Rewards of losing

What are we going to tell the kids? Until now, we could sincerely say that failure was something to be taken in stride and surmounted, ideally serving as a building block to success. “Lessons learned . . . try, try again . . . yadda, yadda.”

But Toronto’s Maple Leafs have blown those maxims to smithereens. The National Hockey League’s consummate losers are the first hockey team in history to be valued at $1 billion. That’s right: One. Billion. Dollars.

It turns out failure can be more rewarding than success — a lot more.

According to listings published in Forbes magazine, traditional Leafs rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, are worth a mere $575 million. And they, at least, brought home the Stanley Cup as recently as 1993. Even the bottom-of-the-basement St. Louis Blues, valued at a piddling $130 million, made the playoffs last season. And their price includes a piece of an opera house.

The woebegone Leafs haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967 (back when the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper; Canada celebrated its centennial year, and future Oscar-winner Sally Field was playing a flying nun on TV). They’re the only team that hasn’t made the playoffs in any of the past seven seasons.

The Leafs went so far as to publish a full-page letter in the Star and other papers earlier this year apologizing to fans for an “unacceptable” season. Yet they’re worth a cool billion.

The lesson is clear. Forget all that guff about overcoming failure. Kids, follow the gold-plated example set by the Leafs — go out there and lose one for the team!