Surly the Drunken and Angry Supporter (If they are looking for accuracy) would be a cute, fluffy thing that terrifies most children and likely holds up a sign during the Pizza Pizza 60th Minute Get Loud for The Boys In Red promotion that calls for the (the) West Side (to) Stand Up! on one side and MAKE SOME NOISE!!!!!! on the other.
The thought of this makes many TFC fans consider walking slowly into Lake Ontario.
Overreaction?
From the outside (or the press box/corporate boardroom) it most certainly would seem so. However, from the cheap seats it's a call to arms.
See sometimes a mascot is more than just a mascot. In this case the creation of one is a further indication that the front office is trying to control and change the game day atmosphere at BMO Field. They probably have a study they can point to that suggests that they might be able to attract a few more families out to the odd game if they rounded off some of the rougher edges in the crowd.
The gruff ex-pat creatively describing his relationship with the referee's mother doesn't fit in their vision. Fluffy mascots (that can be sold as plush toys) do. As does music after goals (something the club asked about today as well). Cheerleaders? They're probably next.
It's not the football that has kept the day 1 fans coming back year after year. It's the experience of being at BMO and a lot of that experience has been framed by a decision made in the early days to let the game day be about the game and only the game.
In 2006, the club reached out to the soccer community to ask what kind of product they would be willing to support. The answer was nearly universal. Potential fans wanted something that felt authentic (yes, authentic meant “like England” for the most part). They didn't want the trappings of North American sport that, until then, most MLS teams tried to emulate.
TFC's launch was wildly successful (in the stands) and it informed much of how future MLS teams launched. Obviously each market has it's own unique features and builders, but it's not too much of an exaggeration to say that Toronto begat Seattle, who begat Philly who...etc.
However, as other clubs that emulated Toronto's launch got bigger and got more famous, here in Toronto the organic nature of the game day experience started to erode. Now, with everyone in management involved in creating the environment that permitted that organic growth to happen gone, you have a management group that starts to think TFC game day needs more bells and whistles.
That thinking leads to some suit somewhere asking why there isn't a mascot.
The answer that the suit will never hear is that a mascot is the most glaring representation of the corporate, non-organic game day experience that TFC fans asked not to see in 2006.
In isolation a mascot isn't that big of a deal. However, when looked at as part of a bigger picture it absolutely is.
The question on the TFC Council survey might as well have been “What are your thoughts on us further monetizing and sanitizing the game day experience?”
It's a short, slippery slope from a fluffy cute thing throwing t-shirts into the crowd and BMO becoming a Leafs crowd in the summer.
And if that happens there is literally no reason for many fans to keep coming back, even if the club finally does manage to capture the low hanging fruit of a playoff berth.