Few things are as exciting in this game as a goal being scored by the home team. It’s a shame that the Toronto Maple Leafs are failing to create any additional hype with their current anthem.
What is it that makes a great goal celebration song? Don’t ask the Toronto Maple Leafs, as theirs just isn’t up to par these days.
Toronto changed their song to You Make My Dreams by Daryl Hall and John Oates at the start of the 2018-19 season, after a short stint of The Enforcer by Monster Truck as that respective track.
This is a young team. They are fast, skilled, and energetic. Everything about them should represent that, including their music selection. When the players are excited, the fans will be too.
Respecting History While Creating New Storylines
The Toronto Maple Leafs organization is rich with history and it’s important to represent that. They do a great job of showcasing their past, both in traditional and innovative ways.
From their nostalgic in-arena video tributes, the plethora of player banners hanging from the rafters, or the recently developed Legends Row outside their arena, Toronto does it right when respecting all that has enriched this franchise over the years.
As Dave Keon celebrates his 80th birthday, reflect on his incredible career in the blue & white with his Legends Row induction video. pic.twitter.com/wSv1HQRD87
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 22, 2020
However, that which affects and shapes today’s team in this current era of the game should be a better reflection of those in their lineup right now.
You Make My Dreams, the current Toronto Maple Leafs goal song, was released in 1980. The oldest player on their roster at this moment is Jason Spezza. He was born in 1983.
In 2017, the organization’s 100th-year celebration acknowledged its successful and storied past. The club did a wonderful job of putting it all on display, allowing the franchise and its fans alike to reminisce.
But with their new century upon them, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to shift focus to what comes next instead of what’s already been.
As the next generation of Maple Leafs players continue to carve their own identity, striving for the team’s first Stanley Cup since 1967, every aspect of their game should represent them. Including their story’s soundtrack.
https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1177028077873971201?s=20
With goals like that becoming the norm around their rink, these young athletes deserve complementary music to further electrify their celebrations.
Besides, Toronto did not achieve a single winning season throughout the 1980s. At the very least, if the goal was to motivate a new wave of talent with what they’ve done in the past, they should have picked a song from the1940s, 1960s, or 1990s.
Though they didn’t win a Cup in the 90s, they came much closer in that decade that they did in the 10 years that preceded it. 1990-1999 would have also been when most of these current Leafs were first becoming fans themselves.
An even better approach would be allowing the team to collectively decide upon a more relatable and recognizable tune, picked by today’s Toronto Maple Leafs.
Superstar Auston Matthews can claim he likes the Hall and Oates classic as their celebratory track, but what is he really supposed to say when asked about it?
That same report also added:
"Asked for his favourite goal song, Matthews notes Chiddy Bang’s MGMT-sampling “Opposite of Adults,” the anthem selected by Team North America at the 2016 World Cup.“It was good,” Matthews says. “It made a lot of sense for the team we had, because we were all young kids.”"
With an age range of 19-36 on this roster, and the median being 25, these players need to let their story be enhanced by a more appropriate theme song that they can call their own.
They can still be the #LeafsForever. But today’s team needs to be able to impact all aspects of their identity, if the Toronto Maple Leafs expect them to write a new chapter into the organization’s history books.