Day -572. WorldCup2018
There's a lot of excitement in Toronto for Tuesday's MLS Eastern Conference final first leg against Montreal. Or so you would think. They told me this was a sports-mad city when I moved here. And it is true. Everybody talks about the Maple Leafs (hockey), Blue Jays (baseball) and the Raptors (basketball). Even the Argonauts of the Canadian Football League have a dedicated following. I admit it would be a tough sell for someone to get me seriously interested in the Argos and the CFL. They play this game I don’t quite understand all summer and then pretty much all the teams seem to be in the play-offs.
There is also a lot of excitement when one of Toronto’s sports teams is on a good run. The Blue Jays had everybody and their uncle and sister unashamedly jumping on their bandwagon for the last two play-off runs. And why not? It was fun and intense and there’s something positively uplifting about having a winning team to follow. The Raptors are growing into serious NBA contenders and they have appealed to a young and very diverse demographic. No complaints there. The Maple Leafs? Well, it didn’t take me long to realise that they are the team that fans in this city have the most complex relationship with. It’s hockey, right. It’s Canada’s game and the Leafs play in Canada’s biggest city. They are one of the best supported, if not the best, teams in the NHL. But the fans have been teased with a few moments of near-greatness only to be tortured with many years of utter despair at the mediocrity of the team. There are many die-hard fans who love the team and take all the pain that comes with that love. There are other part-time fans who want to have more love for the team but are tired of being let down so many times. And pretty much the rest of the City, apart from those who are completely disinterested, will either only acknowledge the existence of the Leafs as the subject of many a bad joke, or deny that there is a hockey team until there is word that of a potential run to the end of season play-offs.
So into all this enter Toronto FC and their stellar season which we hope will get even better. They are definitely the new kids on the block. And as they still search for validation and acceptance in the Toronto sports scene, there is limited draw for a wider audience. There is irony and a bit of bafflement, as I see it. There are many here who love football. They inherited the support of teams that their fathers or grandfathers were fans of back in the country they emigrated from. The World Cup is followed and supported here like nowhere else. All 32 countries have a passionate following. But TFC, for many is not Juventus or River Plate, not the real deal.
Beyond the football crowd, amongst the broader Toronto sports fan base, I would think that the whole city would be behind TFC, being two matches away from reaching the MLS final. Baseball is over, hockey and basketball are at the beginning of their seasons, the Argos were terrible this year and so here’s an opportunity to get caught up in the excitement of a winning team. The TFC fans make noise like nobody else and even that is reason enough to watch. The team is also pretty good. Their 7-0 aggregate win against New York City was the biggest ever MLS play-off win. And, yet, I am baffled by the struggle to find any real media momentum in the build-up to Tuesday’s match.
I may be old fashioned in that I look forward to my home-delivered weekend newspaper. This morning in the 28 sections (I lose count) of the Toronto Star I expected to have lots to read about TFC. Santa Claus and his parade had his own section. Surely the Star would jump on this possible history making TFC achievement: the team, who’s injured; the coach, what does he think; the fans, how are they preparing for it; how about the weather and how cold it might be next week in Toronto? I glanced at the standard Leafs’ analysis on the front page of the sports section, the report on the Crossfit Games (yes, really), the inside page dedicated to more Leafs, then baseball, basketball and NFL football and looked forward to the big TFC report on the back page. And there it was. Nestled amongst all the sporting briefs, were a few lines about the biggest match in Toronto’s football history. Yet it wasn’t even about TFC. Didier Drogba, Montreal’s 38 year old superstar player, is going to make himself available to play in Montreal, even though it is being played on an artificial pitch. In his time here, to prevent injury and because he has the clout to do this, he has refused to play if it’s not on real grass. And that was that.
Maybe tomorrow will be better. But I won’t hold my breath. There will be lots of hockey to write about. The Leafs lost again so there has to be some serious analysing. They only play about 900 games all season, so game number 18 has to written about in great detail.
I do enjoy watching the Leafs occasionally. I had the game on the whole time I was writing this. I enjoy, as a sports fan, the pre- and post-game discussions on TV, maybe even more than the actual hockey. I like listening to people in the know talk about what the sport they love. I also enjoy reading the Toronto Star. I just am a little astounded by the lack of support for TFC. I imagine the players sitting around after training, picking a newspaper in the clubhouse and seeing nothing written about them and wondering, “what more do we have to do to get some recognition?”
A little side note. Right at the end of TFC’s first leg win against New York, the Toronto Star reporter covering the match tweeted something to the effect of, “and just as the whistle blows there’s the obligatory fight at a football match”. A couple of players got a little emotional and that’s what got her attention. I thought, it’s true, football still won’t be taken seriously because that’s what the un-knowledgeable expect from it, fights. And that’s what was reported on first. And the irony is so painfully obvious here. All this talk of the Leafs and hockey, where fighting is celebrated and recorded in statistics.
That was long and in the end, to whoever in Toronto reads this and the newspapers, I appeal: get behind your TFC. You may not be able to buy a ticket anymore but you can still support them. Watch on TV, find out about the team. Write about them. Sebastian Giovinco could play for any team in the world. He is that good. Michael Bradley is not far behind. AFC Roma thought he was good enough. The Leafs will be huffing and puffing, exciting and disappointing, for what seems like every day of the week until next April. TFC is now. And now is exciting.
There's a lot of excitement in Toronto for Tuesday's MLS Eastern Conference final first leg against Montreal. Or so you would think. They told me this was a sports-mad city when I moved here. And it is true. Everybody talks about the Maple Leafs (hockey), Blue Jays (baseball) and the Raptors (basketball). Even the Argonauts of the Canadian Football League have a dedicated following. I admit it would be a tough sell for someone to get me seriously interested in the Argos and the CFL. They play this game I don’t quite understand all summer and then pretty much all the teams seem to be in the play-offs.
There is also a lot of excitement when one of Toronto’s sports teams is on a good run. The Blue Jays had everybody and their uncle and sister unashamedly jumping on their bandwagon for the last two play-off runs. And why not? It was fun and intense and there’s something positively uplifting about having a winning team to follow. The Raptors are growing into serious NBA contenders and they have appealed to a young and very diverse demographic. No complaints there. The Maple Leafs? Well, it didn’t take me long to realise that they are the team that fans in this city have the most complex relationship with. It’s hockey, right. It’s Canada’s game and the Leafs play in Canada’s biggest city. They are one of the best supported, if not the best, teams in the NHL. But the fans have been teased with a few moments of near-greatness only to be tortured with many years of utter despair at the mediocrity of the team. There are many die-hard fans who love the team and take all the pain that comes with that love. There are other part-time fans who want to have more love for the team but are tired of being let down so many times. And pretty much the rest of the City, apart from those who are completely disinterested, will either only acknowledge the existence of the Leafs as the subject of many a bad joke, or deny that there is a hockey team until there is word that of a potential run to the end of season play-offs.
So into all this enter Toronto FC and their stellar season which we hope will get even better. They are definitely the new kids on the block. And as they still search for validation and acceptance in the Toronto sports scene, there is limited draw for a wider audience. There is irony and a bit of bafflement, as I see it. There are many here who love football. They inherited the support of teams that their fathers or grandfathers were fans of back in the country they emigrated from. The World Cup is followed and supported here like nowhere else. All 32 countries have a passionate following. But TFC, for many is not Juventus or River Plate, not the real deal.
Beyond the football crowd, amongst the broader Toronto sports fan base, I would think that the whole city would be behind TFC, being two matches away from reaching the MLS final. Baseball is over, hockey and basketball are at the beginning of their seasons, the Argos were terrible this year and so here’s an opportunity to get caught up in the excitement of a winning team. The TFC fans make noise like nobody else and even that is reason enough to watch. The team is also pretty good. Their 7-0 aggregate win against New York City was the biggest ever MLS play-off win. And, yet, I am baffled by the struggle to find any real media momentum in the build-up to Tuesday’s match.
I may be old fashioned in that I look forward to my home-delivered weekend newspaper. This morning in the 28 sections (I lose count) of the Toronto Star I expected to have lots to read about TFC. Santa Claus and his parade had his own section. Surely the Star would jump on this possible history making TFC achievement: the team, who’s injured; the coach, what does he think; the fans, how are they preparing for it; how about the weather and how cold it might be next week in Toronto? I glanced at the standard Leafs’ analysis on the front page of the sports section, the report on the Crossfit Games (yes, really), the inside page dedicated to more Leafs, then baseball, basketball and NFL football and looked forward to the big TFC report on the back page. And there it was. Nestled amongst all the sporting briefs, were a few lines about the biggest match in Toronto’s football history. Yet it wasn’t even about TFC. Didier Drogba, Montreal’s 38 year old superstar player, is going to make himself available to play in Montreal, even though it is being played on an artificial pitch. In his time here, to prevent injury and because he has the clout to do this, he has refused to play if it’s not on real grass. And that was that.
Maybe tomorrow will be better. But I won’t hold my breath. There will be lots of hockey to write about. The Leafs lost again so there has to be some serious analysing. They only play about 900 games all season, so game number 18 has to written about in great detail.
I do enjoy watching the Leafs occasionally. I had the game on the whole time I was writing this. I enjoy, as a sports fan, the pre- and post-game discussions on TV, maybe even more than the actual hockey. I like listening to people in the know talk about what the sport they love. I also enjoy reading the Toronto Star. I just am a little astounded by the lack of support for TFC. I imagine the players sitting around after training, picking a newspaper in the clubhouse and seeing nothing written about them and wondering, “what more do we have to do to get some recognition?”
A little side note. Right at the end of TFC’s first leg win against New York, the Toronto Star reporter covering the match tweeted something to the effect of, “and just as the whistle blows there’s the obligatory fight at a football match”. A couple of players got a little emotional and that’s what got her attention. I thought, it’s true, football still won’t be taken seriously because that’s what the un-knowledgeable expect from it, fights. And that’s what was reported on first. And the irony is so painfully obvious here. All this talk of the Leafs and hockey, where fighting is celebrated and recorded in statistics.
That was long and in the end, to whoever in Toronto reads this and the newspapers, I appeal: get behind your TFC. You may not be able to buy a ticket anymore but you can still support them. Watch on TV, find out about the team. Write about them. Sebastian Giovinco could play for any team in the world. He is that good. Michael Bradley is not far behind. AFC Roma thought he was good enough. The Leafs will be huffing and puffing, exciting and disappointing, for what seems like every day of the week until next April. TFC is now. And now is exciting.
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