Pardon the Tissue Paper

With nearly two weeks until the next game TFC took it easy at practice today. Small squad, slow pace.

Olivier Tebily and Laurent Robert were absent. They've each returned to England to retrieve some belongings and take care of some unfinished business. Don't expect them until next week.

Same with head coach John Carver, who went back home to sell his old house.

But Nick Dasovic was there.

You might remember him as the guy who coached Canada's under-23 national team inthe CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in March. If you really follow the soap opera that is national team soccer you may also remember him as the guy who helped guide Canada to the tournament semifinal after just a single 10-day training camp and a couple of low-level tuneup games.

Now that I think of it, I saw him Friday, too, walking around after the reserve team game against New York. I remembered his face -- even said hello to him when we passed in the hallway -- but only put a name to it until this morning, when I realized it was the same guy I'd seen in Nashville looking flustered after Canada's 3-0 loss to the U.S. in the CONCACAF tourney.

Anyway, he's here, but he's not here.

Insofar as he's on the field, working with players, tricked out in team sweats and (presumably) getting paid, he's here.

But he's not officially here because the team is still waiting on some league paperwork to clear before they formally announce his arrival.

Apparently the hold-up isn't anything major, otherwise he wouldn't be on the field. But it's enough to keep him from speaking to the media about why he came to TFC and how he left things with the CSA.

AARON LYNETT/TORONTO STAR

TFC's paper parade.

That'll come later.

Pardon the Streamers

This might already be old news in the soccer blogosphere, but Mike Wilbon and Dan Lebatard devoted two frenzied minutes of discussion to TFC and their fans on Friday's episode of Pardon the Interruption (be patient....it's after the Buzz Bissinger anti-blog rant).

Evidently, Wilbon doesn't like streamers.

In fact, he hates them. Says they're bush league, and that TFC's fan's antics are a big reason that folks in the U.S. refuse to take soccer seriously.

Now, I respect Wilbon. We're not buddies or anything, but I've met him a couple of times and he seems real cool. I mean, in the big picture we're nowhere near equals. If sportswriting were soccer I'm TFC and he's Man U. But we're both graduates of the World's Greatest J-School and members of NABJ, which makes us peers of sorts.

If I haven't made it clear enough, I think highly of the guy.

But I think he's wrong about the streamers.

Not saying MLS doesn't have some bush leagueishness it needs to overcome if it wants to reach mainstream sports fans on this continent, but showering Claudio Reyna with tissue paper doesn't even rank among the top 10 things making this sport look bad to Americans.

For example:

* Bush league is playing soccer in a baseball stadium with the fans so far away from the action they couldn't reach the field with streamers even if they wanted to.

* Bush league is a minimum salary that can barely cover the cost of Raptors tickets.

Cost of a personal seat license for seats near the bench at a Raptors game in 2008-09: $12, 888.89 (Cdn) before taxes.

Gabe Gala and Joey Melo's salaries for this season: $12,900 (U.S.)....before taxes.

Anything available in the Sprite Zone?

* Bush league is true hooliganism, when fans throw things a lot more dangerous than tissues, or when they become so violent the courts force teams to play in empty stadiums.

Compared with all that, streamers are, well, just what they are: a harmless expression of home team loyalty; fun for the fan and annoying for the target.

Has the novelty of streamers worn off for a lot of people (like me)? Of course it has. But I'd rather see streamers every week than see TFC fans graduate to throwing batteries, baseballs or shuriken.

Streamers aside, you've got 20,000 fans that show up every in a league where average attendance is less than 16,000, and they do it despite transit strikes (like the K.C. game) or crappy weather (like last Thursday). Unlike a lot of other MLS spectators, they'd even be here if Beckham never signed.

Can't call that Bush league.

And the streamers?

Just another sign that fans actually care.

By MLS standards, that's big time.

-- Morgan Campbell

Comments

[Sporty]

Sorry, but the streamers are bush league. It perpetuates the notion that soccer fans are puerile. If people in Canada find the MLS bush league, start your own league.

[Jonathan]

Bush league is also:
- having teams named after a crap beverage or third-rate donut shop
- grid-iron lines on the pitch
- a staggering lack of professional officiating
- a league braintrust so delusional that they think they'll built dedicated support by targeting the family unit.

Targeting streamers (we're not the only ground that does it, just the only one that does it in numbers) seems a case of jealousy more than anything else. This league, though better than it was 10 years ago, has more pressing priorities.

[alex]

I have to agree there are about 100 things in front of streamers the league should worry about (if at all) before this.
The streamers will die eventually, but there will still be plenty of things making the atmosphere at the park great, and plenty of people like "sporty" who will be hating on our success.

[Jason Ohashi]

Hey Morgan,
I made a comment in Feb. 25 about the pan pacific cup and you replied by saying that the j-league was mid-way through their season and used that as an excuse for their domination. Well right now i'm living in japan and i asked my brother (who also lives in japan) about when the season starts in j-league. apparently it's the same as the MLS in terms of timing and he said the pan pacific cup was a pre-season game for Osaka Gamba too. So, you know, they were in the same situation. Just to let you know.

[nima m]

get over the streamers, they're here to stay

[Dave Muncaster]

As a massive football fan and ardent TFC supporter, I have to say the streamers are bush league. If it was a cup final maybe, but what self respecting league in Europe does that on a regular basis? It's more reminiscent of something out of South America or Eastern Europe (obviously an over-generalization) where you're also afraid of getting stabbed or worse at the game. Let's stick to our awesome songs and scarves to rock BMO.

[Cashcleaner]

We have yet to hear a single complaint coming from the TFC players themselves about the streamers at BMO Field. Maybe if orwhen that happens the fans will respect their opinion and hold off with the streamers. Until that day, however, expect to see them as a mainstay at BMO Field.

[adrianojuventino]

No big deal. Streamers are part of the fun and maybe they are juvenile but then so is our franchise.
There's nothing wrong in feeling we're a miniature Bombonera !
As has been pointed out there are many more serious issues with MLS but the most serious one I think is the refereeing.It is just brutal and it's about time that sports writers who cover MLS start writing about this.

[Hal]

Wibon is irrelevant. If streamers go it will because the league sees no reason to allow for them. Personally, I would like to see streamers go.

What's bush league is a guy passes himself off as a journalist by watching a highlight reel and then passing ardent judgment as though he's King Solomon. Now that's bush league journalism. Plain and simple.

[Morgan Campbell]

Eeeaaassy there, Hal!

WIlbon is far form bush league. He's one of the top columnists out there, and it's been that way for a few years now. He's just not a guy, apparently, who watches a whole lot of soccer. Two years ago I might have said the same thing about streamers, but now that I've been out to the games and watched countless hours of GolTV and Fox Sports World I know they're not that big a deal...

Is he opinionated? Yes. That's why he makes the big bucks.

Uninformed? Probably. Washington Post has a very good reporter covering MLS, so it's not like WIlbon has much reason to follow the league.

But bush league?

Not at all...

AND I would imagine that part of the allure of throwing streamers is that, positive or negative, it provokes a strong reaction....which it has clearly done with Wilbon

[Hal]

OK, Morgan. Maybe I wasn’t clear. Perhaps we can start by defining terms. Let’s agree that the term bush league implies below major league, or unprofessional?

I think that you would agree that a good sports journalist investigates then reports. Otherwise he/she belongs with the rest of us in op-ed. The ESPN Pardon This Interruption (PTI) really is op-ed. PTI is not journalism. It is usually an editorial rant masquerading as journalism/sports reporting.

Footie friendly countries like Argentina, Mexico (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO0fY4xIGq8) and others allow and, at times, even encourage streamers in their professional soccer leagues. I can assure you that professional soccer in these countries is not bush league. I recognize that not all sports writers understand soccer. But if Wibon had paid attention in journalism school, he would have been remembered that professionally accredited journalists do their homework.

I’m embarrassed for ESPN and sports journalists who regularly editorialize rather than report and investigate. When reporters use blogs and highlight reels as their only sources of information then repackage the material and call it news, they mislead the public. They are, in fact, merely conduits or channels. Not journalists.

If someone wants to merely report the facts then he or she is a reporter. If someone wants to add value to information then they should show journalistic integrity and investigate the information properly to provide added value to the original information – that would make them a journalist.

For instance, you - Mr. Campbell, take the necessary steps to provide additional value to the information you find. I would call you professional.

With all due respect Morgan; Wibon did neither. He was not professional. He was bush league.

[TFClifer]

This is ridiculous. There are so many other issues with this league that streamers shouldn't even be a topic. On the other hand it appears that streamers are putting MLS and TFC on the map. Negativley, yes. Would we have other coverage if it didn't exist, I think not. It's all part of the electricity and one day it will die off. That is, when the MLS gets its priorities in order and starts marketing to the true fans of the world game and not just the families in the burbs.

[Skinn]

Agree with your post one hundred percent Morgan, but don't have your back on Wilbon, and on ESPN in general actually--it's basically devolved into a sports entertainment network, not a sports and sports news network. His job is to push buttons and be outrageous, hyperbolic, and opinionated. You're right--that is exactly why he's paid the big bucks. Having the opinions is only second to him being opinionated and loud. Occasionally he has something of value to say, but on ESPN those moments are few and far between.

I understand your kneejerk reaction to defend colleagues like Wilbon and Cathal Kelly, but there's good informed sports journalism and then there's other stuff...

[M Phillips]

While my seats are not near the corners so I am not a streamer thrower I suspect streamer throwing allows fans to feel just a bit more empowered to being able to impact the outcome and so help their team. Since this can be argued that it could present an unfair advantage to the side not being streamered in time we will likely see it abolished. When it is some fans will use other means to influence the outcome. This could involve chucking pennies, batteries or whatever they can sneak in and get away with. This behavior will only continue if they can get away with it either because security or other fans are not able to make this behavior either "uncool" or susceptible if caught to heavy duty penalties. I like it myself because I know it is giving us an advantage and I am keen to see our team prevail.

[Chris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otnzNiGHgdE&eurl=http://www.crewunion.com/alpha/

So when we do it, it's bush league.... when Columbus emulates us and throws in smoke bombs to boot its...........?

[bystander]

Wow, Hal, what a well written response :)

I think the streamers are old but not bush league...

[Thane]

So if streamers are bush league, what does that make throwing squid? We're looking at you, Red Wings...

[LeoSC]

Instead of streamers, we could throw toilet paper, which is, basically, a colorless, thicker streamer! Sporty seems to have been holding on for too long, once he visits the can he'll feel so much better. Obviously if Wilbon and Lebatarb dedicated so much time to the streamers, we're doing our job, TFC fans! The other team feels harrased, that is precisely the point.

[El Magnifico]

Streamers Schmeamers!
When was the last time PTI ever mentioned TFC, MLS, or soccer/football in general?
What's bush league is calling yourself a sports reporter and then ignoring the number one sport on the planet!

[Pete Z]

pff, Wilbon should stick to sports he actually knows. It's been said before, but 'bush league' would be bandying opinions about a sport that you really have no knowledge of.

As for the streamers, it's funny to see opposing players get covered in them. Can't wait for Beckham's first corner @ BMO.

Is it bush league? No.
Is it getting tired? yeah, slightly.

[Doug W.]

With respect Morgan, being a graduate of "the world's greates j-school" does not translate to good soccer journalism. I give you a lot of credit for doing your homework, but it's a steep learning curve, especially if you have not grown up with the game. An article on streamers is interesting, but not exactly riveting. As a previous poster mentioned, there are many other issues to tackle. For me, the inconsistent standard of refereeing in the MLS would be a good place to start.

Cheers
Doug

[Timmy]

As long as the best young players leave to play in Europe, how can you think of this league as anything but bush?

[Dan]

Sorry Morgan, but Missouri is the first and still the best journalism school in the world.

[BeautifulFC]

I like streamers. If players are not going to be showered by money in the MLS at the very least they should be allowed to experience the joy of being showered by colourful, swirling paper of another kind. There is a beautiful symbiosis in this. People are just taking pot-shots at the best run team in the MLS. I say more streamers next game. And more goals like the Velez header on that beautiful ball from Robert. And more wins. And someday soon, a trophy. And then...more streamers.

[Van Beuren]

One of the best articles you've written Morgan, excellent arguements. I'm sick of narrow minded critics going overboard with regards to the streamers. These team coloured tissue papers are expressive and mostly harmless. Keep fighting the good fight, you've got a good perspective for the rational Toronto FC fan. Cheers!

[Lawrence]

To be honest, I don't like the streamers. I think it is stupid the league allows the game (of which corner kicks are a part) to be manipulated by the fans. Cheer, sing, toss stuff in the crowd, whatever.

But when the whistle blows, that field is a sacred battlefield, with only the players and refs allowed on it. Not shtuff from the crowd.