I can't keep doing this...

[Scottie]

On the last day of my third MNT pilgrimage this year, I thought I'd share some thoughts:

-Heartbreak. How some of you guys have been doing this for decades I'll never know. Last night was an emotional roller coaster with a nightmare end. I'm only 19 and I think I'll start having heart attacks if I go through much more of that.

-Courage. I would like to thank Daniel, Rudi, Grizzly, et al, for keeping the voyageurs on their feet and chanting in spite of the horrific circumstances. I never thought it took such courage to be a fan, especially at a home game. Our voyaguers section was the loudest and most organized and involved section we've done this cycle (and I understand that this cycle we've been more organized than ever), and we did it in the midst of a majority of honduran fans. My hat goes off to the voyageurs.

-Mayhem. Maybe it's just because it's fresher in my mind, but despite it's smaller number, I think yesterday's march stirred up more of a ruckus than the one in Toronto. Maybe it was that Toronto is used to these things because of TFC whereas Montreal was caught completely off guard by it (mall cops LOL). The gathering on the statue, the march through the mall, the crazy train, the shouting match with hondurans once we entered the stadium- all brilliant. My brother, who was pretty much a soccer virgin, was blown away by it all (so was I). I have my doubts that he'll ever refer to the drunk guys who sit around us at stampeders games as "rowdy". Grizzly, Daniel, I know you guys are feeling pretty low right now, but the work you put into last night was something I and all the voyageurs thank you deeply for. My hat goes off to you.

-Suffering. After three trips out east this year I've seen a win against a minnow, a draw we should've won, and a loss that left an awful taste in my mouth. I never truly understood the suffering it took to be a voyageur until now. Will I keep doing this in the future? Absolutely. I love my country too much to turn my back on it or become apathetic. I'll hold my head high when my "english" co-worker gives me a hard time about the result (he's not really english, just Hargreaves-english), and you can bet I'll still be leading a convoy to Edmonton.

I can't keep doing this... but I will anyway. Thank you voyageurs.

[Cheeta]

You make me feel young again.

Dude, I feel your pain, really I do but you have no idea. No idea at all. You're suffering through what most of us consider the Golden Awakening of football in Canada. Things were sooo much worse not so long ago.

Man, if you don't pick up scars along the way you won't have any stories to tell when you're older. Revel in your suffering if it's your apportioned lot today because tomorrow will be a better day. Just you wait and see.

See? You're earning your right to cheer the loudest, cry the hardest and bask the longest in the glory which awaits all Voyageurs in South Africa.

But first see you at Commonwealth!

Allez les Rouges!

[Scottie]

Thanks Cheeta. I look forward to our meeting in Edmonton, thrashing mexico, and eventually waking up on Whyte avenue with frostbite and wearing nothing but a V's scarf and one hell of a hangover.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Cheeta

Dude, I feel your pain, really I do but you have no idea. No idea at all. You're suffering through what most of us consider the Golden Awakening of football in Canada. Things were sooo much worse not so long ago.

I do know if it was really worse before. We used to have teams of mediocre players that one couldn't expect much out of so one was never disappointed. Now we have a team that is so promising and the result is exactly the same.

[BearcatSA]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

I do know if it was really worse before. We used to have teams of mediocre players that one couldn't expect much out of so one was never disappointed. Now we have a team that is so promising and the result is exactly the same.

That's where the disappointment lies for me. With last year's GC and this debacle it was like that movie Awakenings starring De Niro and Crystal, where the mentally ill patients get a brief return to their former vibrant lives only to have the medication fail in the end and they once again fall under the grips of their illness.

[Cheeta]

Ah! But we can share our pain! There is comfort in our misery when it has company.

And results aside how many matches have you been to where it was just you and a few others here and there? Or being forced to watch matches on tape delay, after midnight on your own? That sucks! And hopefully something we're never going to have to go through again. We're learning and we're outgrowing those dark days.

Great job, Griz. You Montreal Vs did a bang up job. A real bang up job. 114 looked a proper terrace, hoping, boisterous and packed to the point where you guys must have been giving the Fire Marshal fits.

[villus]

Ohhhh to be a Canadian soccer fan, we have to watch year after year our team fail. This time I thought it was different, this time I thought we would make it right. Really WTF was I thinking, the CSA could have had Simoes a reputable coach but decided to go with Mitchell who I feel no ill will towards but when you have the best batch of Canadian players ever why would you appoint a coach with no senior national coaching experience and a horrid showing at the U-20 WC, that should have been the clue and they should have backed out of the Mitchell hiring not the Simoes one.

And when in the mother fuuu ck will we get a referee to give US some greating calls, I mean do they just hate Canada that much or are they just that greating incompetant. We are a really likeable people IMO but why the great do refs hate us? Do they think that we have no place in this game and should stick to hockey?

I am hung over as ****, and I could'nt sleep 2 nights ago because of the anticipation of such a big game, I was really excited for what we might do. Last night I could'nt sleep because I kept running through what it means to be a Canadian soccer fan and what went wrong yesterday. I will still cheer for you Canada but when will things start going our way???? When will the refs stop enabling the cheaters???? When will the Jono's and Hargreaves and Fernandes' stop turning their backs on us??? I still love every guy on our team, I love them for having passion and flying all around the world to represent us and for all of that I thank them, and I pity them but I know they will still fight and at least salvage some respect for us if nothing else.

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by Scottie

-Courage. I would like to thank Daniel, Rudi, Grizzly, et al, for keeping the voyageurs on their feet and chanting in spite of the horrific circumstances.

Echo that Great job guys!.

[LMW]

If you guys and gals want to see Canada get to the world cup, then the CSA has to be completely disbanded and a new organization started that is completely dedicated to the Men's and Woman's teams. I have been following Canada since 1986 and I am now 41 and I have been through the pain, countless times. I have since come to realize, we will never qualify for a world cup if a complete change is not implemented. The Voyageurs say they are soccer supporters of Canada, but you are going to have to do more than just get together and go to games. You will have to contact people with clout ie Kerfoot, Forrest, lenarduzzi and others etc. and get together, go public, get legal advice and form a new federation and force the disbandment of the CSA. Think of this as a war that has to be won for all future fans and the development of the game in Canada.

[Whither Canada]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

Echo that Great job guys!.

Echo that echo. Huge thanks to all the organizers.

I'm really worried that I'm getting used to this.

I'm knocking 50 now and I remember saying after Canada's valiant showing in Mexico in '86, "I'll be going to watch Canada live in the finals next time". Well, it's 22 years later and I'm still waiting, with very little sign that it could happen in my lifetime.

So enjoy whatever small pleasures we have now, because you just never know....

On the other hand, I'll still watch the lads every game, support them, and continue to hold out hope that they'll do us proud once again.

[Daniel]

Great post Scottie.

[matthew]

Scottie, sorry for bailing on you guys last night. I just didnt feel like being at Saint Sulpice.

If it makes you feel any better it gets easier. Not much, but it does. Im not sure why.

See you in Edmonton

Great job to Daniel and Grizzly and everyone else. The march was different from Toronto, but no less memorable or impressive.

cheers,

matthew

PS Im on a crazy french keybord that doesnt let me use apostrophies

[Scottie]

quote:Originally posted by matthew

Scottie, sorry for bailing on you guys last night. I just didnt feel like being at Saint Sulpice.

No worries man. See you in Edmonton.

[redhat]

1)Some of us will be at Edmonton, win or lose.

2)Welcome to the reality of being a Canadian Soccer Fan. You'll get no respect

from your peers, you'll suffer a lot, your association may let you down, and

you will spend a ton a money in showing your support. BUT YOU DO IT ANYWAY.

3)The reasons are obvious: we always come close --- a referee call, a shot hitting

the crossbar, a spectacular save by the other keeper. We were a goal from beating

Brazil in Seattle. We had a history of calls against us in matches with Honduras,

a linesman blunder against the Americans, and we have the players that score regularly

with their professional clubs. We were supposed to lose to Costa Rica, Haiti, and

Guatemala in GC 2007. And we were apparently lucky in GC2000: tell that to Colombia.

Canada is always the underdog. That why I will join you in Edmonton too.

[CanadasBest]

Nice post Scottie.

Sorry for leaving too. I was really bummed out walking by the Honduran hotel with all the fans (and police escort).

Thanks for the great job by Daniel, Griz, Rudi, etc.

The result sucked. The crowd sucked. But our section rocked and if there's one positive thing that has come out of this WCQ campaign so far is the number of supporters that have gathered thus far.

[I_AM_CANADIAN]

quote:Originally posted by Scottie

On the last day of my third MNT pilgrimage this year, I thought I'd share some thoughts:

-Heartbreak. How some of you guys have been doing this for decades I'll never know. Last night was an emotional roller coaster with a nightmare end. I'm only 19 and I think I'll start having heart attacks if I go through much more of that.

-Courage. I would like to thank Daniel, Rudi, Grizzly, et al, for keeping the voyageurs on their feet and chanting in spite of the horrific circumstances. I never thought it took such courage to be a fan, especially at a home game. Our voyaguers section was the loudest and most organized and involved section we've done this cycle (and I understand that this cycle we've been more organized than ever), and we did it in the midst of a majority of honduran fans. My hat goes off to the voyageurs.

-Mayhem. Maybe it's just because it's fresher in my mind, but despite it's smaller number, I think yesterday's march stirred up more of a ruckus than the one in Toronto. Maybe it was that Toronto is used to these things because of TFC whereas Montreal was caught completely off guard by it (mall cops LOL). The gathering on the statue, the march through the mall, the crazy train, the shouting match with hondurans once we entered the stadium- all brilliant. My brother, who was pretty much a soccer virgin, was blown away by it all (so was I). I have my doubts that he'll ever refer to the drunk guys who sit around us at stampeders games as "rowdy". Grizzly, Daniel, I know you guys are feeling pretty low right now, but the work you put into last night was something I and all the voyageurs thank you deeply for. My hat goes off to you.

-Suffering. After three trips out east this year I've seen a win against a minnow, a draw we should've won, and a loss that left an awful taste in my mouth. I never truly understood the suffering it took to be a voyageur until now. Will I keep doing this in the future? Absolutely. I love my country too much to turn my back on it or become apathetic. I'll hold my head high when my "english" co-worker gives me a hard time about the result (he's not really english, just Hargreaves-english), and you can bet I'll still be leading a convoy to Edmonton.

I can't keep doing this... but I will anyway. Thank you voyageurs.

I think I briefly met you at the Peel Pub before the game...?

Anyway, you've pretty much summed it all up. The guy at the mall who tried to stop the march pissed me off too, but anyway...

The people I really feel bad for are the ones who had to make the journey from way out west and the Maritimes. All of us blew hundreds of dollars to come and support our country last night. And let's face it, it was the CSA who sent us home empty-handed last night, not the individual players.

Still, despite the poor result and the piss-poor organization by every party involved except the Voyageurs, I honestly have to say that I loved the experience. Being there in 114 literally singing until I lost my voice (my voice is scratchier than Rod Stewart's today...) with hundreds of fellow Canada supporters was so awesome.

And again, I'd like to send out a huge thank you to Grizzly and Daniel who were a massive help. From the maps to getting the Peel Pub booked to organizing the march and everything in between, you guys did a great job. Shame about the CSA...