A Note to the Readers: Thank You

A year ago today at 11:28 AM, a little post on a new Blogger page called 'Go Live in the Fire' popped up.  It was a Mid-Season Report Card for all the Fire players in 2010.  That blog post was the beginning of what is the site you are reading now, Hot Time In Old Town.  Like being a fan, this is an experience that is sometimes frustrating, sometimes discouraging but mainly filled with times of great excitement and exuberance.  

One of the things I take away from that post is that only 9 of the 25 players that were reviewed a year ago remain with the team today.  Players like Bratislav Ristic and Freddie Ljungberg even managed to come in after July 29th, 2010 and leave before July 29th today.  That might say more about this being a time of rebuilding for the Chicago Fire Soccer Club and not every player left due to their own choosing but through it all, the vast majority of Chicago Fire fans remain supporters of the team today.  If all the employees at Toyota Park walked out next week, some fans would be crazy enough to fill in the gaps for next Wednesday's game just so the team would live on.  If all the players in the Fire locker room walked out, some fans would be crazy enough to take the beat down of a lifetime just so that what is the Chicago Fire Soccer Club would continue to live and breathe.

The passion that exists in this great fan base makes it that much easier to write.  We are honored to count some of those fans as readers.  There would be writing about the team either way but it's very humbling to receive feedback and see that people are reading and sometimes even enjoying what we write.  I can't always promise that what we write will be perfect but knowing that others are reading it always inspires us to put that extra effort into the final product.  Thank you to readers past, present, and future.  Here's to another year and hopefully we'll finally see the Chicago Fire be back to what they use to be.