Clearly Canadian

[teddym]

Well there won't be any distractions for the game in Toronto. LOL

Guys, it's obvious that feeding this troll is only empowering him.

Who Ed? Yes I wish people would stop indulging this character, but he's entrenched and refuses to budge.

[StartingEleven]

I'm taking 10 to 1 on T.T. because last year's Whitecap team would easily kick the crap out of this year's edition. All of these newly acquired and more expensive pieces don't fit together, and T.T. is stuck with a puzzle that after 13 competitive matches he has clearly been unable to solve.

Can someone ring a bell... this one is done.

That has got to be the most uneducated (in a football sense) comment I have ever read.

Really, NASL Whitecaps would beat this current team up? Who would lead the charge by the way? Marlon James?

Credibility meter at 0.000000

[Robert]

My credibility is not important. What really matters is the CSA's credibily, which stands at Mickey Mouse levels internationally and within the Canadian soccer community itself.

Credibility meter at 0.000000

[Robert]

A casualty of lightning. T.T. should have kept his players on the field, instead he buckled under to a coach who is an embarshment to the entire Dutch race. From scoring a World Cup quaterfinal tying goal against Brazil, from playing for the best clubs in Italy and Holland, to a pathetic chickensh_t who pulls his team off the field to avoid defeat. Shame on you Aron!

The most exciting line on whole the Nutrilite championship will is who will get fired first, A.W. or T.T.? Even though the pressure of it all is really showing on A.W., I'm taking 10 to 1 on T.T. because last year's Whitecap team would easily kick the crap out of this year's edition. All of these newly acquired and more expensive pieces don't fit together, and T.T. is stuck with a puzzle that after 13 competitive matches he has clearly been unable to solve.

[Keegan]

A casualty of lightning. T.T. should have kept his players on the field, instead he buckled under to a coach who is an embarshment to the entire Dutch race. From scoring a World Cup quaterfinal tying goal against Brazil, from playing for the best clubs in Italy and Holland, to a pathetic chickensh_t who pulls his team off the field to avoid defeat. Shame on you Aron!

Oh please, he was doing his job... being a MANAGER he's not a player anymore. He made the smart choice and did his job, even if he had played on how the hell was his team going to find an equalizer on that pitch

[Robert]

Whatever happened to "rain or shine?" On July 3, 1974, at the Waldstadion, in Frankfurt, West Germany there was a match between Poland and West Germany, where the winner would advance to the final against the Netherlands. There was so much water falling out of the sky that it made Toronto's shower seem like a bit of mist. The German's being the resourceful lads that they are brought in a pair of fire trucks and had the field drained within 30 minutes. On October 22, 1974, I was at a European Cup match between Feijenoord and Barcelona. De Kuip (the tub) was called the Tobbe (much larger than a tub) that day. As our great CSA General Secretary - Mont Pete (where did he get such a fancy designation from?) shared in the provisions he had taken for the safety regarding all concerned in the event of lightning, how could he have overlooked giving the Toronto fire department a call? Surely renting two fire truck on a slow night for firefighters would be cheaper than having to put up the whitecaps for an extra match? It will be so exciting to watch these two struggling clubs play twice in quick succession.

[Richard]

Robert, this is soccer not water polo!

[Robert]

Richard, when I was a young boy growing up in Amsterdam, waiting for the weekend to roll around so I could play for my club. I dreaded waking up to rain. The first thing I'd do on a rainy Saturday morning was to go the the cigar store next door and check which fields were shut down on account of rain. Always relieved to find that the one for my scheduled match was not among them, I'd race off to the field and help the groudskeepers with pitch-forks to raise the turf where puddles had formed to help drain the water, because all I wanted to do was play soccer. I wasn't worried about winning or losing, I just wanted to play because I love soccer. I wish there was some more of that spirit amongst the powers to be that were responsible for cancelling the match in Toronto. Kudos to the TFC fans that were jumping up and down, bare-chested and all with a beer in hand who also wanted to watch.

[Scottie]

Richard, when I was a young boy growing up in Amsterdam, waiting for the weekend to roll around so I could play for my club. I dreaded waking up to rain. The first thing I'd do on a rainy Saturday morning was to go the the cigar store next door and check which fields were shut down on account of rain. Always relieved to find that the one for my scheduled match was not among them, I'd race off to the field and help the groudskeepers with pitch-forks to raise the turf where puddles had formed to help drain the water, because all I wanted to do was play soccer. I wasn't worried about winning or losing, I just wanted to play because I love soccer. I wish there was some more of that spirit amongst the powers to be that were responsible for cancelling the match in Toronto. Kudos to the TFC fans that were jumping up and down, bare-chested and all with a beer in hand who also wanted to watch.

You're right. God damn those lazy passionless soccer players not grabbing pitchforks and raising the turf once the rain started to flood the field.

edit: and god damn the csa too for not sending out the grounds crew armed with pitchforks in a lightning storm. Where's the so-called "love for the game"?

[Richard]

I would have loved to see the reaction of the MLSE executives to their multi-million dollar pitch with subterranean irrigation and heating for the winter being attacked by a bunch of yahoos with pitch forks in the middle of a classic southern Ontario thunderstorm with lightning striking the CN Tower every 15 seconds!

This was not some fourth grade pitch in Holland used by local youth teams.

[paul-collins]

Holland = sand subsoil. Easy drainage.

Come to Ontario and try that with till. :/

[Robert]

Richard, talk about contempt prior to investigation. How do you know if this was a fourth grade pitch? If what we saw on TV was a multi-million dolar pitch, I think the TFC should file a suit to get their money back. Could you clear something up for me? Was this match cancelled due to lightning, or to "unplayable conditions?" Depending on which, why was there a half hour delay?

I would have loved to see the reaction of the MLSE executives to their multi-million dollar pitch with subterranean irrigation and heating for the winter being attacked by a bunch of yahoos with pitch forks in the middle of a classic southern Ontario thunderstorm with lightning striking the CN Tower every 15 seconds!

This was not some fourth grade pitch in Holland used by local youth teams.

[Richard]

Both Robert and you referred to when you were a kid clearing fields for you to play on. Not unreasonable to assume they were not Eredivisie pitches.

(Note to self: Why am I defending myself to this guy?)

[Robert]

Speaking of those god damn lazy bastards at the CSA, how does Mont Pete do it? Running such a cash-strapped organization as the CSA, lacking the funds to do this, that and the other thing for our national teams and players, it seems very suspect how our trusted leaders can strut around on TV with a finely couffed perm and wear glasses with a frame that only the plutocrats of Europe's creme de la creme in soccer could afford.

You're right. God damn those lazy passionless soccer players not grabbing pitchforks and raising the turf once the rain started to flood the field.

edit: and god damn the csa too for not sending out the grounds crew armed with pitchforks in a lightning storm. Where's the so-called "love for the game"?

[Redcoatsforever]

Both Robert and you referred to when you were a kid clearing fields for you to play on. Not unreasonable to assume they were not Eredivisie pitches.

(Note to self: Why am I defending myself to this guy?)

Because he's being a twit.

Seriously "embarrassment to the Dutch race"? I'm going to sidestep the fact that he's originally from Suriname and just share this tidbit;

Football's tragic list

Goalkeeper Erik Jongbloed of DWS in the Netherlands was killed by lightning during a match in September 1984 -- in front of his father, the former national team goalie Jan Jongbloed.

A true disgrace to the Dutch would be a person who allows this to happen again because of a warped vision of sportsmanship held by what is really a small number of fanatics who don't understand that life can be ended easily and without warning.

So the question from me to Robert is, would a TFC or Whitecaps player dying have been worth the goal-lead?

[Robert]

Acts of God happen every second. The history of sports is filled with tragedies. Knowing that tragedies happen do we quit living life? So the question from me to Redcoatsforever is, who is responsible for Erik's death? God, the person who let the match go on, the referee, the opposing coach, Jan or even Erik himself?

[Redcoatsforever]

Acts of God happen every second. The history of sports is filled with tragedies. Knowing that tragedies happen do we quit living life? So the question from me to Redcoatsforever is, who is responsible for Erik's death? God, the person who let the match go on, the referee, the opposing coach, Jan or even Erik himself?

Jan can't really be blamed as he was spectating, and Zeus can't really be blamed because he was just doing his job. The rest are responsible.

No, we don't stop living because of tragedies, but we do delay a soccer game in order to avoid the risk of death. That's why a referee is also supposed to blow the whistle if it appears a player has sustained serious injury, and why so many countries (Holland included) have at times turned soccer stadia into miniature police states; it's not actually worth lives.

You brush the question off as though it were nothing, of course: "The history of sports is filled with tragedies" you honestly think that if someone on the field or in the stands during the Canadian championship had died as a result of lightning, it would acceptable in the name of finishing a game?

You're psychotic.

[Robert]

For years experts have been predicting and warning people on the Westcoast that we live on a faultline and that one day the "Big One" will happen and thousands of lives will be lost. Despite these warnings millions of us, including myself, continue to live here. I could move to a safer place like London, Ontario, so I agree with you that I must be psychotic (which means Richard must be too!). We continue to live in this danger zone because we love this place, just as Erik loved soccer. Nobody is responsible for me staying here, but I myself. And nobody is going to tell me to move or when to play soccer.

[Redcoatsforever]

For years experts have been predicting and warning people on the Westcoast that we live on a faultline and that one day the "Big One" will happen and thousands of lives will be lost. Despite these warnings millions of us, including myself, continue to live here. I could move to a safer place like London, Ontario, so I agree with you that I must be psychotic (which means Richard must be too!). We continue to live in this danger zone because we love this place, just as Erik loved soccer. Nobody is responsible for me staying here, but I myself. And nobody is going to tell me to move or when to play soccer.

Wow...the fact that you think living on the west coast is comparable to playing a game of soccer in a large metal stadium during a storm in which lightning hits every ten to fifteen seconds pretty much wins the argument for me.

Tell me, in Vancouver do they not buttress the buildings with special designs to make them more resilient against earthquakes?

Do they not have earthquake drills so that people know what to do in the event of an earthquake?

They have fire drills everywhere else, it seems only natural that delaying the game in order to avoid unnecessary and frankly stupid risks would be a professional athletes response to a lightning storm. This isn't the same as football in a blizzard; being struck by a charge of the magnitude to power an entire house at the speed of light has a pretty low survival rate, and therefore probably ought to be avoided.

It's one thing to live on the west coast, knowing the risks associated - there are risks associated with everything - it's another entirely to throw yourself into a dangerous situation for something that can (and will, regardless of your incessant whining) be postponed for another, safer time.

You mentioned that Erik Jongbloed loved soccer, as though this makes his death somehow worthwhile, or as thought it's beautiful that he died doing what he loved. You're missing the mark entirely; his is a cautionary tale. Wouldn't it have made Jan, Erik's teammates, and presumably Erik happier had he been alive to not only finish that game another day, but to play in many more and retire after a full career. Of course, retirement might have left him coaching, scouting, or doing something entirely unrelated to soccer. No one will ever know what he might've done because he was killed.

If you believe that thirty minutes of soccer that could be played at any other time is worth his or anyone else's life, and I mean honestly believe that, I feel sorry for you.

[Richard]

Life is a box of chocolates.

[Richard]

I may live in Vancouver where 'the big one' is predited to hit roughly every 300 years and we're passed that point already, but I wouldn't stand on the edge of a fault crack/crevice during an earthquake. That's nothing more than intelligent selfpreservation. There is such a thing as common sense which in some quarters regrettably is not all that common.

[Robert]

Hey Richard, when was the last time you took the "earthquake drill?"

Getting back to how the CSA ru(i)ns the beautiful game in our earthquake-ridden and lightning-ravished hinterland, I have a suggestion as to how they could manage the Nutrilite Canadian championship next year. With Montreal joining the MLS we could revert back to the old Voyageur system of letting MLS games doubled as a Canadian championship. Wouldn't that make the game boom amongst enthusiasts like never before?

[Robert]

Oh, I almost forgot. Just more more question about the lightning. (that kinda sounds like Detective Columbo) How many people actually got struck by lightning in Toronto on the night in question? How many actually died from getting hit by lightning in Toronto on the night in question? I know. That was two questions. God bless Mont Pete, our beloved saviour.

[Richard]

Nobody, because most people were sensible and statistically people who take modest precautions will not be struck. Your attitude about the lightning at BMO Field is dumb beyond comprehension and demonstrates an abysmal lack of understanding of the phenomenon of lightning and a cavalier disregard for other people's safety and wellbeing.

[Redcoatsforever]

Nobody, because most people were sensible and statistically people who take modest precautions will not be struck. Your attitude about the lightning at BMO Field is dumb beyond comprehension and demonstrates an abysmal lack of understanding of the phenomenon of lightning and a cavalier disregard for other people's safety and wellbeing.

+1