It was a day not unlike today, eight years later this month, when Toronto FCs hierarchy guided the citys media to the top of the CN Tower to introduce their four newest signings and talk about their plans for their opening season in Major League Soccer. [url=http://www.customsaintsjersey.com/custom-mi

It was a day not unlike today, eight years later this month, when Toronto FCs hierarchy guided the citys media to the top of the CN Tower to introduce their four newest signings and talk about their plans for their opening season in Major League Soccer. Michael Ola Jersey . Everyone who spoke on behalf of the club that cold, sunny November day have long since departed, yet the team they helped create is still holding press conferences in the eleventh month of the year and not playing games. TFC is still searching for the formula that can find them on the field for a playoff game in November but one thing they have no problem organizing is a press conference in November. It was four years ago this month that they teased the city with the hiring of a certain consultant called Jürgen Klinsmann and two years ago this month that they hired Kevin Payne to run the club. Our mission should be that in 2014 we are in the playoffs, pushing to have the best record in the East, said Payne. By 2015, obviously, we want to be looked at as one of the top teams in the league. Obviously. Payne was supposed to be the man the club needed, a proven winner, we were told, who was an expert in MLS, or so we were told. Less than 24 months on, his press conference looks as ludicrous as all of the others the club has had during their brief eight-year existence. Words, tossed aside on to the growing mound of empty promises after another project and plan went array. It was impossible not to think about this clubs history in Novembers on Friday when the team called its most recent press conference. Sitting at the top table talking to the citys media was Michael Bradley, an American international midfielder who this club could only have dreamed of getting just last November. A year on, Bradley stands for much more than being a single, albeit designated player, member of Toronto FCs player staff. The 27-year-old is the remaining face of a winter of fantasies for the clubs fan base. He was unveiled as one third of a holy trinity of DPs yet less than a year later one is more than likely staying in England and not coming back while another hasnt yet proved he deserves such a tag of quality. That leaves Bradley all alone. It is a path that has led him to addressing the media about the season just gone. Another November press conference. Yet, this one feels different. For a quiet, seemingly shy man, you can always count on Bradley to think before he speaks. Its a motto that youd be hard pressed to say about many others who have spoke on behalf of this club on a November day. We realize we have to get better, improve and find the right ways to make ourselves better, he said on Friday. That is going to include bringing in new players and certain guys moving on. We need to find a way to get the right sorts of players in and the right sorts of men in. We need more quality, who in a football sense, can add something but we also need more guys with personality, more leaders, more competitors, more men. Although it is yet to be decided, such a group is unlikely to include Jermain Defoe. With Jermain, inside the locker room, there were never any issues. For me, he needs to decide where he is in his life, in his career and what he wants. He has to figure out what he wants from his career, his life. As a player I hope the best possible decision for everybody can be made and that he is focused and comfortable wherever he is. Bradleys own tenure at the club has not gone completely smoothly and in a World Cup year he remains in the middle of an awkward club vs country triangle as head coach Greg Vanney admitted last month. Ive spoken to Jürgen, and most of the conversation, to be fair, was Jürgen telling me how he thinks Michael should be played, Vanney revealed last month. My conversations are more with Michael and how Michael feels he should be played. We are with the player on a daily basis and we have a rapport and a relationship with the player on a daily basis and how they train and how they work. I think Jürgen feels like hes a player who should be higher up the field, Vanney added. But I dont know that Jürgen and Michael see things exactly eye-to-eye. So I work more closely with Michael than Jürgen in that realm. It is not a coincidence that Vanney, a man still trying to prove to some that he is the man to lead the club forward, chose Bradley as the lightning rod subject to publicly reveal leadership qualities. Vanney knows he is lucky to have Bradley at this club and it is imperative for him to ensure he puts the midfielder in a position that he is comfortable in. Bradley chose not to unveil, publicly, where he prefers to play in midfield but is clear that he is comfortable under Vanney. I have a very clear idea how I can best help the team, Bradley admits but once again he turned the conversation away from him and stressed the importance of a united group on and off the field. With Greg here there is an understanding of what we are about and how things need to be better. We need to make sure the balance is right. We cant fall into a trap that a number ten, or one guy, will fix everything. Dont misunderstand me, in no way does this team need to be blown up. Things didnt go the way any of us hoped this year. We werent good enough but to stand the test of time every part of what we do here has to be better. That is the tone and the mentality we have every day. Bradley, when talking about Defoe, gave the clearest indication yet about the message he can bring to the current and future players of this club. I am a firm believer in life that you have to find things that you are passionate about and you have to be then ready to go all in. Ideally you want to do that with people who have that same mentality, hunger and commitment and if you dont have that feeling and that focus and commitment to do something then its going to be difficult to ever enjoy yourself and be all in. Somehow I dont think that November quote will be thrown on to the empty promises pile in the future. It remains early days but at least one high-profile TFC designated player remains all in. Tom McNeill Jersey . In the opening game of his fourth-round match at the U.S. Open, the owner of 17 major titles got passed at the net twice, sailed a backhand long, then missed two forehands to get broken. Carl Granderson Jersey . The Force had two men, including former Wallabies No. 8 Ben McCalman, in the sin-bin in the dying minutes of the match, but were able to resist a late Highlanders surge to post a four-try, bonus point win. http://www.customsaintsjersey.com/custom-morten-andersen-jersey-large-1312e.html . Matt Carkner got back into the Ottawa lineup, and made his presence felt right away by settling his clubs score in a one-sided fight with Rangers forward Brian Boyle.SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks spent seven games struggling to get the puck past Jonathan Quick in a playoff loss a year ago. Quick struggled to stop anything in the opener of the rematch. Tomas Hertl and Raffi Torres both scored in their first game together as teammates and the Sharks jumped on top of Quick and the rival Los Angeles Kings with a 6-3 victory in their playoff opener Thursday night. "We got fortunate with a couple of those goals," captain Joe Thornton said. "Just a weird night." Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for the Sharks, who were stymied by Quick in losing a seven-game series to Los Angeles in the second round last year. Antti Niemi made 31 saves. Quick allowed three goals in the first period for the first time in his playoff career, including two in the final minute as the Kings fell behind 5-0 after two periods. Quick was replaced by Martin Jones in the third period and only watched as the Kings showed life with goals from Jake Muzzin, Slava Voynov and Trevor Lewis. But Brent Burns sealed it with an empty-net goal as the home team won for the 17th time in the past 18 meetings between these teams. "We just werent ready to play from the get-go," Kings captain Dustin Brown said. "We played into their hands and thats what the score should be." Game 2 is Sunday in San Jose. The Sharks were the healthiest they have been all season with Torres back after missing all but five games in the regular season and Hertl playing for just the third time since Brown injured him with an illegal knee-on-knee hit on Dec. 19 in a play that still riles the Sharks. They got payback in the best way possible with a dominating opening two periods that showed off their much-improved depth when they are healthy. They got goals from all four lines and their defence to beat the Kings by more than one goal for the first time since Nov. 7, 2011. "We didnt give up very much, we got on the attack and had everybody involved," coach Todd McLellan said. "I thought our goaltender made some real good saves in those two periods to keep us ahead." The game had even added meaning for Hertl and Torres. Heertl talked before the series of his dislike for the Kings and said this series would be personal because of the injury. Chuck Muncie Jersey. Torres was suspended for the final six games of last years series for a hit to the head of Jarret Stoll in a punishment the Sharks and Torres felt was unjust. "Im not really worried about who I play, I just want to be able to play and contribute and all that stuff," Torres said. The Sharks had nothing to complain about after this game as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on for the victory. The third playoff series in four years between these heated California rivals got off to an odd start as there was a power outage at SAP Center just minutes before the start of pregame warmups. The lights came back on about five minutes later and the players warmed up without the usual blaring music. But by the time the puck dropped, the towel-waving crowd was at its usual fever pitch chanting "Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!" right from the start. The cheers only got louder during a dominant first period that featured a combined 55 hits from the two teams, three goals from the Sharks and a scrum after Mike Brown pushed Voynov into Quick after the whistle. "Thats playoff hockey," Brown said. "We have to get to the net and get pucks to the net. Thats what I did." Thorntons deflection of Joe Pavelskis shot from the slot on a chance created by Burns hustle to negate an icing gave San Jose the early lead. San Jose broke things open with two goals in the final minute off broken plays. James Sheppard miss-hit a one-timer that slid right to Hertl, who tapped it in to make it 2-0 with 51.7 seconds to play. Marleau then made it 3-0 with 3.2 seconds to play to cap a 2-on-1 with Matt Nieto, who failed to get off a one-timer but instead slid the puck back to Marleau for his 58th career playoff goal. "When you come into a building like this you have to be prepared to face an onslaught at the beginning of the game," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "We didnt do a good job of preparing for that." NOTES: Brown played a night after his wife, Kati, gave birth to their second son, Zane Michael. ... Jones made four saves in his first career playoff game. ' ' '