WWW.CYBERSOCCERNEWS.COM ON FIRE Taking The Shirts Off Our Back By: Ivaldo Basso January 13 Chicago (CSA) - Wednesday, Puma will unveil new Chicago Fire uniforms, replacing Nike as the Fire’s supplier. Nike made only subtle changes in kit – under the protective watch of Peter Wilt – during their five years as outfitter. Recognizing that the Fire has a reasonably successfully and identifiable brand, my guess is that Puma will maintain a sense of continuity while making enough modifications to turn current replica owners into shoppers. What They’ll Say While there’s little word on what the new uniform will look like, it’s certain that Wednesday will be full of optimism and good cheer. We will be told that an exciting quartet of (very) young players – DaMarcus Beasley (20 years old), Justin Mapp (18), Craig Capano (17), Kelly Gray (21) – will compliment a veteran core of U.S. National team pool and MLS All-Star caliber firemen including Chris Armas, Zach Thornton, Ante Razov and Carlos Bocanegra. We will also be told that that list of players along with C.J. Brown, Jesse Marsch, Evan Whitfield and the returning assistant coaches continues to put Chicago at or near the top of the league in terms of team continuity over the past four seasons – notwithstanding the seemingly endless exodus of fan-favorite players. Maybe we’ll even be told that the Fire will play a few late season games in the refurbished Soldier Field, including the venue’s ‘inauguration event’ (note: this is pure speculation). Peter Nowak, Josh Wolff, Dema Kovalenko and Hristo Stoitchkov won’t be mentioned Wednesday. Fire players and coaches are sure to only look forward in "ushering in the new" on unveiling day. Why We’ll Initially Feel Better. Everyone will say the right things Wednesday, and maybe for a moment, soccer life in Chicago will climb out of the emotional doldrums caused by the jettisoning of Fire stars. If one can rationalize that Peter Nowak has only one year left in the league, Josh Wolff is injury prone, and Dema Kovalenko’s prior season slide was a trend - three notions that aren’t a stretch – the Fire may not be as worse off in fact as they are in Barnburners’ hearts. In the purgatory of having his rights reside with the Fire but not being on the Fire’s roster, Hristo Stoitchkov is more ‘out’ than ‘in’. Despite many wanting Stoitchkov back - its fun seeing a man with such pedigree wearing the Fire red - few could argue that he’s vital to a championship run. If none of this is enough to make Chicago’s scarred soccer hearts feel better, perhaps visions of a shorter commute, beer and a return to swearing during games will be enough (again, on the purely speculative notion that a grand Soldier Field announcement is made). On Second Thought, Why We Won’t Feel Better The press conference will end without Wilt announcing that Bob Bradley reached an epiphany that you can in fact take the East Coast out of an East-coasterner – and that Bradley will be back with the Fire. The press conference will also end without Wilt explaining new vagaries to MLS’s revised salary cap structure that adds a complex ‘player development salary escalation clause’. The clause, intended to reward teams that develop players into stars, would give salary cap relief when giving pay-raises to ‘home grown’ stars. Without that announcement, the Fire won’t be able to keep the four youngsters together in the hopeful event that each of them reaches superstardom. When the four prodigies reach the brink of excellence, and as a result the MLS maximum salary, the Fire won’t be able to fit them under the team salary cap when the young guns near their prime. Tune in here later this week for comprehensive coverage of what actually happens during Wednesday’s unveiling. Ivaldo Basso can be reached at ibasso@cybersoccernews.com. © Basso/Cyber Soccer Associates, LLC 2002