March 23, 2007
BMO Puts its Best Foot Forward
If you're a red-blooded Toronto sports fan you probably already have your Toronto FC season tickets in hand, waiting for the big kick-off against the Kansas City Wizards and the day Beckham arrives.
In the meantime, the most exciting news on the local football front is the unveiling of our Major League Soccer club's uniforms; especially if you're a BMO customer.
The FC have decided to go all "continental" which basically means that they're putting a corporate logo on the front of the shirt (European style, you see?) rather than a team logo, like we're used to. To our North American eyes, it looks a bit like a little league uniform and could be a step on a slippery slope towards NASCAR-style Ricky Bobby get-ups.
It shouldn't be a huge deal in that the team's crest isn't the most dynamic logo to begin with (it's, um, a "T" in a shield...) and, after all, the BMO shirts should nicely match the confines of the soon-to-be complete BMO Field at Exhibition Place. When you're sitting in the stands with a BMO dog in your hands and a BMO brew washing it down, you'll hardly notice the shirt thing.
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Man, I don't care what you North Americans say, that shirt is awesome. Almost all soccer jerseys are like that, except with national team jerseys which usually have the team shield or logo at the left and just empty space in the chest area. Any idea on how much the shirt is going for?
Man, I don't care what anybody says, that shirt is awesome. Also, I find this post rather ethnocentric. I mean, that shirt is following the soccer jersey norm, and it would look ridiculous if we had the logo smack in the middle of the jersey. Nobody else in any soccer league I know does that. And the whole BMO thing? Standard for clubs, it's another way of generating revenue. Most clubs scrape by as it is, so they use this sort of human-advertisement stuff. I've seen much worse, this is nothing, I quite like it the way it is. I think the BMO looks pretty nice on the shirt, too. Corporate logos are also interesting for team fans, because if and when the logo on the shirt changes, it usually means the die-hard fans go out and buy the new jersey (which is usually partially redesigned after the company name change). It's somewhat aesthetic, by filling the gaps in the team jersey's chest area (and usually upper back as well). So get used to it, this is football we're talking about, not basketball or hockey!
So anybody know how much the jersey is going for?
BMO is the Bank of Montreal, right? Doesn't anyone find it the least bit ironic that we've got the Bank of Montreal's logo on a Toronto jersey?
Whatever. I'm still crazy-super-stoked for Toronto F.C. We'll need a good, short-form nickname though. Any ideas?
NICE
I want a hooligan scarf.
Most people are referring to them as The Reds, but are aware there may be some confusion between them and The Red Devils, which is South Korea's national teasm, since we have such a large South Korean Soccer fanbase here.
There's a supporters club called The Red Patch Boys (The name has something to do with Canadian WWI soldiers) at TORFC.COM
I have my seasons tickets. I'm in section 111. Anyone else?
Speaking of BMO but not of soccer, the bank is one of three (with CIBC and RBC) that have recently very quietly changed how they calculate interest on their credit cards. As it used to be, you'd pay interest on any balance that you carried-over to the next month. Now, not only are they charging you interest on that month, but on the following two months as well!
Didn't know about this? Well, I guess you didn't carefully read the teeny tiny fine print on one of the slips of paper they included with your statement one month. Sucks to be you!
The irony of this is that the banks pretty much don't want you to pay off your balance each month because that's why offering credit cards are so incredibly lucrative. This is an added, unneccessary "punitive" charge that serves no purpose other than to make more money on an already exhorbitant (and borderline criminal, AFAIC) interest rate.
The banks each make about a billion dollars each quarter, and that doesn't happen without charging you for every single move you make with your own money.
And that is why I'm paying off my CIBC credit card when I get my tax refund and then chopping it into tiny pieces. But if you think their credit card interest is bad, try having a student line of credit. Uggggghhhhhh. So much money wasted on interest.
"It shouldn't be a huge deal in that the team's crest isn't the most dynamic logo to begin with (it's, um, a "T" in a shield...)"
the Toronto FC logo is one of the best in the league, and it's designed to last. People have gotten used to the 'Raptors' but the name was a joke for the first few seasons. Toronto FC isn't going to have that problem. They are going the classic route that should appease the people who are already soccer fans, AND it's slick (read: euro) enough to bring in new fans who are curious about the sport.
Red Patch - Usector - GoTFC - Parkdale
I suspect Manchester United being "the Red Devils" predates South Korea's national team being the red devils by a few years - not least because there used to be a red devil in the club crest before the corporates got to it.
I'm a bit leery of the BMO thing - that one sponsor seems to be the whole enchilada. BMO and MLSE are quite tight, noticed their logo quite a bit at ACC. Are Toronto FC getting the best possible deals I wonder...?
Speaking of "the best deal for Toronto", Joe Pantalone has allegedly gotten a change through TTC on the Dufferin bus fairly near the stadium that will cost $350,000 according to Steve Munro. Between that and MLSE's involvement at the Ricoh since the Roadrunners were ran out of town there's a lot of public money keeping Tanenbaum and Company happy at the Ex these days.