A Fan is not a rational being

By: Tom | May 23rd, 2007

I’ve been hesitant to call for Dave Sarachan’s dismissal thus far. I’ve had moments, like after a 1,000 mile trip to Toronto to see schoolboy soccer, when I’ve leaned that way; then in the cold light of day, a former MLS executive convinced me to wait and see.

And of course, thanks to MLS’ absurd (if perhaps necessary at this stage of its existence) structure, it doesn’t even matter much what the Fire’s record is at this point. They can be less than mediocre the rest of the year and still crawl into the playoffs. At that point, they can then merrily state they were just a couple of games from the MLS Cup final, whatever their overall record or dismal play.

The second consequence of MLS having no relegation and a very generous playoff system is that the Fire’s season only really begins when Blanco’s season begins. How we can judge their team and roster now when over half their payroll is going to a player not even here yet?

These are the logical facts. However, I’m not an MLS executive, nor a journalist (at least not on this blog); I’m a fan. Being a fan of an MLS team is an entirely illogical thing to be. Indeed, MLS would not even exist were it not for the mad passions of the few diehards that keep teams like the Fire in business. All sports depend on the irrational love, hate and blind insanity of supporters.

Journalists and MLS executives get paid to make the right, rational judgments. But I don’t. And I, for one, am sick of insipid football and poor results - hell, I didn’t even enjoy it much when the Fire started the season playing mediocre football and scraping out a few results. If you’re going to play dull, defensive soccer you have to win games. The Fire must win at least one of their two games in the next five days. Red Bulls away is a tough game, admittedly. But Real Salt Lake at home has to be a victory if they come back empty-handed from New York.

Three other rational and irrational reasons why:

(1) Gaining less than three points from two games could conceivably plummet us towards the bottom of the standings. With Toronto FC having turned things around, and DC United surely better than their record, only the sorry Crew look like a sure bet to finish below the Fire if we come out with little from the next two games. Even the prospect of not making the playoffs, in this league, is unacceptable for the Chicago Fire.

(2) The Fire are trying to draw new fans this season, having invested more than anyone else in MLS apart from the Galaxy in one player, with a key reason being Blanco’s ability to bring out new fans to Toyota Park. The Fire have also leveraged the Beckham game, with tickets not sold individually, to bring out new fans to other games as well. Some of these potential Fire supporters are already attending games. Are we going to win their loyalty beyond Beckham and Blanco by playing terrible football and losing games? Probably not.

(3) If there are two teams I have an irrational hatred for in MLS, it’s Real Salt Lake and the New York Red Bulls. Their names are abysmal. I’m not particularly opposed to the American tradition of having official team nicknames, but let’s make them good ones with a connection to the history of the city (like, obviously, the Fire).

We have to win at least one of these games, and preferably not embarrass ourselves in the other. Otherwise, I’ll be heading over to Bigsoccer and catching a ride on the Fire Dave Sarachan bandwagon.