Table of Contents
Oh hi! I’m Jiggly. And it’s a Tuesday.
Recovering from a game on Sunday is much more difficult than a game on Saturday. Not because I have a job and have to go to work on Monday, but because I’m writing this while very tired and not fully processing all that the game entailed. To be quite honest, the game itself wasn’t really much. It’s more about what that game represented. So yeah, let’s get started.
Find Your Identity
I hate having to talk about Messi all the time, but any conversation about MLS nowadays starts with him. And recently, we just saw my prophecy come true with a super-powered Inter Miami team tear through the Leagues Cup tournament. Which, honestly, was more surprising than I’d have thought. Because they did go to close games plenty of times, but one game where it was absolutely not close was against who I’d think was the only team that could stand in their way: Philadelphia Union. But somehow they forgot who they were. They saw Messi and folded. Jim Curtin, a coach that Fire fans were hoping to pick up and a guy who has tactically grown into one of the more solid coaches in the league, decided to bunker at home. Andre Blake, a man I consider to be the top goalkeeper in North America, looked like an absolute idiot against Messi. Not even with Messi doing anything special, but with him making dumb decisions and Messi having capitalized on them. What happened?
Over the past decade in Fire history, the phrase “on paper” has been tossed around a lot, mostly near the companion phrase “less than the sum of their parts.” The thing is, a lot of those issues may stem from the same problem Philly faced when they went up against Miami. Not that they are up against better competition, but that they lack an identity. Philly had one, went out not looking Philly, and lost. The Fire don’t even have step one on that. And it’s not like they didn’t try to establish one. In Ezra Hendrickson’s first press conference, he came in talking about how he wanted his Chicago Fire team to play. He wanted a 4-2-3-1, built on a “hard-working” style that can represent the City of Chicago well. Not a bad idea. The problem is that that never happened. Why? Because it was never his call.
Since 2020, the Fire seem to have been built with no purpose in mind. As if there isn’t really anyone at the wheel or if there is, they’re certainly not talking to the navigator. I have no clue how much GM Georg Heitz has spoken to his coaches and with the way he’s signed players, I almost think that he hates them. I’m not really going to defend Raphael Wicky, as he is definitely a shining example of the Fire’s inability to hire a decent coach, but it’s not like he was given a solid squad to work with. Ya know? One that could actually be used in a way he wanted to use it or in a way that could be versatile in different set-ups in case the first line-up didn’t work. Or even just had players that would show up for their games (I’m not talking about you, Luka. I would never say anything bad about you, Chef). But this problem was magnified under Ezra’s tenure as there seems to have been a clear disconnect between Ezra’s attempted strategy on the pitch and the team that was “built” for him. Disjointed pieces, maybe fitting positional needs, but ultimately not fitting the playstyle required of his system for a player in that position. This miscommunication doesn’t just hurt the team’s ability to run the system, but it hurts their ability to really acquire an identity. And out of everything, a team with an identity is the scariest team that you can come up against. But more on that later.
First, the Chicago Fire need to find their identity. In the past, the Fire’s identity in a given period of time had been pretty clear:
The early years of dominance weren’t about dominance, but rebellion. They were the outsiders from the original 10 teams and the first expansion side to establish themselves as consistent contenders. They did all this while somehow playing seasons at a literal college park, being cheered on by one of the loudest and probably the most hated fanbase in the league. “Effective and weird, but ultimately feared” is probably the best way to describe it.
However, that transitioned into the Blanco Era. Both the year prior and the year after his time on the squad could also be best described as the “Glamour Era”, where the Fire were finally becoming somewhat media darlings for the league. After their rebellious years of making players’ names, they started bringing in players with names already. Sure, Blanco, but also Brian McBride, and even Nery Castillo was technically a big name at the time.
Then, the “Dark Ages” were honestly a really wholesome era. I’d call it the “Hometown Era” because it seemed like with the introduction of the Homegrown Rule, Klopas’ first stint at coaching the club, and the arrival of Mike Magee all made those teams the most Chicago, despite how much they struggled.
After that is the Paunovic tenure, which could best be described as the “Mercenaries”. Nelson Rodriguez signed a bunch of guys with really no intention to build anything lasting, instead trying to win now with as many random players as he could scrounge up. Y’all remember Nico Gaitan just showing up for half a season? At least they were able to get some things done in 2017, but the identity was built around that lack of cohesion. It was like a West Marches campaign (I gotta stop with the DnD references) with guys going in and out the revolving door.
Then, finally, after 2020 we have a Fire team that’s been… Nothing. There is no distinct characteristic about the Post-COVID years that says anything about who the Fire are now. We don’t really have any personalities outside of Francisco Calvo and Djordje Mihailovic throwing fits when they were around. Even Gaga Slonina’s brand may have been sparkling in its presentation, but it was ultimately bland and felt really corporate in a way. The team feels sanitized somehow or just completely lacking in flavor. The past four years of the Chicago Fire could best be described as boiled chicken in water: Dry, flavorless, and likely to give you salmonella anyway because I don’t think they cooked it enough. Which, I guess is fitting for a team that serves Connie’s Pizza.
So let’s build the Chicago Fire a new identity! We can take some of those key concepts from those successful seasons. Those early years were about rebellion. They were AEG’s step-child that they never asked for, yet they were able to not only survive, but thrive with who they had because they had that chip on their shoulder. In fact, the city itself is built with a chip on its shoulder. How would you feel if you were billed as the “Second City” and people think it’s because you’re not as good as somewhere like New York (“Second City” is actually a reference to how the city built here is the second after the first burned down in the Great Chicago Fire). I said last week that Chicago is pretty damn ignored by mass media, which only helps to add to the city’s hard-working depiction after years of being mostly just an industrial powerhouse rather than any sort of center for the arts. We are here to prove ourselves. And let’s not forget that, in general, Chicago sports are built on hard-nose physicality and defense, combined with brilliant feats of skill from a transcendent individual. The ‘85 Bears defense combined with the legendary Walter Payton, the Jordan Bulls having the toughest frontcourt in the NBA, and the Dynasty Hawks that weren’t just led by Kane’s scoring but by the hard work put in by defensemen like Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and my favorite grinder: Andrew Shaw. Even the Fire themselves had that same template back in 1998 when they were built off the backs of veteran defense work from Lubos Kubik and Francis Okaroh, allowing a brilliant Piotr Nowak to help get the team out of a bad stretch midseason.
What this means is that the Fire’s identity needs to be built on not only playing with an amazing defense like all of the other great teams in this city’s history, but by also just being really annoying to play. Despite the fact that the Fire are definitely the old guy in the room and are effectively treated like one of the original 10 teams, they need to start playing like the “annoying little brother.” Constantly be up in the opposition’s face. Embrace an antagonistic role. I find it sickening how many times the Fire have won the “Fair Play Award”. We should have someone here who is known around the league as the guy opponents most hate to play against. I mean, we used to have attackers breaking opponents' legs. We used to be a proper soccer club!
Then, combine that energy into being the team that is going to sign the outcasts, the weirdos, the guys who have something to prove. Despite the way it’s portrayed in film, Chicago is usually seen as an incredibly important first step in the industry (especially comedy). It’s traditionally viewed as a testing ground, where everyone needs to prove themselves with hard work. And the Fire should embrace that with their signings. Bring in the guys who are too weird for anywhere else and guys who are hungry for a chance to prove something. It’s probably too late, but Mario Balotelli remains the perfect fit for a Fire signing. Someone who has a personality and the drive to shut up doubters that have chased them their whole career. Shaqiri just lacks that kind of spice.
In fact, the entire locker room lacks spice. Everyone is either camera-shy or incredibly mild-mannered. That’s probably the nicest way to put that. There’s a lot of good guys on the roster, but they’re just guys. No personality, at least none that are allowed to be public about their personality, and we’ve got a lotta guys with Resting Sad Face. The only personality I think we’ve got is Kei Kamara, and that’s honestly just because he’s a guy who’s been around the league. Like, Czichos is a leader and can get loud and direct things, but he’s not really a “personality”. He’s just a leader. Like how Calvo was a personality and not a leader. I truly do not believe that there is a single guy getting into another guy’s face in that locker room. And that’s a problem.
Recently, I spoke to a former player who was around during some of the best years in club history. And one of the most interesting things he said was that they were absolutely not all friends. A couple of our favorites weren’t exactly beloved by the locker room. But, while they didn’t need to like each other, they were able to all play well together. This is because of how hard they all pushed each other. I know it’s tough to hear, especially as someone who has a lot of “People Pleaser” tendencies, but locker room cohesion doesn’t always have to be about making sure all the players are friends. You need guys in the locker room that are going to push other players past their comfort level. If any of you watched Last Dance, you’ll remember the stories in there of the way Jordan practiced. He would push guys that he wanted to see more out of. He got Steve Kerr to throw a punch and relentlessly bullied Scott Burrell during practice with trash talk and physical play. But all that got both of those guys better and got Jordan himself better when they challenged him. It’s been a line attached to every player acquisition process I’ve seen from the Nelson and Heitz regimes that they worked to see if the player’s personality was a “good fit for the team.” Unfortunately, I think that the only thing they cared about was matching personalities rather than creating a competitive environment through those personalities. Because pretty much every guy they’ve signed is either incredibly reserved or has that “golden retriever energy” I hear so much about where they’re just a good guy and that’s about it.
I guess my main thing here is that the Chicago Fire is supposed to be about Tradition, Honor, and Passion. We are not All City Chicago, we are still the Fire. I want to see that Fire, I want to see that Passion. Because in the absence of Passion, there is only apathy. And you don’t win games by not caring.
Frank Klopas, the Fire’s residential Passion merchant, was out Sunday night with COVID, leaving in charge probably the only man who can rival Klopas’ passion for this club: CJ Brown. And I’m not here to talk about his game management. I’m here to simply repeat what he told the press after the game about the way the side has played:
“We’re getting opportunities, we’re getting chances, we’re not finishing them. And then we have the lack of concentration, the lack of focus and to me, I think, a little bit is a lack of willingness to suffer and put your body on the line.”
“We can play soccer, we can move the ball to the lines, we can create opportunities and now we need to learn how to suffer and really put our bodies on the line to win games.”
"If we hope another team gets us into the playoffs, then we don't earn it. We need to earn it."
CJ is a man who experienced almost all of those different iterations of the club, all of those identities in one way or another from playing in ‘98 all the way to the end of the Blanco Era, into coaching for, against, or simply around the Fire after that. CJ knows what he’s talking about when he speaks about the club’s identity, about the need for an attitude built around protecting the badge, protecting your Fire family. He has suffered for the badge and he sure as hell has made others suffer for trying to get past him. I’m sure he recognizes the same problem. The team doesn’t quite have that same Passion. That’s what “giving up the body” and “taking one for the team” is about. Cause that’s the difference between everyone being friendly with each other and everyone trying to win together.
I don’t know where my copy of Sun Tzu’s Art of War is, but the line everyone always likes to pull out is: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” The Fire know their enemy at this point. There is a good chance that, if the Fire make the playoffs, they’ll likely end up in 8th. And, if the right teams drop points, that 9th place wildcard spot will be Inter Miami. We know who the Fire need to prepare for. Plenty of other teams simply forgot who they were when going up against Messi. It’s the Fire who need to find out who they are before they eventually face up against the most powerful enemy in the entire league.
Miscellaneous Notes
Graduate. Thanks to everyone who helped me get my graduation ceremony done at the game on Sunday. No matter how much shit I talk about everything, this club is the most important thing in my life. Not the team itself, but the community and family around it. Y’all raised me, you deserved to be there for me to get handed my degree.
I Got Blisters on My Fingers! I played the drums in Section 8 for the first time since I was 10 or 11. I didn’t come prepared and in just the final 15 minutes of the game when I was drumming, I picked up two blisters on the same hand. I’m taping up my hands next time.
Cut For Time. I was planning on having a whole portion to write about the Chicago Red Stars’ new ownership group and a bit of a deep dive into where things need to be fixed and don’t need to be fixed. But then I realized that I still needed to do a lot more research about the people in the group and decided to let you guys off a bit early. Consider it like a half-day of school, but we’re making it up later.
La Roja. Congrats to the Spanish Women’s National Team on winning the World Cup. Not the coach. He shouldn’t have been there in the first place. This trophy isn’t his. Or the RFEF president’s. The whole of women’s soccer has had to fight tooth and nail for recognition in that country and we should appreciate the women who have won.
Tik Tok. The thing about long-clock fantasy drafts is that while it avoids the trouble of having to find a time for everyone to be online at the same time, a draft that would take maybe 2-3 hours tops ends up taking over a week and a half to get to the 10th round.
Bardbarian. Sorry about the DnD references. I just really wanna play Baldur’s Gate 3, but I have no money. I’ve only seen screenshots of Karlach, but I love her. Also, the game looks so massive.
Team Shiv. I finally started watching Succession this past week. I understand why people say it’s amazing, but my taste buds are so fried from the anime trash I consume that it’s just not spicy enough yet. Still barely to the end of the first season, though.
I love you.
And I’ll see you next week.
