No idea. I do not actually know much about ice hockey. But I grew up in a city that had more than 10 championships in the last 15 years. So ok it was in handball. No not that handball, the other handball, a sport that most North Americans relegate into the boccica ball category, way below curling. So let’s try soccer. Bayern Munich has pretty much owned the German championships for the last 40 years. Growing up I was Gerd Mueller and my best friend was Franz Beckenbauer. Women’s soccer was not a big thing. But that did not stop Bayern from winning.
Bad luck probably works for a season. Injuries too. Though every team has an injured list. That is part of the game. 1st it was Harold Ballard, then it was the wrong venue. Then the coaches, the goal tenders, the back office, the front office, defence, offence. 40 years of rebuilding. Looks like the NY Islanders rebuilt. Does Nonis know what to do? I doubt it.
Toronto does some things very well. There really is no part of the city where you cannot go. We have hospitals, our garbage gets picked every Tuesday. The murder rate is low as is vandalism, and we have lots of places to go shopping. On the up side, our most common crimes seem to be speeding or making a right turn before 9am. On the down side we have an airport that ranks 46 (Vancouver 9) and a transit system that has ticket collectors and turnstiles. Our transit system was outdated 30 years ago and I still get the same TTC experience or worse.
The secret to Toronto is its stability. Stability is good. People like stability. You can plan. I am not worried that the neighboring tribe of Mississaugans is going to attack tomorrow. Queens Park politician tribe I am more worried about. There is also a downside. Resistance to change and innovation. We are all conservative. Even our lefties are conservative in their being lefties. How about adding lanes to Dufferin or extending the Allen? That will be about 20 years of law suits, and we will have moving sidewalks and flying pigs cars before then. People from all over the world want to come to Toronto or GTA because of offers predictability in a good way. However, too much predictability stands in the way of innovation and improvement.
Innovation usually means something that people do not like, because it is new and involves change. Human nature does not like change. Often it means we have to learn new skills. Like the nightmare from Win 7 to Win 8. Actually many companies do not use Win 8. We like the way we do things. I had a great aunt who did not want to move to West Germany (from East Germany), because of the changes in her life. For her the daily routine was more important than the improvement in living conditions. Waiting in line or not being able to purchase certain goods worked for her, because it was part of a daily routine. She was used to it.
Montreal had the Olympics and the Habs are doing well. They like have spirit. Vancouver had Olympics and the Canucks are doing ok. Toronto has never had a major sporting event. Grey Cup and Pan Am games are not major events. Toronto elected John Tory as mayor. Talk about corporate mainstream. As long as the franchise is making money, we are ok. Toronto is a safe bet for safe and staid. If there is no reason to shake things up, why rock the boat. Excellence can be tricky and not always pleasant. Toronto’s sports teams are a reflection of Toronto culture. Spirit of safe and sound and return on the $. Excellence? Meh.