Message boards are a spawning ground for idiocy. There’s something about putting a bunch of anonymous people together in a virtual room that is conducive to general dumbassery.

I usual read TSN.ca and at the end of each article there is the chance for people to chime in with their two cents. Opinions are like assholes in the sense that everyone has one. And the TSN message boards have a lot of assholes with more opinions than they know what to do with.

The articles that generate the most responses are any that involve the Maple Leafs. People bemoan the amount of attention the Leafs get, but everyone loves talking about them. Both people who love the Leafs and those who absolutely despise the Leafs have something to say about the general state of Leafs Nation… always. By Sunday night there were 38 pages of responses to one Leafs game.

Reading these message boards are the worst after the Leafs put together a string of a few loses (or when they go 4-12-2 since their 4-0 start). During these times Leaf fans are usually very reactive and make stupid statements in their hyper-emotional state. Leaf Haters use this time to descend on the struggling club like a pack of wild hyenas.

Sometimes there are actual cogent thoughts that make a ton of sense, but you have to sift through mounds of garbage to find them.

Here are my responses to some of the beauties.

lebda is the worst leafs defenseman since andy wozniewski - tingz27

I can’t really argue with this. In 11 games with the Leafs, Lebda is -10 and looks generally terrible. During his brief stints on the power-play he looks like he could be useful when he rushes the puck, but then he gives it away and gets himself caught down-low.

The Woz was brutal, too. I remember hating both Aki Berg and Jurki Lumme more, but they actually played a ton, so their misgivings were always on full display. Lebda is so bad he can’t even crack the line-up on a regular basis, same as Woz.

Ron Wilsons NHL playing career spanned 10 years played defense only 177 games 93 points minus 33........hmmm. Now thats alot of talent to draw from - want2win

This statement must be based on the logic that the best hockey players make the best coaches because legends like Bryan Trottier and Wayne Gretzky have such sterling coaching records, while talentless bums like Scotty Bowman didn’t even make it out of junior hockey and never amounted to anything as coach.

P.S. I hate Wilson.

Brian Burke is, without a doubt, the worst G.M. in hockey. Why this guy gets any respect is beyond me. – haterlover

If you ranked the top-10 most untradeable contracts last season you would start with Scott Gomez’s $7.35 million contractual anchor that doesn’t expire until 2014, Chris Drury’s $7.05 million clusterfuck that expires after next season, and Vincent Lecavalier’s $7.7 million monstrosity that goes until 2020. When you throw Wade Redden’s name into the mix you have to wonder how Glen Sather remains employed. It’s clear that Glen Sather is the worst GM in the league. But why is Brian Burke a good GM?

After those contracts you have to figure that Jason Blake is terribly untradeable. Bad cap hit, lengthy term, poor production, health issues. Yet Burke managed to get rid of him and Toskala (himself a cancer).

Burke also signed Jonas Gustavsson who is looking more and more like a number one goalie with each passing game. He also signed Jussi Rynnas who is destroying the AHL (1.81 GAA, .940 SV%) and looks like he could back-up the Monster as early as next season. Signings like this at least ease the burden of giving up two first round picks and a second.

The haters are all over Dion Phaneuf, but these are the same people who went all Pierre McGuire over him during his rookie season. Acquiring a player of Phaneuf’s calibre (he’s only 25, too) for the plugs Burke gave up is astounding.

Another reason Burke is deserving of respect is the way he treats his players. Burke teams have a self-imposed December trade deadline (before the NHL roster freeze), so he doesn’t have to uproot a family around the holiday season.

Kessel is afraid. Plain and simple the kid ain't a player. He looked good in Beantown because of his linemates...same reason Burke looked good in California! They both have limited talent and have had it handed to them by better people...Kessel - Savard and Burke - Murphy! - TJH4Sens

I’ll assume you mean Murray and not Murphy.

Kessel scored 30 goals last season unassisted by Marc Savard, despite missing the first month of the season with a shoulder injury. Only 18 players scored more goals last season. It seemed like Marc Savard suffered more without Phil Kessel than vice-versa (when Savard's melon wasn't crushed).

Brian Burke did receive a nice foundation from Bryan Murray, but it was Burke, not Murray, that aggressively added the pieces which helped the Ducks win the cup. Burke signed Niedermayer; Burke traded for Pronger; Burke got rid of an overpaid, aging, and useless Sergei Fedorov. You can say Burke put the Ducks in cap trouble, but it was actually Niedermayer and Selanne that did that with their non-committal bullshit. Burke allowed them this out of respect, yet had to sign someone to replace them in case they did actually retire.

The Leafs would get shutout at the Playboy Mansion!!!! - camy04

…and I got nothing.

Team doesn't want to play, either for the coach or with each other. When you make Ottawa look good you have sunk to a new low. - Clifford42

Pretty much.

As an Habs fan it will be so eazy to pick on leafs fan but...i cant do it! terrible time to be on the leafs nation right now and fire Wilson - one-timer46

Alright, Leafs Nation. It’s got to the point where Montreal fans even feel sad for us.

Is it just me or has Wilson aged horribly since he started coaching the Leafs? Now if only Ottawa could score more goals with Pascal in net we'd be a go. Leafs on the other hand ... need lots of work! - SENSational1

Of course Wilson has aged horribly, everyone who works for the Leafs ages at an accelerated pace. Look at Brian Burke – he's only two and a half mortal years on the job, but that’s really five years in Maple Leafs time, and it shows.

This job kills men.

Don't stop at firing Wilson - Burke has left this team with no talent and no hope of improvement for years to come. Ferguson Jr. was run out of town for moves like the Jason Blake signing ... well, he didn't give up lottery picks for Blake and he iced a better team. - centerice44

Wasn’t Brian Burke brought in to re-build the Leafs? He is doing so unconventionally, but the Leafs are one of the youngest teams in the league, which means it isn’t totally crazy to think that they are worse than some of those veteran laden JFJ teams.

Burke signed a six-year deal with the Leafs as President and General Manager. Are we really giving him two and a half years to work his master plan? They’ve let Darcy Regier run the Sabres for over a decade and his accomplishments include destroying a potential dynasty by an unwillingness to recognize and re-sign the Sabres most talented players.

Is two years really enough time to turn the Leafs into a contender after the colossal mess Burke inherited?

Kessel's got skill but he's not someone you build around. He cant take over a game. He gets pushed off the puck SO easily and is nowhere to be found when it comes to backchecking... Good thing you got Kadri coming up.. the EXACT same type of player. – xTybe

As sad as I am to admit it, I’m starting to believe this. Kessel is a great player. He’s a legitimate 30-goal scorer, with the ability to hit 40 (and maybe more). But at this point he’s really streaky, which means he can’t be counted on as the go-to-guy each night. He also seems to have a real hard time with big, strong defencemen (Zdeno Chara specifically). I think Kessel will become a great #2 type player on a contending team, but I don’t see him as someone to build around. He’s more Alex Mogilny than Mats Sundin. The Leafs just need to find their Sundin.

It’s way too soon to anoint Kadri as anything other than a promising rookie, so I won't claim he's the Mats Sundin in this scenario, but it’s clear that he and Kessel are completely different. For one, Kadri is a playmaker, while Kessel is a pure-sniper. Also, Kadri seems to have more of a chip on his shoulder and seems a little nastier (at least evidenced by his play in junior and the AHL).

All whom are saying hire Ken Hitchcock he is no different than Wilson do you see what Columbus is doing with a young dynamic coach whom can relate to today's players!!!! - Cup Please

Right, we need coaches hip on youth culture. You need coaches who twitter instructions to their players during games. Might work for Luca Caputi. Boom.

Dear Habs fans, you were right, Mike Komisarek is BRUUUTAL, and you had every right to be glad to see him exit. Too bad I won't be able to enjoy the same experience anytime soon. Sincerely, one frustrated life-long fan of the futile Maple Leafs. - ravens_creed

Mike Komisarek is taking his place in a long-line of Leaf players that I defended with all my might (at one time), despite evidence I should do otherwise.

I really want Komisarek to do well. I really like him. He left the Canadiens to come play for the Leafs (a big fuck you to all Hab fans) and was pretty badass during his time in Montreal (until Lucic beat it out of him). It’s clear that he really, really wants to do well in Toronto. He really wants us to like him, which might be one of the reasons that he keeps making blunder after blunder. He’s trying to do way too much. Plus, I bought a Mike Komisarek t-shirt jersey and I don’t want it to become an embarrassment (too late?).

Other players that I have given my support, yet did nothing to renew my faith: Mikael Renberg, Jeff O’Neil, Vesa Toskala (when I thought he was good), and Bryan McCabe.

They need a younger coach that makes the game fun to play. An older, tougher coach won't help them. Might even hurt them. When's the last time Toronto's had a fun coach? Might be a good momentum shifter. Sorry Ronnie, I used to be a fan. - LEAFSRULE101

Everyone knows that the first job of a coach is to make sure his team is having fun. You know, playing games during practice, water balloon fights in the hotel room, giving Mikhail Grabovski nuggies.

No. The Leafs need a bad-ass coach. They need someone to put the fear of God in these kids. They need a Pat Burns. I have long advocated Dale Hunter.

Colton Orr needs more ice time. Maybe if he punched more people in the face the Leafs would have more fire under their derriere. He should fight a guy, then as soon as he get out fight another guy, then when he gets out fight again and get ejected. – Spencerah

No one wants to fight Colton Orr because most of the time they’re going to end up beaten. So when no one wants to fight Orr he sometimes has a brain snap and just randomly punches someone. Not good.

Orr is the one player on the Leafs that actually gives a consistent effort every night. It’s sad when the only player doing his job every night is the player who plays for five minutes and makes his living punching people in the face.

Truculence - a word often used to mock the Leafs and their GM. Nevertheless, Burke did say these Leafs will always be a tough and gritty team to play against. Maybe the players need to be told that. – PuckBuddy

They sure do. If you’re going to lose you have to at least make it difficult for the opposing team. Start hitting someone.

I'm very tired of Toronto fans booing Alfredsson over a perceived slight that happened when? Get over it and yourselves, all your doing is embarassing yourselves on national TV but then again it's the only thing that Toronto does very well on the ice and more so in the stands. - SilverSeven1904

I’m very tired of you thinking a player who does this is deserving of anything other than harsh boos every time he touches the puck.

Leaf fans, this isn't happenig. You did not trade away 2 #1 draft picks for this...this must be the twighlight zone. – PullUpYourBoots

I’m starting to wonder…

I am very curious to see how long Toronto fans will put up with this organization. I find it so hard to watch and listen to the latest news from the leafs. How many more years of this? Even the most die-hard-fans must be close to done with this team............ - kyuss 1

I really don’t know. I’m continually amazed by the depth of my patience.

Thanks to all leaf fans who came to ottawa to support the Sens ... YOUR money goes into OUR team i dunno if you knew that but we get to keep that revenue, it doesnt go back down the 401 to the sewer you call toronto! - sens_fan

You’re welcome. We Leaf fans (and Hab fans for that matter) will gladly add to your revenue in order to keep another franchise in Canada. It’s clear we can’t leave the die-hard hockey fans in Ottawa to do that considering these great fans let their team file for bankruptcy, while winding up on Gary Bettman’s hit-list. Remind yourself that you could be just like the fans in Winnipeg and Quebec.

Toronto is a sewer? Remember that Ottawa is the city that fun forgot.

Why is it that being 0.1 years of average age older, the LA Kings are light years better than this squalid squad ? Pathetic display. I stopped watching after the first period. Heard the noise from the TV thinking the Leafs may have scored and went by the TV only to see 3-0. Should have done myself a favour and not have bothered watching in the first place. - evetsp1

The LA Kings are a great team, but before last season they had missed the playoffs every year since 2002 (6 years) and were particularly horrible for three years starting in 2006-2007. The Kings definitely took the traditional route to re-building, which I did want the Leafs to do, but Burke had different ideas. If you look at the Leafs as a re-building team (which they are), rather than a playoff contender, you have to recognize that this is only their second full year in Brian Burke’s unconventional re-build. To expect them to be anywhere near as good as the Kings is ridiculous. However, I did think that they were good enough to at least contend for one of the final playoff spots (I still believe).

Toronto doesn't need a superstar centerman ... They need a good Canadian lad like fisher ... Hard-working and makes chances for himself - sens_fan

They already had the better version of Mike Fisher – his name was Matt Stajan and he sucked.

I think the Leafs should donate a percentage of their salaries to Jonas Gustavsson. As bleak as things have been for Toronto lately, with out him it would be even worse. What ever they are paying him, he's worth twice that. – JBHab

Preach, brother!

I was born a Leaf fan and I die a Leaf fan but I just can't watch this anymore. - truebluefan

Le sigh.