Haven't woken up yet

from this nightmare!
Good grief. Well time heals all wounds, and clearly 22hrs is not enough. You know the links, blogs, forums etc ... so I'll leave you to those devices. Nothing I'll say here you won't be able to find anywhere else. Yes I will leave it at that. I had a decent night despite the 90 minutes of pure hell.

Rode my bike north of bloor for a dinner party and saw this along the way. I threw a quarter on the field for good luck. Should'a parted with a twenty!!


Locked up my trusty ride.


Token screen shot. Yes had to watch it online, and am lucky enough to have a great girl who didn't mind me sneaking away for two hours to whinge and get wasted in a different room.


End of story, end of season. I'm sure there will be some good posts in the future madly bitching about this team - get ready!!

The countdown begins

270 minutes and counting ...
I don't know how I feel about this whole "most important in club history blalblalb". Please. Personally I'd be more stoked if we were fighting to win first overall, not squeek into the playoffs, most of which will determine on other teams losing. But I like to think that I'm a positive guy. Hey, when I step into BMO Field, I am there to cheer the team on and hopefully watch us win.

I'm back into what my pal/co-host Stephe Perry has dubbed "The Silence Pit" aka Section 105. Swapping tix with Timmy V so he can sit with his dad who is hilarious listening to when a game is going on. I've watched the last two road games with Steve (not co-host Stephe, but Mr. V) and he yells out the most obvious/basic things but TFC can't do it. "CROSS IT INTO THE MIDDLE!! COME ON NOW!!" Hmmm put the cross into the middle? Who'd have thought?! "GO FORWARD!! NO!! NOT BACKWARDS, FORWARD!!!" Holy shit! Sometimes I think Stefan Frei makes more passes than anyone else on the team. I think I will start referring to the team as the broken wheel. It makes sense to me.

But back to 105. Interesting comment from Chris Cummins this week with regards to needing a 12th man today to get behind the team. I will now beat a dead horse. Sorry Chris, in case you were unaware, TFC/MLSE does not promote this kind of behaviour outside of their Marketing Sect .. err.... I mean Supporters Sections. It bums me out that in the next two games, which are super important, missing key players, where the team NEEDS that 12th 'man', that in 70% of the stadium we have to sit and watch in a polite, baseball game/tennis match manner. Because if they/we become overwhelmed with the urge to cheer the lads on - well that is not acceptable and such types will be removed from the grounds. I'm sorry but BMO will never be a fortress in this regulated, carefully constructed way.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hey well at least we have the wave!! BARRFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF


Ok, who cares? One hour to go - time to get red!

Where have I heard that before?

Is it me or does TFC and Chicago have the exact same songs? I'm sitting there last night thinking "geez it's the 26th minute and they're still singing Danny Dichio?!"

What a bummer that game was. It had it's moments but it seems with each passing week it becomes more and more clear that we are past the point of no return with respect to TFC developing any kind of strategy or plans. Can't teach an old dog new tricks I guess? So many things to still be positive about - just not this season! I feel bad for De Guzman right now because I'm sure this is not the ideal football he wants to be playing - what I mean by that is he's kinda been thrown into the fire and seems like there's nothing in terms of the development of a team but just trying to keep things for spiraling out of control. It doesn't seem like he's being used effectively and for the 3 million (is that the number?) he's making, for him to not be used in an impact position is such a waste. Here's to hoping this will all be addressed in the very near future.

What a night that was. Actually I had a pretty good time, despite the rain.
Jumped on the old IRO and rode over to Tim's place to watch the game with his dad and Stephe.


THE RETURN OF TV PICS!! 5 mins in - DE RO! I can't believe people rag on him. I can understand some of the criticisms but seriously, bottom line - if Frei wasn't in net and he wasn't scoring - I SHUDDER TO THINK!!



An up and down game ... BARRETT!?!?


Another highlight - FLARES. Oh man well done. Here's hoping it wasn't followed up by railings being thrown on the pitch and someone getting tazered.


2-2 draw. ugh. Well Stephe was MAD during the podcast. I think my tone calmed him down, as I wasn't as pissed because I'm actually not expecting TFC to make the playoffs so anything more than that I'm pretty happy!!

Two weeks off. A much needed break!

Can't Stop. Won't Stop.

A busy weekend finally over and now rolling into the usual weekdays of working 9-5 then 7-11. Is blogging considered work? I say yes. Well it is when you are wearing red plaid and have a beard. I have both. Still feeling a bit wiped from a non-stop weekend, which always feels that way when TFC play a home game.

Now that the insane schedule is over from April and May, that one game a month really stands out. And it makes it 10X more important that when I get a chance to add something to RNO it gets taken advantage of. With a completely bananas week of drama with TFC (they suck on Sunday, Dichio retires on Tuesday, Grass imminent on Thursday, De Guzman signs on Friday, and they rule again on Saturday) there was so much to talk about.



The shitty thing was that my two co-hosts for East Side Stand Up (This name IS NOT about that ridiculous chant, which they don't do on the East Side of BMO - they prefer THE WAVE) were out of town and true to form I left trying to find guests to the last second. This has happened a few times this season and I resigned to the fact that I just wouldn't do a podcast. But this time I had in the back of my mind the guys from Some Canadian Guys Talking/Writing About Soccer who I recall reading a post a while back about their podcast on hold or on hiatus so I thought, maybe they'd be up for getting a podcast in and talking shop. Well needless to say it all worked out and they brought along Ben Knight from Onward! to boot! That was pretty cool considering I think that in the first two seasons of TFC (you know, before the 'recession' ruined football coverage in the newspapers here) his and Morgan Campbell's columns were the best in the city.

When we do our podcast it's usually focused on analysis from the game in question from the three of us who all sit in the same section. Tim has a great sense of seeing the game from growing up in London following West Ham United. Stephe has played the game at a high level and still plays to this day and I'm really into Championship Manager. So together I think we can cover alot of different perspectives of what went on that day. But it was really cool to listen to Ben, Squizz and Jamie give their take on TFC - not just from where they watch at BMO but as fans of the team and in the media. You don't always get to sit in a room (well I don't) and talk like that so it was pretty sweet.

But even before that - within two weeks of my last appearance on Norman James THE HOOK I got the call again. Football was the topic of the week and this time Norman hooked (heyoooo) us up with something like 20 minutes on his show. Seriously check out his blog and see how fast this show is growing. One of the reasons we started RNO is because the media in Canada has football (especially Canadian football) as such a low priority, or 5th page news if you will. Regardless of whether or not we are on this show, it is awesome to see that someone is out there willing to give it 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes of exposure. I'm really grateful for being included in that show, but most importantly for the fact that I own the all-time guest appearance title!!

That is right - and you are right Norman, Saturday night I did drink to that!!

A day to reflect

Well two teams in red, up and down results, but not a bad weekend at all. A 3-2 win over Bolton ehhh not the greatest but it'll do as long as it's a win. TFC on the other hand, I think was a bit soft on them considering how terrible they were last weekend. At least they decided to show up for the full 90 minutes this week, even though as some people have pointed out, the finishing needs to be there. I can recall having that conversation that the most frustrating thing with them is it takes them 5-10 chances to convert and leave themselves open to their opponent scoring in their first or second chance. Chicago at home was a game where the Fire hardly had any opportunities, but they scored on them. Either way, after last week a point is a point, I'm just really hoping when they go into Colorado next week it's not another 180 back to the week before.

So yeah, I watched the game at home and took pictures of my TV. Lame!




But after the game I was lucky enough to get called back to go onto the air with Norman James' THE HOOK out of London. This time we talked TFC, an article RN posted that pissed alot of people off, and EPL! Outside of doing our own podcast which is super DIY and totally free-form, it's a little bit tougher being mentally prepared for something live that you don't know 100% what you're going to be asked. I can think of more than one time where I started rambling on about something and halfway through asking myself "Holy shit what was the question again?" Or forgetting the last name of Stoke City's manager. Tony Pulis guys - PU-LIS. So yeah, it's stuff like that that gives you a bit of anxiety because football supporters have zero tolerance for a bullshitter or people who don't have their facts straight. Thank god I make up for it with my good looks.



And last but not least today was a day to celebrate the lord and listen to a slew of football podcasts since WSD is off the air. Well apparently they are back as World FOOTBALL Daily, but it will be subscriber based (which I say go for it), so I have to mix it up. 606 Phone in was first and the host Alan Green is pretty intense. Actually I just googled him - YIKES. Now it's onto Football weekly from the Guardian and it's not half bad. I guess I'll have to try these out to see which is best.

Final note - I know nobody ever comments here but is there a Bundesliga/La Liga/Serie A equivalent of BBC/Times/Guardian football site? Inquiring minds would like to know.

One down, one to go!

So as of right now, we have one win for the Reds and we'll have to wait and see how the other Reds fare in a few hours. Something tells me it's a little easier for Liverpool to win at Bolton than Toronto FC at Seattle. But you have to stay positive. If we can strike early, and given TFC's usual first 20mins it's possible, take out the crowd, who knows!?

It might seem unlikely to come away with points in Seattle, but fear not! A wise man once said (to Toronto FC no less):

Remember Reds, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Still lots of games left so I'm going to say regardless of this road swing, still plenty of hope to go around and chances to take advantage of. See you in a few hours!

Recovery Room

Wow. Well after last night I'm not sure who was celebrating with these on Friday night more - myself or TFC.


Who knew the starting XI of TFC all had the same BDay weekend as me! What else could explain how after 15mins everyone looked like they were nursing a massive hangover. "Oh man I just tried really hard, ok well i'll take it easy now for a bit". We've harped it over and over the schizo nature of this club, how the second things look pretty good and I have to admit even though we predicted a 1-0 victory it took everything I could think of to not just throw up my hands and say "come on it's a road game against a western division team - we lose 2-0." Well they say listen to your instincts and my instinct right now says we are going to get WHOOPED in Seattle.

I took it easy last night even though I was officially one year grayer, Friday night was when I made a mess of myself. Not to talk about age or partying, but to keep it on the topic of this blog. A few sweet things came through the mail this week that is worth sharing, most notably this:


Pretty much anything of historical reference I'm totally in to, so when Brother Lemoine (check blogroll - the Canadian in a City of Angels) sent me this the reaction was nothing more than "whoa!" Argentina '78 was something else and if you check out the reviews tab, more than one book in there covers that World Cup. Brilliant Orange talks about it from the Dutch perspective and Soccer Against the Enemy from the socio/political end in Argentina.





Now that I'm on the topic of items of historical reference, I might as well show these. A month or so back on my trip to Barca I went to the Nou Camp and the tour was ok, but what I was into was this wall of all the membership cards. It's cool seeing an evolution of design from the past 100 years all on these little 3.5X5 cards.


So as I was walking around the city a few days later ... ok I was going to not specifically mention this to keep as my own secret for when I go back, but hey, I live to give, so I'll pass this one forward. At the main cathedral (you can see in the pic) they have an antique market and there's only two rows of stalls/tents but if you walk down the middle row there is a lady that has these two glass cases and in them is pretty much every Barcelona Membership card from the past 80+ years, as well as tickets to numerous international games from the past fifty years. Well I nearly shit myself.



There you have it - the 50th anniversary membership card, one from 1954 and the 25th anniversary of the Nou Camp 1982 Membership card. A pre-birthday present for myself (fyi they cost 20-30 euros. ouch) BUT in that I also saw this ticket (photocopied in the photo) and thought to myself - oh my buddy rick who works for RedNation, his kids are part Hungarian, this would be cool so they could have a memento to know they have football in their blood from both sides of their family. Well holy shit, do you know about this game?? Look it up. 100,000 people - the first game England loses at Wembly, and in the midst of Hungary's 3-4 year unbeaten streak. Anyway, look it up and if you decide to visit beautiful Barcelona, maybe you could check for me if she has another one of those tickets :)

DEDICATION

This is what it is all about. The taxi will be here in 5 mins but i'm still blogging! Actually it is pretty lame. I should be chillin and actually going over my luggage but I've been more preoccupied with the game today and making sure this shit is all up to date. Wow. Oh well no captions today but you can make up your own!

Dry game = BOOOOORING
Where is everybody? OH YEAH OUTSIDE LINING UP BAAAAAAAH



COME ON LADS!


Serioux injured - Dichio on annnnnnd


GOOOOOOOOOOL



"Just in case anyone has forgotten that we are dicks, if you stand we will throw you out. No standing and cheering, it could lead to a home field advantage and we don't want that. Just money. More money. Yours."


Ohhh shit


MY CAB IS HERE GOTTA RUN
SEE YOU SUCKAS IN 2 WEEKS
GO REDS BEAT PUERTO RICO
SEE YOU TEAM CANADA AT THE AIRPORT!!

On the trot

Well there you have it, three wins in a row. Never mind two were at home against a team that had yet to score on the road and one against a USL-1 B team. Wins are wins and Toronto FC stays in contention for the top of the East with a convincing 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls. I will not pretend these two games against New York were beautiful football, but with help on the way in name of Ali Gerba and supposedly more to come, to be in this position is crucial for the Reds. It was, though, a beautiful night to take in a game and soak up some Canadian football.

First thing's first ... oh how I've missed wearing you. I'll never be mad at you again TFC jersey. Fits just like I remembered it two weeks ago.


Tonight I was sitting in the infamous section 105. Ooooooo the flashpoint for the BMO security crackdown. I had to be on my best behaviour or else I'd be pissing in a bottle in the 80th minute. Was that crude? Just sayin' because I wouldn't want to get chucked out on my way to the bathroom.


Whoa what is up with this?! Relax the boys wore pink for breast cancer awareness


UNLIKE THESE EURO FRUITCAKES!!!


Early on the lads weren't gunning it but this match-up of De Ro against Pacheco was in our favour all night long. De Ro was open there the entire game.


After 28 mins (or fourteen games) ... VITTI SCORES!! Nothing fancy like you'd expect from a long-haired Argentine but he's paid to score and he's finally done it!!



Looking pretty good at half time. Until we were subjected to this. These guys simply had to kick these boxes off the table. Someone in the Carlsberg marketing department is getting canned after this useless promotion that resulted in NOBODY hitting the target.


Even the punks couldn't do it! Actually I'm not sure how punk it is to dress like Avril Lavigne from the neck down plus sandals.


Second half gets rolling and right into it De Ro again with class!!! He is on fire, this was a sweet goal and perfect ball from Barrett. Hey as long as we have someone finishing, Chad can be a player here IMO.


Now up 2-0 things get chippy with Dane Richards taking out Serioux. Why is it always the little guys?? This was a good series where Nick Garcia was talking mad shit to him the whole way down the field, then (look at the pic, Brennan is PIIISSSSEDDD) Jimmy B storms in and De Ro as well. I was surprised Serioux didn't chop him down before the game was out.



De Ro is the heart of the team right now. Dichio falls in just behind him ... heart valve? Atrium? Either way our subs up front are only going to get better in the near future.


Lucky for Richards it ended and TFC must be feeling pretty good to get out with a clean sheet in front of the home crowd. Still have some loose ends to clean up but points are points and hopefully more players are on the way.


And here is the perfect shot to end a perfect night of the beautiful game.