Leafs make good babies and bullies

It could be called revisiting the Philadelphia Flyers organization circa. 1973. Or maybe it's one of many instances where the Toronto Maple Leafs have cried foul.

Perhaps it's a combination of both.

Either way, it's once again drawing negative attention to a sport that's taken its fair share of that in the past few years.

The most recent of many incidents involved the Flyers Steve Downie, who seems bent on setting the league record for games missed due to suspension in a single season for a rookie, and the Leafs underachieving Jason Blake.

Downie, it can be argued, is doing exactly what was expected from him. No one ever assumed this kid from Newmarket was going to lead the team in scoring, but at the same time, who could have predicted that in his rookie season he would get himself suspended in the pre-season, and the fifth longest suspension in league history to boot!

Not everyone can be Sidney Crosby, so I guess this is one way to make it into the record books. But at the same time, incidents like this can haunt a player for their entire career. Marty McSorely, Donald Brashear, Todd Bertuzzi will always be remembered at least as much for the violent incidents they took part in as anything else could ever accomplish.

Now, not to overlook the Leafs and their propensity for whining- it's a definite skill they've honed for going on 40-years now. They're hard done by, the league is out to get them, the other teams take pleasure in running up the score, we've heard it all. Last year they complained to the league following an overtime game versus Montreal when the ice wasn't cleaned perfectly and then blaming the subsequent loss on the ice surface.

In the Downie vs. Blake charge, the Leafs are incensed that the Flyer threw an apparent sucker punch at the Toronto forward during a January 5 game while he was being held by the officials. After a league investigation, Downie got off with a fine, but no suspension.

However the incident started up a long line of cheap shot talk amongst reporters and broadcasters alike. And the Flyers VP Bobby Clarke did what he does best-made worse an already bad situation. Clarke while on TSN's “Off the Record” said that he ‘loved it' when Downie went after Blake, claiming it was retribution for a comment Blake made following Downie's suspension saying that guys like him shouldn't be allowed in the league.

The “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out' joke is looking quite fitting in today's NHL, because Blake isn't the only one who got a black eye this time.