Jeffrey Simpson to Toronto sports fans: Maybe spirit isn’t everything

Jeffrey Simpson staged an intervention with Toronto sports fans in this weekend’s Globe. He picked them up, shook them from their drunken, fan-frenzied stupor and told them to look at what they had become.

Name another market of comparable size where all major-league teams are consistently so bad. Washington? The city’s baseball, football and basketball teams are poor, but the hockey team is arguably the best. Detroit? The baseball, football and basketball teams struggle horribly, but the hockey is consistently championship-calibre or close. No, Toronto is the worst.

Then, Simpson lays out the facts: how the Leafs ended their season second last, how the Argos were a joke last year, and the Blue Jays don’t hold much promise, either. “Last season, the Toronto Raptors basketball team won 33 games and lost 49. This year, they hover around .500, which for a Toronto sports team represents almost a championship season.”

While we think it’s bit unfair to label the Jays as losers before their season really gets going, we love this dose of healthy reality. The problem is that addicts have to hit rock bottom before they are willing to change. We’ve seen enough Saved by the Bell to know that. Maybe when Chris Bosh leaves us this summer, Toronto fans will wake up, stop giving their legion of excuses, and start treating their misplaced devotion seriously. “It could even be said that nowhere in professional sport are fans less humble with so much to be humble about.”

But then again, we hear the Leafs are supposed to be pretty good next year.

• When it comes to sports, Toronto is a city of losers [Globe and Mail]