Walking over to Toyota Park early Saturday morning, I couldn't help but think I was forgetting something – camera . . . check . . . Fire jersey . . . check…Fire flag …check. What was it I'm missing? Oh yeah, pants. I had the bright idea to wear shorts, and at 8:00 A.M. on an October day in Chicago it was freezing. Why didn't I wear the pants? But there was no time to worry about it. The bus was minutes away and I was about to head to Kansas City for my first away game in Kansas.
First, I had to find my two roommates who had offered a complete stranger a room to share at the hotel - Jenn, whom seriously bursts with personality 24-7 and was arguably the most fun person on the trip, and Ethan whom I only knew from talking on the message board once. I had met Jenn once before but only for a few minutes so I had a little idea of who I was looking for, and Ethan showed up a skinny 18 year old on his first Section 8 road trip and completely surprised me when he said he was taking the trip himself.
“He seems a little shy, or maybe he's just quiet. I'm sure he'll open up once he gets a few drinks in him,” is what I thought when I first met him but I quickly learned he was 18 and couldn't drink. “That's ok,” I thought, “He's here supporting the FIRE and that's that matters.”
Eventually the bus arrived, a little later than scheduled, everyone quickly boarded and we pulled out of the Toyota Park parking lot. Almost immediately the back of the bus broke out in song and we were off on our trip with the smallest crowd I've ever seen on a bus. Twenty-two people made the trip on the bus, but rumor had it more would join us once we arrived in Kansas City. The ride was a lot quicker than expected. Every stop brought the soccer ball out to be kicked around and with so few people is was easy to gather everyone back on to continue.
Arriving in Kansas City was something else. The field was a converted Minor League Baseball field and was in the middle of a huge shopping center with many bars, restaurants and Section 8's hotel right in the parking lot. Almost immediately Jenn, Ethan and I trekked two Kansas City blocks (Chicago half mile) to the closest Arthur Bryant's, arguably the most famous BBQ in the world. Each of us gorged on about a pound of the most tender, delicious meat ever. I was the only one who couldn't finish, so my manhood took a shot but I didn't care. If I took one more bite my Boulevard Pale Ale was going to end up on the table. The three of us then walked through the parking lot again and met up with the other Section 8er's to help celebrate Liam's soon to be 25th birthday by watching RSL vs. New England. For a few minutes it looked like RSL was going to pull off an upset after Andy Williams found himself on the receiving end of a beautiful Javier Morales chip over the New England defense. Andy volleyed the ball out of the air and Matt Reis could do nothing but pretend to try and
Posted by: Marty Groark in Untagged on
Jul 11, 2008
The game is about to start. Flares are lit in front of the Harlem End and the stadium begins to look like a smoldering volcano awakening from a long nap. Smoke bellows of out Section 8 and surrounds Toyota Park in an almost dream like haze. The lineups are announced and more flares are lit while huge flags begin waving from all corners of the stadium. The visiting players make their way to the field and are taken back by how intimidating the atmosphere around them is. Scenes like these invoke images of games with teams like Fenerbanche in Turkey or AS Roma in Italy. Soon, with some help, this experience will come to life in the stands at Toyota Park as the Independent Supporters Association (ISA), on behalf of Section 8; have begun the long process though the legal maze to allow for a safe, organized, handheld flare display.
Posted by: Marty Groark in Untagged on
Jul 02, 2008
The Chicago Fire successfully continued their run towards a record 5th Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday after a 4-1 pasting over the visiting Cleveland City Stars of the USL-2 league.
Posted by: Marty Groark in Untagged on
Jul 01, 2008
After failing to score in their previous two games, the Chicago Fire looked to the match against San Jose to regain the form that quickly made them an MLS Cup favorite and instill some confindence in the Fire fowards. After regulation however, it is difficult to see what it was that made Chicago an early season powerhouse, as once again the Chicago Fire frontline remained anonymous Saturday night.
Posted by: Marty Groark in Games on
Jun 11, 2008
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.
Posted by: Marty Groark in Untagged on
May 21, 2008
On Wednsday May 21st , the Chicago Fire will face one of Poland's oldest and most popular teams when they face Wisla Krakow in their first international friendly of 2008. With over 185,000 Polish speakers in the city of Chicago, it's not too far fetched to believe that there are many Krakow fans within its limits, but Chicago has an even closer connection with the team in Fire forward Tomasz Frankowski.
Tomasz actually started his playing career with the Polish team Jagiellonia Bialystok in 1991. It was not until 1998 that Tomasz joined Wisla Krakow and enjoyed much of the success which made him a starter on the Polish national team for the 2006 World Cup Qualifying rounds. Tomasz was leading goal scorer for the Polish team during qualifying but was left off the tournament roster by head coach Pawel Janas. During Tomasz's time at Wisla, he was able to help the team to 5 Polish Championship titles. Playing for Wisla from 1998 until 2005, Tomasz appeared in 173 matches for the Polish side and was top scorer in the Orange Ekstraklasa (Polish First Division) 3 times, including his last season with Wisla in 2005. Overall, Tomasz was able to find the net 115 times in his 8 years with Wisla, averaging 2 goals every 3 games.
Posted by: Marty Groark in Untagged on
May 21, 2008
Section 8 Chicago.com has written up a brief profile of former Wisla star, and latest addition to the Chicago Fire, striker Tomasz Frankowski. In honor of tonight's friendly with Wisla Krakow, the profile has been translated into Polish. The English verison is located here .
Section 8 Chicago.com prezentuje bylego gwiazdora Wisly i jednego z najnowszych nabytkow Chicago Fire, napastnika Tomasza Frankowskiego. W zwiazku z dzisiejszym towarzyskim meczem z Wisla Krakow, artykul zostal przetlumaczony na jezyk polski.
Oryginal w jezyku angielskim znajduje sie tutaj.
W srode 21 maja Chicago Fire zagra z Wisla Krakow, jedna z najstarszych i najpopularniejszych polskich druzyn pilkarskich. Bedzie to pierwsze miedzynarodowe spotkanie towarzyskie Fire w 2008 r. W samym Chicago jest ponad 185,000 osob mowiacych po polsku, mozna wiec bezpiecznie zalozyc, ze jest wsrod nich sporo kibicow Wisly. Fire ma jednak jeszcze blizsze powiazania z Wisla – napastnika Tomasza Frankowskiego.
Tomasz rozpoczal swoja kariere pilkarska w Jagiellonii Bialystok w 1991r. Do Wisly Krakow dolaczyl w 1998r. M.in. odniesiony tam sukces pozwolil mu wystapic w reprezentacji Polski w meczach rundy kwalifikacyjnej do Mistrzostw Swiata w 2006r. Tomasz zdobyl wtedy najwiecej bramek dla polskiej reprezentacji, jednak trener Pawel Janas nie powolal go do kadry na Mistrzostwa. Grajac w Wisle, Tomasz pomogl zespolowi zdobyc mistrzostwo 5 razy. Pomiedzy 1998 i 2005, Frankowski wzial udzial w 173 spotkaniach i 3 razy zostal krolem strzelcow Orange Ekstraklasy - polskiej I Ligii (trzeci raz podczas swego ostatniego sezonu w Wisle w 2005r.). Grajac w Wisle 8 lat, Tomasz strzelil w sumie 115 bramek (srednio 2 bramki co 3 mecze).
Posted by: Marty Groark in Untagged on
May 18, 2008
After letting up only three goals in their first seven games, most fans would think the last thing to let them down would be the Fire's defense, but Saturday against the Houston Dynamo it was just that which led to a 2-1 final and the Fire's second loss of the season.
"The second half I thought we just defended too much." Fire center back Bakary Soumare told Backdraft after the game. Bakary was upset after the Fire seemed to lose concentration in the final 10 minutes and let a quickly restarted free kick find Bobby Boswell's head and the back of the net as Houston won its second game in as many weeks, seeming to have finally found their rythmn.
Posted by: Marty Groark in Untagged on
May 11, 2008
Many people thought that Thursday's match between the Fire and D.C. United would be a physical, even sided match that would be played hard until the final minute, and only then would a victor emerge. Those people would have been right in only one aspect, it was a physical night. It was at times more reminiscent of a martial arts cage match than a soccer game, but the entire night belonged to Chicago. From the first minute, Chicago's entire team came to play, and despite a few lucky shots by D.C., Chicago was easily able to control the flow of the game. The defense commanded respect by consistently removing any ball that seemed to find it's way into Chicago's defensive third. The terrier like aggressiveness of Diego Gutierrez and Gonzalo Segares were able to easily stop any incoming runs by the United strikers, complemented by the sheer strength and size of Bakary Soumare.
Posted by: Marty Groark in Interviews on
Apr 28, 2008
Denis Hamlet had a lot to talk about after the Fire's impressive 2-1 win against the visiting Colorado Rapids. Hamlett mentioned how pleased he was with the play of John Thorrington, who scored both of Chicago's goals. "Last week he [Thorrington] played well too, he defended well, got himself into some good spots last weekend; and tonight, the same thing, from the 1st minute to 90th minute he was defending, got forward, got 2 good chances and finished them."
Coach Hamlett also talked about what seemed to be his main concern, which was the lack of finishing opportunities by his forwards. "Tonight our attacking guys put on a good display and if we had been clinical in the final 3rd the score would have been more than what it was tonight… Tonight we could have killed the game off by getting a third goal."
Backdraft 
