Saturday, March 22, 2014

National Soccer Stadium vs the Double Blue




My opinion about transforming our stadium, the National Soccer Stadium into a two sport stadium is irrational and negative. If it is inevitable, that does not make it any better a decision.

I am convinced that even if Tim Leiweke has the perfect plan, one that preserves 100 aspects of the soccer experience at the stadium and adds another 100 improvements, even if he negotiates with we diehard TFC fans in good faith and ensures that his perfect plan becomes perfect reality, in the end the door is being opened to disaster simply because disaster and decline wear a uniform in this town. The Double Blue.

I have been trying to craft a heart warming story about my life as an Argo fan (1957 to 1992) to
prepare for the stadium change meeting today.
I have always said that the first Argo game I can recall from youth was when the Calgary Stampeders came to town and beat us 55-0. It was love at first sight. I think I was ready to suffer as a TFC fan because my youth was dedicated to the Argos.
I was an Argo fan because of my Dad. My father emigrated to Toronto in 1952. It is in the family dna to support ONE team with all of your heart. Dad was born and raised in wartime England. His soccer roots would reappear every four years when the World Cup was on.  Dad's one team became the Toronto Argos. He bled double blue. He died in 1992. I miss him greatly, yet I am happy that he has been spared watching his Argos fade.

Everything that could be done to squander and downgrade Canadian football in Toronto has been done.
Rotating cheap skate owners

Generations raised by American TV and therefore adopting the NFL as their football league

Decades as second fiddle in a crappy stadium for football

University football crowds in this city  shrunk down to parents and the lost.

It has been sad.

So put your stadium plan aside. The Double Blue will find a way to shrink and lose colour in the wash. The Boatmen moving back to a place by the lake will only make it easier for them to sink.


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