Have you ever wondered wanted to see what the real-life personality and team interest level of a Toronto Maple Leafs season ticket holder is? Well, here’s a bit of a behind the scenes look (in postgame format!), courtesy of a thing that Tyler Bozak and the Leafs did with Purolator. Warning, the results may infuriate you.

The Rundown

The video starts with Bozak suiting up in a Purolator

uniform. You know, to give the illusion of him being undercover. Just to make

sure we’re all aware of who he is, though, his name and number are plastered on

the back, something I now believe that every postage worker should have for

shits and giggles.

The first man seems relatively confused before Tyler’s

wingman (not Phil Kessel, shut up) explains who he is and that they have a

package for him. The guy seems indifferent, and asks if he should open the package

now. He shows mild enthusiasm (a deadpan “there it is”) after seeing his jersey

in the package, gets his (grand?)daughter to take a photo with Bozie, and they’re

on their way again.

The next delivery happens in an office. The second man at least

maintains a smile on his face. The big reveal is a bit awkward (“Hey, I got you

one of my jerseys here.” “Oh, okay, perfect, and some tickets.”) but again, he

seems more into it than the first guy. Bozie scribbles on his jersey and they

go on their separate ways.

The third man just seems spooked and clueless. Tyler leads

the whole conversation, doing the package reveal himself and self-volunteering

his autograph. The man makes a quip about Tyler being a delivery person, and

the video ends with the above picture of him looking at things in a camera-friendly way.

Blue Warrior

This video actually makes me feel really bad for Tyler Bozak. This isn’t an issue of him being “irrelevant” or “uncool” – while he has his share of detractors in this city, they’re at least aware of who he is and would show some form of excitement if a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs appeared with marketing type people and said “hey, I’d like to give you stuff!”.

It’s already a little crappy for him that he had to spend a day off doing things for advertisers. It’s worse that he has to lead conversations, open the boxes of goodies himself, and volunteer his own autograph. There’s a lot of awkwardness in these interactions and it’s almost entirely coming from the season ticket holders who are so-called “fans”.

Notes

These are the type of people who are ahead of you on the lifetime-long season ticket waiting list.

These are the type of people who show up ten minutes late to every period.

These are the type of people who don’t blink at the ticket price increases every year, because their tickets are an “expense”.

These are the type of people who create the “dead” atmosphere of the Air Canada Centre.

These are one of the types of people who make the team wonder if they even have to bother acknowledging the crowd after games.

Look, I get that there are some contributing factors to the lack of enthusiasm. Cameras make people shy. All three gentlemen are older and less likely to be star-struck and individually curious. One of them as at work.

But still, it just seems off putting from a human perspective. I enjoy watching the Leafs, but wouldn’t feel in any way star struck by Tyler Bozak (“do you still think I’m dumb?” “shut up Jeffler” “okay cool”). I have a lot of stuff lying around the house already. But when somebody goes out of their way to do something nice for me, especially in such an over the top way, I’d at least fake the enthusiasm.

Also, giving season ticket holders free tickets? Isn’t that like, making the rich richer? If access is so supposedly scarce, why would you double up people who don’t appreciate it?

Hopefully these were the only three people they delivered to, and their selection of fans just sucked. Because if there were more that showed even less enthusiasm and graciousness… man, I just don’t know.





