#i LOVE the leafs fans ive met DEARLY but the vibes are rancid

[austronauts]

You got it spot on with your earlier rant but I think that's what really gets me about the whole Mitch discourse, the specific nature of the insults they're using like 'soft' and 'whiney' etc and how it just feels so insidious. They definitely have an idea in their minds of how a hockey player should look and act and because Mitch isn't masculine enough for them they make assumptions about his work ethic and status inside the locker room rather than his on ice performance, which is what they claim this is really about. I don't think they would call Auston a crybaby even if he outright said he complained to the coach about something. It's kind of funny because Mitch actually is a proper jock he's just... pretty. But it changes their entire perception and reception of him as a player. Even something like smashing his stick is normally received as a display of passion and masculine anger but when he does it he's being petulant and whiney- he can't win. It's like they want to be misogynistic but there's no women in the league so they focus on the men who don't care about presenting particularly macho

i don't think they realize how pitiful and pathetic they are? or is this an extended bit at this point and they want us to peer into their sad lives and scoff :( it's funny because auston is the one who loves to wear pink and has watched gossip girl 3 times and love is blind and knows how to sew (all of which i think is BRILLIANT and celebrate thoroughly btw) and i guaranTEE you if mitch did any of those things these men would grab mitch by the scruff of his neck and fire him into the sun for being girlypop.

also the litigation of the stick breaking thing as if he violated the Geneva Convention is - i...am?? is EVERYONE OKAY? he trotted off to go do it in the hallway in private away from his teammates and coach and fans who were already having a really bad time. like - at its most simple level i see that as considerate behavior from a coworker? i know WAY WAY WAY WAY too many men who make THEIR bad moods EVERYONE ELSE'S FUCKING PROBLEM (including my own father like hello dad) without a single OUNCE of thought about the impression they give or the impact they're having on the people around them, y'know? he clearly wanted that to be a private moment for himself to get his emotions under control because he - duh - uh... CARES about winning, contrary to what these very same fans have been accusing him of for years and years now.

and you're right about the stick breaking! the laughable thing is - like we see players break sticks all the time! and it's FINE. we get it - games get emotional. you get emotional. at least they're getting emotional about their actual jobs at work. why are these ontarian NPC's getting this ANGRY in the middle of THEIR workday about a bunch of men they don't know? go scratch your balls and do YOUR job instead of screaming at willy nylander and mitch marner to play a full 60 minutes ("wah wah well I'm not getting paid $11M like marner is" they'll cry. ok then go out there and hustle and GRINDSET your way into making $11M instead of complaining online like a DIVA BABY, bro? like bro, it sounds so simple to me!!! idk! just a thought! throwing it out there!)

as a decade+ fan of geno, i roll my eyes at all this discourse i am vaguely detecting in my peripheral vision (i say this because i refuse to look at any of these angry armchair GM's takes directly. i heard some of them last night and i no longer respect them because most of them are actual idiots desperate for scapegoats and twitter clout to fill their hollow tiny homunculus lives who would shit their sweatpants at the very prospect of coaching 1 pee wee hockey game and are content to sit around having the audacity to say that sheldon keefe should trade marner, play morgan rielly on right wing, and calle jarnkrok on defense. like. that's dumb. i just don't respect you.)

like im sorry to all these whiny babies but PLEASE get back to me when your favorite player and BRILLIANT franchise SUPERSTAR gets moody and sulky and suddenly crosschecks someone in the head and gets suspended for 2 games for no reason. then we can talk.