Money, money, money ...

Well it looks like my time as an investigative journalist will be about as short lived as my career as a supermodel. Hmmmm I guess the livestock and stench of manure should have tipped me off that those bleachers lying around *might* have something to do with the winter fair.

So to the topic at hand. A few days late but hey, I've been sick all week. Novmeber 10 came and went and as it turns out, yes, MLSE has given Mo and Carver the green light to sign a Designated Player. Well thank god for that. I'd find it hard to swallow that they would OK $3.5 million for JEFF FINGER, but would not be able to pony up some money for a high callibre footballer. I know it's all business and dollars and cents at MLSE - as I can recall an interview, I think it was Dobson on soccer saturday, asking a higher up at MLSE about the success TFC has been having (this was early in the '07 season) and his response being along the lines of "Ok, hey now ..." and giving the whole, let's be real, the leafs and raptors are the top priorities and money makers, TFC is a small fish. So hopefully that attitude has changed since the beginning of 2007 and they realize there is strong support and they need to keep improving the product on the pitch ... OR ELSE!!

This raises the question of how exactly this money should be spent. I don't think anyone would argue that we should not be searching for a DP. John Carver has pretty much said "sign a DP or I'm gone", adding that TFC needs one to get competitive in this league. Some people might point out - hey, Houston are the 2 time champs and don't have a DP. Sure, but Houston is not a 2nd year franchise, and are actually 4 times champs over the last eight years (via the move from San Jose), and had time to build that team up. There is also the question or debate on whether or not a DP actually makes the team successful.

You can look at that list of current DPs in the league and say none of those players have resulted in immense TEAM success (by way of trophies). However, some you can't deny are worth every penny. Angel and Emilio have both scored at a significant ratio, and Blanco has proven his worth.

I think what this translates to for TFC is that merely signing a player won't equal success - there are still ten other positions that need to be filled to the best they can. TFC is lucky in the sense that we can look at these past DPs and see clearly that the role of this player is not to single-handedly win games but to become an integral piece of the puzzle that we otherwise could not have obtained. If that is the attitude used to finding this player (and I do believe this is how Mo and Carver are approaching it) then we can see a player that will contribute to the team more than just on the scoresheet. Finding that player will be the hard part because as we have seen, money and fan base hasn't been enough thus far to bring in any bigger names. So there's the challenge and I'm stoked to see how this search pans out.

It's kinda funny because the team that started this whole spending hoopla is the LA Galaxy and their whole "beckham" experiment or whatever you want to call it. You can't deny the exposure, league success or cash that this has brought MLS. The thing is though, Beckham may have made them alot of money and gotten the league noticed around the world but he hasn't won them any championships. With it now appearing as though Donovan AND Beckham could be leaving - looks like LA is about to *GET* DP'd! HEYOOOOOO