We Take No Delight In Showing You These Despairing Toronto Fans
Honestly, we thought our hunt for images of despondent Toronto fans would be more fun than this. We saw photos like this one:
“@pang: Toronto Star photo of Leafs fans as Bergeron tied it 4-4 twitter.com/pang/status/33…” picture will live on in infamy
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) May 14, 2013
And we thought it’d be fun to see more. But it turns out that Leafs fans greeted their team’s epic Game 7 collapse with such quiet Canadian resignation, that we just sort of feel dirty and sad for luridly looking on at their private shame. Look how the fans just sort of wilt, like one sad flower, when Patrice Bergeron scores the game-winning goal.
Listen as they call out their misery from passing cars:
“I hate my liiiiife,” a distraught Leafs fan announces from a passing cab.
— Connor Simpson (@connorsimpson) May 14, 2013
Laugh at the funny but heartening words of inspiration they seek from their religious leaders:
#Toronto church offers advice to distraught #Leaf fans the day after disaster. #NoLeafsNo! twitter.com/SimonDingleyCB…
— Simon Dingley (@SimonDingleyCBC) May 14, 2013
Shake your head in wonder as they stay strong, saying things like, “So proud of the boys, man. It’s a learning process, so they’ll learn from this.”
Be amused at the elaborate metaphors they draw between their team and others. “The Leafs last night” says one Toronto Reddit user, posting this video:
Of course, not everyone feels as conflicted and empathetic as we do when watching all these Leafs fans mourn. (“I could literally watch this stuff all day,” says a Barstool Sports writer, predictably, the memory of “Toronto Stronger” guy probably still fresh in his mind.) And sure … we did just put all of it into a convenient post so you could watch along with us. But we totally feel bad about it! Stop reading this! You’re being a bad sport! After all, let’s remember that we didn’t actually win the Stanley Cup and the spirits of hockey karma are presumably watching closely. (They’re a thing, right?) Comport yourself well Boston fans. We may lose yet, after which, presumably we will flip over some cars and burn our players in effigy.
