Backdraft

On Tuesday June 10th, the Fire traveled 3 hours south of Chicago to Bradley University in Peoria, IL where they met the Columbus Crew in a play-in game to the 2008 U.S. Open Cup. With a record crowd arriving on a warm, early evening at Bradley's Shea Stadium, the Fire took to the field looking like a team with something to prove after an embarrassing first round knockout in last year's Open Cup to the USL-1's Carolina Railhawks.  Fielding a team with many underused players, Denis Hamlett seemed to want to use this game to further develop and blend his 2nd stringers and the players returning from injury.

Read more: Fire Edge Columbus in Cup Thriller

In case you haven't heard, the name of the Chicago's Women's Professional Soccer team was officially announced yesterday. And as the advisory fan poll indicated they might do, the team has been named the Chicago Red Stars.

Read more: Welcome To Chicago

When Andell Holdings, led by Chairman and CEO Andrew Hauptman, purchased the right to operate the Chicago Fire in 2007, they were not buying a blank slate. They were buying a team with a distinct tradition. It is an organization that honors this with its Ring of Fire, whose inductees represent those who have contributed significantly to the passion that defines the Fire community.

In the Ring of Fire are former President and GM Peter Wilt, former manager Bob Bradley, and former star players Lubos Kubik, Frank Klopas and Piotr Nowak. Fittingly, it has always been up to the inductees to select new members of the Ring of Fire, giving the club a red thread running through it that links it from its origin to the present. This is unique in American soccer.

This year, they chose to put in the Ring of Fire two supporters who tragically died within the past eighteen months, Dan Parry and Brandon Kitchens. Both represented everything that the Chicago Fire has stood for over the past decade, and in their own ways, each contributed much to that tradition.

Read more: Completing the Ring of Fire

In March, the Ring of Fire members unanimously selected Dan Parry and Brandon Kitchens to join them as members of the Chicago Fire’s tribute of honor known as the Ring of Fire. Piotr Nowak, Frank Klopas, Lubos Kubik, Bob Bradley and i all believed Dan and Brandon exemplified the necessary characteristics of leadership, integrity and dedication to the Chicago Fire needed to join our exclusive club. We immediately notified the Fire and received positive responses lauding our selection from team President and General Manager John Guppy and Senior Director of Community Relations Donald Ortale. Our selection unfortunately was not communicated to ownership.

Read more: Wrong of Fire