Imagine if the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup included the likes of Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, Rick Nash, Alex Pietrangelo, Jeff Carter, Matt Duchene, Corey Perry, Mike Smith and John Tavares. Andrew Hawkins Jersey . Do you think the Leafs would be perennial Stanley Cup contenders? Now imagine if that team also contained the likes of Patrick Kane, Eric Staal, Mike Richards, Bobby Ryan, Marc Staal, James Neal, Jordan Staal, Logan Couture, Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin, Jeff Skinner, Gabriel Landeskog and Alex Galchenyuk. How do you like their chances now? Before anyone jumps in and shouts, "But theyd never get those guys under the salary cap!" let me explain. Every single one of those players is a product of the Ontario Hockey League. What if the Toronto Maple Leafs had actually created the Ontario Hockey League. What if they had started the league from scratch and picked up the cost through its early years of development? And what if, because they created the OHL, they now have the first option on every player in the league? You see where Im going with this? What if Toronto FC did the same thing for youth soccer in Ontario. What if they created a high performance development league that harnessed the bottomless pit of potential that currently exists among the 300,000-plus soccer players in the province? Even better: What if they created an entire development system for kids as young as eight, ensuring that they got the best football education imaginable? What do you think that would do for their long-term success as a professional club? What if Toronto FC turned its Club Affiliate Program into such a development system? Its goal would be to produce a continual stream of talented young players for its academy, and ultimately, for its first team. Do you think they would be perennial MLS Cup contenders? Here is how I would set it up: • Expand the Club Affiliate Program to 20 clubs, ensuring that there is geographical representation across the major areas of the province. • Hire qualified, professional coaches to work with players between the ages of eight to 16, implementing a periodized training curriculum to ensure that the focus is on mastering technical skills. Allow players to come into the program at any age, focusing resources on the most promising young players (20 per age group per club). • Remove the 20 clubs from the current competitive system in Ontario, ensuring that they play regularly scheduled games against other CAP organizations. • At the top of the development system, create the equivalent of the OHL - a high performance league for players between the ages of 15-20 - where the best players from the 20 clubs would compete against each other on a weekly basis. • Pick up the entire cost for every player at every club. The last point is especially important. One of the major challenges that is faced when developing young soccer players in Canada is that our system of player development is pay-for-play. What that means is that the end user (the player) carries the full cost of their development. This system often sees players participating in sub-optimal development programs, and also restricts talented players whose parents cannot afford the cost of the best development programs - which can cost anywhere from $2,000-$5,000 per year. So what would it actually cost Toronto FC to make soccer free for every participant in its CAP program? If TFC had 20 clubs in its Club Affiliate Program, with 20 players per club, that would be 400 players per age group. If such a program ran from U8 - U15 (with the OHL-equivalent league sitting on top of those age groups), there would be nine age categories. That is 3,600 players, from the age of eight onwards. Conservatively, a program such as this one could be run for as little as $3,000 per player, annually. That is just over $10 million per year. Not very much for a club that just spent close to $100 million to sign two players, is it? Im not arguing against the signings that TFC just made - in fact, I think that the club needed to sign Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley, not least of which to give the fans a reason to care again. But while the club will be hoping that their off-season moves will quickly turn them into an MLS contender, their long-term success can come through developing the countless talented youngsters currently playing the game across the province, rather than through hiring expensive foreign professionals. Buster Skrine Jersey . "Its huge," Casey said of Torontos matchup with the fifth-place Hawks, who sit 1.5 games behind the Raptors for third place in the Eastern Conference. "Its not like in the past where games dont matter. In the past we were building, getting guys experience. Bernie Kosar Womens Jersey .4 million contract extension. Garbutt has a career-high 18 points with 10 goals and eight assists in 46 games this season. PITTSBURGH -- Jeff Locke spent a lot of time with A.J. Burnett last year, and then faced his mentor in a pitching matchup in Pittsburgh. Locke got the best of Burnett on Sunday in Pittsburghs 6-2 victory that finished off a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies. "It didnt even feel like we were playing a Major League Baseball game," Locke said. "We spoke really briefly before we got in the bullpen, just told each other to have fun today, go get em. Pound down." Locke gave up just three hits and a walk in eight innings, and the Pirates completed their first sweep of the season. Pittsburgh had failed to finish a sweep in eight previous tries this season. Philadelphia was swept for the eighth time. "I didnt know we didnt have a sweep all season," Locke said. "It feels good, especially a team like those guys over there. Especially when (Marlon) Byrd and A.J. come back again." The Pirates (47-41) moved a season-high six games over .500, while the Phillies (37-51) fell a season-high 14 games below .500. Locke (2-1) gave up two runs -- one earned -- and struck out four. He has made six straight quality starts since being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on June 8. The left-hander worked mostly off of his fastball and changeup in an outing his manager Clint Hurdle called "fantastic." Byrd gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a single to left. Jimmy Rollins scored an unearned run from second after he reached base on a throwing error by third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez leads the major leagues with 18 errors this season. Pittsburgh responded in its half of the inning with two runs to erase Philadelphias early lead. Andrew McCutchen beat out a ground ball to shortstop with two outs after Burnett struck out the Pirates first two hitters. Neil Walker followed with a single. Against his former batterymate, Pirates catcher Russell Martin hit a two-run double to right-centre for a 2-1 advantage that wouldnt have been possible without McCutchens hustle. "Thats my game," McCutchen said. "I go up, hit a ball on the ground, and I have an opportunity to do something with it. Thats what I use my legs for and thats what Im going to always be like." The Pirates added another run in the third when Josh Harrison led off with a triple that spllit the gap in right-centre. Barkevious Mingo Jersey. Harrison tagged from third on a shallow fly ball from Walker to centre fielder Ben Revere and scored as Reveres throw came in offline. Burnett (5-8) gave up three runs and five hits, walked two and struck out seven in seven innings in his return to Pittsburgh. The Pirates played a "Thank You A.J." video on the scoreboard when Burnett took the mound in the first inning "The video caught me by surprise," Burnett said. "I dont know what to say about it. It was very moving. It was very unexpected." Byrd hit his 18th home run in the seventh inning to draw Philadelphia within 3-2. Locke threw Byrd a changeup low and inside, which Byrd sent over the fence in left field. "He got me," Locke said. "I got ahead of him, threw a changeup, and boom, he hit it. I knew it was a home run." For Hurdle, it was only a matter of time until Byrd would damage the Pirates. "Byrds a good hitter," Hurdle said. "We played with the tigers tail earlier in the series because he had a lot of at-bats with runners in scoring position that we were able to navigate through and around." Byrd finished 2 for 4 with two RBI. "Hes been very steady for us," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "An everyday grinder who forces the chips in. Hes been one of our consistent bats." Harrison scored again in the eighth on a RBI triple by McCutchen, who was awarded third base because of fan interference following a crew chief review initiated by home plate umpire Dale Scott. Philadelphia reliever Justin De Fratus elevated an 81 mph slider over the plate that McCutchen hammered to the opposite field. "I thought it had a chance," McCutchen said. "But like Ive said plenty of times, you just never know what the ballpark is. Some days itll go, some days it wont." McCutchen then scored on a single by Starling Marte, and Jordy Mercer drove in another run with a sacrifice fly. NOTES: Pittsburgh RHP Charlie Morton (5-9, 3.30 ERA) will oppose St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright (1-4, 1.89 ERA) on Monday when the teams begin a three-game series at Busch Stadium. ... Philadelphia LHP Cole Hamels (2-5, 2.98 ERA) will face Milwaukee RHP Marco Estrada (7-5, 4.94 ERA) as the Phillies continue their road trip on Monday. cheap jerseys' ' '
