Blanco is here

It seems fitting that Blanco will make his debut for the Fire two days after Beckham’s brief appearance for the Galaxy. To me, they are inextricably linked, stars signed by AEG amidst hoopla never seen before in MLS, and leaving each respective team to suffer and struggle in an interminable wait for the arrival of their respective saviour.

And a struggle it has been. The Galaxy and the Fire have been abysmal; how far this is the result of the distraction each circus has provided (not to mention committing a large portion of salary cap space to a player not able to participate in half the season) will never be known for sure.

In the meantime, the Fire have moved on a to a new manager (and how convenient it is he speaks Spanish) and are closing out a deal for new ownership.

The Blanco affair has, of course, been a mere county fair compared to the mega-ESPN-hype-machine surrounding Beckham’s arrival. At the press conference on Friday, there were around 25 reporters and 25 photographers, as a shy looking Blanco answered ten minutes of questions – all in Spanish – in an atmosphere that was lively, but hardly overwhelming.

At the practice later, donning a number ten jersey, he looked in fairly good shape, in front of half a dozen tv cameras. I found it disappointing that the practice was a closed media event: create some buzz! Get fans out!

And in a reminder of the Fire’s marketing issues, alarmingly (as of yesterday) there were still tickets available for his debut today – alarming in particular, as playing Celtic should already have been a big enough draw. The Fire’s marketing folks were practically begging journalists on Friday to mention there were “good seats still available”. One wonders if taking a few questions in English might have been a good idea (there was a translator available) – shouldn’t the Fire be ensuring the buzz Blanco has created in the Hispanic community spills over elsewhere? Concentrating solely on the Hispanic media would be a big mistake.

This afternoon, I’ll be at the game and will report back with photos. I also have photos from the press conference and training session that I’ll try to upload soon.

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