My personal preference is for Chicago 1871 -- the year of the fire --as a link to the history of the city and the existing soccer team here. Put your two cents in on the names at our forums.The use of the colours of the city flag in the team's branding so far also makes a lot of sense. It's of the utmost importance to connect a team to its city, something other American soccer organisations should pay attention to when they choose their name and colors.

So does this matter for the Fire? I think it does. A successfully run women's team has multiple benefits for us as Fire supporters. For a start, it provides another way to unite the local soccer community and bring them regularly out to Toyota Park. Many soccer folks still don't even know where Toyota Park is: getting out to a game and seeing what a good venue it is might well convince them to come out for a Fire game, too.

Secondly, it looks very much like Peter Wilt will run the team in a similar supporter-friendly manner to his previous effort with the Fire. This might actually help the Fire organisation remember how the Fire survived and succeeded against the odds in the first place. Wilt has been very active promoting the women's team already, connecting with the local media in a pro-active manner and writing his own blog. I think the Trib's soccer correspondent, Luis Arroyave, has posted almost as much on a women's team that doesn't even have a name yet than on the Fire in recent weeks, and that is something of a black eye for the latter, quite frankly. The Fire can learn a lesson from the man they, uh, fired.

And finally, perhaps the Fire will even bring back a Chicago flag-coloured jersey once they see how much people like the new women's team's branding (by the way, you could also buy one from Section 8 ...). Wouldn't that be nice?

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