POV-FS Out Loud! The Vocal Minority Podcast - Episode 81 #RedMoustaches

The good folks over at VMP were kind enough to (finally) grant me my season debut on the show – it's award-winning now, if you haven't heard.

As for a brief rundown of the topics, if memory serves we discussed the loss in Chicago, the announcement of the first summer friendly, Duncan and I debated the bending of the space-time continuum, as per a specific refereeing decision in Colorado (not sure if that made it past the editing room floor to be honest), as well as all the usual pageantry of Bitchy Blanks, Would You Rather, and so on.

Plus I got to steal a CAW or two in the process. Random sidenote: CAW also stands for Canadian Auto Workers and I saw one of their economists, the one from the TV, on the subway prior to recording, which I suppose is something.

It's great fun chatting with some friends, so I hope you enjoy.

The episode page can be found here. Or it can be downloaded directly from this link Or there's a thing called Soundcloud which is apparently pretty cool. And of course, if you don't want to have to remember to download every week, iTunes works – and if you're not into that, I'm sure you have some other way of getting that taken care of (do people still use RSS?).

Now to ice that hamstring.

First Person View – Midseason Friendlies should be Celebratory -- Part Three - A Call to Arms

    As a non-member of the supporter’s culture, though perhaps more invested in the fortunes of the team than many, it is not my place to call into question the why’s of how one chooses to support the club.

First Person View – Midseason Friendlies should be Celebratory -- Part Two - What Should Be Done

    With the midweek match against AS Roma in the rearview and Kevin Payne’s comments still simmering, it is a good to time get to the root of this problem.

First Person View – Midseason Friendlies should be Celebratory -- Part One - Why They Aren’t

    The concept of a midseason friendly is simple and admirable enough.

    Bring in a big club, a storied one, somebody the home fans and soccer-aficionados who do not regularly attend matches alike would be interested in seeing.

    Sure, use it as a marketing tool, but also a celebration of how far the game has come in this franchise’s short life.

    With nothing riding on the match, it should be a fun night out, and a chance to just enjoy the game without the stress of points on the line.

    How many times in the life of the average Torontonian does one get the chance to see Francesco Totti – a true legend of the game - live in action? Once, maybe twice?

    But clearly in Toronto, they have become sources of conflict, that vocal minority of Toronto fans, flinching like the spurned lovers that they are, are duly annoyed by these matches; the question is why?

Beyond POV-FS – TSG’s USA vs. Canada Preview: Klinsmann On Border Patrol at The Shin Guardian

    A small contribution to The Shin Guardian’s preview of tomorrow’s match between the USA and Canada in Houston, Texas went live earlier this morning.

    In it an estimation of the scope of the project that faces the Canadian program, a look at the squad available, notes from the match against Denmark, and of course, a ton of information on their opponents, the Americans, courtesy of the fine folks at TSG.

    Check it out and see what rests in store for the Canadians against an MLS-heavy camp cupcake American side.

The Curse of the SkyDome Strikes Again

    Back on March 7th Toronto FC began their 2012 season with a dramatic 2-2 match in front of nearly fifty-thousand fans at the SkyDome in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Foresight – MLS Round 19 Preview

Four questions to be answered in this the nineteenth round proper of MLS weekend action:

Some Miscellaneous Thoughts on the Latest Troubles Surrounding Toronto FC – Part III

The third part; a final segment addressing some of the current issues swirling around a troubled Toronto FC; parts one and two.

First Person View – For Country

    It's been a while since I sat down to get opinionated about something, apologies for that, but midseason torpor set in, and I did not rage against it as much as I should have. There have been plenty of causes and ideas, which will be coming forth in due time.

Perspective - Luck of the Draw

    Considering all the Jabulani’s* that have been launched Canada’s way in qualifying campaigns there could not have been a better draw for the 2014 qualifying cycle.

MLS Weekly Review - Midweek Round 19 – Of Away Victories – One Karmic the Other Messianic, the Hare Torching the Tortoise & a Brace of Braces.

    Five midweek matches littered the busy summer soccer schedule in round nineteen. Twelve goals were scored – at least one in each match – and only a single draw.

Gold Cup & International Action Shines on MLS Rosters

    With the Gold Cup kicking off on Sunday night, and a day of Euro 2012 qualifiers and friendlies having just past, it seemed a good time to analyze the effect on MLS action these absences will have on this weekend’s action.