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| courtesy of BuckyHermit of Flickr |
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| courtesy of clydeorama of Flickr |
Well, it happened. I was just exploring my sector of the Twitterverse last night when the news started feeding in that change had come to the Leafs Nation. Brian Burke replaced a former journeyman Leaf in the late 70s with another former journeyman Leaf in the late 70s. The only difference is that Randy Carlyle comes with a Stanley Cup on his resume.
There was something very "Doctor Who" about this change. Ron Wilson did a 4-year stint as a caustic, grumpy leader of men only to fall to his figurative death and regenerate into another basically caustic, grumpy leader of men....except that this reincarnation of Coach Who may be even tetchier and more militant.
I saw the 10 a.m. press conference in Montreal with Burke introducing Carlyle. The beleaguered Burke insisted that the fans had nothing to do with the inevitable ouster of Wilson. Well, he pretty much exploded his own opinion when he stated that he couldn't put Wilson through another ACC appearance of "Fire Wilson!"chants. The fans may not have been wholly responsible...Ron, Brian and the Leafs were mostly responsible...but the fans did cross the t's and dot the i's.
So, the big question in Toronto will be whether this Hail Mary of a change is enough to drag the Leafs into the playoffs for the first time in several years. And for the Doctor Who-loving citizens in the Leafs Nation, will Randy Carlyle be either one of the Bakers....the eternally popular Tom (4th Doctor) or the rather unloved Colin (6th Doctor)?
Yes, I do realize that I'm in need of a life...
