Experience from my first TFC game

[-Hammer-]

Alright, so I went to my first TFC game to see what it's about and I just thought I'd share my thoughts on the experience.

 

Now keep in mind, I'm not a hardcore soccer fan. I'd say passing interest best describes my opinion on the subject, but I've gotten a little bit more into it. I will also say that I am an avid Hamilton Tiger-Cat fan and something of a Jays fan (given that I caught the game right after the Jays game) but my true sports support lies in Hamilton and the Ti-Cats and Bulldogs.

 

I thought I'd share my thoughts and opinions, of which I'm sure some will take negatively, and some will take posistively. All in all the experience was posistive but there was a bit of mixture in the bag. So...let me get started.

 

1. Being right outside Exhibtion is great spot. Being able to get off the GO both to and from the stadium is excellent. If the Argos defaulted the Lamport I think that would be just as good.

 

2. Hmm, not quite as many Jays fans coming from the RC as I originally thought.

 

3. Dear lord look at the size of that beer line, better move on.

 

4. Hmm...well that worked out, much better lineups for beer closer to our seats.

 

5. Oh there's a good chunk of Jays fans. I can't help but think it would be awesome if somehow I managed a triple sports header. Jays 1:00, TFC 4:00, Ti-Cats vs Argos at 7:00. Now that would be an event! I guess you'd need 3 stadiums though to pull that off.

 

4. Unsurprisingly all the merch is TFC oriented. I'm not really surprised, I mean it's pretty much the same way at the Rogers Centre (save for the large store that has Argo gear) but part of me wanted to pickup an Rugby Canada or Canada Soccer shirt. Oh well, guess I'll wait till the Pan-Ams.

 

5. Temperature is just warm enought to be hot, but just cool and breezy enough to not want to be in the shade. Mixed feelings if an awning was there.

 

6. My buddy asks me if I think it could work for the Argos. I say yeah, if you moved the south side seats back and tweaked the colors....but I can't see that going so well.

 

7. I can completely understand the concerns of closeness to the pitch. The experience would without a doubt not be as good a distance away.

 

8. I still don't understand the obsession with the pitch. I'm still seeing the occasional odd bounces, curving of the ball on this supposely exclusive grass.

 

9. A penalty kick? Well that rules. There was contact there, but I just struck me as more of a lucky break on the call. I guess lack of rules understanding hurts me here.

 

10. Defoe score and the place errupts, good times to be had by all.

 

11. Good work on the chants, and easy enough to pickup on too, also big fan of all the flags in the stands.

 

12. Speaking of which, if the whole stadium was there all that chanting would be pretty awesome. I bet a good chunk of tickets are unsued MLSE corporate tickets.

 

13. I've been told about the supposedly unstable nature of BMO due to it's predominantly metal strucutre. It looks that way from the underside, but sitting down, I can't really say I noticed other then people used the stands as an effective noisemaker.

 

14. Well, I see good but not great reffing is the standard in MLS, the same as the CFL. At least it's not as bad as the NHL though. Some of those cards were pretty chincy, and some of those non-calls were less then impressive and are met by choirs of boos. Still, nothing overt in my eyes.

 

15. Sell out game? Yeah....no. Maybe the seats were sold, but there is no way there are 22,000 people here. I mean, I can see the white maple leaf in the other side of the stands.

 

16. Post game beer? Awesome! Too bad my buddy wants to head back home to watch the hockey game. Strikes me as odd though you had hip hop rap after a soccer game though, but that's Toronto I guess. Some Rock would be awesome.

 

17. Post game celebrations and chants going to the train are awesome. Not quite as much rowdiness as a Ti-Cat win in TO, but then again San Jose doesn't strike me as a rival. Would be awesome if there were more opposition fans.

 

18. All in all, it was entertaining and I'd go again, but it's hard for me to get emotionally attached to another Toronto sports franchise. Toronto gets one from me and that's the Jays, as they are the only Canadian MLB team and I grew up watching them. I certainly would go often if Hamilton had a stake in it. Hopefully Bob Young pulls something out of his hat.

 

So that's it, feel free to comment, criticize, howl, support and do whatever you want with this post. That's my view from more of an outsider's perspective.

[Ivan]

Nice write up, glad you enjoyed the experience.

 

Couple of comments.

 

5. I was happy when the sun went behind the stands and I was in shade on the west side.  In March or April, not so much.

 

15.  The white maple leaf was covered for part of the game when everyone is at their seats.  Next time you are there, look behind the north net at how many people are there watching.  Don't forget, they all have seats somewhere in the stadium!

[-Hammer-]

I thought I would also add. Why the heck are they watering the pitch during half time. It strikes me that they aren't getting enough water out there to really do anything.

[RS]

I thought I would also add. Why the heck are they watering the pitch during half time. It strikes me that they aren't getting enough water out there to really do anything.

 

Standard practice. Keeps the field from getting too "sticky" and slowing the ball down.