Cheering for Toronto sports teams can feel like speed-dating: would-be heroes come and go with alarming frequency, leaving fragile fans to wonder, “Was it something we said?” before moving on to the next potential saviour in a sports jersey. In this unstable climate, we’ve all but forgotten what it’s like to have athletes who leave a lasting impression—athletes who swagger. It’s tough to strut like a peacock when the team you play for—the Leafs, Argos, Blue Jays, Raptors, take your pick—is on a perpetual road to nowhere.

Dwayne De Rosario swaggers. Toronto FC’s new attacking midfielder conjures those glorious ghosts of the early 1990s, a time when our sports teams were more than just played-out punchlines. He oozes confidence and makes us believe that winning is possible. He even has a ritual celebration for when he scores: an old-school pop-and-lock move (imagine a Thriller-era Jacko). He takes about five jerky, extended strides, milking it, flaunting it, drinking in his awesomeness. But if the bravado bears the mark of an earlier era, the 31-year-old De Rosario is, in other ways, a thoroughly modern athlete: a cornrow-sporting vegetarian from Scarborough with a fondness for dub and reggae. His wife, Oyabumni, choreographs African dance and couldn’t be less of a ball bunny. We’re a long way from Leafs Nation here; this is a 21st-century incarnation of the hometown hero.

Toronto FC acquired De Rosario this winter from the Houston Dynamo. After two seasons of spectacular support (regular sellouts at BMO Field, with 14,000 people on a season ticket waiting list) and not-so-spectacular play (they came dead last in their conference both years), the team’s manager, Mo Johnston, pulled the trigger on what local sports scribes have called the best transaction for a Toronto franchise since the Jays snagged Carter and Alomar.