That's the sound of fear.
Coming through an official media organ of the CFL.
The on-going and long-term quality of the pitch is a huge issue and the Argos need to be viable in order to justify jeopardizing the quality of the pitch for the stadium's principal occupant. Now that the Grey Cup has passed, it will be interesting to see how many of the alleged 7,000 season tickets were actually in the hand of ticket speculating agencies looking to cash in on the Grey Cup.
That strategy flopped horribly and the scalpers will be out of the mix for next season.
I'd be upset and concerned if I were a CFL'er whose livelihood depends greatly on the Argos' fortunes.
Hahaha. Those assholes have made a serious mistake. That article will be searchable forever. They have no effing clue who Gio is!
They are too dumb to realize that someone they need to give them a job some day soon, may choose not to do so, just based on this article alone.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
I guess nodding and smiling is the answer.
Far less running in NFL (and CFL).
Globe: The 29-year-old Italian said he had never had a single episode of cramps in four years prior to having them in three of Toronto’s last four home games.“With all other factors being equal, something must have changed somewhere else,” he said.
Giovinco had no answers. “I’m no gardener,” he said with a laugh.
Giovinco stressed he was not using the pitch to make excuses. He said he was simply explaining why he had to leave game early and had already raised the issue with team management.
The ball definitely took some odd bounces during MLS cup. U could tell there were divots every where.
The operating rights for Lamport are in the hands of MLSE and they wouldn't have taken that on just to maintain status quo. That's not how they operate. There are a number of options available to them for developing the stadium, including building over the parking lot, which can easily be part of a multi-level lot and adjoining development.
They could easily create a very nice boutique solution for both the CFL and rugby at Lamport, with excellent amenities and expandibility. The parking lot on Manitoba Dr., just across the Gardiner on the Ex grounds is slated to become a multi-tier parking lot and it would not be a major deal to build a broad walkway across the Gardiner and railway tracks to allow access from parking on the Ex grounds.
One other point.
I had close access to the Seattle players after the game. We were all in the same room under the west stands. Half their guys could hardly walk straight. Stefan Frei was limping noticeably, though more from contact than the pitch. But they were hurting big time.
Ugh....TSN takes his 7 minutes of press conference and spins it into Argo vs TFC crap.
Instead of seeing the TSN thing, watch this
http://www.torontofc.ca/post/2016/12...?autoplay=true
Ugh, I'm not going to read that Toronto Sun article tonight, or that thing on TSN, and I'll stay off the Twitters, otherwise I may not be able to sleep tonight.
Lol...Argos are done if they can't get people to their games in few years. No way MLSE are going to hurt one of their own asset that has much higher upside to make money off for Argos who are pretty much dead in the city. Their 5000 fans can move to varsity stadium or york if TFC is negatively affected by them.
We all know Larry T is going to ditch Argos in few years when he becomes too old to pursue his dream of owning NFL team while Bell are bunch of cheap fucks who just make league run the team for them in the long term.
Giovinco made careful comments about the field & possible impacts on his body, w/o excusing the championship loss. He did not attack any other players or people.
Argos & other CFL players use that as an excuse to rip Giovinco personally. That's a totally different matter & really sucks. Giovinco has always shown respect & awe towards athletes in other sports in Toronto.
Here's an interesting article about the matter from Laura Armstrong: https://www.thestar.com/sports/tfc/2...inco-says.html
I much rather read that than the Toronto Sun article. Consider this: we know that significant amounts of green sand were used on the field after the Grey Cup. (The grounds crew stated that themselves.) We know that sand is regularly used to fill divots & other irregularities at BMO. Now think about what it's like to run on dry / loose sand. Even if it's only in small patches here, think about running around on that for 90 minutes, especially for someone who is a perfectionist about ball control, with quick turns & immense body control. Maybe that's what "heavy" means.
You're bang on about the whole sand issue, Auzzy.
The playing surface after MLS Cup looked like a driving range tee box. It might have passed muster cosmetically on TV, but it was not anywhere close to where it should have been for a league championship final. And given how TFC was built to emphasize speed and skill, it definitely worked against them.
Everything your read or here on this subject from the Cfl and it's official mouth organs (TSN, Sun) will have fear as its root source.
They're terrified of what they've seen from the Argonauts non-performance at the gate this season. If the Argonauts presence at BMO Field is an issue to the soccer team and they have to move, it sets up a hugely concerning scenario. The conventional wisdom distributed by the CFL is that it has to have Toronto in order to make its commercial and sponsorship deals work.
Really.
What semi-sentient organization that might deign to sponsor the CFL could remotely be unaware of its total lack of performance in the Toronto market? It's just not feasible. Any properly functioning corporation has to know what an absolute pratfall the Argonauts have been financially.
Giovinco's comments will go straight into the deepest recesses of their fear and loathing. This immediately puts MLSE on notice and, barring an ecological miracle, the Argonauts on a very short leash to shit or get off the pot at BMO Field.
Because if the Argonauts can't make money at BMO Field, soccer sure as hell can. Whether it's TFC games or national team games (more, please) or international club friendlies. And keeping happy players of the calibre of Giovinco, Altidore and Bradley is at the core of this whole process.
There's not much doubt who will hold the upper hand.
Last edited by greatwhitenorf; 12-14-2016 at 12:00 AM.
WTF? Everything that was coming out before and after the Grey Cup was that the pitch was holding up, it was fine, the grounds crew were amazing etc. etc.
Now suddenly it was an issue.
Classic smokescreen bullshit again.
Maybe we shouldn't have believed the hype? The crew did the best they could in a difficult situation. Anyway did you read the article above, or watch the interview? Or are you just reacting to what other people are writing? Giovinco didn't use it as a smokescreen, or to excuse the loss.
Giovinco, Altidore, Bez and Manning all confirmed that there were issues with the field (not just in the last game BTW). In some of the highlights and game photos, you can see sand spraying.
TFC and the grounds crew will work to improve things next season. I wonder who will be paying for that... ?!
This isn't that complicated. Bradley and Vanney, as leaders, were trying to help the esprit de corps of the grounds crew, when it mattered. It's not the fault of the grounds crew if they are given an impossible mission.
Nobody who saw that pitch live would say that it looked very good. Soccer is not a winter sport, it's pretty close to a fairy tale to believe that a straight grass field will be good in December, especially with lots of use. It's possible but not likely.
Hybrid grass, with heating, with no ground share, you need all three, that is the only proven solution in the winter.
This is the reflex fieldturf defense all over again, what Giovinco said is common sense, Larson was totally wrong to rush to criticize him, and I hope the tone here is mostly supportive to Gio, this is one of those moments that matters.
Last edited by ensco; 12-14-2016 at 10:05 AM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
City of Toronto owns the stadium with MLSE managing it. MLSE decided to make capital investments to it on their own with the cities blessing of course first when they put the grass pitch in followed by the east upper deck and roof. This Argos ownership situation is unique in that 2/3 of MLSE owns them so at the end of the day its really a case of the left pocket vs the right one on where the money comes from.
MLSE actually handled partnerships for both the Argos and Grey Cup thus already have their hands in the team's operations. I believe we are not too far off from the entire business operations being handled within MLSE's structure. They are experts at this and it just makes way too much sense.
Regardless of the quality of the pitch at this moment, Matt Black and Ricky Foley look like goofs for attacking Seba on such a personal level.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Yup, he simply stated that he asked to be subbed off because of leg cramps. Hardly an excuse. He also went on to say that they probably would have still lost even if he continued for the entire 120.
Some people just like to spin shit to create controversy.
That fucking argo character probably works part-time as a Walmart greeter.
The Argos corporate Twitter account wished TFC good luck before the final. I think it's important to say that. The players engaging in personal attacks on Giovinco are idiots plain and simple, especially with the way all Toronto pro athletes have been so mutually supportive during the Blue Jays run, Raptors run and now our run. Everyone but those Argos players seems to know how much Toronto wants a championship.
On another note, one of those Argos players was saying cramps are caused by dehydration, so could not have been caused by the pitch. This is probably just me, who has an interest in sports science, but I find it really funny that a pro athlete does not know what actually causes cramps. They're not caused by dehydration but muscles being overworked. And a soft pitch can definitely contribute to that. I know this is a bit beside the point, but just further shows these guys are idiots.
I think this little idiot outburst by the CFL players is going to result in their players getting a twitter gag order.
Road Trips: July 7 2007 Chicago, July 22nd 2007 Columbus, August 11 2007 NY, October 13 2007 LA, March 29 2008 Columbus, May 24th 2008 DC, May 26 2008 Montreal, June 28th 2008 NE, March 7-11-14 2009 Charleston, March 28 2009 Columbus, April 10 2010 New England, May 12 2010 Montreal, April 7 2012 Montreal, March 16 2013 Montreal , June 3 2014 Montreal, March 14 2015 Columbus
Twitter: @RPBPhil
Look at the Argos, at BMO. They're laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us on Twitter. They are not our friend, believe me.
Kudos to Gio, Jozy and others from raising this publically. Keep the pressure on the pitch quality.
can someone calculate the distance matt black ran all year vs giovinco
My guess giovinco 350 km matt black 36 km