As a Leafs fan I`m getting to like Mike Babcock more and more by the week if not by the day. Besides via the draft etc he`s developing a legitimate hockey team that may very well contend for the Cup in the near future (3)yrs he`s seemingly done the impossible. He has managed to pretty much shut the holes in the faces of all those irresponsible, headline inventing whores of the Toronto Sports Media who have played a huge part in the non development of the Leafs for decades. "Stamkos is coming, Tavares is coming, it`s Kessel`s fault, it`s Phaneuf`s fault" goalie contraversy after goalie contraversy, head coach after head coach have been only a few examples of their irresponsible accomplishments to the point that no one wants to come to play hockey in Toronto.
About a week and a half ago Andersen had a couple bad games in a row and McIlhenny(new backup) came in and had a good game saving that game...........out came the scavengers by the droves writing story after story calling that McIlhenny may start now which was nonsense. Along with that they created a scenario that Nylander was the rumor of trades....story after story. Yes he was the center of the rumor......the one the Toronto Media started. This is a kid don`t forget.......having false rumors printed about him everywhere is supposed to help his development??? Toronto is full of kids right now, their egos, confidence etc are frail when it comes to the media beating on them relentlessly for no other reason than to sell their story. So what did Babcock do....on air just before an interview he warned Mark Masters in no uncertain terms to think first and ask second...Masters did as he was threatened because he wouldn`t be writing many stories if Babcock shut him and others from the dressing room as he did in Detroit on a couple occasions when writers printed garbage "detrimental to the team".
Well funny thing happened since that day a couple weeks ago.......the next day all positives were written about the players and the team, the Leafs generated very few stories but the Toronto sports boys took to running the Habs...story after story telling the Habs what was wrong with their team, who would fix it, is there a problem with Price, who to trade for etc etc story after story continuing to the present.
Babs was interviewed today on Leafs Lunch with reporters chomping to find out about Mitch Marner and a couple other moves as far as possible trades..............Babs gave them nothing...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING past the "upper body thing" and a fistful of "i don`t knows"....then left. I loved it....every Leafs fan should love it. Finally someone has come along to stand up to these blowhards, call a spade a spade and leave them out in the cold where they can`t do the damage to the Leafs that they have done in the past. Mind you.....don`t expect the media to go down without a fight...we can expect some sensational storyline they`ll either invent or embellish to gain some of their recognition back again. Watch your back Babs....those guys have long memories and will pounce en masse the second something goes wrong. Media frauds stick together like glue right or wrong and pounce like wolves at the weakest point.
Till that happens....Way to go Mike, great job.