I didn't know where to post this but it struck me today when I dropped my daughters off at school and today was "Jersey Day" at their elementary. There were more TFC shirts being worn by young kids at their school than any other sports team that I could see in the playground - I was shocked and happy at the same time (shappy?!) --- my older daughter who has been going to games with me since year 5 when she was 6.5 years old, was laughing at the sight saying that she can't believe all these kids who are "bandwagon" fans now of the team ---- (I brought her to Joes for the 2008 away opener when she was 2.5 --- as always, solid parenting on my part!!) --- I told her that this is what happens when a team is successful and gets "popular" with the mainstream crowd -- like the new generation of Jays fans since August 2015 that didn't exist from 1994 - July 2015) ----- then I thought about it for a while --- is TFC becoming "mainstream"? I remember trying to explain what the hell this league was to people for most of the first 8 years or so and how wearing a TFC shirt was met with looks of pity/shame or even worse bewilderment (as in WTF is that?)!
I know that a lot of us had these sentimental feelings of the journey we have been on prior to last December (and that game that shall not be named ).....but to see it play out in the next generation choosing to wear a TFC shirt to school with their friends gives me hope for the future that a soccer loving audience and even more specifically a Toronto soccer loving audience is hopefully here to stay in some degree of consistency so that when the bad times come again (hopefully not anytime soon), that even when the "bandwagon fans" go, many more will stick around for the long haul.....it was heartening to be a part of this group and this team since year 1 and now that we have an awesome team to be proud of, I hope that we all really take the time to enjoy a season like this one where we are consistently a great team (not perfect, as no team is, but great more times than not) and winning becomes expected rather than "hoped for"......I know we all want to see this culminate the same way with a giant trophy being handed to our Reds at a cold and wintry BMO field this December - I truly hope it does happen for them, and frankly for all of us and the future generation of fans to come......