Give ownership credit for success

By STEVE SIMMONS -- Toronto Sun
Standings are the perfect tool for the sports fan.

They don't speak about yesterday or tomorrow -- only today. They tell you how many wins and how many losses in absolute terms, without context or explanation.

And in the morning, standings never lie.

There, in first place in the Northeast Division of the National Hockey League -- the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And there, in first place in the Central Division of the National Basketball Association -- the Toronto Raptors.

Both teams are under the umbrella of that unlikely company born of compromise and necessity, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd.

The company is barely two years old. The Air Canada Centre is not even a year old. And here in Toronto, the sporting air has never felt quite so crisp.

Two first-place teams.

Two teams built for the short-term and for the future.

Two teams playing in the best arena in North America.

Toronto, the sports town, never has had a winter like this.

Pat Quinn was warned about all the problems when he came to the Maple Leafs. The team hadn't made the playoffs for two seasons. The talent wasn't there, the attitude wasn't there. Management was trying to figure out important things, such as who would be general manager and who would only act like general manager.

"We are only in the second year of trying to do something important,'' said Quinn, the coach of the Leafs and general manager by necessity. "We have to know what's reasonable (to expect of ourselves). Can we fall back? Can we struggle? Sometimes it takes a long time to get where you are going.

"Look at the Red Wings. They won their first Cup, when, in '96. They started winning around '92. It takes a while. You have to find perspective (in success).

"As a coach, you have to sit back and say 'You're not too hard, are you?' ''

After the explosion, Butch Carter was one of the few left standing. Somehow he emerged almost unscathed from the stunning mess of confusion Isiah Thomas left behind with the Raptors.

It is difficult to equate the tremendous success of today -- a team still growing, but already on its way -- without comprehending the devastation that Carter and general manager Glen Grunwald began with.

"I don't get to think about that,'' Carter said, knowing this franchise has gone from near-extinction to becoming one of the NBA's real delights. "I evaluate the now. If I have time to think about how bad things were I wouldn't have time to deal with whatever new problem I have now.

"Maybe later, we can reflect back on where we have come from.''

Yesterday morning, in the very same building, the Maple Leafs and the Raptors both held practices, and before the Leafs went on the ice the coaches watched a film of a New York Islanders game against the Washington Capitals.

"We were talking about the Islanders this morning and one of the assistant coaches asked 'How did they become what they are, they were so great?' And we talked about it for a bit,'' Quinn said. "It all comes down to ownership.''

So here, in this space, a nice word about chairman Steve Stavro. A rare nice word. Whatever the owners are doing and however they are doing it, it is working. They haven't always been upfront and they haven't always been on course, but the league standings are absolute. Maybe it won't last and maybe it was only yesterday, but first place is still first place.

"I can't speak for what has happened with the Leafs, but from the Raptors side, we've been left alone to do our jobs, we've had the freedom to make decisions without any meddling (from ownership),'' Carter said.

"It is very rare to have this kind of control. They have been very supportive of us.''

Quinn follows the Raptors only from the perspective of a fan but he cheers for them, nonetheless, and can relate to their growth.

He worked in Vancouver under very different circumstances, under ownership that had NHL and NBA teams.

"There were a lot of questions going on, a lot of suits with a lot of power," he said. "Technocrats, I call them -- smart, educated guys. They work on formulas, everything is a formula. But that doesn't always apply.

"In our business, we ask players to play with emotion. You have to do the same thing in management. You have to go with your gut reactions. You have to be allowed to have a feel and the authority to do the job without interference.

"The real strength starts with the foundation.''

We have lived in a city with Harold Ballard and Interbrew SA and Bruce McNall and Harry Ornest.

It is going to take a while to fully understand success.

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