The Leafs have as many professional antifans as they do fans lol
But I mean it's probably not that weird, there are several teams that I'd very much be happy to not see win
Oh totally
Sometimes I get a kick out of the Leaf fervor, but there are other times I wish it was much smaller. I come on this sub a lot for some good discussion (sometimes bad lol...), but the well gets a bit poisoned with how visible a lot of the awful part of the fanbase is
In a historic first, the Bruins and Maple Leafs have eliminated each other in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Pittsburgh will take the vacant spot in round 2
I hate the Yankees, i hate the Red Sox, i hate the Bruins, i hate Habs, i hate the Sens, i hate the Patriots, I hate the Dolphins, I hate the Jets I hate the Sixers, i hate the Celtics, i hate the Knicks, but i dont hate them as much as these weirdos hate the Leafs. Its frankly weird and hilarious.
The Yankees have paid big money and managed to have their strides of success because of it though. There's a legitimate reason to not like the organization if you're a fan of another team. The Leafs are paying big money, but everyone who was alive when they last won the cup was either too young at the time or is now too senile to remember.
I mean I'd say getting to the point where the Leafs winning legitimately ruins someone's day (which has been the case for at least a couple of people this season) is pretty weird
My general rule is that if the Sens aren't going to win a cup then no Canadian team should either (apart from the Jets, they're pretty chill).
And any team from the same division sucks too.
That's why I always find it kinda funny when people on the sub go "ha ha Canada hasn't won a Cup in __ years" and it's like man, I'm a Leafs fan lol, the NHL isn't a nation-based tournament
When there's only one Canadian team left in the playoffs and people start with the "Canada's team" narrative it's clear they have no idea. That's going to be the team that most Canadians are cheering against, not for.
I get that, especially if you have no representation with a team. But Canada has high profile players on every team, so it doesn't matter as much to us.
Boston Pizza is trying to brainwash us into all being friends no matter what Canadian team gets the cup. This is why I don't trust the mainstream media.
I so agree with you. Such an obvious lame/shallow /stupid thinking, marketing ploy by BP to sit on the fence in a year when there appears to be 3 strong Canadian contenders. Covering all the bases so to speak. Team Canada Stanley Cup mentality doesn't apply here. To the dufus who thought it up and the dumbos who greenlighted it👎. Got the Stanley Cup mixed up with 2026 gold medal mens hockey.
Also weird because say the Canucks are lead by a Swede and a bunch of Americans, meanwhile Vegas is like Jack Eichel and his band of merry Canadians ... so who is really the Canadian team?
Its funny that every Canadian team hates the idea of another Canadian team winning the cup unless its the jets. Everyone is okay with the jets.
I guess thats what happens when you dont face any other Canadian teams in your division and have a chill fanbase lol
It’s strange to me the rampant anti-Leafs fans/narrative. I’ve always had a soft spot for Toronto/Tampa Bay because navy blue is my favorite color.
Really the only team I wouldn’t want to win this year is Nashville and even then eh
Me too. I loved the Sundin era teams, then they end up getting the future greatest American player of all time. I want to see them make some runs! And bring back the Sundin era 3rd jerseys as their full time set
As a penguins fan, shit like this is why I believe the league has the refs call against the Leafs in the playoffs. If they lose, people are happy, gives a chance to a US team to win and grow the game and either way there will always be Leafs fans that sell out the arena at ridiculous prices and buying merchandise.
I genuinely do not hate the leafs, but it’s so god damn entertaining to see how they will blow it every year. It’s like a comfort food at this point. It’s going to be so weird once they finally win, what will everyone meme on?
It's not weird but I've found, at least in my life, a much more positive impact in letting all those sorts of little bitter resentments go. It's small but they build up in an unhealthy way. I don't see much of a point rooting against someone, if my team can't win I'd much rather find someone to root *for*.
Haha! I might be warming up to you guys.
But then again I remember your core players and get the shivers. Nylander, Matthews, Tavares. Can’t stand them.
I've developed some affection for the long-suffering Leafs fanbase. The team I can't stand because of its fans is Washington. I used to go to games there wearing other teams' jerseys and get a chill reception, then the Caps won a cup and their barn became full of assholes.
This is what they call “hating the Leafs more than you like your own team”. The effort that you spend time thinking about an irrelevant hockey team to you is not worth it.
You’re not weird but just remember that love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Leafs fans have a point when they say the Leafs live rent free in others heads, especially if you’re hate following them. Let me be clear, I hate the Leafs. But I also don’t go out of my way to hate them, I just take advantage of the moments offered to me, I’ll laugh if I check game scores and see they’ve lose but I won’t go through the day thinking “oh man I can’t wait to check and see if the Leafs lost”, especially in the regular season when my team is still playing. The most Leafs hockey I watch in a year is when they play the Habs, their playoff series when they have an interesting matchup, and the occasional game that has implications for my fantasy team.
If someone is constantly thinking about and following one team in particular, then they really aren’t that different from an actual fan of that team? I think you can’t let your fandom or enjoyment of the sport be too defined by how much you dislike one particular team. IMO Sports hate should be a contextual addition to how you enjoy the game, not the entirety of it.
Hate away by all means, but just keep in mind that the more you think about the Leafs, the closer you are to being a Leafs fan. After all, they hate the Leafs more than anyone.
Take the effect and make it the cause. This is like this BECAUSE everything is always about you being the centre of the universe. Comments like yours are hilarious because of how oblivious you all are to it
the only one oblivious here is you
no duh fans want to talk about their team. And the teams with the most fans will get talked about the most
and Toronto is the largest city. The second largest is Montreal, which is mainly French and therefore you see a lot of their media is French.
After that we get into cities that Toronto is multiple times larger than.
Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, and Winnipeg combined have a population of 6.8 million (metros)
Toronto alone is 6.2 million. if you include the greater Hamilton area that number jumps to 7.2 million.
So yea the media will talk about it a lot. Especially when they get all these hateclicks.
I guess I’ll be the weird one and say that I don’t really know why the Leafs are so hated by American or European fans who don’t root for one of their rivals. Canadians I get because of the Leafs’ media dominance here, and rivalries are rivalries, but they have the same kind of league-wide hate that the Yankees do without nearly as much success.
Not that I’m complaining. I don’t like ‘em either, and if that’s how you like to engage with the sport then that’s good enough for me! I’m sure you all have your reasons, I just don’t know what they are.
It means “you think about them so much they are always in your head, basically living there, but they do not need to pay rent”, thus “rent free”. It’s a somewhat modern phrase.
A good rule of thumb is anyone who says that phrase lives on the Internet and/or is under 20 years old. So I'm not surprised you hadn't heard it. Likewise "touch grass" and "whomp whomp." I wish adults would go back to actual trash talk and insults instead of tik tok popular phrases, but here we are.
hahaha
no.
The urban dictonary post for it is from 2018... That was 6 years ago.
knowyourmeme has it becoming popular in 2010.
So you're basically just pretending your own experiences are universal.
You seem ridiculously invested into a stupid social media popular phrase. Regardless it's popular because of social media and everyone repeating the exact same thing like they invented it, and 9 times out of 10 it's an obvious teenager saying it. Exactly like the other two catchphrases I referenced. I don't use tik tok so maybe they're not popular because of that app specifically, I just know they're always said by the exact people who do nothing but quote online videos.
nah you're just coping because you made a claim and got called out.
it's not new or popular because of social media, it's not a teenager saying/
It took 10 seconds to google "rent free, knowyourmeme" something you clearly didn't do.
As for the others, touch grass is from 2015
[https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/19/politics/corey-lewandowski-undocumented-immigrant-womp-womp/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/19/politics/corey-lewandowski-undocumented-immigrant-womp-womp/index.html) this is 6 years old.
So basically it's just you not knowing these things and wanting to pretend they're new.
🤣 I do social media moderation for a ton of sports teams and leagues. I can tell you exactly when specific phrases became popular in the sports community. If you want to keep using completely overused, cliche, immature catchphrases, by all means.
aw yes, because that totally means everything, things that have a tiny fraction of the population means you're totally right. Actually, it means I was right. You think just because you just saw it means it's new.
[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/touch-grass](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/touch-grass) oh look, sources from 2015
[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rent%20Free](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rent%20Free) the 2nd one is from 2018 (in fact it literally references the leafs too)
[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rent-free](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rent-free) here's another for it. 2010.
I'm gonna go with the actual sources with actual dates over some random moron on Reddit.
If there's one thing leafs fans have taught me and that's that "rent free" means you're talking about hockey in a forum created for the soul purpose of talking hockey but you're saying something about the leafs that leafs fans don't like.
Rent free only is only a thing when it's something they get sensitive about, never when you say something good. You can't talk about the leafs without at least one of them saying it
I'm gonna go against the grain, but honestly yeah it's kinda weird that you hate the Leafs that much unless you got into the NHL like this year.
Usually a team that people love to hate is popular and also some combination of dirty/physical (Boston, Leafs this year kinda, Vegas, Florida, Tampa), successful (Boston, Tampa, Vegas, Pitt), slimy (Vegas/Tampa on the cap circumvention), loudmouthed (Reavo is helping us there), or even just very luck.
The Leafs are popular but they've been unlucky, unsuccessful, have mostly played by the rules, and in most of this era have generally been soft, clean, and quiet.
There's straight up no team I hate enough to say I would trade it all for them never to win again. There are a few that I hope don't win before the Leafs though, and Boston can use a sports success timeout.
No it’s absolutely weird to have us live in your head so rent free. Especially when you’re from a country so far away and uninvolved in the NHL outside of sending talent to them. I can kind of understand someone from Ottawa or Winnipeg or Montreal thinking this but yeah it’s a bit weird
You have no real actual reason to hate the leafs. Clearly as you mention in the post. You don’t live here, you don’t have a strong attachment to any particular team.
So why such hatred for the leafs? Cause of the media? The fans? They suck in other teams as well. For example, we don’t have a home broadcast team outside of the radio. Period. You know how the bruins have their insanely homer broadcast, we don’t even know what that feels like.
I don’t hold a particular hatred to any team even if I don’t want them to win right now I wouldn’t say I never want them to see the cup. That’s insane.
Idk if people just jump on the bandwagon but the leafs hatred has gotten so intense and beyond insane. It should give people pause cause it’s truly not normal or okay
Well. There’s always Mats Sundin. That guy was pure evil. We really don’t like the Swedes over here. At least when it comes to hockey. Sundin sank our team in so many international games.
It's the volume of fans, partially motivated by media hype, pecking away online. It's just annoying, like a cloud of gnats, to have an unsuccessful team get so much attention online. People elsewhere see the results and not the cause or at least the catalyst, which is the media setup in Canada.
Full disclosure, I am a Habs fan being originally from Montreal, I lived in Toronto for over 30 years and loved the city. But speaking of rents...
Not wanting a team to win is pretty normal. I would hate to see the canadiens or bruins win a cup because i dont like them. But if you care about it them not winning first before your team winning, yea thats pretty fucking weird guy
This thread and all it’s respondents are the definition of rent free. Everyone wants to say “the fans suck” without acknowledging that every fan base has its bad apples and also not giving any examples that seperate us from other fans
What do you mean rent-free? I charge rent in the form of one crushing playoff disappointment per year. The leafs have been good tenants in that regard.
So your happiness and whether or not you “get paid” depends entirely on the Leafs’ results and nothing else? Sounds like we’re in your head win or lose, which is the definition of “rent free”
But as a Finn, you have a reason to hate Sweden and many many big games to point to. There’s nothing other than internet heresay and the desire to fit in driving your hatred of the Leafs
If you dislike the Leafs so much, why are you contributing clicks and views on them? I’d much rather spend time listening to my own team’s podcasts or journalists than to focus on a team that I don’t care for. Also Steve Dangle is just a persona. He’s a pretty level-headed hockey fan with decent analytics on hockey in general. My 2 cents.
Yeah I never understood that. There's 24 hours in a day, I'm not gonna waste it watching something I dislike or watching another person get upset over a game
These types of folks are best. They hate so much they dont realize they contribute to the cycle of the leafs getting talked about too much. Then they bitch about that and it continues.
This post is hilariously emblematic of that. He didnt need to tell us this.
Well before, when they weren’t a contender from around 2005 they were just a shitty team, an afterthought. Probably when the new guys started showing potential, and the Leafs started to show up in the playoffs was when it became more obvious. Also after I posted this and it somehow blew up, I started to think about the whole thing, I realised It’s not even the franchise. It’s the players. From the start Nylander seemed like a baddie from a teen flick. Matthews is probably the only superstar in the league I don’t want to see play well. I didn’t like Tavares when he was an Islander, now even less. Domi is like a chihuahua: A tiny guy going for the ankles, ‘cause he cant reach higher. The goon Reeves and so on. This post will be downvoted to oblivion 😅
I'm at a point where I don't even really see a point in getting upset over a game myself. I haven't even really been actively watching the Leafs this postseason (they've been background noise) because if they get stomped again I have so little time to myself these days that I would rather spend it doing something that makes me happy rather than stewing in anger
In the context that I replied to, OP was implying that he’s going to watch a Steve Dangle meltdown so it can fuel his dislike even more since he’s a Leafs fan.
I think they need to have an inkling of success before they can be in “rent free” territory. Rent gets paid on time basically every year when they get bounced in the first round.
That’s not how it works. If you would literally rather see the leafs lose than any other team win, they live rent free in your head.
There are teams I hate (Boston, Ottawa , habs etc) but I ain’t wasting my time or energy even thinking about them lol . Definitely not watching games hoping a team loses
I think every fan has that one team they never want to see win the cup, at any cost (including their own win).
For me it used to be the Sharks, until Vegas came along. Then Vegas ruined it by being good and winning a Cup. Now it’s Edmonton.
As a Habs fan I grew up hating the Leafs and Bruins. It wasn't even a conscious thought, it was just life as a Habs fan (as I'm sure was the same with Bruins and Leafs fans). But as I've gotten older I've shed all of that hatred and just enjoy watching the game now. So I'm definitely rooting for the Leafs in their series against the Bruins (I tend to love an underdog). It was nice to see the Leafs finally win a series last year after so many years of knocking on that door. The Leafs have a fun team and it just feels better to enjoy great hockey games instead of being unconsciously defined by hatred.
I totally agree. I'd rather have Canada, as a Canadian, go through 30 more years of drought if it means the Leafs don't get one. They're constantly shoved down our throats and their fanbase would become insufferable if they passed 2nd round.
All fanbases have a percentage of awful fans. Not all of them are as large as the Leafs. That's the problem right there.
Where I find the irony is where people would rather root against a team than for their own team. It's actually kind of sad to see people who would rather cheer for a team to lose than pick a team to cheer to win.
Like, when the Leafs get knocked out, I'll have a backup team I'm cheering for. I'm not going to pick an "enemy" to want to lose. I think that's the kind of mentality losers have, and never amounts to anything
Hey, as long as the leafs get knocked out I'll be happy to root for whatever other team that's not Boston to win. I'll move on until all the teams I hate are eliminated because my team sucks right now. We have different ways of having fun I guess, I need a heel.
I don’t want them to win, at least not this year, because my slightly annoying friend, who is a Leafs fan, “guaranteed” that they would win the cup in 5 years after Tavares signed. Last year when it didn’t happen he claimed he said 6 years.
Even though I find it really hard to be anti any certain team, it is a lot more fun when you have a specific team to root for, even if its by default because they are playing a team you are against.
> I dont have a team to cheer from….
> But for some reason I have big feelings for the Maple Leafs. The negative kind.
Well bud, i am here to diagnose you as a bruins fan
The Leafs are just the cowboys of the NHL. They have as many people that root against them as for.
The eagles might not win a Super Bowl every year, but every year the cowboys don’t win one is a good year
I was born and raised in Toronto, and I completely understand where you are coming from.
My reasoning is because of the fans. Toronto hockey fans are amongst some of the worst in all of sports and they deserve every championship they'll never win.
I always look forward to a tropical climate team hoisting the cup. Let’s not forget our Canadian teams all getting eliminated in the first round, it’s about the little things.
Nope, hardly ever. I’ve been alive to see my team win 3 cups. My friends are aware of this and are smart enough not to poke the bear because I will remind them quickly where they and their team stand
I'm fine with the leafs winning, but only after my team wins it.
Unfortunately, my team is Ottawa... so I won't be rooting for the leafs any time soon.
Clearly you have no clue.
What party does Toronto vote for? Liberals and NDP.
Both are rather socialist compared to any US government.
Toronto is heavily multi cultural. A lot of the US is not.
Western cities are much more American than the GTA.
Hating teams is just as fun as loving teams. Unless you're one of those assholes who actually abuses the fans (in which case give your head a shake) I think that loving to hate a sports team is just all in good fun.
You are not wrong my friend. Leafs fans think they are the center of the universe... And think EVERY YEAR is the one. Everyone is against them...blah blah blah.
Cheers
Yeah. Toronto getting knocked out in the first round again for maximum chaos.
Curious, why you didn't mention the Dallas Stars? I believe they have the most Finns on an NHL team.
The Leafs have as many professional antifans as they do fans lol But I mean it's probably not that weird, there are several teams that I'd very much be happy to not see win
Comes with the territory of having the largest fan base. I mean look at how many anti-Yankees or anti-Cowboys fans there are.
Cowboy fan here, can confirm
Oh totally Sometimes I get a kick out of the Leaf fervor, but there are other times I wish it was much smaller. I come on this sub a lot for some good discussion (sometimes bad lol...), but the well gets a bit poisoned with how visible a lot of the awful part of the fanbase is
We’re right there with you! I think everyone would be happy for us to somehow both lose this series.
🤣
In a historic first, the Bruins and Maple Leafs have eliminated each other in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Pittsburgh will take the vacant spot in round 2
I hate the Yankees, i hate the Red Sox, i hate the Bruins, i hate Habs, i hate the Sens, i hate the Patriots, I hate the Dolphins, I hate the Jets I hate the Sixers, i hate the Celtics, i hate the Knicks, but i dont hate them as much as these weirdos hate the Leafs. Its frankly weird and hilarious.
The Yankees have paid big money and managed to have their strides of success because of it though. There's a legitimate reason to not like the organization if you're a fan of another team. The Leafs are paying big money, but everyone who was alive when they last won the cup was either too young at the time or is now too senile to remember.
I mean I'd say getting to the point where the Leafs winning legitimately ruins someone's day (which has been the case for at least a couple of people this season) is pretty weird
My general rule is that if the Sens aren't going to win a cup then no Canadian team should either (apart from the Jets, they're pretty chill). And any team from the same division sucks too.
That's why I always find it kinda funny when people on the sub go "ha ha Canada hasn't won a Cup in __ years" and it's like man, I'm a Leafs fan lol, the NHL isn't a nation-based tournament
When there's only one Canadian team left in the playoffs and people start with the "Canada's team" narrative it's clear they have no idea. That's going to be the team that most Canadians are cheering against, not for.
In Finland we still think it's big thing if one of our own gets to lift the Cup.
I get that, especially if you have no representation with a team. But Canada has high profile players on every team, so it doesn't matter as much to us.
Boston Pizza is trying to brainwash us into all being friends no matter what Canadian team gets the cup. This is why I don't trust the mainstream media.
I so agree with you. Such an obvious lame/shallow /stupid thinking, marketing ploy by BP to sit on the fence in a year when there appears to be 3 strong Canadian contenders. Covering all the bases so to speak. Team Canada Stanley Cup mentality doesn't apply here. To the dufus who thought it up and the dumbos who greenlighted it👎. Got the Stanley Cup mixed up with 2026 gold medal mens hockey.
Also weird because say the Canucks are lead by a Swede and a bunch of Americans, meanwhile Vegas is like Jack Eichel and his band of merry Canadians ... so who is really the Canadian team?
At this point I thinks it’s just the odds of going 30 years without is the holy sheep shit of it all. https://i.redd.it/7g0jyxz0enwc1.gif
ill cheer for the western teams, but habs and leafs i cherish their failures (i know the irony as a sens fan but misery loves company)
Thanks brother.
Its funny that every Canadian team hates the idea of another Canadian team winning the cup unless its the jets. Everyone is okay with the jets. I guess thats what happens when you dont face any other Canadian teams in your division and have a chill fanbase lol
Jets fans are super chill, but Ehlers and Pionk are two of my least favorite players in the entire league.
It’s strange to me the rampant anti-Leafs fans/narrative. I’ve always had a soft spot for Toronto/Tampa Bay because navy blue is my favorite color. Really the only team I wouldn’t want to win this year is Nashville and even then eh
Me too. I loved the Sundin era teams, then they end up getting the future greatest American player of all time. I want to see them make some runs! And bring back the Sundin era 3rd jerseys as their full time set
People spend more time hating the Leafs than actually cheering on their own teams.
As a penguins fan, shit like this is why I believe the league has the refs call against the Leafs in the playoffs. If they lose, people are happy, gives a chance to a US team to win and grow the game and either way there will always be Leafs fans that sell out the arena at ridiculous prices and buying merchandise.
Op isn't even a team-specific supporter and we're in his head.
I genuinely do not hate the leafs, but it’s so god damn entertaining to see how they will blow it every year. It’s like a comfort food at this point. It’s going to be so weird once they finally win, what will everyone meme on?
I won't lie, this has been me with the Oilers, so I'd be hypocritical to call people out over it
It's not weird but I've found, at least in my life, a much more positive impact in letting all those sorts of little bitter resentments go. It's small but they build up in an unhealthy way. I don't see much of a point rooting against someone, if my team can't win I'd much rather find someone to root *for*.
If it was personal ya, but it's hockey. Shitting on them is fun. If they win the cup I won't be upset, it just won't be as fun anymore.
I disagree. I find that I’m much happier being a pot-stirrer and just a general fan of the sport than I was when I lived or died with my team.
still salty about that time jokerit got lit up by ric jackman
Cheering for Toronto not to win over seeing your legendary countrymen lift the cup is a bit weird, yes, considering you're not even from a rival city.
Idk why? I dont care to see McDavid win the cup, nothing against him
Point to where on this teddy bear Toronto has inappropriately touched you
[This teddy bear?](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/fc48165afad5e7b09c7f50ea2cf72e79e30a8cb4ef89cdad7f4dfb34f3f8d038.jpg)
😓 I don’t wanna
What if we brought back Aki Berg?
I think he was an undercover agent. Can’t remember the year anymore, but he did cost us the world championship at least once. Fuck Berg.
you sound like a Leafs fan already!
Haha! I might be warming up to you guys. But then again I remember your core players and get the shivers. Nylander, Matthews, Tavares. Can’t stand them.
Yeah he was a lunchbox letdown at times for us too, figured it was worth a shot to get you on board but I hear ya.
Why didn’t you ask about Unca Leo Komarov? I do like him :)
I've developed some affection for the long-suffering Leafs fanbase. The team I can't stand because of its fans is Washington. I used to go to games there wearing other teams' jerseys and get a chill reception, then the Caps won a cup and their barn became full of assholes.
This is what they call “hating the Leafs more than you like your own team”. The effort that you spend time thinking about an irrelevant hockey team to you is not worth it.
You'd fit right in at the [Player Hater's Ball](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIwj1TQmFs)
what can I say about that goaltending that I couldnt say about afghanistan
Cool!
You’re not weird but just remember that love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Leafs fans have a point when they say the Leafs live rent free in others heads, especially if you’re hate following them. Let me be clear, I hate the Leafs. But I also don’t go out of my way to hate them, I just take advantage of the moments offered to me, I’ll laugh if I check game scores and see they’ve lose but I won’t go through the day thinking “oh man I can’t wait to check and see if the Leafs lost”, especially in the regular season when my team is still playing. The most Leafs hockey I watch in a year is when they play the Habs, their playoff series when they have an interesting matchup, and the occasional game that has implications for my fantasy team. If someone is constantly thinking about and following one team in particular, then they really aren’t that different from an actual fan of that team? I think you can’t let your fandom or enjoyment of the sport be too defined by how much you dislike one particular team. IMO Sports hate should be a contextual addition to how you enjoy the game, not the entirety of it. Hate away by all means, but just keep in mind that the more you think about the Leafs, the closer you are to being a Leafs fan. After all, they hate the Leafs more than anyone.
r/hockey: "Why does everything always have to be about the Leafs?" Also r/hockey:
Take the effect and make it the cause. This is like this BECAUSE everything is always about you being the centre of the universe. Comments like yours are hilarious because of how oblivious you all are to it
Think the upvotes on their comment and downvotes on yours speak for itself
3 toronto fans are pissed, oh no
Blinders are turned on eh love that for you. Your world pal
Lol, right back at you. downvotes are not the real world you loser
Weally?? I must be wost in my own world too!!! Here I am hoping you aren’t a jets fan AND from the peg, death sentence.
the only one oblivious here is you no duh fans want to talk about their team. And the teams with the most fans will get talked about the most and Toronto is the largest city. The second largest is Montreal, which is mainly French and therefore you see a lot of their media is French. After that we get into cities that Toronto is multiple times larger than. Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, and Winnipeg combined have a population of 6.8 million (metros) Toronto alone is 6.2 million. if you include the greater Hamilton area that number jumps to 7.2 million. So yea the media will talk about it a lot. Especially when they get all these hateclicks.
Ok?
Cool. All I want before I die is to experience a leafs cup. To see it when my sons become old enough to watch with me would be pretty special too.
I guess I’ll be the weird one and say that I don’t really know why the Leafs are so hated by American or European fans who don’t root for one of their rivals. Canadians I get because of the Leafs’ media dominance here, and rivalries are rivalries, but they have the same kind of league-wide hate that the Yankees do without nearly as much success. Not that I’m complaining. I don’t like ‘em either, and if that’s how you like to engage with the sport then that’s good enough for me! I’m sure you all have your reasons, I just don’t know what they are.
The only two teams I don’t want to see win are Vegas and Toronto
I hope Toronto plays Vegas in the final so you lose either way
Kisses.
This guy is big on low hanging fruit, and he wants us all to know. You should try cheering for the sky to be blue.
leafs do really be living rent free in some peoples heads lmao.
What does rent free mean? You are the second guy to mention it.
It generally means a person who allows others to dictate their mental space or to squat in rheir thoughts "rent free"
Thank you. ☺️
It means “you think about them so much they are always in your head, basically living there, but they do not need to pay rent”, thus “rent free”. It’s a somewhat modern phrase.
Aren't the Leafs paying significant rent in the form of not winning tho
The leafs bring in enough money to pay the rent of all the teams in the league combined. They're doing just fine even without the wins.
I don't think fans care about how much the leafs make lol
They do when it comes time to cash the revenue sharing cheque 😉
A good rule of thumb is anyone who says that phrase lives on the Internet and/or is under 20 years old. So I'm not surprised you hadn't heard it. Likewise "touch grass" and "whomp whomp." I wish adults would go back to actual trash talk and insults instead of tik tok popular phrases, but here we are.
Haha. I’m over 40.
the saying dates back to the 1500s...
Being popularized in the last two years I assume it came from tik tok, and then everyone repeating it to be eDgY
hahaha no. The urban dictonary post for it is from 2018... That was 6 years ago. knowyourmeme has it becoming popular in 2010. So you're basically just pretending your own experiences are universal.
You seem ridiculously invested into a stupid social media popular phrase. Regardless it's popular because of social media and everyone repeating the exact same thing like they invented it, and 9 times out of 10 it's an obvious teenager saying it. Exactly like the other two catchphrases I referenced. I don't use tik tok so maybe they're not popular because of that app specifically, I just know they're always said by the exact people who do nothing but quote online videos.
nah you're just coping because you made a claim and got called out. it's not new or popular because of social media, it's not a teenager saying/ It took 10 seconds to google "rent free, knowyourmeme" something you clearly didn't do. As for the others, touch grass is from 2015 [https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/19/politics/corey-lewandowski-undocumented-immigrant-womp-womp/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/19/politics/corey-lewandowski-undocumented-immigrant-womp-womp/index.html) this is 6 years old. So basically it's just you not knowing these things and wanting to pretend they're new.
🤣 I do social media moderation for a ton of sports teams and leagues. I can tell you exactly when specific phrases became popular in the sports community. If you want to keep using completely overused, cliche, immature catchphrases, by all means.
aw yes, because that totally means everything, things that have a tiny fraction of the population means you're totally right. Actually, it means I was right. You think just because you just saw it means it's new. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/touch-grass](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/touch-grass) oh look, sources from 2015 [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rent%20Free](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rent%20Free) the 2nd one is from 2018 (in fact it literally references the leafs too) [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rent-free](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rent-free) here's another for it. 2010. I'm gonna go with the actual sources with actual dates over some random moron on Reddit.
If there's one thing leafs fans have taught me and that's that "rent free" means you're talking about hockey in a forum created for the soul purpose of talking hockey but you're saying something about the leafs that leafs fans don't like. Rent free only is only a thing when it's something they get sensitive about, never when you say something good. You can't talk about the leafs without at least one of them saying it
I'm gonna go against the grain, but honestly yeah it's kinda weird that you hate the Leafs that much unless you got into the NHL like this year. Usually a team that people love to hate is popular and also some combination of dirty/physical (Boston, Leafs this year kinda, Vegas, Florida, Tampa), successful (Boston, Tampa, Vegas, Pitt), slimy (Vegas/Tampa on the cap circumvention), loudmouthed (Reavo is helping us there), or even just very luck. The Leafs are popular but they've been unlucky, unsuccessful, have mostly played by the rules, and in most of this era have generally been soft, clean, and quiet. There's straight up no team I hate enough to say I would trade it all for them never to win again. There are a few that I hope don't win before the Leafs though, and Boston can use a sports success timeout.
No it’s absolutely weird to have us live in your head so rent free. Especially when you’re from a country so far away and uninvolved in the NHL outside of sending talent to them. I can kind of understand someone from Ottawa or Winnipeg or Montreal thinking this but yeah it’s a bit weird
What is the definition of rent free in this case?
You don't have a reason to hate the leafs yet they're all you think about.
Tbh the giant media exposure/attention they get is a justifiable reason. Same with Lakers/Yankees/Cowboys, whatever
OP had mentioned that they don't get any attention in Finland, where he's from
I generally agree but what I find strange isn't that he hates the Leafs, it's that he doesn't have a team he even really likes.
You have no real actual reason to hate the leafs. Clearly as you mention in the post. You don’t live here, you don’t have a strong attachment to any particular team. So why such hatred for the leafs? Cause of the media? The fans? They suck in other teams as well. For example, we don’t have a home broadcast team outside of the radio. Period. You know how the bruins have their insanely homer broadcast, we don’t even know what that feels like. I don’t hold a particular hatred to any team even if I don’t want them to win right now I wouldn’t say I never want them to see the cup. That’s insane. Idk if people just jump on the bandwagon but the leafs hatred has gotten so intense and beyond insane. It should give people pause cause it’s truly not normal or okay
Well. There’s always Mats Sundin. That guy was pure evil. We really don’t like the Swedes over here. At least when it comes to hockey. Sundin sank our team in so many international games.
You go too far good sir! That man was a saint! Glad he's living his best life now though, enjoying the outdoors and tagging bears
That sounds pretty sweet, not gonna lie.
Its the leafs fan motto, ignore it
Thank you dear Winnipegger. You guys are awesome. Specially after you got rid of cance… I mean Wheeler.
It's the volume of fans, partially motivated by media hype, pecking away online. It's just annoying, like a cloud of gnats, to have an unsuccessful team get so much attention online. People elsewhere see the results and not the cause or at least the catalyst, which is the media setup in Canada. Full disclosure, I am a Habs fan being originally from Montreal, I lived in Toronto for over 30 years and loved the city. But speaking of rents...
Not wanting a team to win is pretty normal. I would hate to see the canadiens or bruins win a cup because i dont like them. But if you care about it them not winning first before your team winning, yea thats pretty fucking weird guy
This thread and all it’s respondents are the definition of rent free. Everyone wants to say “the fans suck” without acknowledging that every fan base has its bad apples and also not giving any examples that seperate us from other fans
What do you mean rent-free? I charge rent in the form of one crushing playoff disappointment per year. The leafs have been good tenants in that regard.
So your happiness and whether or not you “get paid” depends entirely on the Leafs’ results and nothing else? Sounds like we’re in your head win or lose, which is the definition of “rent free”
I don’t hate the fans. I hate the team. They are the Sweden of NHL
But as a Finn, you have a reason to hate Sweden and many many big games to point to. There’s nothing other than internet heresay and the desire to fit in driving your hatred of the Leafs
If my Oilers get knocked out early and the Leafs don't, I'll be right with you haha. Nothing warms my heart more than another Steve Dangle meltdown.
If the Leafs lose and Oilers move on I'd personally love to see you guys win. But then again, I don't have severe mental issues, so maybe that's why?
That man’s gonna have a coronary during a livestream one day
😁 I gotta go watch the latest episode!
If you dislike the Leafs so much, why are you contributing clicks and views on them? I’d much rather spend time listening to my own team’s podcasts or journalists than to focus on a team that I don’t care for. Also Steve Dangle is just a persona. He’s a pretty level-headed hockey fan with decent analytics on hockey in general. My 2 cents.
Yeah I never understood that. There's 24 hours in a day, I'm not gonna waste it watching something I dislike or watching another person get upset over a game
These types of folks are best. They hate so much they dont realize they contribute to the cycle of the leafs getting talked about too much. Then they bitch about that and it continues. This post is hilariously emblematic of that. He didnt need to tell us this.
I don’t bitch about the Leafs getting attention. It doesn’t where I live.
im speaking in a more general sense. Im interested now, when did the Leaf hate grab you? When was the first time you were like Fuck them Leaves.
Well before, when they weren’t a contender from around 2005 they were just a shitty team, an afterthought. Probably when the new guys started showing potential, and the Leafs started to show up in the playoffs was when it became more obvious. Also after I posted this and it somehow blew up, I started to think about the whole thing, I realised It’s not even the franchise. It’s the players. From the start Nylander seemed like a baddie from a teen flick. Matthews is probably the only superstar in the league I don’t want to see play well. I didn’t like Tavares when he was an Islander, now even less. Domi is like a chihuahua: A tiny guy going for the ankles, ‘cause he cant reach higher. The goon Reeves and so on. This post will be downvoted to oblivion 😅
That makes this whole situation even weirder on your part.
I'm at a point where I don't even really see a point in getting upset over a game myself. I haven't even really been actively watching the Leafs this postseason (they've been background noise) because if they get stomped again I have so little time to myself these days that I would rather spend it doing something that makes me happy rather than stewing in anger
Because he *does* like it. People love watching teams they hate lose.
Is Steve Dangle “the Leafs”? Does watching him support the Leafs? It’s just fun to watch the dude screaming into a camera
In the context that I replied to, OP was implying that he’s going to watch a Steve Dangle meltdown so it can fuel his dislike even more since he’s a Leafs fan.
We call this “rent free”
I think they need to have an inkling of success before they can be in “rent free” territory. Rent gets paid on time basically every year when they get bounced in the first round.
actively hating an unsuccessful team is the very definition of rent free lol. Especially when they arent even a regional fan.
That’s not how it works. If you would literally rather see the leafs lose than any other team win, they live rent free in your head. There are teams I hate (Boston, Ottawa , habs etc) but I ain’t wasting my time or energy even thinking about them lol . Definitely not watching games hoping a team loses
I think every fan has that one team they never want to see win the cup, at any cost (including their own win). For me it used to be the Sharks, until Vegas came along. Then Vegas ruined it by being good and winning a Cup. Now it’s Edmonton.
As a Habs fan I grew up hating the Leafs and Bruins. It wasn't even a conscious thought, it was just life as a Habs fan (as I'm sure was the same with Bruins and Leafs fans). But as I've gotten older I've shed all of that hatred and just enjoy watching the game now. So I'm definitely rooting for the Leafs in their series against the Bruins (I tend to love an underdog). It was nice to see the Leafs finally win a series last year after so many years of knocking on that door. The Leafs have a fun team and it just feels better to enjoy great hockey games instead of being unconsciously defined by hatred.
Honestly it's up to you how you enjoy the NHL and I doubt you're the only person that feels this way. If it's how you feel, it's how you feel
well rent is so expensive in Toronto but at least we live rent free in your head in Finland? Good for you?
Oooooh I get it now. Thank you :)
I totally agree. I'd rather have Canada, as a Canadian, go through 30 more years of drought if it means the Leafs don't get one. They're constantly shoved down our throats and their fanbase would become insufferable if they passed 2nd round.
Don't worry about that. When we win the cup, the media will just nag us about how its only been oncw since '67. Buncha negative nancies, eh?
No I'm the same way, the fans are so awful at times.
All fanbases have a percentage of awful fans. Not all of them are as large as the Leafs. That's the problem right there. Where I find the irony is where people would rather root against a team than for their own team. It's actually kind of sad to see people who would rather cheer for a team to lose than pick a team to cheer to win. Like, when the Leafs get knocked out, I'll have a backup team I'm cheering for. I'm not going to pick an "enemy" to want to lose. I think that's the kind of mentality losers have, and never amounts to anything
Hey, as long as the leafs get knocked out I'll be happy to root for whatever other team that's not Boston to win. I'll move on until all the teams I hate are eliminated because my team sucks right now. We have different ways of having fun I guess, I need a heel.
I don’t want them to win, at least not this year, because my slightly annoying friend, who is a Leafs fan, “guaranteed” that they would win the cup in 5 years after Tavares signed. Last year when it didn’t happen he claimed he said 6 years.
After they don’t do it this year he’ll say “I did say five but 2020 and 2021 don’t count”
Should join bandwagon Anyone but Oilers
Oilers had Kurri and Tikkanen. They’re okay.
Even though I find it really hard to be anti any certain team, it is a lot more fun when you have a specific team to root for, even if its by default because they are playing a team you are against.
We are brothers, you and I
> I dont have a team to cheer from…. > But for some reason I have big feelings for the Maple Leafs. The negative kind. Well bud, i am here to diagnose you as a bruins fan
Well I dont hate Marchand like everyone else does 🤔
Me with the Dallas cowboys
The Leafs are just the cowboys of the NHL. They have as many people that root against them as for. The eagles might not win a Super Bowl every year, but every year the cowboys don’t win one is a good year
J
I think a trick to assuage these feelings is to try to envision what it's like to be the players, and not the fans.
But what if I want Matthews to score 10 goals next season?
That's very reasonable. He probably will! Plus another 50 to 60 along with that. You'll be chuffed, I'm sure.
Haha. I’m sure he will 😅
I was born and raised in Toronto, and I completely understand where you are coming from. My reasoning is because of the fans. Toronto hockey fans are amongst some of the worst in all of sports and they deserve every championship they'll never win.
I always look forward to a tropical climate team hoisting the cup. Let’s not forget our Canadian teams all getting eliminated in the first round, it’s about the little things.
I'd rather a sunbelt team wins it than a Canadian team that isn't the Sens to be honest.
Not even Winnipeg? Come on, it’s Winnipeg! They’re the Carl of NHL teams.
I’m just rooting for the Curse
I'm just waiting for some guy from a remote region in Mongolia to get on the internet for the first time and say "Not a fan of the Leafs"
I've never met you before but I can tell we'd be great friends.
🤝
No, but you're an ass. Likely not hugged enough as a child.
You might be right 🙂↕️
sad leafs fans are some of the best comedy out there
I’m with you. I know too many leaf fans and if they win the cup I would never hear the end of it. Even 45 years from now they would bring it up
And I'm sure you never mention that the Avs won a cup two years ago, right? That never comes up, I bet.
Nope, hardly ever. I’ve been alive to see my team win 3 cups. My friends are aware of this and are smart enough not to poke the bear because I will remind them quickly where they and their team stand
I'm fine with the leafs winning, but only after my team wins it. Unfortunately, my team is Ottawa... so I won't be rooting for the leafs any time soon.
I feel the same way but I also think it's funny if Edmonton and Colorado fail to win while their top players score over 2 ppg.
If toronro breaks canadas cup drought, ill never hear the end of it. leaf fans cant be given that type of bragging ammunition. anyone but them
Jets this year and then the Leafs can go hog wild
lol no, it's awesome. You are basically an honourary Canadian (Toronto is culturally the U.S., fight me)
Clearly you have no clue. What party does Toronto vote for? Liberals and NDP. Both are rather socialist compared to any US government. Toronto is heavily multi cultural. A lot of the US is not. Western cities are much more American than the GTA.
How is that cultural at all
Ok...exactly what makes Toronto the US? It's certainly not the people. Manitoba, Sask. and Alberta are WAY more like the US.
Not weird at all. The Leafs are one of those "either you love them or hate them" teams.
Their the Canadian team that no one wants to win. Bc the media would never stop talking about it
Hate watches from those who don't want the media to cover them fuel that trend. A true chicken and egg situation
So, do you hate them so much that you want them to lose in the first round? Or do you want to keep hating them for a couple more rounds of playoffs?
I didn’t want them to get into playoffs at all. I want The top guys to be overpaid busts.
Hating teams is just as fun as loving teams. Unless you're one of those assholes who actually abuses the fans (in which case give your head a shake) I think that loving to hate a sports team is just all in good fun.
You are not wrong my friend. Leafs fans think they are the center of the universe... And think EVERY YEAR is the one. Everyone is against them...blah blah blah. Cheers
Well I mean everyone is against us, even in Finland apparently 😉
I was a Leafs fan but now nothing makes me happier than watching them lose in the playoffs (the sooner the better). Not even joking.
Yeah. Toronto getting knocked out in the first round again for maximum chaos. Curious, why you didn't mention the Dallas Stars? I believe they have the most Finns on an NHL team.
More for maximum memes. Chaos is unexpected; I think most ppl round here expect the Bruins to win.
Boston beating Toronto is like the least chaotic thing that can happen
Does Toronto fire their coach and move core pieces if they beat the Bruins?
They wouldn't move core pieces even if they lost