Burke's A Baby

February 1, 2012 @ 07:17

Last week Humble and I were guests on the Fan 590 morning show, part of our announcement about Humble and Fred Radio joining Rogers Radio.

During our appearance Greg Brady asked me about the Maple Leafs, and in particular Leaf management. The word I used to describe Brian Burke and Ron Wilson was "arrogant."

It seemed to strike a cord because I received a couple of e-mails from people who heard the segment and said arrogant was the perfect word.

But I'll be honest, when I used arrogant I was talking more about Ron Wilson than I was about Brian Burke. I think Wilson has a bizarre attitude for a guy who's proved sweet fuck all since arriving in Toronto.

If he's proved anything, he's proved he's not a very good coach yet he wears a smirk on his face and talks to the media like he's the second coming of Scotty Bowman.

I think the Leafs are horribly coached and I think he should be doing a lot more with the players he's been handed by Burke.

As for Burke, up until this week I actually supported the guy, even though his arrogance could be viewed as a little over the top when you consider what he's accomplished since he came to town.

But I had some room for Burke because I liked his plan and to some extent I liked the results... but that changed a lot this week when I found out Burke went to the CBC to complain about Don Cherry.

It turns out Burke thinks Cherry is too critical of the Leafs, and Wilson in particular.

To be honest, I didn't think Burke had it in him. His brash, tough guy image really takes a shit kickin' through this.

He's actually bothered by what Cherry has to say?
Enough that he'd actually go the CBC and whine about it?
He actually thinks that Cherry is part of the problem?

Talk about a suck hole! It makes we want to totally give up on the Leafs now, and it's got nothing to do with the 4-1 third period lead they just blew in Pittsburgh.

It shows me that the so-called pillar of the Leafs, is really a softy and afraid to address the real problem with his hockey team, which happens to be exactly what Cherry has pointed out many times.

It's the guy behind the bench. He's not very good.

Burke has backed himself into a corner. His stubbornness in supporting the coach, who happens to be a good buddy, has him looking elsewhere to lay blame for the obvious, and it just adds to the arrogance.

Meanwhile the coach is still searching for a system to get the puck out of his own.

Don Cherry may be a bit of a whack job, but he's got absolutely nothing to do with the woes of the Toronto Maple Leafs.