Leafs Twitter Says Dumb Thing

You know it’s a slow news day when you’re talking about something posted by a team social media account, but… yeesh. 

First thing’s first; why are the Toronto Maple Leafs involving themselves in Bolland’s parade at all? Yes, he’s a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs now. Yes, he’s a Toronto native. But this isn’t their victory. Unless we’re still calling a victory against Boston a revenge victory for the Leafs, which was a pretty silly concept when it happened. It’s not even like one of their social media guys was merely sent a picture either.. 

So MLSE actually made a concious effort to involve themselves with this mini-parade. But it’s cool, it wasn’t a big one, they only sent cheerleaders over from the wrong sport. Perfect.

Secondly, after the controversy that just passed about Tim Leiweke wanting to rip out the past and focus on an immediate winning culture (which I thought was fine, but others didn’t), should the Leafs be declaring themsleves the 2014 Stanley Cup Champions in August?

Forget about whether or not you think this team has gotten any better. If they announced that they’ve figured out how to clone and will be icing a team of 12 Wayne Gretzkys from 1984, 6 Bobby Orrs from 1970, and 3 Patrick Roys from the 1993 playoffs, no team should ever declare themselves the champs ahead of time. At any level of the organization.

"But it’s just Twitter!" isn’t an excuse. If anything, that’s a problem of its own. Ever since that "You’re Welcome" tweet from the Los Angeles Kings in 2012, NHL social media divisions stopped seeing their Twitter accounts as places to provide fans with information, and begin a mantra of "our team is the greatest, everybody else sucks, their fans suck, also we’re all going to pretend to like the Columbus Blue Jackets".

It gets boring quickly (except Columbus, oddly enough. They occasionally bring the snark but are tend to be interactive and ‘human’ in a bunch of ways beyond that, which evens it out). Much of is unfunny, and only popular because it comes from a popular account. I’m a bit of a hypocrite because I’m a sarcastic jerk at times on Twitter too; but I’m the internet representation of a 21 year old, not the internet representation of a professional sports team. The same issues have found their way to the players too, who have gone from running accounts similar to most fans, to making ice time jokes and mocking fans who don’t like them ever since Paul Bissonette became Twitter famous for calling Ilya Kovalchuk a communist.

Maybe Dave Bolland will be parading in MImico (which wouldn’t be on a Leafs route, for out of town fans – it’s not even close to downtown) in a Leafs jersey next year because that’s how he likes to begin his August, not because the Leafs marketing team expects rings. Maybe this is the kind of arrogance the team shouldnt’ show pulibcally and is reflective of a negative trend of how NHL teams promote themselves on twitter. Maybe I’m overanalyzing things because it’s August 1st and there’s nothing else to write about.

Yeah, that’s probably it.

PS – Is that kid next to him wearing an October’s Very Own shirt? He’s my new best friend.

EDIT: Been told that kid is actually not a kid, but the CFO of October’s Very Own. Welp.