I could have become a Habs fan. A startling admission, I know.

My family is originally from Montreal and is full of die-hard Habs fans. But, for some reason, when my Dad was a kid he took no interest in le blue, blanc, et rouge (check out that awesome French I just pulled out). In fact, he was adamantly anti-Habs. Instead of cheering for the home town team who consistently won championships, my father decided to root for the Boston Bruins, the team that was consistently broken by the Habs.

Eventually, my Mother and Father moved to Toronto. The romantic in me likes to believe they moved to escape the oppressive Habs culture dominating their lives. This is unconfirmed.

It isn't hard to imagine if my Dad grew up a Habs fan he would have brainwashed me into the same cult when we were living in Toronto. Thankfully, he wasn't a Habs fan and didn't even attempt to brainwash me to become a Bruins fan.

So I merrily became a Leafs fan, aided by Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark, Felix Potvin, and that upstart 1992-1993 team. I had a VHS copy of The Passion Returns that I taped off TV that I watched relentlessly. I usually stopped it before game 7 against the Kings.

This week for The Good Point I wrote about the state of the rivalry between the Leafs and the Habs. The family we still have living in Montreal are as Habs-centric as always, making family get-togethers full of good-natured ribbing. It's definitely more fun when the Leafs are doing well and I can do a little gloating (those being all but a distant memory now). The rivalry is alive to me. But is that still the general feeling around the league?

Hating in sports makes it better. I hate the Yankees. It’s much more fun to watch games when they’re involved. Even if they aren’t playing against the Blue Jays I can still cheer for injuries and beanballs. Notice how I didn’t say either the Senators or the Canadiens. That’s because my hate for them is so vociferous that I can hardly stand to watch them play, ever.

So, I can appreciate the hate that Bruins fans are graciously bestowing upon Phil Kessel. I get it. I certainly don’t like it, but I can understand their hatred. If I were a Bruins fan I would treat Kessel the same way. As a fan, when I feel slighted by a player, even in the most trivial way, I carry that for the rest of their career. Alfredsson hits Tucker from behind and has the audacity to score the overtime winner immediately after? Hate. He mocks Sundin by pretending to throw his stick in the crowd? I can’t even describe my Alfredsson hate. Sean Avery makes cancer jokes to Blake? Hate. Yes, I take attacks against Leafs players personally. Even if these attacks are just merely scoring a lot of goals against the Leafs. Tavares is slowly developing some hatred in me. He’ll get there.

So, if I was a Bruins fan I would boo Kessel every time he touches the puck. I’d enjoy it, too. This will probably help rekindle the dormant rivalry between the Leafs and Bruins. I’m starting to hate the Bruins even more. Their Kessel hate is making me mad. Not to mention their pile of mounting victories against the Leafs. Hate.