Ottawa Senators Suck (Or "Why the Leafs are God's Team: Part 1")

Only two hockey teams have ever REALLY mattered... The National team Canada assembles to play in international tournaments being one, and theToronto Maple Leafs being the other.

I will exclude from my discussion consideration of any American teams, because their fans support and cheer for Canadian players who were mostly from Ontario. Most of these players, of course, were inspired to get into hockey by following the Leafs while they were growing up.

That leaves for consideration the remaining Canadian teams. Over the next few posts, I will be examining Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary/Edmonton (I consider them to be one "Alberta" team), in greater detail. I won't waste time with Vancouver, because let's face it.. who really cares about Vancouver?? It's a wonderful vacation spot.. but the Canucks have never one the Cup, so who really cares about them..

In today's post, let us take the time to consider our beaver tail-eating friends from the nation's taxation centre.. the Ottawa Senators.

It is clear that Ottawa is a few seasons away from losing its team altogether. The city simply isn't 'major league' enough to hold on to its hockey franchise. If it wasn't for Leaf fans making the voyage up to Kanata and buying up tickets to watch the Senators get their butts kicked by the Buds, their building would be half empty most of the time. The Sens had their chance to win a Cup.. and they choked. I predict that the long term effect on the franchise will be the same as the Expos failing to win the World Series during the strike year in MLB. Can you say "Las Vegas Senators"? Maybe they can play out of Cesar's palace in between Celine Dion sets??.

Have you seen a REAL Senator in Ottawa play hockey? On average, they are 103 years old, take long naps in Parliament (when they show up), and give off a distinct smell of stale urine (much like Madonna after a night out on the town). Confronted with this embarrassing fact, the folks in Ottawa changed their original logo (an image of Canada's Parliment building). It is now a constipated-looking ROMAN Senator. Talk about trying to pull a fast one!!! I'm not an expert in ancient history, but I'm pretty sure Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, not the Rideau Canal. (At least their logo isn't as bad as the Mad Cow on Buffalo's jersey).

The Senators have had a few winning regular seasons over the past decade or so (before losing - most often to the Leafs - in the playoffs). Let us not forget however, that these 'winning' seasons stemmed from historically bad years, the result of which was that they were given the opportunity to pick early 1st round draft picks over and over again (see A. Yashin).

It is only a matter of time before the Sens pay for their 'success' and once again continually start to fall deep into the standings. When that happens, watch as their arena empties out.. and watch how the moving vans will circle in.

That about sums up the Senators... please feel free to leave me your comments, and let me know your prediction as to when you think the Senators will be up for sale on Ebay.

Until next time on Maple Leafs Watch... GO LEAFS GO!