Goal song makes no dreams come true

With the Leafs being the designated away team the other night, why were we still hearing that awful Hall and Oates song after a Leafs goal? — Todd C.

That song won’t go away, will it? The NHL decided to play each team’s goal song after it scored, whether home or away. So Edmonton has heard a lot of “Chelsea Dagger.” It’s an atmosphere thing. I guess I don’t mind it, though I’m not a fan of that Leaf song.

I want to know why national anthems are played before sporting events. I can understand playing them at the Olympics. It’s one country vs. another country. But one city playing another city, it doesn’t make sense. Cities don’t have anthems. Let’s cut out the anthems and no one will have the opportunity or reason to kneel.

— T.J.

For most of my professional life, I have bemoaned the playing of the national anthems at club-level sporting events. I have long said they don’t belong there. I believe it was baseball that started it around 1917 or 1918 or so — in other words during the First World War. They did so to make people feel patriotic and to stop fans from questioning why young, fit athletes were playing games while their sons were fighting in Europe. That said, to get rid of the anthems now simply because it makes people feel awkward to see a player kneel to protest police brutality seems to me like the wrong reason to get rid of them.

Why is NBC calling the shots here in Canada as to when the Maple Leafs play? — Judd

First off, I didn’t mind a 4 p.m. start. Very newspaper friendly. Games that start at 8 p.m., then go into overtime ... very unfriendly for newspapers. That said, NBC is calling the shots because that’s the deal NBC made with the NHL when it signed up for 10 years and $2 billion (U.S.). There’s one year left on that deal after these playoffs. NBC will cough up more to keep the rights. If not them, another American network. And the NHL will be even more beholden to them.

In Game 1, Kasperi Kapanen had a half-breakaway and button hooked, with no shot or chance as a result. I just wanted to let you know that as much as I respect your counter-argument (that button hooking for 15 seconds of cycling is a second option) I just don’t agree with it. I don’t know the exact numbers, but driving to the net, when in an advanced position, must be one of the better opportunities in hockey: the scoring chance coupled with a high possibility of a quality rebound.

— Darryl C.

I’m not sure what I said that your respect as a counterargument, but I suspect it was from earlier in the season and not through the playoffs. I’ll agree with you completely that shots from the inner slot are the most important, so getting there is the idea. I also do agree that possession time — to set things up — can be just as important. But eventually, somebody needs to go to the net. Kapanen has raised the physical quality of his game, at least along the boards. Of the three guys on his line, he’s the one that should be going to the net more. (But if he’s with Zach Hyman, for example, I’d rather Hyman go to the net.)