The Toronto radio show Tim & Sid has a segment they call "That's so TFC."
Set to a '80s sitcom laugh track, That's so TFC features the hosts talking about the latest bit of inanity that the club has been up to. The punch line That's so TFC is delivered at the end of each news story as the pure hilarity of incompetence is revealed.
This is the only regular TFC segment on Toronto radio. And the hosts are actually soccer fans.
The best TFC fans have is a sardonic segment where two guys who want TFC to matter make fun of the fact they don't.
TFC is now irrelevant in this market. They were getting there last year, but the losing in 2013 drove in the last nail. A year ago, we were asking how we could get excitement back into the stadium. This year we'd be happy with just getting people back in.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
If you still care about TFC you're part of a tiny group of zealots that can likely never be driven away. That's great, but it's not enough. The result of the lack of bums in the seats is that the club will need to do the type of things that TFC fans used to make fun of at other clubs.
Bouncy castles? Blow 'em up and get jumping.
Mascots? Tim Leiweke probably has the name the...bear? Beaver? Raccoon?... contest already planned.
Ethnic pandering? Where's that DP rumour coming from again?
If you're in the supporter's sections you would be right to be worried that new management might be looking to censor some things. FamilyFunDays!!1!1! could be coming to BMO soon and yelling "douchbag ha ha ha" at the opposing keeper might not help attract mom and the kids.
TFC essentially has to start over and that creates uncertainty about what the new version of the club will look like. If winning is a part of it then that's great, but if the culture at the stadium drastically changes then much of what many of us fell in love with the TFC experience could be gone. And, that would be sad.
These worries could be nothing, but that doesn't change the underlying truth of what the biggest thing that went wrong in 2013 was:
We lost the magic.