room" or "heart and soul guy" or "Tough, gritty player" or "brings veteran leadership qualities" it usually means they don't put up points.

Now I said usually because Leafs fans had some shining beacons of optimism in terms of hard nose players who could also fill the net.

Scary Gary Roberts: Man could play














Insane Darcy Tucker: 4 seasons where he scored 20+, 2 seasons of 50+ points, Plus Crazy Eyes

But Leafs Lore isn't complete without mentioning Wacky Wendel, Just as a Leaf, broke 30 goals 4 times (5 if you count the years split between New York and Toronto), Plus he was tough as nails

Can you see what I'm getting at here people, and it's not like the concept is a weird one either, it really does appear as though the Leafs have just tried to spend time recouping that tough edge lunch bucket type of hockey. But these guys aren't Lunch bucket guys.

Let's take a look at the Leafs most recent attempt to recapture that past glory,

David Clarkson is an okay hockey player, born in March of 84, by age 30 Clarkson has had exactly one year where where he's scored 30 or more goals, and 0 seasons where he has accumulated more than 50 points, for comparisons sake let's look at Captain Crunch, above, Wendel had 4 30 or more goal seasons before 30, and 5th in the season he turned 30 (October birthday). Now it's not fair to compare a first overall pick to David Clarkson, so let's take a look at our other illuminates on our list, Tucker never put up 30 goals, but put up 2 plus seasons of 50+ points by his age 31 seasons. Roberts? Massive numbers before his broken neck, even after he came back, after 30, two 50+ point seasons. Like Clark it's hard to compare Clarkson to Roberts another former first round pick, but after his broken neck, Roberts took a role closer to Clarkson's in the grand scheme of the NHL, no longer a PPG top line player Roberts became a solid second/third line guy who could play the powerplay and spot duty on the first line if needed.

If Clarkson isn't a fair comparison, let's look at the identity who got away, Dave Bolland, No seasons over 50 points, no season cracking 20 goals, for comparisons sake Darcy Tucker was bought out after 2 disappointing seasons, which would be Bollands's second best and fourth best seasons in terms of point totals and one that would be 5 goals better than Bolland's best goal scoring season.

Now this isn't just a trip down memory lane for the sake of doing so, it's more the message overcoming the process. I'd argue since Fletcher's second coming (Marked with an inexplicable trade of a draft pick for future AHL and Czech League fixture Ryan Hollweg) The Maple Leafs have fetishized being tough, or big, or gritty or bring leadership qualities, but they've seemed to miss a huge part of their feisty leaders who were tough as hell. They put up points. Because no matter how you slice it, hockey games are won by putting more pucks into the opponent's net than they are able to core on yours.

Not saying there isn't room in the NHL for guys like Clarkson or Bolland or Komorov. But the best way to incorporate guys like this into your lineup is by keeping them low in your lineup and not giving them a brinks truck of money that cripples your cap like a mob enforcer. It's insane thinking like this that leads the Leafs to drafting guys like AHL healthy scratch Tyler Biggs, who is showing all the signs of a first round bust, ahead of players (and full time NHLers), Ty Rattie, Tomas Jurco, Boone Jenner, Nick Ritchie and Brandon Saad. Or using a first round pick on a guy like Freddie Gauthier, who may end up a useful NHLer but currently projects to being a 3rd line C, which seems odd for a first round selection.

But lets stop looking to guys who happened to be a championship teams as leaders, and let's stop comparing guys who occasionally fight and have had one decent second line type season as the next coming of the last #1 overall pick. I loved the Clark/Gilmour teams, but Wendel has us obsessing about a player like him the same way Neely had B's fans drooling over a similar guy for years (and lets be honest, comparing Lucic to Neely is like comparing Megablox to Legos, they just aren't the same), and we project the tough guy, leader, character, heart and soul guy on the wrong type of player, because these 40 plus goal scorers who drop the gloves basically ended with Iginla.

And maybe let's recall for all the leadership and grit and wonderful stuff that came of the Clark/Gilmour Era, they've won as many cups in Toronto as Sundin, Kessel, Sittler and Phaneuf have. The recent changes this off-season show the process is changing, grabbing Nylander in the draft, and building a cheap, effective bottom 6 could go a long way in restoring some glory to the Blue and White.

Though I guess its hard not to want a guy like Clark, DGB knows what's up.

Robin Williams, I hardly knew ye!

I've debated starting a blog to do some writing for a few months, mostly just for a new outlet for doing some critiques and analysis of things i like (or don't)

But Robin Williams passed yesterday, and it's the first time I really felt compelled to write about something, especially something like a celebrity death. I've talked about this with a few friends and we've discussed sort of the weird over arching feeling sadness his death brought, and regardless of how he went, I wanted to try and figure out why this was such a big deal to me.

As someone approaching his 30s, I think I'm part of a generation gap when it comes to Robin Williams, unlike my parents I didn't know him as Mork from Ork, or from his manic performance on SNL or his improv stuff with Billy Crystal, or as a cocaine fueled party machine on the Stand-up Circuit.

And I was too young to really latch unto his first foray into films, Good Morning Vietnam,Dead Poet's Society, The Fisher King were all flicks that were way too adult when I was way too young to understand them, so I missed his initial rise to prominence.

The Robin Williams I knew was a movie star already, and he did a lot of stuff across a lot of genres, but I recall him best in 4 films, Aladdin, Hook, Mrs Doubtfire, and Jumanji, because before I had turned 12 I had seen each movie approximately eleventy billion times. And Robin Williams was the man, until he wasn't. He was essentially the first movie star who seemed to be a movie star for kids. Guys like Arnold, or Van Damme or Stallone, were action stars, but those guys were bad ass. Robin Williams wasn't bad ass, Robin Williams like a giant kid, the class smart ass that winked and nodded to the kids to keep them in on the joke. He was Mister Rogers with an attitude. Those movies I mentioned above, are child wish fulfillment, Robin is a magic Genie, Peter Pan, Living in a board game and a dad who would literally do anything for his kids. He was a movie star who only acted in roles kids would want.

Williams worked steadily and even joked that there were years that movies were promoted as "not starring Robin Williams" But there was some stuff that was not so great in there, Flubber, Father's Day. Bicentennial Man. Mostly stuff that I skipped, but not everyone based on the number of tributes I've read this week.

But a funny thing happened, he became a cool ass actor when I was an teen/adult. Maybe they were movies that came out when I was coming of age or stuff I'd seen as uni student, It's easy to love Williams in What Dreams May Come, Good Will Hunting, World's Greatest Dad.

Shit I even loved him in stuff that got panned like Death to Smoochy, Man of the Year, One Hour Photo

Then I saw his Standup:
Robin Williams Live on Broadway is about as close to a recent classic we have in terms of standup comedy specials, Filmed in 02, in a post 9/11 world, Williams had a manic take for a lot of stuff, and while some the accents and mannerisms may date his material, It was funny in a time where not a lot of people were willing to be (though Carlins' Complaints and Grievances came out right after 9/11, and I thought that show was awesome). But Lord only knows how much material Williams had and how much he was just riffing on stage. Williams was a bit manic on stage but I loved the guy, even if the act has to be watched in stages, because you can't possibly get everything in one sitting.

Recently I've dug his return to the small screen, The Crazy Ones wasn't the best show to premiere this last season, hell I doubt it was the best new show to be cancelled, but it let Williams just riff. The blooper reel at the end of the show was always fantastic, watching his co-stars try and keep up with him. His bit on Louie was fantastic as well

It's a strange thing but If you look as his filmography he'd become the kids guy again, Night at the Museum, Robots, RV, Happy Feet, He'd cycled back for people who were surly teens when I was kid, to entertain their kids, which is really kind of awesome.

 

It just bums me out that Williams ended up being the punchline to this joke, which is cruelly fitting for a man who dedicated his life to making people laugh (Credit goes to Patton Oswalt for making this connection for me): Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says "But, doctor...I am Pagliacci"

Robin Williams we hardly knew ye, which is weird because we totally felt like we did

Right Craig Ferguson?

Rest in Power Robin Williams, and thanks for all the Laughs, and for teaching me that divorce wasn't really the end of the world.