Just under three months since Toronto FC lost the MLS Cup to a team that didn't have a shot on goal in 120 minutes, the new season started for TFC in warm and sunny Salt Lake City. It seemed like a world away from that bitingly cold night and that loss against Seattle.
Whereas football teams all over the world seem to go through wholesale changes over the off season, Toronto started with the same 11 players that took the field against Seattle. If it ain't really that broke, why fix it? TFC'S theme for the season is "unfinished business." So, the same players have been given the opportunity to go one step further.
Even though I have become a fan of MLS football, I still have my self-amusement moments. The approximate kick-off times will forever baffle me. TFC played Real Salt Lake today. To Europeans it sounds like the name of a football team with a long football history. In North America it sounds like the name of a twitter account. Of course it would be amusing if there was a competing twitter account for the team and the official account had to be called the real Real Salt Lake. Now I'm just being silly.
Real Salt Lake, or RSL, were named after a relationship was formed with Real Madrid, who were given the Royal designation by the King of Spain. The owner and founder of RSL joked that there was no monarch that he knew of in Salt Lake, and he looked forward to conversations with his family where he would have to correct them on the correct pronunciation of "real".
After TFC'S exploits last season there has been more excitement in Toronto for the start of the season. It's become a bit more cool to be a fan of soccer. A couple of days ago the dude on the radio (he really is a dude) was going on about TFC'S home opener this Saturday. "Home Openers" are big deals in North American sports. Calendars are marked and there is always lots of hype. The dude was talking it up and "aren't we all so excited?". He even warned his listeners to dress warm in anticipation of the forecast cold weather for Saturday night. I'm sure a lot of his bemused listeners were wondering why they would need to dress warm to sit in front of the TV. How the dude (and his researcher and producer) got it completely wrong was amusing. It diminished his dudeness, his trying to be "one of the lads with talk of football" kind of backfired.
TFC's home opener is on March 31st and I hope it is a lot warmer that the -10C we had today. It was even colder than that cold night in December. I wonder if the dude is still standing at the gates in his long underwear and two winter coats wondering why the lights aren't on and nobody else is there. Mind you, he was probably at home planning to watch hockey on TV all along anyway.
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