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Oh hi! I’m Jiggly. And it’s a Tuesday.
So, this is a bit awkward. I don’t really have a column this week. Not that I don’t have any ideas for what to write, it’s more that I’ve got a couple of solid ones that need a lot of work to be done. You see, I’ve been doing this thing where I wait until it’s really late into Monday night before I start writing and it’s really caught up to me mentally this week. On Mondays, I “research” for, record, and edit my podcast Sad Bois FC (you can find it in our podcast tab on the site, along with all the other Fire podcasts out there that you should check out) and on top of that, with the start of the NFL season, I also want to watch the football. It’s not entirely unmanageable, but I feel like with the sheer size of the columns I’ve been writing, I’ve earned a bit of a break. Besides, I’m in the middle of working on a writing project that I’ve been really excited about, and want to push myself to finish the first draft of my script by the end of the month. I need this week and I’ll be back next week with a double feature of a couple of fairly interesting things involving what’s next for the Chicago Red Stars and soccer in Chicago as a whole.
But I won’t let you off with nothing this week. Here is something that’s been bothering me for a while about my columns, done in the greatest parody of myself that I can muster, with plenty of self-referential humor, random quotes, and large portions of existentialism.
Where’s The Revolution?
On Sad Bois FC, we have a bit of a running joke. Although, it’s less of a joke and more just something that happens. Most of the time, it’s my co-host Adnan who brings up issues with the Chicago Fire, and I’m the one who tries to rationalize those issues and explain them away. But every once in a while, maybe a bit more than I think, I’m the one who brings them up. And at some point we get “Toxic Jiggly”. Adnan thinks it’s fun, usually it’s some sort of random insult that slips out because there’s just nothing else that can be said. But this doesn’t really sound that off to you, the reader, because even if you don’t listen to Sad Bois, you’ve read “Toxic Jiggly” plenty of times. It’s honestly what’s been on the page for at least the past two and a half months.
I started this column out not only as a slightly callous way to just maintain the flow of content from MIR97, but also as a way to simply talk through my feelings about the club. I’ve got a lot of them, the Fire have been my older brother since the beginning and I care about them. I can only really write about the Fire because I care so much. It’s a part of our mission here to help spread the passion from the bigger and older fans to the newer, not quite as indoctrinated, fans. But, there are issues that do need addressing around the club, both on and off the pitch. They’re issues that have gone for so long that it’s just stupid how they haven’t been dealt with yet. We all know that from the mismanagement of the roster down to the pizza served at the stadium, the Fire are not well. And last week I wrote an article about the general apathy surrounding the club from both a professional and supporter standpoint.
Like any other person who has a decent relationship with their parents, my parents influenced a lot of my tastes in media. And while I think I can blame my mom for me getting into anime and getting me into a lot of the music I’ve enjoyed while growing up, my dad’s had a major part in it too. I’m just gonna skip over most of the very important things that he got me into and mention two things that he never fully got me into: Depeche Mode and Network. So, I’m a really bad film school graduate, there’s a lot of legendary films that I’ve just never seen all the way through because I just never finished them. I had Network saved on the DVR for forever and just never got around to watching it. But, like anyone, I know the one famous scene from it very well. The main character, a news anchor, goes on a rant about how things are terrible and we all need to do something about it. He yells out the iconic line “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore.”
I feel like that sometimes. Not the line, I think everyone does at some point in their life. I mean I feel like that protagonist sometimes. Every week I’ve pointed out some broken part of the club and asked why it exists. Why can’t we have real rivalries anymore? Why does no one want to sign with the club? Why can’t we just be fun? They’re the same questions so many others ask and every time I see someone talking about my column, it’s usually in agreement with my points. So what are you going to do about it? Where’s the revolution? Why is it that we know all these issues exist, but do nothing about it? I spoke about apathy last week in a very diplomatic way, in an attempt to imply that it hasn’t overtaken us all, but I really hope that something can be done about any of this. Not just by the club, but by the fans.
Until those in charge of the club prove that they are aware of these problems, we need to make sure that we speak up and make ourselves heard. Politely ask your season ticket holder rep to pass along an angry email to Mansueto or something (remember to be polite about it to the rep, it’s not their fault). Bring in signs of protest, make banners, hell we can even have a full protest in the supporters’ section. Because things have gone on long enough. We cannot blindly stand around and give our all to a team that gives so little. We cannot lose our voices over a team that seems to have forgotten how to use theirs. To blindly believe that others will take on the mantle is an act of self-sabotage, it is the belief that nothing will ever get better. It is, what Jean Paul Sartre calls, “Quietism”. It is an attitude of resignation, a life unfulfilled. That the only reason things can’t be better is that things will never be better. But even if I am so filled with cynicism over this club, I refuse to let go of the glint of optimism that things can change. And part of embracing that optimism is to use your voice until there’s nothing left to hold those in power accountable for their actions. To demand change, to demand action, to demand answers.
It’s not that hard. When I was 15 or so, I made my own “#HauptmanOut” banner and brought it to the stadium. I always loved the Fire, but it had gotten to the point where it just felt like the club wasn’t doing anything. There were no big signings, there were literally big signings that were explicitly avoided, and the results on the field continued to fall off. I kept bringing the banner, I made more banners, I made my discontent known. I wanted to make sure that there was no way to misread what the fans wanted from the club. We wanted better. We wanted a team that we can be proud of, we wanted a team that earned the right to have thousands of people losing their voice for every week. Have you all forgotten that? Have you forgotten what it’s like to support a good club? Have you forgotten the feeling of going into a season and really thinking “We have a real chance to win it all if we play our cards right”? Are you okay with being forgotten? Are you okay with allowing our club to simply fade away into obscurity, to be that one team that always trips someone up when trying to name every MLS Cup winner? Are we content to act like everything is okay when there have been clear distress signals for an entire decade?
I mentioned Sartre earlier and that’s because something popped up for me on TikTok this morning. It was some musician on my FYP that came up on my feed with a reading from Sartre’s 1946 lecture entitled Existentialism is a Humanism. While I have only glanced at the overall lecture, I found the portion read by this random musician on TikTok relevant. It was about the mindset that needs to be taken by someone who truly embraces existentialism. That those who sit back and hope for others to fix things for them are wasting their lives. “Man is nothing other than his own project. He exists only to the extent that he realizes himself, therefore he is nothing more than the sum of his actions. Nothing more than his life.” If you truly believe something must be done, you must take action. All that you are is your actions. Not your thoughts, not your beliefs, not some ideas you keep in your head and do nothing with. Your actions.
This past week the Colorado Rapids supporters staged a protest at their game against the New England Revolution. They put up their protest banners and in the 20th minute, they walked out. While there’s definitely an understandable sentiment from some fans that “cheering for your team” is important, I like one quote in that article from a Centennial 38 fan, Juan Carlos: “The amount of people here is a testament to the deep passion that everyone exudes for this team.” Voicing your discontent in the way things are run isn’t an attack on the team. It is the greatest form of passion, the greatest form of love. If someone you love is hurting themself, you don’t stand by and allow them to continue to do that. You step in and help them, even if it means tough love. Too often it feels like all Fire fans have done is stand around, watch the game, and go back to talking shit about all the things that are wrong right now.
We may not be able to make change right now, but it is better to try than to assume all is lost. In the same way that the game itself should be approached, you don’t just walk off the pitch the moment that you go down 5-0. You continue to fight, not because it’s possible to win, but because you refuse to be defeated.
“...If I ask myself ‘Will the social ideal, as such, ever become a reality?’ I cannot tell. I only know that whatever may be in my power to make it so, I shall do; beyond that, I can count upon nothing.”
Well, I guess I did write a column anyway. Man, I was gonna work on my script tonight.
Miscellaneous Notes
Big. My main note from that game against CF Montreal is that the Fire need to invest in taller attackers. And not just “tall” like Kacper or even Collier, but tall guys who can do something in the air. What happens when Kamara has the ball out wide?
Everything Happens Constantly. I went to a Red Stars game for the first time in forever and it was going to be my original topic this week. The game itself got really interesting late after coach Chris Petrucelli essentially sent out a line change with four subs at once. A lot of goals right after another still led to a 2-2 draw.
War Between Brothers. Despite an early lead against him, I did lose this week in fantasy football to Adnan. Trevor Lawrence and the Giants D/ST failed me and I probably should’ve started Geno Smith and the Steelers.
Giita. I got a new guitar the other week. I named her “Roy Yamaha” cause I like Ryo Yamada from Bocchi the Rock and it is a Yamaha. I need an equally anime guitar strap for her, which is much harder to do than I thought it’d be.
I love you.
And I’ll see you next week.
