Somebody close the transfer window, there's a draft in here

I think that what I'd like to see most from last week's MLS SuperDraft is a good picture of Chicago Fire draftees Nate Jaqua (6'3"), Damani Ralph (6'0") and Rob Friend (6'4") with their new coach Dave Sarachan (height unavailable at press time). There's one of Jaqua, Sarachan and over six-foot Fire GM Peter Wilt, but I want the whole enchillada.

The long and short of last week, as I've expouned upon elsewhere, is that the Fire's lack of a midfield in the absence of Peter Nowak has been greatly exaggerated, and that the personification of that midfield is going to be that most misspelled of Fire players since Jerzy Podbrozny, World Cup vet DaMarcus Beasley.

All the kvetching over the team's needs leading into the draft was damn near hysterical at times, mostly with regard to this perceived midfield problem. I've said this a million times by now, but 2002 was an aberration. You can't possibly base any predictions on next season based on how a pair of low-priced Billys (Walsh and Sleeth) were able to spark an offense built upon the mostly-absent Nowak, as well as the defensive ball-winning of fellow MIA Chris Armas. So Nowak won't be back. Armas will. The Fire allowed more shots last year than ever, and one likely reason was that opponents' attacks weren't getting shut down in the midfield by the premier "destroyer" in American soccer (sorry, Pablo, maybe next year). The point being, the Fire still have options, even without St. Peter and firebrand Dema Kovalenko.

As for DMB running the show, it's starting to look like the rumors of his imminent departure will not be coming to pass by the time the European transfer window closes at the end of next week. Keep in mind, it could still happen, with at least the English Premier League's Middlesborough said to be showing interest. However, while newly acquired Justin Mapp can provide cover for Beasley if he were to leave, Run DMB's importance to the offense has been extended in recent weeks to the point where Mapp, with a whopping twentysome minutes of MLS playing time, cannot possibly be expected to fill those shoes on a full-time basis.

While it may expose me as being way too optimistic, even if Beasley suddently found a fondness for tea and crumpets in the home of warm beer, it STILL wouldn't be the end of the world that some would like to think. A lot of this has to do with the SuperDraft. Already, first-round pick Nate Jaqua has shown his appreciation by lighting up the nets in Portugal with two goals in two games for the US under-23 team, and there's a low-level buzz developing about the pair of Ryans, Mack and Futagaki, in the midfield. Not necessarily that they're going to make us forget two, but hopefully not three, notable absences at that position in the short-term, but there's definitely a sense that Coach Sarachan, in his first postive steps since taking over, along with the recently-deified-on-BigSoccer Peter Wilt have gone a long way to, if not rebuild a champion entirely, at least shore up a team that will be able to contend over the course of the MLS season. And as the Revolution proved in spades last year, staying in contention makes all the difference at the end.

I would be remiss if I didn't give a hearty thanks to everyone who has said good things about my debut as a columnist on the Fire's official site. I'm ecstatic at the opportunity, and hope to live up to everyone's expectations. That said, The Inswinger will still come to you weekly, if I can help it. With the Fire column being a bit more serious, who knows, this space might get more irreverant. Not, you know, Dan Loney irreverant, but somewhere on that spectrum.