TORONTO -- Just two games into the 2014 MLS season, Toronto FC is experiencing new heights. cheap jerseys from china . England star Jermain Defoe is scoring goals as befitting his monster salary. American international Michael Bradley is pulling the strings in midfield. And everyone else is playing their part. Its early days yet but Toronto, once the MLS doormat, is off to its best start ever at 2-0-0 and drawing a crowd on and off the pitch. On Saturday, the TFC dressing room was crammed with reporters eager to tell the story of Torontos 1-0 win over D.C. United in the home opener before an announced -- and enthusiastic -- sellout crowd of 22,591 at BMO Field. Defoe emerged from the shower in a towel and flip-flops to find a mass of humanity in front of his stall. "Id forgotten about this," he said with a smile. The 31-year-old forward, used to reporter-free dressing rooms in England, must have felt like he was starring in "Magic Mike" as he dressed in front of some three dozen members of the media. Canadian midfielder Jonathan Osorio, who dresses two stalls down, had to scale his locker like he was climbing Everest just to get to his gear. Toronto loves a winner. Its just never seen one wearing Toronto FC gear. Still manager Ryan Nelsen is preaching caution at this early stage of the franchises eighth season. "I dont think were a top team right now," he said. "Were very well organized but I dont think weve seen the best of us. And you wont see the best of us because were still new." "I think we still have a long way to go as a team," he added. "Well play better than that probably and lose games." Toronto started six players Saturday who werent with the club last year. Defoe, who scored twice in his MLS debut last week in Seattle, could have had four goals Saturday before he finally scored in the 60th minute after Brazilian strike partner Gilberto was sent in alone by a beautiful through ball from Bradley. Goalie Bill Hamid made the save but the ball was cleared only as far as Defoe, who got the ball out from under his feet and hammered home a right-footed shot. The goal, which featured all three of TFCs designated players, was a model of efficiency. Brazilian international goalie Julio Cesar started the play, booting the ball up field. A D.C. United player headed it back towards the Toronto end but TFC captain Steven Caldwell nipped in and sent it to Osorio. The 21-year-old Canadian quickly gave it to Bradley, who lofted a pass over the defence to Gilberto. The day offered thin gruel for D.C. United (0-2-0), which has yet to score this season after being beaten 3-0 by the Columbus Crew in its season opener two weeks ago. "I dont think D.C. broke us down very often at all," said Nelsen. "And you look at our chances we had to score." Defoes three goals in two games would have tied him for third overall in Toronto FC scoring over the entire 2013 season. After a brutal winter that included one last snowfall overnight, the ravaged grass at BMO Field made for a choppy game. It might as well have been played on a cowpatch. "The field was not conducive to playing any sport of football," Nelsen said by way of understatement. "But thats no fault of the groundskeeper," he added with a smile. "I blame God for that at the moment for the winter hes given Toronto." In addition to having a predator up front, Toronto is also looking a lot harder this season. Caldwell has added to the spine of the club since his arrival last season but the presence of Bradley has helped. The American literally ran over referee Silviu Petrescu in the first half, knocking the official down as he steamed towards the visitors penalty box. And he kept playing after a nasty clash of heads in the second half knocked Davy Arnaud out of the game. The shaven-headed Bradley, who returned to the fray with a bandage, was sporting an ugly array of staples to close the head wound after the game. "You can see now theres a bit of hardness to us, to tell you the truth," said Nelsen, who was tough as nails himself as a player. "That, no disrespect to the past, I dont think weve had." D.C. United coach Ben Olsen, while noting both teams had to play on the surface, called the pitch "as bad as Ive ever seen in the MLS." Be it artificial turf (last week in Seattle) or just bad turf, Toronto is winning. Just two games into the 2014 schedule, TFC has already one-third of the victories it collected last season when the team went 6-17-11. Torontos previous best opening was a 1-0-1 start in 2009. In 2012, it took the team 14 games to record two victories. Nelsens team will no doubt face a stiffer test next weekend at Real Salt Lake (1-0-2). While the overnight snowfall had dissipated by kickoff, fans had to contend with a partial shutdown of the subway system as well as an AHL game and the National Home Show on the Exhibition grounds Saturday. The crowd was announced as a sellout, but there were some empty seats. Defoe called the atmosphere "unbelievable." "From Minute One, the stadium was rocking." It was two degrees at kickoff although a stiff wind did little to make it a pleasant afternoon. Neither did the pitch, which started cutting up in the first half. Torontos Brazilian midfielder Jackson received a yellow card in the 50th minute for what looked like an elbow off the ball. "It looked pretty bad," D.C. defender Bobby Boswell said. Said Nelsen: "I think the referee saw it and he gave him a yellow card. So its been dealt with, isnt it?" D.C. United was the worst team in the league last season at 3-24-7 but made wholesale changes during the off-season. "Its a loss but I think when I look back, I think we will see that we really took some steps forward." said Olsen. cheap nfl jerseys . They were his team, the only team. Pressing a transistor radio against his ear, Blatt listened as legendary announcer Johnny Most described how Bill Russell grabbed rebounds and when John Havlicek "stole the ball!" At an early age, he was hooked on hoops. cheap jerseys . Brandon Triche added 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals for the Orange (17-0, 4-0 Big East), who started 18-0 last season before dropping their first game. C.J. Fair donated 13 points and eight boards for Syracuse, which got 12 points and seven assists from Dion Waiters. HOUSTON -- Scott Dixon made the opening race of the Houston Grand Prix a Penske Racing nightmare, grabbing a series-best fourth victory while slicing a huge chunk off Helio Castroneves lead in the IndyCar championship race. Dixon, who entered Saturdays race trailing Castroneves by 49 points, cut his deficit to eight points heading into Sundays race. A sweep of the doubleheader through Reliant Park would put the New Zealander in control headed into the Oct. 19 finale at Fontana, California. "I hope they are worried, man. Thats a 41-point turnaround," he said. "Hopefully, we can have another good race (Sunday). It would be nice to be in the lead going into Fontana. To have a little bit of a buffer would be really nice." It was the 33rd win of Dixons career, and one more would tie him with Al Unser Jr. for sixth on the IndyCar list. Dixon was aided by the first mechanical problem of the season for Castroneves, who had been the only driver to complete every lap this year entering the race. But a gearbox problem just 22 laps in Saturday sent him to pit road. It took nine laps before Castroneves got back on track, and he wound up 18th. "We are still leading," he said. "Its a shame. Those things are outside of our control. I wasnt sure they were going to be able to fix it and when they did, I just went out there and tried to learn the track as best I could. I changed my mode to What can I do to learn for race No. 2?" The Penske team also ran into trouble when a slow pit stop for Will Power allowed Dixon to take the lead. "It was very disappointing with not being able to keep the lead in the second half of the race," said Power, who wound up 12th because of an ill-timed yellow flag. Simona de Silvestro finished a career-best second to earn her first IndyCar podium in her 63rd start. Justin Wilson was third in his fourth podium finish of the season. "Well, finally," de Silvestro said. "Weve been waiting for thiis for a long time. wholesale jerseys. ." IndyCars first race in Houston since 2007 got off to a rocky start when a bump was discovered in the first turn when they cars hit the track for the first time Friday. Because the promoter could not start building the course until after a National Football League game on Sunday, IndyCar had no access to the track and a course that usually takes several weeks to build was completed over several days. Qualifying was postponed Friday and crews used a grinder on the surface all night to try to smooth the bump down. It was still rough, though, and IndyCar decided it could only do single-file restarts for the two races. Then the race itself got off to a bizarre beginning when James Hinchcliffe stalled on IndyCars standing start. He was lined up in the third row, and cars had to dart around him to avoid a massive collision. Ed Carpenter wasnt so fortunate, however -- he ran into the back of Hinchcliffes stalled car. "It was tough to see with the other cars right in front of me. Just a tough break," Carpenter said. The race immediately went to caution with pole-sitter Takuma Sato out front until he had to pit on lap seven with a flat tire. That turned the lead over to Power with Dixon right behind him. The two have had issues in IndyCars last two races, and its been magnified because Dixon is racing Powers teammate for the championship. The race took another sudden turn when Castroneves headed to pit road on lap 22 with the gearbox problem. And it went from bad to worse for Penske moments later during green-flag pit stops. Dixon headed in before Power and his Ganassi crew got him out in 7.4 seconds. Power then made his stop as Dixon was racing around the course, trying desperately to circle the track before Power exited pit road. Dixon did it -- in part because the Penske crew needed 9.2 seconds on a troublesome stop for Power. With Dixon out front, he had control of the race and the points lead in his sight. cheap jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '