When did loyalty become a bad thing?

Hey, what's up with everyone in the yard? I thought I'd stop in today to talk some hockey. Growing up in Canada, hockey was as much a part of my life as lacrosse was, and even though lacrosse fills up most of my time now days, I still find some time to be a hockey enthusiast……make that a Montreal Canadiens enthusiast!!!!

As many of you may know today was the NHL trade deadline. Since I am home in Waterloo, Ontario hockey rules on the t.v. and today was filled with full day "trade deadline" coverage across the board. Of course, living in the Maple Leafs viewing area, I was again overdosed with Leaf coverage. I grew up like most other Habs fans……I cheer for the Habs and whoever is playing the Leafs. But, today I have had a bit of an epiphany as I found myself absolutely enthralled with Mats Sundin's decision to stay and play with Leaf's. Deciding to hold up his no trade clause.

In today's professional sporting world it is harder and harder to be fans of teams as well as fans of players. Each year you here players leaving for one reason or another, and the turnaround in professional sports today is tough to keep up with. I consider myself a sports enthusiast, but even I have to admit that it usually takes me until a month into each season to be fully aware of all the off season moves. I grew up at the end of the sporting era where players felt a connection to their team. Players loved their team, not only for the esthetics of it, but because it actually seemed that they rewarded their team with loyalty for giving them the opportunity to play with them. Now, I may be old school, but I sure enjoyed sports better when I knew the players playing for my favorite teams loved playing there as much as I loved watching them play there.

For this reason, I want to write and commend Mats publicly for standing his ground. This guy has been a pillar for an organization that has seen players come and go for the past 12 years. He has been the team's best player, hardest worker and fearless leader for as long as he's been there. He loves playing for the Leafs and would rather lose with them, then win with someone else as a "loaned" player. In today's sports we hear all too often; "He deserves a chance to win". It seems to me that Matt's looks at it differently. His mentality seems to be "I want to help the Leafs win. That is my job, that is why I get paid what I do to be here." Yet, today when the smoke clears in Toronto there will be thwarts of fans asking "why wouldn't he waive his clause to help the team out?" This is where I get confused. You have a player that loves being in the city, loves playing for the team, leads the team consistently in points every year, rarely gets injured, wins face-offs, works hard, back checks and never complains and you want him gone because of the business end of things…………..That makes no sense to me whatsoever. Now I understand the dollars and cents of professional sports, but since when did the fans begin rooting for that over loyalty? In today's sporting world, we are asked to be GM's not fans and some fans are actually buying into that? The notion that the fan would like to see Matt's gone to bail out Ferguson's mistakes (their former GM) seems out of this world. I for one would like to see the accountability come back into sports. Make the organization accountable for the mistakes made. Don't ask one of the few things that you have to be proud of to take on that accountability!!! I really do believe that if every team and every city had players like Mats, sports would suddenly become a lot more enjoyable to watch, I promise you that. For the day, be happy that you have a guy like Sundin, because guys like him are becoming non existent in sports today.

Until next time,

Colin #7