Remember when it used to be fun to hate and mock the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans? I do. I'm an Edmonton Oilers fan living in Southern Ontario, and it gave me great joy as a child in the mid-1980s when my team was winning multiple Stanley Cups and the Leafs were either getting knocked out in the first round or missing the playoffs entirely.

In 1987 – when I was in Grade Six and the Oilers won their third Cup in four seasons – I tied a string around my mini-Stanley Cup (it came with my tabletop hockey game) and wore it like a pendant to taunt all the Leafs fans at my school. Is it any wonder I used to get into fights all the time?

Well, a funny thing has started to happen to me. Every morning that I turn on the TV and learn about another embarrassing loss for the Leafs, I actually cringe with embarrassment. Maybe I'm mellowing in my middle age, but I can't bring myself to enjoy watching the Leafs suck anymore.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Where does an Oilers fan get off feeling sorry for Leafs fans? The Oilers are only four points ahead of the Leafs in the standings and neither team is likely to see any post-season action. But at least the Oilers have won Stanley Cups in my lifetime (five, actually) and they made the finals as recently as 2006.

The Leafs not only haven't won a Cup since 1967, they haven't even played in the finals since then. And worst of all? They're on the path to missing the playoffs for a third straight season – the first time in the team's 81-year history that's happened.

I can't bring myself to hate a team as crappy and pathetic as the current edition of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And if being simply crappy wasn't bad enough, they're also old – their best player, Mats Sundin, is 36 years old.

You don't have to be a genius to figure out that the Leafs need to re-build and start from scratch with a youth movement, but this franchise has never demonstrated the intestinal fortitude to do that. Leafs' GM John Ferguson Jr. isn't just a sitting duck, he's on death row. You really think Ferguson's bosses are going to let him make any significant trades before they let him go at the end of the season? I hear Leafs' president Richard Peddie cut off Ferguson's phone privileges in December.

If Leafs' management had any compassion for their fanbase, they'd fire Ferguson now and hire a GM with a mandate to trade Mats Sundin to a contender for prospects, and they should give the new hire a five-year plan to return this team to respectability through smart drafting and effective player development of young prospects. While they're at it, fire coach Paul Maurice and replace him with Doug Gilmour. Why the hell not? They're not going to be any good for a few years, anyway. Let Dougie learn on the job and we'll all find out if he's any good at it.

If you're reading this, Mr. Peddie, please take my words to heart. Feeling sorry for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans is weird and creepy. Give me a reason to hate again.

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