TV SPOILER ALERT: This post contains minor spoilers about the most recent episode of The Walking Dead.
Hope can be a dangerous thing.
Yes, it can provide comfort and strength to those going through difficult times. But when hope transforms from wanting something to be so, to believing something will be so simply because we want it to be, it robs us of our critical thinking and our healthy, natural skepticism.
We see it everywhere, from politics to pop culture. In the most recent episode of The Walking Dead, a character successfully placates a panicked mob, worried about their safety from flesh-eating zombies, with nothing more than rousing (albeit empty) rhetoric. I haven't read the graphic novels, but I'm going to guess most of those folks are still gonna end up getting bit.
Still, for the moment, they had hope.
And when it comes to Toronto FC's impending seventh MLS season, so -- for some reason -- do I.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
To be sure, Toronto FC fans have plenty to fear heading into 2013. For six years, the devastating losses have piled up like shotgun-blasted walkers. No matter how many times things seemed safe, the foes have found ways to breach the Reds' defences. Like the survivalists wandering through post-apocalyptic Georgia, the TFC faithful can be forgiven for feeling, above all else, a profound sense of fatigue and fatalism.
But still, hope remains.
Stefan Frei has once again suffered a painful, early-season injury -- and though not as devastating as the leg injury that kept him out of most of the 2012 campaign, a broken nose is no laughing matter. While Milos Kocic performed admirably after being anointed Toronto's #1 last year, he's now gone, leaving newcomer Joe Bendik as the ostensible top dog in Frei's absence. So, can a 23-year-old who's made 14 appearances in the last three seasons do the job?
We hope so.
After a rocky introductory period, new head coach Ryan Nelsen is getting a chance to settle into his role in Toronto, presumably with the full backing of team president Kevin Payne. Of course, Payne has experience finding and grooming new coaching talent -- Bruce Arena and Ben Olsen being the two most oft-cited examples -- but, as infomercials for weight-loss products will tell you in the fine print, past experiences do not guarantee future results. Can Nelsen pull off a quick personal turnaround, and give the team what it needs to produce a respectable season?
We hope so.
For the first time in the team's existence, defence appears to be an area of strength for Toronto FC, with Darren O'Dea and Danny Califf anchoring a starting back four that will presumably also include a maturing Ashtone Morgan and a finally-back-in-his-natural-position Richard Eckersley. But both O'Dea and Eckersley have encountered some criticism for the size of their contracts (which aren't their fault, of course), while there are still question marks around the team's defensive reserves. Can this be the year defence isn't the Achilles heel for TFC?
We hope so.
Can Torsten Frings and Danny Koevermans get (and remain) healthy enough to produce at a level commensurate with their status as designated players?
Can Justin Braun rediscover the form he had in four seasons at Chivas USA?
Can Luis Silva avoid the sophomore slump, and build upon what he was able to show in 2012?
Can someone, anyone, make enough of an impression as a trialist or academy graduate to, y'know, help fill out the roster a little bit?
Can Payne find a new designated player that will be a true difference-maker for a team desperate to get over the MLS playoff hump?
Well... we hope so.
Hope isn't going to win any games, nor is pessimism going to lose games. Much like living through the zombie apocalypse, no one really knows how they'll react to being a fan of a team like TFC until they've actually experienced it. And when you're splattered with the accumulated psychological detritus of seasons one through six, no one can blame you for your approach to the team's present and future, whatever it may be.
After all, even the most reliable and decisive character in The Walking Dead is beginning to lose his grip on reality. There's really only so much an individual can endure before they realize their attempts to predict or shape the situation around them are utterly futile.
At that point, all they've got left is hope.
And hope, remember, can be a dangerous thing.
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