Brian Burke, Sports and Sports Writers

I often blog about sports.  Other than my angry rants about politics, sports is my favourite topic.  I've written about the importance of sport in my life from childhood til the present day.  Playing and following different sports are very good avenues for learning many of life's lessons: the value of teamwork, sportsmanship, the value of preparation and hard work.  However we sometimes forget that sport is important, in large part, because it is so very unimportant.

When I watch the Toronto Maple Leafs play my favourite sport of hockey, I know that it's not the end of the world if they should lose (Thank Goodness!!!).  When the US Olympic team of collegiate players beat the mighty Russians at Lake Placid, it was called the "Miracle on Ice."  But it was no miracle really.  There were two teams on the ice and one of them had to lose.  Yes Team USA were a bunch of collegians and the Russians were pros...it wasn't exactly Lazarus rising from the dead four days later!

With that in mind, I found it very jarring to read a column by Steve Simmons about a Canada Day visit to Afghanistan by Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/01/burke-off-to-afghanistan

Steve Simmons takes issue with Brian Burke accepting an invitation to visit our troops serving in Afghanistan on Canada day.  He seems to think it a dereliction of duty on Mr Burke's part to be available by phone on the  first day that free agents can be signed.  He says that the "optics for Leafs fans are terrible."  He calls this putting "his own self interests ahead of those of the team."

Many strong comments have been made on the Toronto Sun website in response to Simmons' column.  They are almost uniformly disgusted by what he wrote.  I took heart from the response by readers.  They were able to see the value and importance of what Burke did and were not swayed by the amazingly short sighted view expressed by Simmons.

Brian Burke has been in the news for real life matters before.  His openly gay son was tragically killed in a car accident and he has been a regular marcher in Toronto's Pride Parade.  When you saw this cranky, gruff speaking old Irishman speaking of the loss of his son, I couldn't help but think of how I would feel in his position.  This was real life and made me think of real life matters.  What if my son grew up and told me he was gay?  Well I can say without the slightest hesitation that I wouldn't love him any less.  Why would I?

I can also admit that there once was a time in my life where I would have been far less tolerant in my outlook. We all (hopefully) grow and mature and learn to see things for their real importance.  Sports were a part of that maturation process for me.

I hope everyone playing pro sports realizes that they are extremely privileged to be getting paid to play a game for kids.  I hope that most sports writers feel lucky to be getting paid to do what many guys do at a bar during Hockey Night in Canada....which is express their alcohol fueled opinions about various players.

Brian Burke obviously knows what is really important and what is not.  Steve Simmons hasn't a clue.  I feel sorry for Simmons to be living in such an insular world where free agent signings for a hockey team are more important than our troops risking life and limb in Kandahar.

Recently we saw the city of Vancouver get a black eye when some citizens didn't realize how unimportant the Stanley Cup really is.  They took to the streets and rioted when their team didn't win.  How pathetic.  It was just a game after all.

So it is with Steve Simmons.  He has embarrassed himself and his newspaper with his pathetic attempt to be serious, and in the process, showed that he should never be taken seriously.  It is certainly not a crime to be stupid......thank goodness for Steve Simmons.

BTW, Brian Burke is American.  When was the last time an American expressed his gratitude to the Canadian troops holding down the most dangerous part of Afghanistan?  Ah who cares?  The Leafs just signed Clarke MacArthur to a two year contract.