"Many of the fans who poured into Soldier Field for that first game, back in 1998, came to see Nowak. Those who didn't come to see him that night, came back to see him the next." I know I've mentioned this on one of the Nowak tribute threads, but... I remember the guy I went to that match with saying "who is that guy?" when we saw Nowak running around in the 85th minute looking like a substitute with the freshest legs on the pitch, and not the player who'd been controlling the midfield for the whole match.
4. The Fire have no plans to retire Nowak's No. 10, which I'm glad to hear. Just hold onto it until you feel there's a worthy successor. Do, however, look for a "Ring of Fire" at the new Soldier Field, with Nowak's name being the very first to appear. Fitting. Good. MLS teams retiring numbers would be a bad precedent to start. Honor the players in a "Circle of Excellence" or whatever you want to call it, but don't make it so that no one will ever wear a jersey number for a team, especially if it's 1-11. Those numbers should always be in use, preferably by guys who are among the best on the team. Nothing would be more pathetic than, after 20 years and all the "good" numbers have been retired, we see mooks wearing NFL-style numbers. Tom
another amazing piece by Bradley. let's hope it's possible for the Fire to put on some kind of testimonial match for Nowak to send him off properly.
Yes, it was a nice piece, but it was still pretty classless for Nowak to wait until he was traded to a team he didn't want to play for to retire. He should've retired after the end of the season. The Revs get, what, another draft pick for "the best MLS playmaker ever"? How fair is that? Prof
"with the ball at his feet, he could still fly like no one" I'd put Jaime Moreno up against him. He's pretty fast with the ball. Maybe not now, but a couple of years ago.
umm how exactly is it classless or unfair? obviously this matter was discussed beforehand as there is talk of the revs getting a better draft pick than what we got for nowak... which leads one to believe that the revs are eating some of the fire's salary problems that rolled over to this year you aren't getting squat for nowak retiring, you're getting something to even out the financial help the revs gave the fire... which originally included nowak, and now it doesn't imo (and taking off the fire scarf for a moment)... i think it's the right time for nowak to retire... he had some injuries last year, he's a bit slower, nearing 40 and will be much more injury prone (again, last year)... then (scarf back on) you consider that it would be a new team... nowak's retirement is perfect in that he will only have played for the fire in mls, he's going to stay in the area, continue working with the Fire Works For Kids charity (would have done that if he were a rev), but now he will also be able to help out... be it with the fire academy or stopping by and giving some pointers or whatever to the current fire... be it being able to make a special last minute appearance for the charity the revs are compensated for their part in the trade, the fire are still within the cap... everyone gets their cookies, but the fire get some icing with nowak going before it's too late
Well we retired '41' for Klopas, but that was a special case. They will. Not till we get back to SF, probably this fall. Ass.
Since you don't have any positive memories that are not related to Brats unless you were one of the lucky 1,000 at the Open Cup final this year.