Hi Howard,

I have been reading and listening to you for years, however I am afraid I am not sure if I can continue. Every single blog you write, everytime I listen to you on the Fan you are negative in your reporting. I am a huge Leafs fan for almost 30 years now, and I have come to the realization that you and your colleagues play a great role in the lack of success from this Leafs franchise.

You have a very powerful method of spreading your beliefs regarding the Leafs situation. You constantly put down the organization and the players and most importantly the fans. You have called devoted fans like us “sheep” and “stupid” on numerous occasions. You and your colleagues, especially Damien Cox, have been responsible for running certain players out of town. Do you remember the slanderous treatment of players like Todd Gill, Larry Murphy and most recently Bryan McCabe? These guys finally couldn’t handle the pressure of the negative media/anti Leafs barrage and had to leave town. The same now is happening to Vesa Toskala, he is actually believing everything you guys write and has lost all confidence in net.

You may argue these guys are professionals and they should suck it up, well you are professionals too and you should have some sort of responsibility when you report your beliefs. I know you and Wilson have had run ins, justifiably so.

How about a positive blog for once Howard? How about reporting on the great bright future of the Leafs Kessel,Kadri, Stalberg, Gustavsson, Bozak, Tlusty, etc. Why do you have to always dwell on the negatives. Yes the team is winless in 7 games, however the season isn’t over. The casual Leafs observer takes everything they read in the paper and listen to on the radio as 100% truth. This just snowballs into a frenzy that everyone on the street takes to be gospel. The players play worse and its just a big old mess.

I know you probably wont have time to respond, however Howard I assure you I am not in the minority. The media , especially guys like you will start seeing a negative backlash from true die hard Leaf fans. We will stop reading your papers, stop listening to your radio reports and just tune you off.

I hope you take this email to heart as I know you are a good guy and a great reporter. I just wish I can continue to listen to you, until you change your ways unfortunately I , as well as a lot of my friends and colleagues will not be able to follow you.

Thanks and GO LEAFS GO



Serge from Pickering

Its a good letter Serge and I appreciate your sentiments and certainly respect your devotion. However, I did have to smirk when you said, 'We will stop reading your papers, stop listening to your radio reports and just tune you off.' That was basically exactly what he has been extolling you to do regards the Leafs and instead you turn it round so that rather than show the team a backlash for their negative/bad performances, you'd rather ignore the writters reporting on it. Seems a little hypocritical.

I do agree that it might be beneficial to try and mention the Leafs have a few bright prospects on the farm rather than focus on the fact the traded their next 2 first rounders, but when a team is playing badly the media will always report negatively on them. If a team is playing well then they get the plaudits. How was the coverage when the Leafs made the playoff run in the early 90s? At the end of the day the media can only comment on the product in front of them and these guys are commenting on the Leafs now, not the Leafs of 5 years time.

This brings up a debate I am curious to hear others opinions on.

Should a reporter/radio host/journalist/blogger step carefully in fear of a player or team reading what they wrote?

If what you state in this letter about Toskala is true, that reading and hearing negative stuff from the media has effected his game in such a way that he plain sucks out there, well he has bigger issues than his goaltending ability. I don't care who you are and what team you play for whether it be the Leafs, the Islanders, the Pens, or the Wings, there will always be negative media and if you can't read it/hear it without letting it effect your job as a player, well, you might want to stop reading and listening to what the media thinks.

I was friends with Joey Harrington back when he was playing for the Lions. Great guy, I still say he had some skills but the Lions ruined him and he never recovered. He was lambasted day in and day out on the radio and in the papers. Everything was put on his shoulders, even the organization used him as their scapegoat. I saw him on Tuesday after a big game on Sunday where things were terrible and he was just getting torn apart by the media the last two days. I brought it up to him and he told me to stop. He said he doesn't listen to sports radio, doesn't watch anything but sportscenter for his sports info, and never read the football section of the local papers. He knew it was their job to criticize and he wanted no part of it. He figured he was getting made a fool but that is their job and to do his job he had to ignore it and if he did hear stuff, ignore it. He didn't want it to potentially hurt his confidence, the team was doing that enough on their own at the time. I think many athletes ignore it for that same reason.

So why is it Leaf players can't? It's not hard. I mean if you are getting it from fans on the streets, well, come on, their fans, they are retarded most of the time and probably couldn't skate a full lap around the rink without falling down. But you can avoid the media coverage. If this team is so effected by it then someone in that organization needs to send a message to the team that it would be in their best interest to not listen to the local sports radio, or read the sports section of the local paper, or watch the evening local sports news.

Actually this is just you not wanting to hear negative things about your favorite team. But some of your points, if true might show why this team is going where it seems to be going.

Steve,

you make good points. However its impossible to avoid it.

Here is an example. Lets say you are out for the night, and you record the Super Bowl. How easy do you think its going to be to avoid knowing the result of this game? You cant listen to radio, talk to anyone, cant even look out on the street without someone giving off some sort of a report on the game.

Its impossible to avoid. These guys are in the locker room every day with a microphone stuck in these guys faces, with just stupid questions.

I totally agree that its the job of a professional athlete to avoid the reports, but a lot of them cant handle it. Some of them relish the attention, i gave examples of Domi, Clark and Tucker. These guys have played on other teams, with little or no success..Here they are gods, and they love it.

FWIW this reporter(berger) on several occasions has been threatened and once attempted to be sued by players and coaches alike.

When I hear Berger, I just change the radio to EZ Rock.

I think this is something we should promote.

The problem is i dont like people losing their jobs. He is a family man and a great personality. But he has pushed me too far, and I am going to campaign to get him removed from the Leafs beat.

From a well known document, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/



He's not doing anything wrong. Don't like it? Change the channel. Do you really think he'll read your insane ramblings and somehow change the way he thinks and feels about the joke of a franchise you seem to adore? He doesn't care, the FAN doesn't care, oh, and we don't care.

Oh, and lol at pushing heros like Todd Gill, Larry Murphy, Bryan McCabe and Vesa Toskala out of town. Bunch of overpaid pussies.

i really dont like you seriously..Stop posting and replying to my threads with your imbecile like remarks.

Quick response from Howard.

Serge: Of course I have time to answer thoughtful e-mails like your's.
And, I understand your point of view. But, I need you to understand that I'm not paid to concern myself over positives or negatives. For 25 years now, I've called it as I see it with the Leafs, and I believe people respect that, even if they don't agree with my point of view. I can assure you that when the Leafs prove worthy of copious praise, they'll get it from me and a whole bunch of others. As for the media's role in the Leafs' lack of achievement, it is disproven by the success of teams in other sports that are followed by even more of a critical eye... the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys come immediately to mind.
Appreciate your note; e-mail anytime,
Howard B.

There is more, I responded and he responded right back..I think we are cool now...

Thanks Howard for responding. I guess I am just frustrated more than anything else. I am probably the biggest die hard amongst my friends, and all day I get non stop emails and jokes about the Leafs. I grew up with them and will refuse to give up, wear paper bags or even boo them.

I am confident we have the right people in place to get this going in the right direction. I know your job is more fun when you are covering the Leafs playoff drives and hopefully we will get there, before you are an old man.

Sorry about my previous email with some harsh words. Lets hope we turn this around soon. As much as I complain I rather listen to you than Bob McCown anyday.

Thanks



Serge

then he responded:

I was a similar die-hard in the '70s, when things were even more bleak than now, with the exception of a few years with Sittler, Salming and Co. Hang in there. The Leafs have some decent kids in the organization. If Gustavsson pans out, a huge problem will be solved.
H.

Larry Murphy was great. Just saying.

I love Murph. Great color guy too.

He didn't let the negative media bother him in Detroit. And his last two years here he got blamed for a ton. It was deserved though. God he was slow and sloppy his last 2 years.

he is at home admiring his stanley cup rings...

Whats negative media in Detroit?

Your the reason we lost in the finals, damn you! Now we'll just have to settle for being the best team 8 out of the last 10 years.

Here, its pretty much
"If you hadnt let in that goal in game 3, we wouldnt have gone onto that bad streak of 78 losses, therefore we would have made the playoffs, the city would be a happier place, and we would have won a championship. Without that playoff run, people stopped watching hockey at bars and restaurants, many business have had to close, people lost their jobs, famillies live out on the streets now, and small children are left starving.

All because you couldnt stop that damn shot against the Habs in October. Go back to Finland/Sweden/Kazahkstan/Algeria you bastard."

Well to be brutally honest, the Wings get no air time on the radio unless it is playoff time and even then there is not much talk. This is a baseball/football town.

.

WTF do you mean better than Detroit. What is wro...oh, yeah, you are probably right.

Howard called Toronto, Loserville again today.

I am trying to like you, but you are making it hard.

How ironic

Serge, I don't know if you read the Toronto Sun, but Mike Zeisberger had an article on page 2 of the sports today, and said pretty much what H Berger said to you.

"Should the slide keep up, invariably the media the media will be blamed. That's such a crock. The scrutiny is no worse in Toronto for the Leafs than it is in New York for the Yankees, in Boston for the Red Sox, or in Dallas for the Cowboys, all successful franchises."

lol...Of course he is going to say that..So is Berger and so is Gruven..Because they are part of the media..

Boston Red Sox took like 90 years to win a World Series..Only reason they are competitive now is because they spent way more than everyone else...

Same with the Yankees.

I try not to read the Sun..But if i am on the road and have to grab a quick bite i read it if its lying around.

Then why were you quoting Brian Burke from Zeisberger's story?

i was nt..


I actually found the quote in another site..Didnt know it was Zeisberger..

Zeisberger
Berger..

I think you should change your name to Tesberger..

and you should change yours to assberger

.

that was all in fun..

I have that guy on ignore...no biggie

Come on...that was funny!


assberger!!!! lolololol

I really thought that was funny too. It had me laughing.

how is a 45 year old joke that 4 year olds repeat funny??

...you started it

?

Sorry, but I feel outside the circle, I do not understand any of these burger jokes at all. Like I kinda get the assburger joke, only because it has the word "ass" in it? This is a serious question, I do not get these jokes. I really just don't understand how ended burger with everything became funny, I realize the name of the writer ends in burger, but I just don't get it. I'm missing something

Biatchburger!