Soon after I started writing this thing, the Chicago Fire’s Twitter account fired off this announcement.

They’re finally doing a Fan Appreciation event! In a cell phone store. On Michigan Ave. And they announced it 23 hours and 57 minutes before the event was scheduled to start.

I really would’ve loved to be in the meeting where that was decided.

“Alright, team, we need to have a Fan Appreciation thing, but we don’t actually want any fans to show up.”

“Say no more!”

As an SBN colleague pointed out, this sounds a lot like the club forgetting that they need to do X number of promotional events with AT&T, one of their key sponsors, and so rolled it up into some ill-defined “fan appreciation” whatever.

I think I believe this, just because it hits at what’s wrong with this club: everyone doing the bare minimum they need to do to fulfill their contractual obligations.

Anyway we have a game against the best team in MLS on Sunday. It’s going to be on actual ESPN, which means a lot more people will get to see us, uh, fulfill our contractual obligations.

It’s almost November, friends.

CF97 all-time MLS record vs Atlanta United: 1-0-2, 3 GF / 6 GA, 3 pts of 9

CF97 away MLS record vs Atlanta United: 1-0-0, 4 GF / 0 GA, 0 pts of 3

Previously On...

Don’t let that loss t NYRB a couple weeks ago fool you. ATL are the best team in the league. We’re screwed.

Suggested Lineup

Cleveland; Vincent, Campbell, Kappelhof, Hasler; Adams, Bronico; Edwards, Mihailovic, Johnson; Movsisyan

I’m with Adnan on this one. Play the kids. (I’m positive Pauno will trot out Basti and Dax and Niko, but this is a suggested lineup, not a predicted one.)

Keys To The Match

Score First: Blah blah blah you know the drill.

To Absent Friends: As I’m writing this on Thursday evening, Miguel Almiron and Greg Garza are on the injury report. This doesn’t make Atlanta vulnerable, per se, but if we’re going to get lucky and steal a result, this is the week to do it. Missing Almiron in particular will be a huge blog to Atlanta’s attack, and the Fire will need to find some way to capitalize on that.

Work Hard Have Fun: Look, even with Atlanta’s injuries, they’re probably still going to win. We need to focus on moral victories. The youts will have to play their hearts out and prove they deserve regular starting minutes in 2019. Everyone else is just playing for pride and/or spite.

How To Watch

Television: ESPN

Streaming: ESPN+

Final Thoughts

Can the Fire refrain from completely embarrassing themselves? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!