The Weekend That Was

For the Maple Leafs, it was undoubtedly nice to be the good news item for a change.

For those GTA sports nuts who might have hoped the Leafs' surprise victory over Ottawa on Saturday night might have set the tone for the rest of the weekend, however, that proved not to be the case.

The Raptors went el foldo in the fourth quarter against a Golden State team that has been pretty ordinary this season, still living off its playoff upset of Dallas last spring.

And the Argonauts were even worse, just generally mediocre on offence, defence and special teams as the dream of playing in the Grey Cup game they were also hosting went up in smoke.

So we wonder about Chris Bosh and his dismal season so far, and we wonder about the professional futures of, in no particular order, Pinball Clemons, Mike O'Shea and Damon Allen.

And we continue to wonder about Bryan McCabe.

But this time in a nice way.

See, having trashed McCabe's play all season, failing to see the merits of his performances even while others were straining to do so, it's only fair to compliment him on a terrific performance against the Senators.

Maybe the Sens were off their game, guilty of taking Paul Maurice's crew a little lightly.

But McCabe was good. Very physical, sharp on the power play, less jittery with the puck on his stick.

Just making the playoffs is, admittedly, not a lofty goal. But if McCabe can consistently play the way he did on Saturday, then you can at least consider the possibility that the Leafs will upgrade their play enough to be in the 90 point range at season's end and thus once more scraping along with others for a last minute playoff berth.

Admittedly, a bunch of factors came together on Saturday. Darcy Tucker actually scored, Vesa Toskala was very strong and Jiri Tlusty scored a goal and not once was seen on a racy web site all weekend.

Plus McCabe was strong. Talk about hitting for the cycle.

So on a weekend in Toronto sports when lots went sour, it was McCabe the Leafs that provided a silver lining.

Talk about a change in roles.

Comments

[Scott]

The Tlusty jokes/comments are getting ridculous. No one cares what he did when he was 17 or 18. The jokes are a waste of print as well as simply unclever and unoriginal. But of course you must have some negative talking point when you write about the Leafs so I can see why you threw it in there.

[Don]

As I live about as far as you can get from Toronto and still be a Leaf fan in Canada. I don't care much about the other Toronto teams. I think the Grey Cup was actually played on Sunday in BC Place, between arguably, the two best teams the CFL has fielded this season. Perhaps it is time the CFL amended their playoff format, but we've had similar complaints about NHL playoff formats in the past. But with only 8 CFL teams, who knows, it might work. No, not a Lions fan, I'm a CFL fan.
I think that would have made a better column, than the sad state of affairs in GTA pro sports.
And it's time to let the Tlusty jokes/comments die, he's a young kid, who did something he shouldn't have when he was even younger.
His mistake?
To trust someone he thought he knew with something very personal. We've all trusted someone and had it blow up in our faces haven't we? His was just more public. Let it go.

[kenny d.]

No one has bashed McCabe more than I but one must give credit when it's due. He and the Leafs played great Sat.night. No better time to have a game like that than against the Sens. But you know what? Everyone sinks a 50 footer for birdie now and again. Let's get another birdie Tues. against Boston. We have already 3 whacked from 10 feet enough this year. Go Leafs Go