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No I haven’t posted for a while.

It’s summer. I’m limping through my assignments with little pleasure because I want to take a vacation but cicumstance and the weather have conspired against me.

So I’m dragging my ass. I have no motiviation to do anything other than what I have already committed to and though I know I have to get out and pitch work, I really don;t have a lot of energy for it.

I did, however, get to the MLS All Star Game on Thursday. I’m a season ticket holder with TFC and a die hard fan. I sit behind the goal in the south end where they make all the noise and usually go with my son Jon though recently I took my dad down for his 79th birthday and he had a blast.

“I never thought I’d see another live professional soccer game,” he said. “This is just like England.”

Turns out dad used to live in Norwood, in the southern part of London, England back inthe 1950s off a street call Whitehorse Lane.

Now he told me this story before, but never mentioned Norwood, just Whitehorse Lane and I thought he meant Arsenal’s Highbury ground since I thought there’s a Whitehorse Lane up there too.

It turns out after all these years, that he and his grandfather used to go to Selhurst Park where Crystal Palace play. My great grandad was apparently quite the soccer fan and followed Palace religiously. It’s kind of funny really to discover this after so many years because I used to get up to Palace to watch games since it was fairly easy to get to. That and Chelsea, especially when Manchester United were in town.

Anyway, this past Thursday I went with Jon to the MLS All Star game against West Ham. I even wore a Hammers shirt since I really couldn’t get behind the MLS Almost Stars.

Ther was of course the infamous booing incidents over the anthems. Here’s what I wrote as a letter to the Globe and Mail which thundered its distaste in an editorial on Saturday (today).

The Globe and Mail indignant editorial of Saturday July 26 misses the point regarding the booing of the American and English national anthems.

First, remember, you’re dealing with a corporatized sport which so it would have come as no surprise to fans at the MLS All Star game July 24 at BMO Field in Toronto that the Canadian anthem would have been ignored.

There was no Maple Leaf on the field; All we saw was St. George’s Cross and the Stars and Stripes. In deference to visitors at games their anthems are usually played first and if the Maple Leaf had been front and centre, it would have been apparent the home town crowd would have been appeased, knowing full well our turn was coming.

The boos were not directed at the flags or anthems of either England or America but at the bumbling suits who organized the logistics. When it was apparent that the Canadian flag and anthem were to be honoured, there were a few red faces and we tried to make up for it by singing Oh

The faux pas is not of the fans but of the MLS whose heavy handed approach was everywhere from the outset of the night. Security was invasive and far more intrusive than for regular BMO or even Canadian international games such as last year’s under 23-competition.

Beer sales were cut off to specific sections from the start of the game with no notice. Fans were irritated from the get go and ripe for some kind of outburst.

Remember, soccer is about tribalism. It is a gentleman’s game played by (and to some extent supported by) hooligans as opposed to rugby which is a hooligan’s game played by gentleman.

The fans at BMO are loud, often obnoxious, childish and a lot of fun, even though it is silly most of the time. This is not baseball, though take a look at the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankee fans at home some time , nor is it the corporatized, priced out of reach ACC and the Maple Leafs.

We abuse everyone equally with some exceptions because that’s part of the game.

We booed MLS players just because they play for rival teams but cheered the Canadians on the field, applauded displays of skills from either side and jeered their misses. Winding up David Beckham by jeering him was all part of the fun.

If the MLS couldn’t anticipated the fan reaction and couldn’t take some simple steps to head off any confrontation then perhaps they really still don’t understand this game.

Oh, and the All Stars won 3-2 and David Beckham played. Just thought I’d mention that.