I got nothin...

I'm going to be honest with you...I got nothing. I have nothing at all to write about....so, I'm going to just start writing and see how that turns out. Even after that past sentence, still nothing. Just padding word count at this point.

OK, first off....how about another look-a-like. Everyone likes those. I present to you a set of twins, seperated at birth. Former Charlton striker Kevin Lisbie and Warrick Dunn.





Soooooooooo......how about those Toronto FC fans? Passionate bunch, but there are a few who take things a little too seriously, no?

John Doyle has an interesting article about Toronto FC posted on the Guardian's (a UK newspaper) website.

Meanwhile in Canada...

He's a Canadian, who has written a complimentary piece about Toronto FC and it's fans for the masses overseas. Basically, it article can be summed up as follows, "Toronto FC has a great following. Didn't need Beckham to make the game popular here. Danny Dichio is a folk hero."

Now, you may remember that Toronto FC fans were up in arms over the fact that Damien Cox did not mention them in his recent article about summer sports in Toronto. Fair enough. Now, Toronto FC gets mentioned lovingly in a publication with a much higher profile than The Star, and what happens? Some fans, (maybe the same ones, maybe it's a totally different group), get totally pissed that Doyle referred to the team as "The FC" and not "TFC". For shame.

You know what, who really cares what the team gets called? Just enjoy it. Don't bombard Doyle with your complaints....he wasn't being smug or intentionally belittling the team...it was all done with good intentions.

The fans who nitpick about others who call the team "FC" or "The FC" need to realize that this is North America, and MLS is a North American league. The standard naming of a franchise is as follows:

[CITY NAME] [TEAM NAME]

For example:

• Buffalo Bills
• Barrie Baycats
• Macon Whoopee (this is fo real)
• Hamilton Predators

So, for anyone who isn't a stickler asshole, referring to the team as FC is fine. It fits the naming convention of city name, followed by team name. Now, I agree that FC is kind of a dumb name for a team, and TFC has a better ring to it, but relax....everyone is rooting for the same team.

Damien Cox hates Toronto FC. He also hates the internet and all of Sting's solo work.

This is an interesting read:


Soccer fans respond to Damien Cox


Actually, to see what has got the TFC fans up in arms, you might want to read this article first.

I don't really agree with Cox's assessment that soccer fans are the only fans who get up in arms about the lack of recognition. Whenever the Raptors are left out of a discussion on the NBA, 10x as many emails fly to ESPN or CNNSI than Cox got this week. I don't think this happens with the Jays, or the Argos or even the Leafs.

So, what can be concluded from this? I'd say, that amongst 16-35, web-based and upwardly mobile (not to mention angry) demographic, Toronto FC and the Raptors are the teams of choice. I go to a lot of Jays games, and rarely do I see packs of guys out. It's a lot of families and tourists. I'd try to assess the Leafs, but Lord knows I never get to a game. So, that leaves the Raptors and Toronto FC. From what I've seen in person, these games are rammed with exactly the demographic described above.

Which leads me back to Damien Cox and the "old" media. In my opinion, Cox and his contemporaries fail to recognize TFC because they know they have nothing to add to the debate. They continue to rant about the Leafs and MLSE because they know they still have an audience with all the "Tom from Unionville"s of the world. And fair enough....the gurus behind FAN590 and The Star know more about target audiences than I do, but c'mon....there's gotta be a seachange at some point. Although, maybe the "old" media (590, The Star) will just continue to cover the "old" guard (Leafs, Jays, Argos) while the young and web-based will be the authority on the Raptors and TFC. I like Swirsky on 590, but he is hardly cutting edge. If I want a scoop on the NBA, I'm hitting RealGM. Toronto FC, I'd hit the messageboards before I referred to the Star's website. I like Cathal Kelly, but I'm pretty close to cancelling my Star subscription due to the fact their sports section sucks. If it weren't for the puzzles over the weekend, I would have been out long ago.

So, Cox....I really couldn't care less if you fail to mention Toronto FC. I'm not looking your way for guidance on the subject. That said, when you do get bombarded and forced into mentioning Toronto FC, don't fire back with cheaps shots as if the whole thing is below you. Play fair and admit it isn't your deal. Shots at the field turf, and the fact that us "lemmings" are passionate about a last place team are just pathetic. I'm not an MLSE fan, but you can't blame them for TFC being in last place....that's just how it works with expansion teams.

The passion from the previously mentioned "lemmings" can probably be attributed to a few things, including the people in charge of marketing Toronto FC. They aced it, if you ask me. People craved big time soccer, and it was finally delivered. MLS isn't the Premiership or Serie A, but it is as good as we are going to get....and soccer fans here in town knew that. From day one, the people at Toronto FC were listening to their fans and put together a grassroots marketing campaign. Pub nights and messageboards, that is about it. $200 season seats and a Beckham signing don't hurt either....although most of the cheap seats were gone before Beckham went to LA, so clearly it's a bit more than just the glamour ticket of the moment.

Now, will Toronto FC continue to draw crowds for years to come? Remains to be seen, but I think they will. The game day experience is second to none. The fact that the cops let you tailgate on a sunny Saturday afternoon is pure gold. I don't know how the MLSE-Toronto Police dynamic works, but if I were betting, I'd say that the Toronto FC brass has told the heat to give the parking lot beer drinkers a little leeway....and that is FINE with me.

So, I've gotten off course here. Toronto FC is good times, that's the point. There could be a lot of reasons Cox ignores it (and by Cox, I mean Damien Cox, as well as the Bobcat/590 set), but it's mainly the fear of the unknown. The local sports media should embrace Toronto FC. It very well could be the show that proves to be the end of the so-called August dead zone. Toronto would be better off it all it's teams had the passionate supporters that Toronto FC has.

Bye bye Beckham....

My dream scenario for this coming weekend is a complete and total confirmation that David Beckham will NOT play here against Toronto FC. Now, it would be enjoyable to watch Becks play, and see how he does.....but I would get even more satisfaction from the fact that the scalpers down at BMO Field are losing their shirts on this.

With Toronto FC, as well as the U20 World Cup in town, I believe I have been to about a dozen games at BMO Field so far this year. At least four times, I have seen the brewings of a scalpers turf war. Mostly, it involves a 905er in a wife beater yelling at another 905er in a wife beater, "Hey eff you...this is MY corner...you can't sell tickets here." So, apparently scalpers operate via the same catty territoriality that hookers do.

I believe that most scalpers, if posed with the "you're a douchebag criminal" statement would retort with the argument that they are just providing a necessary service. Clearly there are inefficiencies in the ticket pricing model, and these touts are taking advantage of that. To that, I say fair enough.

The part that bothers me is that these clowns will use the Economics 101 argument to justify their actions, but at the same time believe they can somehow stake claims to a territory, and not allow other competitors to better them in said territory. I don't remember the chapter about "calling dibs" when I studied economics years ago.

So yes, their hypocrisy is what makes me hate scalpers. That, and their stupid clothes. I'm talking directly at you TFC scalper with the bejeweled Red Sox hat. You and your old man sidekick who dresses like a 14-year old from Mississauga. I'm pretty sure I recall you wearing basketball shoes, baggy jeans, a Hawaiian shirt and a neon windbreaker. Not to mention a bad pair of Ray-Bans. Hey - let's get this straight....you're a 44 year old guy of Armenian or Kazakh descent....dress like it.

As the likelihood of David Beckham playing dwindles, I'm thoroughly enjoying the panic selling of tickets on eBay and Craigslist. The average price of a ticket on Craigslist dropped by almost 50% once Mo Johnston announced that David Beckham would not play. The average price should drop some more tomorrow, now that Frank Yallop has come out and said it's pretty unlikely Becks will play. The season ticket holders trying to make a quick buck would have been best served by selling their tickets weeks ago, when the Beckham circus first arrived stateside.

As much as I like Becks, he's well into his fifteen minutes. Soccer is never going mainstream in America. Best case, he's Lance Armstrong, who's probably better known for selling yellow bracelets and being buddies with Matthew McConaughey than his sporting abilities. Although, riding a bike isn't really a sport....but that is another story.

So yeah. As much as I would like to see one David Beckham prancing about the field turf this coming Sunday, I hope Frank Yallop confirms he is out.....just so these idiot scalpers lose hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

For those of you with tickets, there is still reason to go. To absolutely torment Landon Donovan for 90+ minutes. First things first, his name is "Landon", which is terrible. Secondly, well....just review the pictures below.



Credit to the lads over at torfc.com for these gems, especially the guy who calls himself flatpicker. These are absolutely the most ridiculous pictures I have ever seen. One is real, one is fake...but really, they both kinda put the same point across. Are you an athlete, or a gay porn star??!?! Now, I have nothing against the gay porn industry...but should you really be marketing supposedly straight athletes with it? Two things you will NEVER see are peace in the Middle East, or a picture of Paul Posluszny in assless chaps. This I promise you.....