I am fond of February. It is the first month of the off-season when you can finally say 'TFC game next month". That, and the signs that days are getting just a little longer, are important to me.
Now since I blogged that TFC was using the pre-season stage to shed some players, they turned around and signed two defenders.

TFC training camp opens this week and it would be great to feel that anticipation for a new season rising in one's heart. New season, new faces would be a great motto for TFC to adopt. Toronto certainly seems to have roster spots available.
In the month of January we have spent more time waving goodbye than waving hello.

There was good news coming out of the TFC universe today as Joao Plata left the loan category and signed for Toronto. The deal was described as "multi-year" and no dollar amount was mentioned.
I like Plata, you have to admire the energy and dedication that he brings to the field. I am still convinced that he should be used as a super sub more often.

I have difficulty with endings. I am not sure that I would like people who handle endings with detached aplomb. Now that I have used the phrase "detached aplomb', honestly it just popped into my head, I am wondering if this means I would not like James Bond and why do words such as "aplomb" stick in my head when I have trouble remembering the names of people I see every day.

Well, we don't have the Teacher's Pension Plan to kickaround anymore. The big bad mediagiants, Bell and Rogers have married and bought MLSE. Now what does this meanfor our little TFC? I am hoping for either benign neglect or selling off the team,but not holding my breath for either. Bizarre billionaires are rare in Canada.

Ok, I am in a strange place mentally today.
Imagine that Toronto FC had instantly become the Barcelona of MLS and everything they had ever done had turned into football gold. Expansion draft day arrives for Montreal and their leadership says we must pick up all the ex-TFC players that we can, since their castoffs might still have some of the Toronto magic to them.

Protected
Avila, Eric -TFC seems high on him, not sure myself
Dunfield, Terry – on list, JDG off, suspect something
Eckersley, Richard -young, energetic, potential and skill and fan fave
Frei, Stefan (GK) - team foundation
Frings, Torsten -team foundation DP
Harden, Ty- salary cap bargain
Iro, Andy- size and left foot?

Here I sit watching television and waiting for coverage of the 2011 MLS Cup to start. I am hoping that Americans have a pregame show to watch. TSN2 is showing a heart wrenching documentary about a former basketball player who battles serious addiction problems. A worthy show I am sure, but hardly designed to get your mind into a "big game" mode.

Down we go to BMO Field for season closer number 5. It qualifies, before the first ball is kicked, as bittersweet. The win in Dallas on Tuesday night puts TFC past the group stage of the Champion's League for the first time next spring. They showed that the team can rise to the occasion and win a big game on the road has to be sweetest point of the year.

They did it. Toronto FC needed to win the game in Dallas to get through to the next round of Champion's League and they did it. Danny Koevermans scored the first half goal and Plata scored 2 in the second half.It shows that real progress has been made in this latter part of the season. They looked flat in August, but now they are in the quarter-finals.

As modern folk, we live our lives in the world of design. The clothing, the car, the furniture, the food and the wine, the house, the suburb, the road, the mall, the way the light falls across your face as I take your picture...I know that we can still go for a walk in the woods and shake it all away, for a while.

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It was a night to say goodbye to summery things. Weather wise we had been forced to don gloves and tuques, scarves and hoodies. Funny that around here we enter spring as hardy winter people- thrilled to see a ball on a green pitch and dressed for any weather. Six months later we encounter the first true fall night and we have been transformed into summer people, quietly wondering if we can take anything colder than this.

It was another beautiful September night at BMO Field Tuesday evening. As a fan, I got much more than I bargained for. The team showed some spine and some sparkle against a Mexican team that had ripped them to shreds in the first half of their south of the border (x2) game in the CONCACAF Champion's League.

I am thinking that TFC's lack of a true nickname is a reflection of their lack of success over the years. Dan Dunleavy (announcing the game on GOLTV) was smart not to refer to Toronto as the "Reds" when playing against a team wearing red. It made me think that "Reds" will never take hold, it is just a place holder until something inspired comes along.

Game notes later - atmosphere at BMO first...The weather helped to set the scene last night at BMO Field, it was a perfect Toronto in September evening. The wind never picked up off of the lake, the sky was clear and the temperature was somewhere between balmy and cool. As the sun was setting, I had made sure to pack a hoodie and a fleece vest, yet they were never needed.