Chicagoans Should Care About The Chicago Fire
Over the weekend, the Chicago Fire of the growing American professional soccer league, Major League soccer, took on Real Salt Lake for the Eastern Conference crown and a chance to take on the LA Galaxy for the MLS Cup. Although obnoxious and overly optimistic, Chicagoans are, for the most part, great sports fans. Their only blunder, in my humble opinion, has been the Chicago Blackhawks. This was a team that was treated like a homeless man with leprosy three years ago. NO ONE went near them. Beyond that, Chicagoans have followed their Cubs/Sox, Bulls and Bears to the ends of the Earth.
This fall, however, has marked a bit of a depressing era in Chicago sports. October saw both the Sox and the once-heralded Cubs out of the post-season and the Bears have failed to meet the enormous expectations set by Chicago fans with the coming of Jay Cutler, the world’s most unathletic looking quarterback. Instead of turning their attention to the championship contending Chicago Fire, Chicagoans have fixated their attention on the Bulls, Blackhawks, and struggling Bears.
Don’t get me wrong! I’m not saying they should overlook the above mentioned teams. Hell, I follow my craptastic Cleveland teams to the end of each and every season. In fact, you can see me at Mickeys tonight for the Browns MNF game AND in the Dawg Pound on December 27th for the Raiders game in a clash of futility and embarrassment. But if Cleveland had an MLS team challenging for the Eastern Conference Finals title, you bet your sweet ass I’d put my commie-roundball inclinations behind me and cheer for my city. Cleveland’s a fraction of the size of Chicago, yet we were able to get behind our 90′s indoor soccer team, the Cleveland Crunch. All that said, I expected to see Chicagoans out in full force for their Chicago Fire on Saturday night, especially since the game sold out past capacity. Courtney and I wanted in on the excitement, so we high-tailed it over to Galway Arms (coincidentally next to Mickeys), a bar suggested for game watching by the Chicago Fire website.
Did we see throngs of Fire fans, chanting at the numerous televisions carrying the game? No. All I saw were hipsters dining, probably discussing indie music, film, and art whilst the game went on behind them. Hell, the TV at the bar didn’t even have the game on! Instead they played the Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh game, which was also (pathetically) the area with the most patrons.
This isn’t to say Galway Arms didn’t try. They had their Fire flags out around the bar and the bartender was wearing her Chicago Fire shirt. But where were the Fire fans?
Courtney and I recalled a RedEye article that asked columnists in what order they’d pay attention to their Chicago teams over the weekend, since they had the Fire, Bulls, Blackhawks and Bears all in action. Several of these columnists snickered at the thought of watching soccer, with only ONE putting it at the top of their sports viewing priorities. Is this Chicago sports fandom?
Granted I’m a Cleveland nut-job that would cheer for a Cleveland chess team, but c’mon, Chicago! Soccer is a sport growing in popularity. Yes, I realize people say that every year, but viewership has gone up massively with coverage via ESPN and the Fox Soccer Channel. I was disappointed in this supposed sports town for not backing one of their professional sports teams, given that much of soccer fandom is based on city pride. It’s the only sporting event I’ve gone to in America where I’ve seen city flags waving.
My whining aside, I did see a glimmer of hope on that Saturday night. There was a a little kid, presumably around 9 years old, decked out in Chicago Fire gear from head to toe, including a Chicago Fire jacket. This kid was pounding his table and screaming at the top of his lungs for every Fire corner kick. The kid was even instinctively answering questions Courtney and I whispered to each other.
“What happens if they’re still tied at the end of regulation?” I asked as the Fire and Real Salt Lake were tied up at 0-0, nearing the 90th minute.
“EXTRA TIME! EXTRA TIME! 30 MINUTES OF EXTRA TIME!” the kid shouted at the top of his lungs, as if he knew there would be some MLS newbies in the crowd.
As extra time neared its end, I posed another question to Courtney. “Do you think they go to penalty kicks if it’s STILL tied after extra time?”
“PK’s! PK’s!” the little boy shouted.
“Well alright then.”
This kid reminded me of myself when I was around that age, dressed in obnoxious Cleveland Indians gear as they inched closer to a World Series title in ’95 and ’97 (damn you, Mesa!). Most who know me know of my (supposedly “unhealthy”) obsession of all things Cleveland, sports and otherwise. This kid is the hope and future of MLS. They need more people like this kid, who cheered for his Fire to the very last penalty kick, which had the Chicago Fire losing in (overused sports phrase warning) dramatic fashion to Real Salt Lake in penalty kicks.
Keep up the spirit, kid. But to you Chicago sports fans who laughed at the idea of watching soccer, get your head out of your pompous little assess. Soccer is, in fact, just as much a sport as any of the other sports you cheer for. Make fun of it all you want, but any sport has its faults. Baseball is a 4 hour snoozefest, featuring two people playing catch. Football is man-on-man action, hugging each other to the ground, and Basketball has boxouts (when a defender sticks his butt in an offensives player’s crotch).
Give the Fire a chance next Spring. Go to a game and I promise you, you’ll be hooked.