Dispelling the Blue and White disease

Lately there’s been a lot of talk about a mythological blue and white disease that has plagued the Toronto Maple Leafs. To clarify, B & D disease is a concept conceived by current Leafs GM Brian Burke, in which, Maple Leaf players become okay with losing because Toronto fans will continue to pack the arena and treat them like gods whether they win or lose.

An interesting theory, but one that leaves many holes left unexplained.

For instance, as a sports fan, I’ve never heard of “Pinstripes” disease in New York. I don’t recall a “Red Sock” disease being documented in the Boston area. Nor am I aware that Los Angeles has seen any cases of Purple and Gold disease.

Instead, after winning four World Series rings, you see Yankee superstar Derek Jeter go crashing into the stands chasing a fly ball even though no Yankees fan would have blinked an eye had he simply stood still and said that ball was out of reach. We witnessed a Red Sox team do the impossible by coming back from a 3-0 series deficit to win a championship despite the fact that they could have thrown in the towel after game three and remained heroes to the legions of Boston fans. And every year we watch the Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant, his millions of dollars, and multiple championship rings do everything they can to add another championship to the rafters at Staples Center.

How come these highly celebrated teams, with comparable diehard fan bases, manage to escape their variation of the blue and white disease?

The reality. Blue and white disease is nothing more then a cover up for a General Manager that is unwilling to state the truth. That truth being, the GM before him did a horrendous job. His personnel moves were terrible, and those moves ultimately brought in mediocre athletes and depleted any and all organizational depth in the minor league system.

Growing up a Maple Leaf fan in the 90′s, I never heard of Blue and White disease when Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour were leading this team. Both men were gods to the city of Toronto, yet neither took a shift off. The same can be said of the lesser knowns on those teams. The late Peter Zezel, Bill Berg, Dave Ellett, and Todd Gills of those Leaf teams played their asses off for this franchise.

Could it be that blue and white disease was a post-2000 epidemic?

Not a chance.

Anyone who witnessed the Roberts-McCauley led Leafs of the 2002 playoffs knows that nothing came second to winning with those men. Although they were already local heroes, the likes of Sundin, Roberts, Tucker, and Corson laid it all on the line to win each year.

The talk of blue and white disease did not start until after the lock-out when a short-sighted, unqualified GM took the full reins of this organization and drove it into the ground at a speed unseen in these parts since the mid-1980s.

Blue and white disease is nothing more then an excuse for years of poorly constructed rosters. If anything, B&D disease can be best described as a heroin-like drug of mediocre, non-competitive players that was injected into the blood stream of the Maple Leafs by a reckless addict in John Ferguson Jr.

Burke was left to play the role of doctor, surgically removing different pieces of the team’s anatomy and pushing the team closer to detox.

Now, after practically overturning the entire roster in two seasons, Burke has rejuvenated the current roster with the kind of heart and soul players that consumed those early 90′s and 2000′s Maple Leafs teams.

Blue and White disease is not about the fans of Toronto, and the undying loyalty that real Leaf fans have for this franchise. It was and always will be about the players. It’s about having players that need to win. Not players who simply need a paycheck.

For OpenIceHockey, I’m Jay Harnett