Sober Second Thoughts: And so it goes...

You have every right to be angry tonight. After watching TFC lose 5-0 to New York (5-0?!), it’s perfectly understandable if you want to burn BMO Field to the ground. The result was awful. It was painful and it was more than a little surreal. It’s inconceivable that a team could lose that badly – to another team that was that bad – in a game that meant that much (this probably isn’t a good time to point out that the other results TFC needed happened. A win would have put them in).

So, yes, anger is reasonable. It’s probably even healthy. I’m sure there is a lot of anger amongst the players and staff of the Reds right now. It’s not like they wanted to embarrass themselves.

But, I can’t bring myself to be spitting mad. No, I’m sad. I’m sad because I know what kind of opportunity a playoff run would have provided Toronto and Canadian soccer fans. I’m sad because I know that a lot of good friends are also sad tonight and I’m sad because another season – we only get so many in our life – is gone. It’s 152 long days before TFC will kick a ball in anger again. That’s more than four months before TFC fans can gather to support the team and to share our passion for this game. It also feels that a limited opportunity for this team to truly break through to the mainstream – not that go-once-a-year-get-loaded-in-the-south-end crowd, but the actual, honest to goodness sports fan -- is gone.

We had DeRo and Julian, Scarborough boys, and no real competition in the city for our attention. Something special could have happened. Instead, it’s a punch line (and we all know there will be plenty of media folks out there tomorrow enjoying their oh-so-hilarious TFC punch lines). Nothing will ever be easy for soccer fans in this city. That’s pretty clear.

So, yeah, as I said, be angry. Punch a wall if you need to. Swear. Whatever. And, then get over yourself.

Supporting a team, especially a football club, is a grind. You don’t do it to secure an invite to the victory party. You do it to connect yourself to a community and to others who share your passion. Sure, you want to see the team win and half the fun is second guessing them, but if you are in it for the glory you might as well stay home and watch Man U on the tube. There are thousands of professional football teams in the world. Very, very few win. Pointing that out doesn’t mean you are giving up on the possibility of your team one day lifting a trophy. Rather, it’s understanding that there are other things about supporting a team that make it worthwhile. It’s understood that it’s difficult to see those things when you are staring at 5-0 win, but they are there.

What I’m saddest about tonight is that it will be four plus months before I can once again gather with the men and women who fill up the south end of BMO Field. In three short years they have become a living, breathing community – lawyers standing beside plumbers, new Canadians beside hopeless hosers. Yes, many of those folks enjoy an adult beverage, but that’s not why they are there. They are there for the football and they are friends because of that. Although the community exists beyond BMO Field – through soccer leagues, Christmas parties, random encounters in a mall, etc. – it’s at its best when it’s a mob attempting to will TFC to victory.

In moments of weakness, I imagine that mob growing disenchanted and walking away. Perhaps a fit of frustration will make them forget how wonderful the experience is and how important the community has become. Maybe, the mob will become blinded by the scoreboard and lose focus on the full picture.

That would be a shame because then they might miss it when the scoreboard one day turns in TFC’s favour. This is a third year club. We shouldn’t forget that. Yes, they could have done more. Yes, we should demand that there is a consequence to losing 5-0 to the worst team in the league. But, we should also remember that there will be another game soon enough.

And it will go on and on and on and on...

I’ll see you at BMO April 17.