Freddie P's Blog

Without a doubt the most refreshing, most compelling radio personality in Toronto right now is actually not really a radio guy.

Bill Watters works on the radio but his roots are in big people stuff like management and finance and negotiation.

But since he's become a regular on Leafs Lunch with Jeff Marek on am 640, his constant and cutting attacks on upper Maple Leaf management have not only been compelling, they've been hilarious.

As a former executive with the Leafs Watters was on the inside and knows the real story, and his willingness to throw it onto the table and back it up with facts makes Leafs lunch a must listen for a Leaf fan.

And I can feel it escalating. Earlier in the season Watters would simply pass his opinion in a controlled manner with a consistent tone.

Over the past couple of weeks the volume has been turned up and the passion has increased, Watters has a big problem with Larry Tanenbaum and Richard Peddie and he's letting Toronto know it in an informative, intelligent and extremely amusing way.

Category: Radio | Sports

It actually took longer than I thought it would. The hockey fans at the Air Canada Centre have decided Brian McCabe is the next marked man, the next player to be singled out for shitty play, and the next player who will probably ask to be traded.

McCabe got booed every time he touched the puck during Tuesday night's horrid game against Buffalo and he deserved it, in fact he deserved it long before Tuesday.

McCabe isn't nearly as good as Leaf management and his contract say he is and even though Leaf fans may be suckers, they aren't stupid. They know a bad defenseman when they see one.

Brian McCabe has become the latest Aki Berg and Larry Murphy, but he carries a little more baggage because he carries a much bigger contract than Berg and Murphy did.

Some might argue that Toronto fans always have to have a whipping boy and it just isn't fair, but to that I say bullshit. After you've been sucked into paying exorbitant prices for tickets and then have the insult of an atrocious game thrown into your face, you have the right to do anything.

Who knows maybe one day Leaf fans will wake up and rather than boo they'll stay home.

Category: Sports

I'm not about to blame Andrew Raycroft solely for the past couple of Leaf games, but I really don't understand managements unwavering commitment to this guy.

Why wouldn't Jean Sebastian Aubin have started against the Sabres last night? Raycroft had a soft night in Montreal allowing five goals on 15 shots, and then Aubin shuts them out the rest of the way. Why not let J.S. have an actual start against Buffalo?

This has to be a personality thing between Aubin and Paul Maurice.

There was talk yesterday of the Leafs trying to acquire Curtis Joseph before the trade deadline and that's just ridiculous. At this point there would be very little too choose between Aubin and Joseph yet the Leafs were apparently willing to trade some future for Cujo. It just doesn't make sense.

In the end, its Leaf fans who are suffering. Andrew Raycroft is not the answer to their present or their future. He can make some spectacular saves, but you simply can't trust the guy over the long haul. ARGH!

Category: Sports

I don't know what to think about the Yanic Perrault thing. The Leafs have gotten rid of him twice before and they could have signed him as a free agent this summer with no compensation but chose not to.

But yesterday they give up a young defenceman in Brendan Bell and a second round draft choice.

I sit here in Brampton, in my underwear in front of my computer thinking that on some level I'm smarter than the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

That can't be.. can it?

Meanwhile, after last nights stinker against Buffalo I recieved the link to this website started by a Leaf fan.

Category: Sports

With the trading deadline arriving today I thought of something.

Rather than make a trade why don't the Leafs just bring back Dougie G. for the playoff run.

He may be over 40 and have a bad back and wonky knees, and he may have been off skates for two or three years, but come on, he's Dougie G. He can do anything.

And Wendel would look good on the wing.

Category: Sports

Leaf fans don't have to worry about Darcy Tucker being traded tomorrow. The feisty little winger has agreed to a three contract that will keep him in Toronto for the next three years and he'll earn between nine and ten million dollars.

It's another one of those situations where the Leafs find themselves caught in the middle, the way it's been for the past 20 years. We know they're not good enough to win the Stanley Cup, yet they're not bad enough to throw in the towel.

So instead of moving Tucker at the deadline in exchange for draft picks or a young quality player or two, they keep him and hope for a miracle run in the playoffs. And when that doesn't happen, they're right back where the started. In the middle of the pack.

Category: Sports

I've been meaning to make a point since Thursday night but keep forgetting. Even though he's dirty rotten Ottawa Senator, I gained a whole new respect and appreciation for Sens goalie Ray Emery.

I loved him in that brawl against Buffalo. Before he even started fighting Emery had a huge smile on his face as he skated towards Sabres goalie Martin Biron. It was like he knew he had to fight but the concept was so stupid it made him laugh - and he continued to laugh through the whole fight.

Category: Sports

Yes, Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson has himself in a tough situation. After watching last nights game on the Island there is no longer any question. The two worst defensemen on the Leafs are the two highest paid.

Say what you want about Pavel Kubina, he makes some unbelievable mistakes, but on a game-in game-out basis there is nobody worse than Brian McCabe.

It's just another one of those aggravating things about the Leafs. John Ferguson signed these guys to contracts that gobble up close to ten million dollars a year against the salary cap. Just imagine what they could do with that money.

Nobodies going to tell me that Andy Wozneiwski and Brendan Bell couldn't fill the gap and actually lessen the mistakes.

And there's no light at the end of the tunnel. McCabe has a five year deal and Kubina has a four year deal. It's too bad.

Category: Sports

It was Dick Smyth who told me. It was 33 years ago today and I was getting ready for school. The radio was blasting 1050 CHUM in the kitchen when I heard the words I could hardly believe. Tim Horton was dead.

After a game against the Leafs, because of business reasons Horton opted to drive back to Buffalo on his own rather than take the team bus with the rest of his Buffalo Sabre teammates.

With twice the legal limit of alcohol and traces of a prescription drug called Dexamyl in his blood, Horton failed to negotiate a turn on the QEW and flipped his De Tomaso Pantera. He was 44 years old.

At the time Tim Horton's Doughnuts was in its infancy and no one could have dreamed it would turn into what it is today, especially Horton.

In fact I often think about that. What if Tim Horton could come back for one day, just one day? What would he think? What would he think of his legacy shifting from hockey to crullers and baguettes?

What would he think of his name being plastered all over the landscape, including on paper cups tossed onto the ground at every off-ramp. But most of all, what would he think of the all the cheesy Tim Horton's commercials that are inflicted upon Canadians on a regular basis.

Especially the one that features that old prick who doesn't want his son to play hockey.

Category: Sports

Just for the record, ARGH was a factor in last night's Leaf game.

ARGH = Andrew Raycroft's Glove Hand.

Category: Sports