Friday, November 27, 2009

Lights, camera ...

Heading into uncharted territory ...
Back from a 4+hr excursion as RNO begins it's foray into video! Wellll we'll see. We had been talking back and forth with David Monsalves, Rick has a camera, why not? Let's see how this goes.

Per usual (well in my experience across different mediums and subject matters) the best stuff comes out AFTER the red light goes off. But that's ok, it was cool to just hear stories, especially those pertaining to Canada and TFC.

It's sorta funny because I'm sure as with anything, as it grows more and more, ideas sprout in your head and especially where we are from in the time that we live, your time always has $$$ tied into it. It was awesome last night to put something out and feel good about sticking to the mandate of why we launched RNO, which was to give exposure to the teams and players in Canada who deserve it. That's it. If we play even the most minute fraction of helping that happen, if the profile of the players and sport here goes up just enough so some 10yr old thinks "I want to play football in or for Canada" - amazing.

I guess what the point is amoungst so much else out there, it's easy to get lost, but we don't seem to worry about it because we're not trying to BE something, we're trying to DO something.

We were standing on the balcony overlooking the indoor pitch and I thought to myself (and said it) - those kids down there should know who David Monsalves is. The guy is one of a small handful of Canadians who have lifted a European trophy. The dude doing laps on the balcony knew who he was (but said nothing to me wtf?) and that was pretty cool.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Come marching in ...

It's pretty rare to actually get excited about receiving mail. Even when something good arrives like an ebay purchase, it's more like "jeez, finally". But not yesterday! I was about to send an email of inquiry when I got home for lunch, opened the front door and saw this:


WOOT!
That is correct, delivered right to my front door. Now the story (yes, story. Get yourself a drink, snack and get comfy) as you may recall from the beginning of the month was that I just switched jobs, from way the hell up in North York to literally 2 minutes from my house in Liberty Village. The best part about this as will also notice on the right hand side, is I am able to blog almost every day! In fact, the conversation went something like this:

Spark: I'm giving my notice.
Old Boss: What?!
Spark: Yeah. This place is cutting into my blogging big time.
Old Boss: I had no idea.
Spark: It's true. I was hardly getting in one a week.
Old Boss: That is unacceptable.
Spark: I know!
Old Boss: People need to know what the Spark-dog thinks about football!
Spark: I'm glad we are on the same page.

And would you believe that in order to help foster my passion for blogging about all things football (in my mind anyway) my going away gift was a year's subscription to the writers I jock so hard - When Saturday Comes!!

And who was on the cover of my very first issue!? Gerrad and Torres! Yesterday was going to be great! Liverpool on the cover, a Champion's League match, it's all coming up roses. Except Fiorentina wins and gives the Reds the boot. So I am super bummed because Europa League is LAAAAMMMMEEEE. Oh well, at least I have WSC and their Liverpool feature to go home and read. So I pour myself a bourbon (you read that right, Christopher Hitchens here likes a stiff drink when he reads his footy mags) and get comfortable. 32 pages later and there's no Liverpool feature!? Is this some joke?? It is! Sonofabitch.

No Champions League. No feature stories. Is this all we have to look forward to?

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Who will stay and who will go?

I did this exact title and record cover last year!!! Think of it as a yearly feature. Spark's Annual MLS Expansion Draft Protection List TFC Debate. Also known as SAMLSEDPLTFCD. Say it again. SAMLSEDPLTFCD. There you have it. The list came out and some eye-brow raising protected and unprotected players. The most notable for Toronto FC are Guevara and Robinson left unprotected, while some are seriously questioning why Barrett stays. There are legitimate arguments both ways as to why Barrett should remain in the line-up for 2010, same goes for Robinson who bare-minimum has a wealth of experience he can give to the likes of Sanyang, Cronin, even Gomez or De Guzman to an extent.

Guevara on the other hand seems to be a name bandied about as very likely to be making his exit. Whether or not it's directly related to Preki, well go ahead and speculate. I will say I was greatly disappointed with his play in 2010 and I'm pretty sure I pinned the success of the team on him finding his 2005 form and bagging somewhere around 10 goals. Well World Cup Qualifying hangovers don't help the domestic club cause. And with the actual World Cup this summer, I would think his head will be in South Africa for most of the season.

I think if TFC sort out the defence and find a true finishing striker, this will more than make up for him leaving. De Guz slides into his position, case closed. The only thing that still is in the back of my mind was the DC United game where in the first half both Sanyang and Robinson were horrible paired together. At half time, cue a substitution Robinson out, Guevara in, and now Sanyang is the second coming and TFC win 2-0.

Great talent, but for me the cons outweigh the pros and at 34 it's about time to cut the cord.

Monday, November 23, 2009

The East Wins!!

Yessir! Real Salt Lake - Eastern Division Champs take the Cup. I gotta say I'm feeling a lot of pride as a supporter of a club in the East right now. EAST RULES!

I can't help but think of a bunch of issues that need to be addressed with MLS that, to me, are pretty whack. Yes I said "whack" - as in wiggity whack.

Number one is listed above. I can understand why many things in this league were/are set up the way they are in the beginning, but at some point it needs to change. Eight teams in the playoffs to me makes no sense. And if there is going to be eight teams, then cross over makes no sense. One table makes sense so you don't have something so obviously stupid as a team on the West coast as your Eastern champs.

So last night I had to watch the game at home as it was my RNO responsibility to write up the post game. Issue number two - Rogers Cable sucks! That's right I lost my connection after about thirty minutes. WTF!? Ok I'll whinge some more in a minute but here is Spark's office play by play of the evening:

#1 - Real Salt Lake fans come out in force. Will this championship increase season tickets sales and overall attendance? See: Columbus.


#2 - SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH


#3 - WORST! CAN IT! NOW!!!


#4 - YOUR 2009 MLS CUP CHAMPS!!!


Well my last point to lament about is I'm hoping Garber took note of the red flag NYRB was waving last year. Eighth seed into finals, shit imagine if they had won!? I'm going to start trumpeting that parity is bullshit and something needs to give in order to ensure we see the best match-ups possible. If I'm an MLS club I'm not going to sweat trying to finish first. "Hey guys just chill, just finish sixth or seventh, hell even eighth! Don't expend all your energy, we just need to be able to turn it on for four games and we are set!" Is there really incentive to finish top of the league? Other than a trophy are there good bonuses handed out?

Sure it was a good game, but will RSL repeat? Part of being champs is walking around with a target on your backs because you are the best. If any team was set up to do it, it was Columbus who actually had a great season.

Anyway, whinging over! RSL wins! Will Johnson pukes his way to Canadian content on the 2009 trophy!!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Super Sunday


Well considering many football fans in N. America will have their eyes on the MLS Cup tonight, hopefully some witnessed this destruction. WTF!? I thought Tottenham would 'sort themselves out' and end up where they normally do. When was this supposed to happen? When the weather gets cold? Holy shit.

Jermaine Defoe!? Making his claim to get some action with the England WC squad and five goals in a game can't hurt. I'm more shock though at Wigan who aren't the best but have had some good games this season and, I thought anyway, no THAT brutal. Well this one will go down in history and I'm sure over the next week everyone will be checking their almanacs feeding us facts about the highest scoring games ever. I think though this is the largest win margin in EPL history? Download all your favourite EPL pods this week as I"m sure you will find out!

MLS CUP IN ...

Thursday, November 19, 2009

A Hard Man

As much as I try to always find the wrong in everything MLSE does, it looks like today they may have got it right (although I probably said the same thing about Burke and Colangelo!). Despite Squizz's pretty funny, but actually dead on comments about his track record, here's hoping this is the right environment and make-up for him to take the team to the next level (not MLSE next level, winning attitude next level).

The only thing missing from his resume is clear post-season success, but he had it as a player and three years at Chivas probably isn't enough to take Bradley's team and make it into his own. But now that I think of it, they have been on the decline since!

Regardless (ha!) I am happy for the supposed hardline approach we should soon be getting because nothing annoys me more than players giving up or walking around with their hands on their hips acting all pissy.

Tactics?! Defending!? Oh my! I can not wait. These are parts of the package that we can look forward to. Could we have gotten a bigger name? Probably, but one step at a time. Next year I will be happy with a winning record (playoffs) and organized football.

So here's signing off keeping it 100% TFC related:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

South Africa bound!


Well not on a Senior Team, but a pretty sweet gig none the less. Stefan Frei is off to the land the Sundowns, Capes and Great White Sharks!! He's added another accolade to his list of accomplishments for 2009. Along with an MLS nomination for Rookie of the Year, he was TFC's Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and is now traveling with the Generation Adidas Team to South Africa for a couple of exhibition games and seeing the sights.

Frei came with (and still has) a lot of hype given his play this season. I think the only other keeper to play this much as a rookie was Brad Guzan who is now at Aston Villa. I didn't follow Guzan's rookie year so I don't know where he was at this stage of development but it is clear that Frei has talent yet still has a ways to go before he legitimately earns the "europe bound" tag.

A slight but not complete sidenote - I'm curious to see what is in store for Brian Edwards. He must be chomping at the bit knowing he's fully capable of competing and winning games at this level and is roughly at the same stage of his career. For our sake I hope he stays on because IF Frei jumps ship, we could have a keeper who has paid his dues and is ready to take hold (and not let go) of the #1 position.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Late Pass Pt. II

I have no idea if this has been circulated everywhere but I got this link and laughed my ass of... eerr ... I mean LOLMAO!!!


You can see the back and forth which may or may not be real here.
Just to give you a hand with this, the President of France is 5'5. It also would have been 10X more amazing had Ireland won.

This also reminds me about a priceless crank call some comedy troupe in Ireland did pretending to be Steve Staunton wanting the Chelsea manager position. I couldn't find the audio file which is way back somewhere in an episode of World Soccer Daily.

Hats off to the Irish and their sense of humour!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Do MLSE read FourFourTwo?


This is a bit of a late pass, but I don't think I saw anyone talking about this elsewhere and thought it was a pretty interesting article and was relevant to the good 'ol Reds (which one I'm referring to, take your pick!!). In the October issue there is a good article on How To Rebuild A Club and lists some important points on what it takes to do it right. Bear in mind that this mostly relates to the UK so the point about a Stadium doesn't totally apply here in North America, but some of them are pretty dead on and you can see that at least TFC are missing the mark on some key areas to building a successful team. Either way, you can decide if these are being applied here or abroad, but in summary here are the key points to the article:

1. Build the Business Plan - Fill the boardroom with experts, hire dynamic staff, think big-time.

2. Hire the Right Gaffer - Take time choosing a candidate, do your background research, stay patient during the lumpy bits.

3. Grow Your Own - Cast a wide net for young players, encourage good behaviour, blod them early.

4. Freshen Up Your First Team - Try before you buy, go for quality over quantity, be conservative with contract.

5. Stadia - Only move if you must, choose quality materials, tread carefully in the world of rock.

6. Keep Fans Onside - Keep active in the community, get the fans involved, get the fans excited.



Overall a good read and lots to think about. A really interesting point with regards to a well run team and a poorly run one ... when Leeds was competing in the Champions League, the Doncaster Rovers were in the Conference. Not even ten years later, they are in the Championship and Leeds are in League One. That is how quickly things can go from good to bad (Newcastle?! Liverpool!!!) or if you keep the glass half full, from bad to good.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Drumroll please

And the award goes to ...


M-V-P! M-V-P!
As if there ever was a doubt. What was the expression Tim used in our last podcast? One of the few this season without blood on their hands? Yes something like that. I can count four players who fit that tag: De Ro, Frei, Cronin and Attakora. The rest are middle of the pack to major disappointments.

But back to De Ro, as there were some talk about certain supporters groups perhaps not naming their MVP this year, which I hope is not the case. Towards the end of the season with all the banter about problems in the dressing room, selfishness, play on the pitch, etc ... but seriously get rid of all that - what is an MVP? Or what defines one? Most obviously is the player that made the difference, and without them your team is noticeably worse off. Any player on this team this year could have been replaced (within our line-up). Except De Ro. If he's gone, 11 goals are gone. The left side attacking is gone. Any balls moving forward is gone. A trophy is gone. It's as simple as that. I understand what some say about his particular style on or off the field, but I'm looking at the results and he delivered where many could not.

If there was an award for major disappointment of the season, without a doubt it goes to Marvell Wynne. At the end of last year, he looked like his ticket was booked to Europe. I thought it was a miracle he stayed on, or didn't get any noticeable interest, even with his known defending skills (or lack thereof) he was making things happen. This year ... just not happening on the right side, his crosses were brutal and some good chances (I'm thinking Colorado off of the cross from De Ro) was just terrible. I don't know what happened between '08 and '09, but here's to hoping next year he gets it together or we're able to find someone to take over that spot who puts a priority on defending/positioning.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

It's obvious!

All this talk about players defecting, no patriotism, disorganization, missed scouting etc ...

None of it matters. We do it for the Maple Leaf and all we need is someone like Smithy to sit down the likes of De Guz, Bagovic, Lensky and give them "a right talkin' to!!"

Monday, November 9, 2009

Big Orange


Well yes, I spent a good portion of yesterday indoors. Shame on me. But I wanted to keep on top of the MLS playoffs, as much of a pain it is not having full cable and having to watch it online.

At least there are good storylines; the LA derby, Columbus out (Will Johnson still in!) and pretty much following Houston who are really the only team IMO that can lay the claim to any kind of 'dynasty' in MLS right now. Well, maybe I'll be eating my words after this weekend but their line-up is just so solid front to back and it's obvious that they are a well organized and disciplined team that being from Toronto you can't help but envy what is in place there. Ching, Davis, Holden, Clark, Hainault, Onstad are all amazing to watch.

Man I just checked the playoffs schedule - Friday at 11pm?! LA v Houston WTF. Ok fine I guess I'll be staying in Friday night!

Friday, November 6, 2009

RNO Week in Review


Sometimes it's just hard to keep on top of things. This week was insane front to back, top to bottom. I'm home now, Friday night, just looking to chill in and take a minute. RNO is full steam ahead and it's a tough balance between keeping on top of what is up there and gearing up for 2010. Alot going on on that front in terms of development, but maintaining what is currently in place is tough as well.

Some big steps taken since this all began ... man, four months ago. Seems like we've been doing this forever but in that amount of time we've managed to leap canyons, and we are still far from the summit.

The interviews we've managed to get a hold of have been bananas, and this week was no different. Usually it's one a week or two weeks - this week we took care of three. The most notable was none other than Jacob Lensky who seriously must not have been two seconds away from hitting send to us when the CMFS emailed him to play for their U21 team. Well everyone now knows how this played out.

Then thanks to a long chain of people we've been lucky enough to meet, Stephen Hart will be up, no doubt ready to talk about the infamous email. And in the midst of those interviews, Carl Robinson lays it all out in what Steve B said was a pretty good call.

Throw in there the usual aftermath from last weekend and CBC's story on Tom Ansemli's "winning" comments about TFC. UGH it was a rough start to November. Geez man, no wonder this team hasn't got it together, this rust is coming from the very top. "We didn't expect to make the playoffs for the first three years." Oh great! Thanks for telling everyone now. Here we are spending thousands of dollars a year, under the impression winning *might* be up there on the priority list. I don't know about you, but I always love cheering and spending all my money on teams that are expected to lose.

I could keep ranting about those comments but I'm really at a loss for what else to say on this front. When he was on TFC TV after the NYRB loss I was pretty disappointed that all he was was disappointed. Man I was so pissed after that game! And he's just like MEH. Straight into PR/Damage Control mode. For once I would love to see some sort of actual passion from these guys and say this team played like shit. $3 million bucks made ZERO difference.

At least Sam Cronin had the stones to say what is what. Cronin jersey for '10.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Wednesdays aren't so bad

Boss: Hey did you see the Danny Dichio jersey at the front?
Spark: Yeah!
Boss: He came in, great guy.
Spark: I bet!
Boss: You like football?
Spark: Football?
Boss: "Soccer"?
Spark: Oh yeah!
Boss: Yeah, I like Liverpool.
Spark: So do I!
Boss: Saw a game at Anfield last year.
Spark: !!!
Boss: Also saw a game in Japan.
Spark: !!!

Spark: Hey Champions League is on now.
Boss: Put that on! Justin TV that!
Spark: OK!!
Boss: Dirk Kyut is a hard worker. I like him.
Spark: Me too.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Something notable


That's right - East Side Stand Up (not the chant!!). This is kinda cool considering we don't really track this stuff and the whole idea of the podcast is just DIY. I wish it got up there while the season was going on since we've done the last post-game trauma report for the 2009 season.

Next season I would anticipate us recording after every game, home and away, since we started doing it anyways down the stretch. It's pretty simple to get it all together and online and not once have I ever wished I was doing anything else on a Saturday night.

Tim and Stephe are awesome co-hosts and I feel offer pretty sound assessments of the going ons in the game in question. You can be an encyclopedia of football knowledge, or the proverbial fly on the wall for TFC, but you get three guys together who love the sport and the team and just talk about the game at hand, and none of that matters. Stephe's played at a pretty high level, Tim grew up following the game in London, and I used to be obsessed with Champ Manager - what a triumvirate!

Although I must admit I disagree with Stephe's views on Marvell Wynne.

Monday, November 2, 2009

A new beginning!

Well this could have more than one meaning, but for now it's all about Spark. It was all quiet on the blogging front last week because I quit my job and spent every day getting shit done that I wish I wasn't swamped with so I could get on here. But alas, these were things I had to do, and now that means more time for this and RNO. Lots to talk about and big tings happening but they are on the DL. For now let's just go over day one:

It was a beautiful day! A new day with new OCD routines. Most importantly being able to get a good cup of coffee in the morning. Sorry Seattle's Best, your days are over!


A new job with plenty of nerves but these are things that at least put you at ease a bit.



Right around the corner from home. Right around the corner from BMO, couldn't get much better. Much more to say but I'll leave that for tomorrow.