# Question for twickster on the Toronto Maple Leafs **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 7, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305 "2012-12-07T16:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/41 "2012-12-09T14:54:38Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Fail! YOU fail! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/42 "2012-12-09T15:58:05Z")
Cute prank, everyone…trying to make unsuspecting readers think this “hockey” thing still exists… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/43 "2012-12-10T00:20:09Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > So now I can really confuse myself. I’m still trying to get my head around a sports team calling themselfs the “Leafs” or whatever. The official team backstory on the name is that they are named after a World War I regiment called the Maple Leaf Regiment; since in that context “Maple Leaf” is a complete noun, “Maple Leafs” is the correct pluralization. (In any event, it’s still correct; a player for Toronto’s hockey team is not a leaf, he is a Maple Leaf, a proper name, and so the pluralization is correctly Maple Leafs. If you went to Ryan Leaf’s home you would be visiting the Leafs, not the Leaves, right?) Whether that backstory’s true or not I cannot say. What is equally certain is that there had been a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team for many years before that (and there still is, actually) and it was not uncommon in the past for sports teams in nascent leagues to name themselves after a local baseball team (the football Giants, for instance, or basketball Knicks) or something related to the local baseball team (Chicago Bears from Cubs, Detroit Tigers from Lions, etc.) Why the Toronto baseball team was called the Maple Leafs is anyone’s guess. However, its history dates back to the 19th century so it may simply be that “Leafs” was an accepted pluralization then in southern Ontario. In any case, it isn’t any worse than “White Sox” or “Jazz,” I guess. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/44 "2012-12-10T00:58:55Z")
Hockey. Sigh. I remember hockey… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/45 "2012-12-10T02:13:43Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > Hockey. Sigh. I remember hockey… Please don’t remind me. ☹ Root Sports is showing Vintage Penguins games, which helps my hockey fix, but it’s still not the same. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/46 "2012-12-10T18:20:32Z")
This is all Gary Bettman’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/47 "2012-12-10T18:26:46Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Cute prank, everyone…trying to make unsuspecting readers think this “hockey” thing still exists… > [@kayT](#): > > Hockey. Sigh. I remember hockey… > [@Guinastasia](#): > > Please don’t remind me. ☹ Root Sports is showing Vintage Penguins games, which helps my hockey fix, but it’s still not the same. How true. Most people don’t realize the NHL was bought by the Ice Capades decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/48 "2012-12-11T01:02:55Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Yeah, I don’t think I can pull off the usual trendy humor that cobbles together references to Unix, Lord of the Rings and **Japanese pornography**. I guess it’s my cross to bear… When I think of hentai, I think of the Red Wings. All those octopi! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/49 "2012-12-11T01:31:42Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > When I think of hentai, I think of the Red Wings. All those octopi! :eek: That’s what we need; an octopi movement! Octopi Joe Louis; Octopi Air Canada Centre, Octopi Madison Square Gardens… ---
**Author:** ![Tazmanian\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@Tazmanian\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tazmanian_Devil)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/50 "2012-12-11T02:01:29Z")
United Octopi Center ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/51 "2012-12-11T02:52:32Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > That’s what we need; an octopi movement! Octopi Joe Louis; Octopi Air Canada Centre, Octopi Madison Square Gardens… Square Garden. :smack: I got carried away. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/52 "2012-12-11T07:38:58Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Square Garden. :smack: I got carried away. Never mind; I got a chuckle out of it. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/53 "2012-12-11T15:17:07Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > The maple leaf has long been a national symbol of Canada, even before the current Canadian flag that was adopted in 1965. > > Naming a team after a national symbol isn’t really very odd, is it? > > The grammatical error is purposeful. If I ever find a team named the Old Glories, Bald Eagles or Declarations of Independencies (sic?), I’ll have to ask. OK - we got the Senators. But considering the average American couldn’t name 5 Senators (hockey and political combined) they hardly could as a National symbol. Like funky bacon, I’m betting the national symbol thingy is all yours. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/54 "2012-12-11T15:29:40Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > If I ever find a team named the Old Glories, Bald Eagles or Declarations of Independencies (sic?), I’ll have to ask. OK - we got the Senators. But considering the average American couldn’t name 5 Senators (hockey and political combined) they hardly could as a National symbol. > > Like funky bacon, I’m betting the national symbol thingy is all yours. Come on, there are hundreds of sports organizations called the Eagles. That’s clearly a reference to a national symbol. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/55 "2012-12-11T15:48:17Z")
E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles! [/philly sports fan imitation] ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/56 "2012-12-11T19:30:28Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles! > [/philly sports fan imitation] You’re supposed to burst into tears and run from the room next. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/57 "2012-12-12T01:41:17Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > You’re supposed to burst into tears and run from the room next. 🙂 Hey, they won on Sunday. (Street vendor’s wares, the other day: T-shirts that say “CUT THE FAT: Fire Andy Reid.”) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/58 "2012-12-12T18:28:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Come on, there are hundreds of sports organizations called the Eagles. That’s clearly a reference to a national symbol. But of whose nations? Check towards the bottom of > **[Eagle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle)** > > See text > Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus Aquila. Most of the 68 species of eagles are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just 14 species can be found—two in North America, nine in Central and South America, and three in Australia. > Eagles are not a natural group but denote essentially any kin... for a fairly inclusive list. And my apologies to Twickster and others as well but given the way the Philadelphia Eagles usually play, are we 100% sure they aren’t representing Poland? 😉 And – are we really sure that the figure itself originally used is indeed a Bald Eagle? Franklin had his doubts, as expressed at the bottom of this, and he was there at the time. "For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him. “With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country . . . “I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on" ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/59 "2012-12-13T04:50:15Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles! > [/philly sports fan imitation] That’s funny. 😛 _GO STEELERS!_ ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305/60 "2012-12-13T15:53:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > That’s funny. 😛 > > _GO STEELERS!_ You mean the Pittsburg Thiefs? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-twickster-on-the-toronto-maple-leafs/643305.md?page=4)