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Chris:

You'd have to be pretty slow on the uptake these days not to see just what kind of trouble our boys in blue are in. Steve and I spent a lot of time talking over possible solutions, trades, signings, callups and identifying potential stumbling blocks to achieving post season success, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan.

But I think after some of the shellackings we've been taking in recent days a couple things have become obvious.

1. This season is all but unsalvageable. We can either blow up the team, which I'm against, or we can start having a serious discussion about how we can use this to our advantage and shuffle the player roster a bit to prepare for the future. It's time to move some of our higher paid dead wood and start accumulating draft picks.

2. There is a serious and systematic failure in the Leafs organization. I label it the Teachers Pension Plan. It taints all decisions, creates bureaucratic paralysis and trades short term profitability for long term sucess. This is not a combination that will ever get us into the playoffs and until it is addressed, expect more of the same.

3. Fan revolt. The team has lost its focus on winning. Let's face it, the stands at the ACC will always be full. The better seats will always be full of buisnessman, wearing suits, looking to impress a client and leaving after the second period. Even the cheap seats are anything but. The team's reponse to middle class fan is to give us the one fingered salute while jacking up ticket prices and moving a growing number of games onto Leafs TV. And they do all this while the team ISN'T WINNING.

And we're starting to notice. We're starting to notice and frankly, dedicated, long time fans are begininng to walk away from the organization because we've had enough. For too long the Leafs have ruled the roost. They've been able to get away with continually dissapointing us and gouging us because they've given us a team just good enough to keep us on the edge of our seats. Only now they've stopped even doing that. They've given up on the fans and now the fans are giving up on them.

Mark my words, change is in the air.