Welcome

Hello, Leafs Nation. And welcome to... A Leafs Fan Blogs.

I know, right? What a great name! It's so natural! It rolls off the tongue like molasses covered with thumbtacks.

There were heated discussions, some of them sober, about what we should call this new endeavour. My first suggestion was "Puck Struck." When friends and colleagues heard the name they said, "Yeah, that's not bad." Then two seconds later, they said, "No, it sucks." Other proposed names from random people I bumped into brilliant marketers included: Highway 67, The Spirit of 67, Blue & White Forever, I Heart The Buds, Between The Pipe Dreams and the somewhat feral sounding Wild Hockey Boy.

So it could have been worse.

On the upside, my masters selected a name that says it all. Yes, I will blog. Yes, I am a Leafs fan. In fact, with the exception of a temporary meltdown last year, which elicited a call and email from Brian Burke, I've been cheering for the blue-and-white since Sittler made history with double-digit points in one game and the only "Tiger" in sports was a stick-riding, skull-smashing maniac named Williams.

I have ventured into enemy territory (Buffalo and Montreal) to mock the locals with my Kordic jersey and hypnotic chants. In a former life as a retail employee, I helped Ed Olczyk's wife select a camera and told Dan Daoust he was flying low. Only it wasn't Dan Daoust and never mind the rest of that story.

What does it mean to be a Leafs fan during an age of chronic mediocrity? Put it this way: I spent a considerable amount of time in junior high trying to be more like this guy.

More recently, I've been watching the team, talking to management and pestering Mr. Burke. And you know what? I am genuinely excited about the upcoming season and hope this enthusiasm doesn't fade like Gary Leeman's post-Leafs career.

But if A Leafs Fan Blogs -- should I just shorten the damn thing to ALF B? -- is to survive, your help is crucial-nyski (see what I did there?). Want to write a guest post? Great! Have suggestions for what I should cover or read or link to? Awesome. People, seriously, there are a shocking number of days in a hockey season and I can't do this alone. I simply can't afford the divorce attorney.

So here we go, Leafs Nation. In the immortal words of Wendel Clark, "Yeah, okay."

PHOTO: RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR