Saturday, December 31, 2011

On the brink of a new year

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.
2011 was a great year for me personally. There were people and places that wove through the year that I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life (or until the memory goes totally). The TFC season was not one of the things that made the year memorable, but hope for 2012 can only grow through the off-season.
So my best wishes to everyone for a Happy New Year. It is only months until we are all  back in Section 220 (by the way, if you are a reader who also knows me from the section, I have moved my seats. I have used my seniority to go down a few rows, but I will still be in talking distance).
May the winter fly and the soccer season come around the corner...and I promise to write a proper farewell to Nathan Sturgis any day now.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Bought and sold, but do new owners see beyond hockey?



Well, we don’t have the Teacher’s Pension Plan to kick around anymore.  The big bad media giants, Bell and Rogers have married and bought MLSE. Now what does this mean for 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.  I could get enthused about Belinda Stronach becoming owner of TFC, but that is just me. Maybe the increased role of Larry Tanenbaum is the silver lining to the deal?

Face it, this is a hockey thing and TFC is the afterthought to the afterthought (Raptors). I think that the Rogers side of the ownership will be baseball occupied all summer long and the BCE side will be hockey, hockey, hockey all year round. If CBC manages to lose HNIC to TSN can you imagine how hockey obsessed that sports channel will get?  TSN would rather cover zamboni races than anything soccer related.
So perhaps it is a dream that being owned by media giants will lead to better coverage of TFC.  I can have my dreams….