Sports fans and aficionados in Toronto have every reason to jump with joy and spread the spirit of community pride these days.
Better known as Toronto FC, the Toronto Football Club captured its first ever Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup title after dominating the MLS Western Conference titlist Seattle Sounders 2-0 in the league’s championship match at the BMO Field on December 9.
Even Mayor John Tory embraced the moment by declaring December 11, 2017 as “Reds Day”.
News footages showed city residents heeding Mayor Tory’s call for them to go out, wave and wear red. They braved the wintry before-the-heavy-snowfall weather, as they cheered and congratulated the home team in a downtown parade that day.
The 2017 season was historic for the Toronto FC. Through the season, the first MLS Canadian-franchised team clinched three trophies: the MLS Cup, the Supporters’ Shield and the Canadian Championship.
It was also the first time an MLS team won the treble.
A six-time winner of the Canadian Championship, the Toronto FC had been semi-finalists at the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League, and MLS Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference champions in 2016.
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Hoisting a championship cup near the end of 2017 is not new to a Toronto-based sports team.
On November 26, the city’s premier football team Toronto Argonauts defeated the Calgary Stampeders 27-24 to clinch the 105th Grey Cup, and earn their 17th title since 1914.
Founded in 1873 as a professional Canadian football team, the Argonauts competed in the East Division of the Canadian Football League and appeared in the finals 23 times since 1911.
It is noted as the oldest existing professional sports team in North America still using its original name.
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The city’s sports panorama is truly blessed.
Let’s take time, before the cup runneth over, to talk about and shout rah-rah-rah for Toronto’s pro hoop and puck sports teams – the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively – which are both doing relatively well in the standings, as of this writing.
Hopes are high — even though tough and bumpy the road to the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) championships might be — that both Raptors and Maple Leafs will reach the playoffs.
Before Balita’s deadline on December 12, the Toronto Raptors had a six-game victorious streak to place second to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Eastern Conference. The streak was, at that moment, the best in the league.
Alas! The Raptors bowed – late evening of December 11 going to the wee hours of the next morning — to the Los Angeles Clippers 91-96 to end Toronto’s winning ways.
Earlier edging out the Edmonton Oilers 2-1, the Toronto Maple Leafs recorded a three-game winning streak, and placed second to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s Atlantic Division.
There will be encouraging praises and disconcerting comments about the performances of both teams.
Whatever, it is a universal fact that fans will never tire of rooting for their teams.
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I am one of those never-say-die fans.
My fascination goes to men and women who proudly don a sports uniform to collectively represent a school, a place, a country – no matter the odds and the outcomes.
People indulging in games who give a high premium on individual excellence or teamwork to bring home a proverbial gold are assured of my awe.
Discipline in friendly competitions, displays of sportsmanship, and moments when the victorious remain humble and when the defeated remain magnanimous will always get my utmost respect.
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“… And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne”; and ere we sing the traditional tune and offer a toast for better health and greater wealth on a cold midnight signaling the beginning of the year 2018, let us focus on the countdown to Christmas.
Having finally found some time and energy to read this column, may I ask you: Exactly how many days are there to go to finally rejoice in the coming and birth of Jesus Christ?
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It is just right for people, particularly Santa-certified nice “kids from one to ninety-two,” to harbor greater expectations on the days leading to and on Christmas Day.
Everyone looks for that sense of joyful celebration, peaking up on Christmas Day; and extending until Boxing Day, when children, all and sundry are in the present tense.
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What do I want for Christmas? Certainly not two front teeth, a hippopotamus or being run over by reindeers.
Yes, Endless Joy and Kindness should suit me; the kind of EJK that should fill every beating human heart.
It was written: Peace on earth and to men of good will. So be it.
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I’ve been longing to be home (the Philippines) for Christmas, like a lot of compatriots who left the country of our birth to try a new life in a very different social and cultural setting.
When I hear a Christmas carol on-the-air, I can’t help but recall how Filipinos celebrate Christmas and the season of Advent.
Throwback. We used to:
- Look at and be in awe of the Parol and Christmas lights that adorned every home on the street.
- Attend the Simbang Gabi and the concluding Mass of the Christ.
- Sing Christmas carols and share Christmas stories.
- Put up a Belen in a conspicuous spot in the living room that holds all the other symbols of Christmas (Christmas tree, Santa Clause, etc.).
- Gather around a table for the Noche Buena with family (a.k.a. the clan to the nth degree).
- Do Kris Kringles during Christmas get-togethers.
- Spread cheer and goodwill to friends, neighbors and strangers.
- Simply sit outside and gaze at the North Star and the vast bright expanse up above, waiting and hoping for the Grand Coming.
Malamig ang simoy ng hangin … Pasko na naman.
Now, I know why I long to go home.
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The Nativity of Jesus Christ and all its greatest virtues – humility, charity, hope and above all, faith – imbibed in mankind was always the center of the celebration.
Remember to always Keep CHRIST in Christmas.
Greet each other Maligayang Pasko or Merry Christmas.
Better still: Keep CHRIST in Christian.
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Yahoo! My wife Evelyn and I are going to mark our 42nd wedding anniversary on December 31, 2017.
I expect a lot of fireworks again. #####