I Heart Huckerby... I and II

I

Anyone care to venture a guess as to if/when this guy will show up in Toronto?

I've gone back and forth over this a couple times in the last day or so, but right now my gut feeling is that he's not coming.

** I'd like to take this moment to remind everyone reading that any predictions on the blog are PURE speculation, and not to be taken as fact, hard news or even halfway truthful. Unless, of course, any of my speculation comes true. Then I receive full credit for having predicted it. Those are the rules. I didn't make them up. I just play by them **

ANDREW WALLACE/TORONTO STAR

So far, what you see is what you get. So far.

As I was saying, despite Mo Johnston's firm assertion that TFC wouldn't buy any players before the transfer deadline, part of me thought Huckerby would show up here eventually, maybe stroll into BMO field in mid-April, like Dichio did last season.

This hunch wasn't based on anything rational. I mean, this guy's nearly 32 years old and taking painkillers for a chronic hip condition. Unless he's Bo Jackson, I can't see him overcoming those medical issues to have a major impact.

Instead, something Mo said set me off.

Last spring I heard a rumour that TFC was gong to sign Gennaro Gattuso. When I ran it by Mo he was like (and I'm paraphrasing here)  "hell, no! We can't afford that guy!"

It's happened with other players too. I'll hear TFC's trying to sign a guy and most times if they're not Mo will tell me so.

But yesterday he just kept saying he wasn't allowed to talk about players under contract to other clubs.

Hmmmm.....

A hint?

Maybe. We know Mo likes to hint.

But maybe not. Where's his incentive to sign an aging, ailing striker?

So this morning a quick Google news search brings me this story from England.

Turns out Norwich City's manager hasn't heard a thing from anyone over here, or at least that's what he's telling reporters over there.

Is this where the plot thickens? Or just where it fizzles?

I'm betting it's option number two. I can see why Norwich might want to dump an older, unhealthy player who's probably making a hefty salary, but I just can't see a reason for TFC to pick him up, especially knowing that he'll gobble up a big chunk of the salary cap.

But what do I know? I'm just a newspaper reporter.

I want to  know what the readers think.

Discuss....

II

Looks like DC United have signed their first DP.

Actually, the AP story simply says they've signed Marcelo Gallardo, who played for Argentina in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. All the secondary reports say Gallardo is the team's DP.

The news had Cathal Kelly shaking his head. He and I disagree on DPs. He's convinced TFC needs to sign one, like yesterday. I'm still not sure. He says you do it to show the loud and loyal fans at BMO Field (the ones that pilloried him for referring to the team as "FC," and the ones who flooded my inbox with protests after I wrote that some of them booed the team after the RSL game) that you're serious about winning. I say the best way to show you're serious about winning is to build a team that wins, DP or not.

The top four teams in 2007 (DC, Chivas, Houston and New England) were all DP-free. FC Dallas spent nearly $880,000 on Denilson and the only postseason stat he collected was a yellow card.

Training camp for season two starts on Friday, and while TFC has pruned a few players from last year's last-place squad, they've added little beyond their draft picks. Johnston has been hinting about adding someone from overseas (though, as I said, probably not Huckerby, in-my-not-so-expert-opinion) but we haven't seen anyone yet.

You guys know my opinion on the subject, but I want to know what you think.

Is it time for a DP at TFC?

Discuss using the comments link below.

- Morgan Campbell

All TFC all the time....well, most of the time....more of the time?

Yes, soccer fans, I know it's been a minute but now that the Major League Soccer off-season is just about over I figured it's to jumpstart this blog.

Good news for TFC and MLS fans. Around MLS Cup time I had a conversation with Star sports editor Mike Simpson and we decided it's time to expand the Star's MLS coverage. Last year we covered TFC but never said much about what was happening in the rest of MLS. Strategies like that work when you're covering a team like the Marlies because, honestly, few sports fans around here care about them and even fewer give a damn what's happening in the rest of the AHL.

But TFC's different. Here you have a group of dedicated soccer fans who care deeply about the team, and another group of sports fans beyond them who want to start caring because they've hear the TFC buzz and want to get involved. That type of readership demands and deserves a little more.

In '07 readers sent me my share of hate mail (expected), praise mail (unexpected) and constructive criticism (much appreciated).  I think I did a pretty good job covering TFC last season. I wasn't perfect, but I held it down.

But looking back on TFC's first season I think my coverage lacked context. During the week I'd write about TFC, then every weekend some team would materialize at BMO Field to play against them, then disappear again. LA Galaxy got some special attention because Becks played with them. We gave some extra juice to Houston because they had Dwayne De Rosario.

Overall, though, we didn't cover TFC the way we covered the Raptors, Leafs, Argos and Jays. We covered TFC in isolation, and not as part of a league. That tactic works the first year, but is less effective as your audience grows and their interest deepens.

So we're going to make a few changes this year. Can't say exactly how it all will work out, but I know that to put TFC games in their proper context I need to follow the entire league, so that will happen this season.

Also, if the budgets allow it, I'll make it to a few more road games in 08. Last season I flew out to the season opener against Chivas USA, and that was it. But last year also showed us that readers at home pay close attention to what happens on the road, and a simple AP story won't always satisfy them.  Readers want road game coverage tailored to their interests, so that's what we're trying to provide this year.

Doesn't mean I'll reach every road game.

Budgets.

But I'm confident I'll get to the important ones.

I realize that means hitting the season opener, and while there are much more glamourous places to be than Columbus in late March, I'm willing to do it in the name of expanded coverage.

Plus, I could use the Aeroplan points.

-- Morgan Campbell