The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t played hockey in four months and I can’t even remember what a normal game looks like anymore.
Remembering watching a Toronto Maple Leafs game kind of reminds of me school.
You know you went to school. You know you took tests. You know you had recess and played dodge-ball, but it’s all a blur.
You can remember your friends and some teachers along the way, but you can’t exactly remember every detail of a normal school day.
It’s kind of like the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Remember Hockey?
I almost forgot Mike Babcock was the coach at some point this year, and it feels like 10 years ago that we debated on who the next captain of the team should be.
Regardless, all I’m saying is that without hockey, it’s hard to remember that we even had hockey this year. Every single sports radio host in Canada talks about hockey daily, but it feels like this fairy-tale of a sport that will never return again.
Although the NHL has their schedule set to come back in a few weeks, it still feels like a dream.
I just assume one day we’re going to wake up and everything is going to be cancelled or postponed again. Unless we can keep every single player in Canada for the next two years, I don’t see how the U.S. hockey markets are going to open.
But back to the title of this article.
What the hell have you been doing without Toronto Maple Leafs games?
Well, there was that one time I re-watched Game 7 of the 2013 Playoff series between Toronto and Boston. You can read that here, and if you’re wondering, it’s not as fun the second time around.
I’m still mad at Matt Frattin.
Anyways, besides crying myself to sleep over old Maple Leafs games, it’s actually been kind of therapeutic not to stress over a sporting event every other night.
It’s not like I would ever get as carried away as Steve Dangle after a Leafs loss, but let’s just say there’s a lot less “F-Bombs” getting yelled in my apartment recently. I’m assuming my neighbors think I moved out by now since it’s much more quiet without Maple Leafs games.
Passing the time has been relatively easy, though. The first two weeks were hard, scary and pessimistic, but understanding that social distancing and isolating is the safest way to control this virus made it much easier to stay inside every day.
By watching so much sports over my lifetime, I realized I’ve been missing out on great films and television shows that people always talk about. When somebody talked about Breaking Bad, the only Walter I could relate to was Wayne Gretzky’s dad.
Not only have I been able to finish Breaking Bad, but I’ve been able to go through some other great television shows I’ve been missing out on such as: Mad Men, Dexter and Lost.
Not to mention some of the best films of the last 10 years like: Inception and Django Unchained.
When a team consumes you like the Toronto Maple Leafs do, it’s fun, but these past four months have taught me that it doesn’t mean everything.
Saying you’re busy because a Leafs game is on, or not picking up the phone because a sporting event is happening would be a regular occurrence for me, but that won’t be the case moving forward.
I obviously can’t wait to being able to watch a Leafs game again, but more importantly, I can’t wait to being able to watch it with the people I care about.