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.

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!!"

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.