Monday, May 31, 2021

Harold Ballard on The Fifth Estate (February 1980)



A few years ago I had a conversation with a friend about former Toronto Maple Leafs and Maple Leaf Gardens co-owner Harold Ballard. As part of our discussion, I overviewed a terrific episode of the CBC's "investigative documentary" program The Fifth Estate that I watched when it aired. Adrienne Clarkson's profile of the then 76-year-old Ballard seemed ahead of its time, for some of the 'colourful' onscreen language, uttered by the doc's subject, no surprise, may not have gotten parental approval all those years ago.

The subject of the Leafs' constrictive owner came up again yesterday with this same friend. I then decided to check YouTube.

"Harold Ballard: Wha’D’Ya Mean Ex-Con" is well worth watching, if for this alone: The first few sentences in Clarkson's intro are kinda chilling, certainly if you're a Leafs fan....

2 comments:

Greg Woods said...

Ouch! LOL. Even forty years ago she called it.

Simon St. Laurent said...

As evidenced in platinum by tonight's final score....
Montreal Canadiens 3, Toronto Maple Leafs 1
(The Habs win the series after coming back from being down by two games.)