the one-time taxi driver from Danville

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. Gunner Olszewski 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. Bruce Armstrong Jersey . -- Packers cornerback Tramon Williams has been fined $26,250 for contact with an official, per NFL guidelines. Steve Grogan Jersey . The defending champions sent their preliminary list to FIFA on Tuesday, with coach Vicente del Bosque to announce the final 23-man squad on May 25. Costa is set to lead the attack in his native Brazil, with Atletico Madrid teammate David Villa and Chelseas Fernando Torres also included, while David de Gea replaces injured goalkeeper Victor Valdes. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/ . A day after FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said three stadiums would not be ready in time for the Dec. 31 deadline, Brazilian officials said they actually plan to deliver all six remaining venues after that date. They claim only three are delayed, with the other three being handed over after the expected date only because of problems accommodating the schedule of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who wants to be present for the ceremonies.CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wendell Scott earned a second NASCAR first on Wednesday: He became the first African-American driver to be elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The late driver from Virginia was among the latest group of five — all drivers, another first — voted in the hall on Wednesday. Scott joins popular NASCAR champion Bill Elliott, two-time series champ Joe Weatherly, 1960 champion Rex White and 26-time race winner Fred Lorenzen. Scott competed in NASCARs top series from 1961-73. He won his only race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1963, taking the checkered flag in the 100-mile feature after starting 15th. Scott started 495 Sprint Cup events and had a 147 top 10 finishes. "I just felt like that his time was coming and he would say that too, one day its going to happen," said Scotts son, Franklin. When Scotts name was called there were enthusiastic shouts and applause from fans, officials and family members gathered at the NASCAR Hall of Fame rotunda. He was the second-leading vote getter behind Elliott from a 54-member panel, including current Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Scott, who died in 1990, was the first African-American driver to race fulltime in NASCARs top series. He had won more than 100 races at local tracks before stepping up to race against NASCARs best. Among Scotts legacy to the sport is the sports Drive for Diversity initiative, one of the top youth development programs for multicultural and female drivers across the motorsports industry thats been in place since 2004. "The next inductee gives me additional pride," NASCAR chairman Brian France said in introducing Scott, "Because he undoubted scaled and climbed the highest mountain." Scotts story was loosely portrayed in the 1977 movie, "Greased Lightning," where Richard Pryor starred as Scott, the one-time taxi driver from Danville, Virginia. "He said one day they are going to write a book about me," Franklin Scott said of his father. "He had great determination. He was a great ambassador for the sport." Elliott was the 1988 Sprintt Cup champion and his 44 race victories rank 16th in NASCAR history. Matt Light Jersey. The driver nicknamed "Awesome Bill From Dawsonville" was also the first to win the Winston Million bonus in 1985 for capturing three of NASCAR crown jewel races. When Elliotts name was called, racer son Chase patted him on the shoulder. "This is at the top of everything Ive ever done and accomplished," he said. "This is the pinnacle." Elliott said he was a bit surprised when he was called first and thanked those who helped him achieve what he had in racing. "You look at all of the people to be nominated and you try to put things into perspective. And bam, you are the first name announced and its like, holy mackerel what just happened," he said. Modified champion Jerry Cook was sixth, car owner Robert Yates seventh and the late driver and announcer Benny Parsons eighth. The five inductees will be enshrined at ceremonies on January 30th. Hall of Famer Richard Petty, among the voters, said there were few clear cut people on the list of 20. "I had my thoughts and others had theirs, but nobody said this is the guy that needs to get in," Petty said. "That was different than past years." Weatherly, who died in 1964, won 25 races in NASCARs premiere series including those back-to-back championships in 1962 and 1963. White raced from 1956-64, winning 28 times in 233 events including six races during his championship season in 1960. Lorenzen started as a mechanic in NASCAR in 1960, but became a driver by the end of the year. He won the first three of his 26 races the next season. In 1963, Lorenzen had a stretch of dominance like few others when he won eight of 16 races entered. At one point, he led 1,679 of the possible 1,953 laps run. Series matriarch Anne Bledsoe France was honoured with the inaugural Landmark Award. She was the wife of NASCAR founding father, Bill France, and grandmother of current CEO and chairman Brian France. Anne B. France served as secretary and treasurer of NASCAR. AP Sports Writer Steve Reed contributed to this report. ' ' '