You've officially made my day! A coach from an opposing team is a friend of mine, and asked me to meet him on the field after the game. The Neo-Nazi Garcia Woman-with-more-testosterone-than-most-men would not let me on the field, despite this coach telling her to let me on. Let's just say I went anyhow. Where did they hire these clowns, anyhow? Joliet?
One of my fondest memories of Garcia was Guido that huge a-hole who always was in a suit. I'll miss him. *choking back fake tears* One time someone had opened up an orange can of smoke and when Garcia came over they screamed at someone to give them the can. The can was still streaming out massive amounts of orange smoke when the kid handed it to the guy and some of the smoke got on this guy's yellow Garcia jacket. The guy got real pissed, yelled at the kid and then proceeded to shove the can into the kid's eye while it was still spuming out smoke. A whole bunch of supporters jumped on the Garcia guy and basically had to be dragged away by fellow security guards. at least thats the way i remember it.
Remember Andy Frain? The loss of the Soldier Field contract to Safety Service Systems was the final blow to the company. The reason was that the Bears (primary tenant) had lodged too many complaints and requested that the contract be rebid in the offseason of 1996. SSS was the winning usher contract. Garcia was not without controversey either. SF was their only gig. The majority of them were off duty cops. Probably crony-ism (sp?) involved in that one as well. It is likely that the contract was put out to "bid" due to the number of complaints lodged by Bears and Fire alike. Rest assured that you will likely be seeing many of the same faces. SSS hired many of the ex-Andy Frains and stuck in the same crappy supervisors. Hence you got the same type of service after a while. Esp at Bears games. That's why I only worked one season of the Bears and ultimately ended up being a season ticket holder from 2000 - 2002. Also, Garcia and SSS or whoever gets the ushering contract will have to hire the spanish-speaking security firm Luna, which handles the salsa shows and any non-jam event at the Aragon, whenever there are Mexican league or south of the border national team matches there. Actually, it would do Luna good to get in on the Fire season instead of any main contract. If there is any sport they certainly understand on a fan level, it is soccer er futbol. it's only my opinion, Kirsten ps, dammit Quigley you made me go to your site.
Good point Quarter Ultra. The Tribune ran an article a couple of days ago accusing Daley of impropriety in awarding the Soldier Field security contract. Evidently Alderman Solis's brother controls the new company. The Trib alleges that the brother made fasle statements on his application to be certified as a minority business, concealing his relationship with the Mayor's ally. I don't know it it is true. Garcia was terrrible. I hope the "new" guys aren't worse.
Hey, Hector eventually came around. The last year at the old Soldier Field, in particular, was generally without any major incidents, and the lines of communication were much, much improved. That's what one year of the XFL will do for you. Not that Mr. Research checked any of that out, of course. Later, COZ