Game Thread: Oilers vs Leafs - The Battle for Last

I don't always make good decisions. In fact, I have on occasion made some very bad decisions (it doesn't take you seven years [technically eight] to graduate from university if you make exclusively good decisions), but my decision to sell my tickets to tonight's game between the Oilers and the Leafs is one of smarter things I've doe in quite a while. And my tickets went to an Oilers fan so I'll have a clear conscience when watching the game from my couch this evening. He might be taking a Leafs fan, I don't know, but that's on him not me.

Why would I rather watch the game from the comfort of my couch? Is it because the Oilers and Leafs are the leagues two worst teams right now? Is it because the beer in my apartment is both better and cheaper? Those are certainly factors, but the single biggest reason is that Leafs fans, or 50% of the 16,839 people that will be in attendance tonight, that show up at Rexall Place are unbelievably annoying. It doesn't matter if they were alive in 1967, or in grade school when Mats Sundin was there, the one common factor to all of them is that they're annoying.

To be totally fair, part of the problem with Leafs fans at these games is that there are just so damn many of them. When the Flames or Canucks come to town there are a lot of the visiting team's jerseys in the crowd. But when the Leafs come to town half the building is suddenly blue and white. And loud. And obnoxious. The only other group of fans that comes close to taking over Rexall Place to the extent that Leafs fans do, are the fans of the Montreal Canadiens, but like the NHL, I prefer the Habs and their fans to those of the Leafs.

And so tonight I'll be watching from home, with an IPA in hand, instead of Rexall Place. It goes without saying that I'll still be cheering on the home team, hoping for a good performance after three duds and three losses in a row. Not because a win will matter in the standings (for the Oilers or Leafs), or because I have to write the post game, but because it'll help keep those brave Oilers fans standing in the face of Leafs Nation from losing their minds. After all, the only thing worse than Leafs fans, are Leafs fans after a win.