FanPost

(A Little More Than) Halfway Through My First Year

I am a newer Fire fan who has truly immersed himself entirely in the culture of the Chicago Fire this year and wanted to share some insights just over halfway through my first year. To clarify, I have sporadically paid attention to the Fire over the years, hell my first game was at Soldier Field in 2004, but truly fell in love in the 2013 season. The rough start to the season, the arrival of Mike Magee, the purely insane second half run for the playoffs that came up just short; I loved every minute of it. I was hooked on the Fire, I was hooked on MLS. Finally, I had an outlet for my soccer fandom in a local, professional team. This past winter I bought season tickets, waited for the disappointing arrival of the new home jersey, and counted down the days to the beginning of the new season.

Of course, when I become involved the team ends up in flux: they sack Frank Klopas, bring in Yallop, C.J., and Mathis, and cut a lot of dead weight. These moves all seemed like relatively good ones; bring in a 2-time MLS Cup winning coach, a Ring of Fire member, and USMNT/MLS legend to coach the team, and cut some dead weight contracts? Why the hell not? For the most part, the off season moves seemed like good ones, with the questionable departures of Berry and Anibaba, that seemed to address some problems from last season. This all culminated in a pretty good preseason for the Fire that saw them lose only one game and win a minor trophy. Everything was looking up for the Fire at the beginning and I was beyond excited to start my first season.

I watched that first game against Chivas TBD with so much hope to start on a good result, but we all know it did not go that way. Going down 2 goals early, I thought it was done. They came back to tie it and then left the door open to a team that won all of 4 games last year. I felt like the Blackhawks just lost the Stanley Cup, then realized that there are 33 more games to this season. This was followed by a nice tie in Portland, then another tie, and another, and another, and another.... the ties kept mounting. I experienced heartbreak at the botched penalty kicks and the points left on the table. Then came a body blow. The home game against RSL. I went into this game extremely optimistic; it had a David vs. Goliath thing about it. That story almost played out exactly how I had hoped, until the meltdown. I left that game stunned and tired, I was tired only 8 games in. I thought we hit rock bottom that night and we were only looking up from there.

Hope appeared again with the first win of the season in the shootout vs. New York/Jersey. Harry Shipp showed off some goal scoring prowess and the team held on for the first 3-points of the season. Then they followed that up with a Home victory against the defending champs SKC. It seemed the Fire may have finally hit their potential, but then came a slew of less than stellar performances and decisions. A shutout loss to the Crew, a tie against the Galaxy, a lack luster draw in Colorado, and a loss at home to Seattle. The World Cup break could not have come at a better time. This string of games had me down on the team for a bit, but the World Cup made me miss them. Thankfully the Open Cup matches started up and lead to good results: a win over the Riverhounds and the Crew. Once again my optimism returned only to be put in reserved status when MLS started back up. Two more draws against Toronto and SKC brings the thought of record breaking draws this season and the nightmare of points left on the table keep reoccurring.

Open Cup picked up again with a victory over the Atlanta Silverbacks, providing a Semi-Final berth and getting the Fire a seldom seen turf win. They followed this up with another turf win in New England. It was one of the best performances of the season and gave them momentum into a game at home against Philly that they can win. Of course, penalty kick drama had to happen again for the Fire and they saw a consecutive win disappear from their grasp yet again. Put another tally in the tie column for the Fire. It was a tough result for the team and I to swallow that night but they were about to hit rock bottom. To follow up the performance against Philly, the Fire went to San Jose and made the cellar dwellers known as the Earthquakes, look like the top of the Western Conference. I stayed up to watch this game and was so disappointed that I did. A 5-1 drubbing against the bottom of the West really is rock bottom for this team. The only place from here is up.

I have written once before how I believe this team can still turn it around. Call me a fool, an optimist, or even a masochist, but for how mediocre this season has been so far, the Fire are still just 4 points out of a playoff spot. The season was lost last year and they made it interesting in the end and narrowly missed the last playoff spot. There are 15 games left in the season and most are against Eastern opponents, which the Fire have only lost once to, and gives them the opportunity to get back in this race. Now, the likeliness of this proposition is slim and I am aware of that. It could be that I am overly optimistic, I am a newer fan, or that I am a hopeless Cubs fan, but you can never count a team out and it is never my place to count a team out that has a realistic chance.

This first year could be playing out better on the pitch but it has been great for me. I have tried to experience everything that I can at a Fire game. Game in game out I always have a good time (it would be great if they could put up 3pts) and the fans are all welcoming, for the most part. I have watched the game cheering from Section 8 and over in the club seats, in the rain, cold, and blistering heat, with $2 beers and hot dogs- it has been a great journey so far. While this is my first season and I have not been around as many others, I understand frustration with club management and front office but that happens everywhere, it is an unfortunate part of sports. I plan on keeping my season tickets because I want to make memories, see the best the US has to offer, and expand the world's game to many others. It may not be the prettiest season but this is my first and I will always remember it. Thank you to those who read, I got my eye on a jersey and any suggestions/comments are appreciated.


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