After The Maple Leafs Fired Him, Brian Burke Had A Sad Afternoon

The Toronto Maple Leafs canned general manager Brian Burke on Wednesday. We're not sure what it took for Burke to get fired immediately after the end of a lockout. If team brass didn't like the direction he was taking Toronto, they should have fired him before free agency and the draft; otherwise, they should have let him stay to see how his team did. He'll stay on as an advisor to the club, although one imagines he won't get his old job back should the Leafs do well.

In any event, the got the first post-firing interview with Burke, and it is pretty dreary:

This was his second visit to his favourite Starbucks of the morning—he was up at 4:30 a.m. to work out, then out for his first coffee at 5:30 a.m.—and came after a neighbour had pointed out to him that the back window of one of his cars had been smashed in.

On Thursday, without the responsibilities of running the Leafs any longer, he went to an afternoon matinee of the film Jack Reacher, choosing that movie over Hyde Park on the Hudson and Lincoln.

"It was great," he smiled. "First time in my life I've ever been to a midweek matinee. First time I've ever gone to a movie alone."

Oh, poor Brian Burke. A smashed car window and Jack Reacher in the afternoon. We hope he owns a large flask.