Hot Time’s Chicago Fire and Red Stars hiatus survival guide

The reality of the Coronavirus outbreak is setting in. For some of us, it might mean dealing with real, actual health problems for ourselves or loved ones. For the rest of us lucky enough to be healthy, we’re just dealing with boredom.

Since we’re all trying to figure out what we’ll do with our lives now that soccer and other sports are on hold, I figured I’d throw together a quick list of my favorite Chicago soccer related stories from the year, from Hot Time and elsewhere.

Hopefully, you’ll enjoy a few of these while we’re all waiting for things to get back to normal.

Chicago Fire stories from Hot Time:

• When Robert Berić gulped down a shot of Malort in his Fire player announcement video, fans went crazy on social media. I took you behind the scenes on how the club’s media team pulled it off.
• The Fire landing Arlo White as play-by-play man was a huge coup for the club. But, the story about how it happened actually started at a random lunch meeting at Dan Majerle’s Sports Grill before the 2008 Super Bowl.
• Elliot Collier went to Memphis 901 FC to gain experience and prove himself as a player. He battled his way back to the Fire, but the story about how he got back took a few unexpected turns.
• Raphael Wicky likes to talk about the importance of developing a positive culture at the Fire. So, I sat down with him to figure out what that means, and how experiences as a player shaped his philosophy as a coach.
• Although they worked together prior to this season, Frank Klopas and Raphael Wicky have very different backgrounds. I asked Klopas how he’s enjoying being back on the sidelines as an assistant coach, and how he’s meshing with Wicky.

Fire stories from other news outlets:

• A few local reporters sat down with new Fire owner Joe Mansueto. Guillermo Rivera did a fantastic deep dive on Mansueto for The Athletic.
• And, Jeremy Mikula at the Chicago Tribune pressed Mansueto on the reaction to the Fire’s new logo, along with a bunch of other topics.
• The Sun-Times’ Brian Sandalow had a great interview with new Fire Sporting Director Georg Heitz.
• I also loved this piece from Guillermo, about how Fire backup goalkeeper Connor Sparrow is actually a registered nurse.

Red Stars stories:

• Annie Costabile does a great job covering the Red Stars for the Sun-Times. Here’s an interesting profile she did on Sarah Gorden.
• And, here’s a piece she did on another local player—new Red Stars draft pick Camryn Biegalski.
• I also liked this one we did here at Hot Time, where I argued Julie Ertz is the best women’s player in the world.

There aren’t a whole lot of people covering soccer in Chicago. Here at Hot Time, you get to read our work for free. So, when you like something we do, it really helps us if you share it on social media, on Reddit, or with your friends. As for the local papers and The Athletic—consider subscribing to all of them. Good journalism costs money to produce.

Hopefully you enjoyed reading some of these. Take care of each other, and stay healthy.