...other than the end of the Hauptman era. My friend and I were talking about the NBA trade deadline and how funny it is to see players stick it to their old team. Which brought me to my favorite memory of the Hauptman era. Didier Drogba scores a hat trick against the Fire in his first start in MLS.
That moment was the best referendum on Hauptman's desire to say he was in for a big player before eventually not getting him. My favorite moment however was probably The Editorial, for no other reason than it confirmed beyond a doubt all the things we'd previously heard about Andrew Hauptman being a petulant child.
I think the moderators should do a Pontius Pilate and offer up a Jesus/Barabas choice between Segroves and Don. Release the one we choose and virtually crucify the other.
Favorite moment? A three-way tie between the Nery Castillo fireworks, the aftermath of the Editorial, and trainspotting from the Skyway Deck during boring Fire home games.
My favorite memory was that one time when I saw Star Wars and started posting a bunch of Daisy Ridley pictures. Good times. Good times.
I liked when the Shamrocks failed and we had cheerleaders for half a season. Remember the 'Sloppy Seconds Dance Team'?
I've only ever known the Hauptman era so I suppose ill chime in with my favorites (of which there are fewer and fewer as time goes on). US Open Cup game vs NY, Power outage game. Brought some first timers to this game, A win, Oduro running his ass off. NY having more fans there than players. US Open Cup game vs ???, Downpour game. I forget who the opponent was for this one (Rochester?) but the game was delayed hours for shitty weather. We started playing. Game got delayed again which basically turned the bathrooms behind section 8 into one giant party. Megabandera game vs NY, I hate everything about NY with a passion. This was a great day for Fire fans Hauptman era or no. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. The Bandera was BEAUTIFUL. The colossal ass whipping we put on NY was BEAUTIFUL. Cowlumbus road trip on Andys dime. Probably the last documented case of Andy actually spending some of his money for the benefit of the fans. Great bus ride (Wound up on the Sector Latino bus, good times!), Great Tacos, Great booze. We didn't win the game but as the fire have shown recently you can't win them all. Honorable mention to the game against DC where DRO had that penalty kick in the 89th min and Grazzini and Diego Chavez ********ing buried the 2 goals we needed to win that game in stoppage time. LOOK AT ALL THAT SALT @3:07
The Conference Final against RSL was probably it for me. I quite mistakenly thought the club had turned a real corner in Bridgeview that night. The result was disappointing, but the atmosphere and feeling in the park that night was electric. With a very short time to sell the game, I had the feeling that the club had reached a level where the magnitude of the game would sell itself, regardless of weather, group sales, etc. Of course, that was so early in the AH era, that he hadn't really gotten involved in a meddling way, and the roster was still stocked with great players. My second favorite (and this is telling as it was a meaningless game) was the friendly against Club America. Great, spirited game with a really good crowd.
My favorite was also the RSL game. I was sitting behind some very passionate Mexican fans. Eventually Brandon Prideuxs crooked foot ended the game with a missed PK. I and the Mexican fans that I sat behind of, enraged at the loss, got hammered at some dive bar in Cicero. Good times.
For me, it was the Fire LA Galaxy game on 10/21/07. Beautiful day, largest crowd ever at Toyota Park (I believe). David Beckham's first game in Chicago. If the Fire win, they are guaranteed to get into the playoffs (a tie would have worked as well). A raucous Sunday afternoon crowd, Blanco was all over the place. Many near goals and then, in the 92nd minute, a certain former Manchester United youth player broke the game open...John Thorrington! The look on Frank Yallop's face at the end of the game (see 3:03 in the video) is something, 8 years later, we would become all to familiar with seeing. Of course, Andrew Hauptman had only owned the team for 6 weeks (Hauptman bought the team September 6, 2007), so it barely qualifies as a "favorite memory of the Hauptman era" but I think that's the point.
Gonna go with: 1) Fire v RSL Conference finals 2) The day Don was banned from BS 3) Talking to Klopas the day he was promoted to full time head coach and congratulating him. 4) The day Yallop got canned so I could look at my family and say, "I told ya so!"
my actual favorite memory is April 3rd, 2008. 4-0 over the Revs. Larentowicz red card in the 1st half. Dad and brother by my side like it was Comiskey Park in 1981. 2 weeks before my wedding. can't find a good highlight reel though...
I have such a terrible memory, I'd never come up with these or any others, but seeing them again is great. Of course they also highlight the turnover in the squad, with the goals being Grazzini, Barrouch>Segares>Chavez, and Anibaba>?>Berry
My favorite memory of the Hauptman era? Not having to run to my car anymore to avoid the traffic getting out of TP.
ahh, blanco drawing cards, frankowski with a brace, revs being the watb they always were... and The Fire obliging me by scoring all their goals in the 1st half while I was still aware of my surroundings.
I remember that the Trib put the Fire on the front page the day before (in a smaller box, but still the front page) and I felt that we had made it. Especially since it was a FIFA preview (when they play the game on double COM), I got really excited. I kept asking my dad that if we made it to the final if we could go to the MLS Cup final. That game was absolutely amazing and it really felt like the Fire finally found a place in Chicago. But everything changed when Hauptman attacked.