Dwayne De Rosario is right; karma is a funny thing. But in the wake of the mystical force putting the final five nails in the red-pleated coffin of Toronto FC's playoff hopes, nobody can bare to laugh.
I was glad to read DeRo's comments after the 5-0 thrashing in New York, for back on Sept. 9 I lost interest in the team after what I perceived to be an act of bad karma. I stopped going to training as often, limited my blog writing and even missed the final home game of the season. Albeit it was to watch Manchester United at Old Trafford, but the emotion which accompanied missing a game at BMO Field was apathy.
The interest-killing, bad karmic incident of Sept. 9 was the push into retirement of team talisman Danny Dichio. The hastily assembled farewell press conference at BMO was as forced as a receiving line at a sort of friend's wedding: lots of smiles and laughs, but short on sentiment.
Dichio served the team and the city as someone who lived here his entire life, but on a day purportedly set aside to honour the No. 9 he was treated as a second-class citizen.
It never sat well, and then things started happening.
Carl Robsinson rolled an ankle and was forced to miss a few key games. Marvell Wynne pulled up lame with a thigh injury. No. 1 goalkeeper Stefan Frei fractured a finger. Robinson saw his ankle rehab go all for naught as an on-trial player sent the Welshman to the operating table, subsequently ending his season and perhaps his time in Toronto.
On the field, the Reds won just two of their final six games, scoring just seven goals over that span. Then, with the whole MLSE army on hand to celebrate what was to be the club's first playoff appearance, the ghosts of Giants Stadium whipped up a five-goal storm and the Reds -- with executive entourage in tow -- went marching home with their heads hung low.
Now karma is just something we turn to when the inexplicable happens, and it is the unlikeliest of reasons behind the playoff drought reaching a paltry three seasons. But the push in the back of Dichio was a low-point, and not allowing the big man one last run out in front of the faithful poisoned a good thing. Speculation ran wild, and the tacit agreement to say nothing at the player level was unsettling as reporters searched for answers in vain. Instead of covering the team, it became an exercise in uncovering the team.
Dichio has moved on within the club and his decision to prematurely end his playing days led to the signing of Julian De Guzman. Neither Dichio nor De Guzman will ever break the gag order surrounding their intertwined fates, and getting De Guzman on board as a designated player was a matter of urgency, I suppose.
But if Toronto FC is to change the culture that has broken down over the last few months, those in charge of personnel need to re-examine the practice of treating its players like pawns.
