Swinging For The Fences

The Fire have announced Julian Posada as the new club president, after Dave Greeley stepped down to spend more time not knowing a damn thing about soccer with his family, but I'm a little wary of what the Tribune describes as his inspiration:

It was an early August showdown with the Red Bulls, and the atmosphere crackled with excitement. Five international stars were on the field, and a sellout crowd of 21,868 at Toyota Park saw 90-plus minutes of thrilling plays and desperation saves.

"It kind of hit me that you have an opportunity to create this magic all year long — to have folks walking out of the stadium, even though we tied, feeling very good," said Posada, introduced as the Fire's new president during a Thursday morning conference call.

"When I saw that wasn't the case every home game, I felt (it) was a huge challenge. If you can replicate that magic, you can create something special. But it's not going to be easy."

Trying to replicate the magic of that match is a fool's errand. Period. Something to aspire to? Maybe. But we've got a Tuesday night against Kansas City coming up next month, and you could give tickets away for free and still not generate anywhere near that excitement.

To borrow a metaphor from another summer sport, it's like saying you want to hit a grand slam every time you're at bat, regardless of how many men are on base. Aside from being impossible, it's not going to help your batting average as much as, say, making better contact with runners in scoring position, or earning a walk where you've struck out in the past.

It was the allure of David Beckham filling stadiums that brought in Andrew Hauptman as the club's owner, and while his new toy wasn't quite as shiny as he may have thought it was, it still was enough to reflect a bright light on his inexperience and steep learning curve with the U.S. soccer market. So now, bringing in a guy with no sports management experience to chase after this mythical ideal of what soccer can be in this country? Will he be looking for unicorns while he's at it?

To be fair, I wish Posada all the luck in the world, and he may very well prove me wrong with his actions. But I'm deeply skeptical, and if his success or failure as seen by his bosses is based on his ability to consistently replicate that Fire-Red Bulls match experience, he's doomed.