Know Thine Enemy: Chicago Fire of Bridgeview, Ill
You know that old adage "Comedy = Tragedy + Time"? Well, Tragedy + Time also = Sports Team Nickname, as the Sounders' opponent on Saturday proves.
The 1871 Chicago Fire was more than an inconvenience. It killed more than 200 people, left about 90,000 homeless, and destroyed the entire downtown business district. Mass panic consumed the city after the fired jumped the Chicago River twice and raged into residential districts. Chicago was placed under martial law. Not good times.
Yet 100 years later, this horrific day is fodder for sports marketing. In the 22nd century,will the disasters of our own lifetime be turned into team names? The New York 9/11s? The New Orleans Katrinas? The University of Washington Willinghams? As distasteful as it seems to us now, the answer is probably yes.
Chicago Fire is yet another MLS team that does not actually play in the city for which it is named. The Fire will host the Sounders not in Chicago, but in Bridgeview, Illinois, a mostly Arab-American suburb that's fifteen miles SW of the city proper. Their soccer-specific stadium, Toyota Park, is also home to a pro lacrosse and pro women's soccer team.
The Fire are led by 36-year-old Brian McBride, the MLS April Player of the Month. McBride, who's the only American to have scored goals in two different World Cups, is back in MLS after four years in the English Premier League. He has five goals on the year, leading Chicago to a 2-0-4 record. Also watch for attacking midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco, another 36-year-old, who is the Fire's designated player.
The Fire have one of the most rowdy supporters' groups in MLS--originally heavy with Polish immigrants. Known as the Section 8 Supporters, they're known to smuggle flares and smoke bombs into the stadium, like fans in Europe and South America. Here's a view from inside the section:
