Looking back on season, Fire had its ups and downs
If you're the type of fan for whom nothing but a championship will do, then the Fire's 2009 season was a failure.
For those who prefer to look a little deeper, the season wasn't so bad, though still something of a disappointment.
The players tend to fall into the second group, but then they tend to look even deeper than the most ardent fan.
"First and foremost, we went through a lot, both on the field and off the field, that people in the general public don't know anything about and they shouldn't know anything about," goalkeeper Jon Busch said. "It's our laundry and our locker room. But saying that, I'm extremely proud of this group for sticking together through that adversity because I think any other team in this league would have crumbled."
The Fire spent much of the season in second place in the Eastern Conference, falling short of its goal to win the Supporters' Shield. It also fell short of a SuperLiga championship and a spot in this weekend's MLS Cup, but only because it lost on penalty kicks both times.
Are you willing to cut the Fire a little slack for being unlucky in PKs?
Are you willing to cut the Fire a little slack for dealing with a lot of injuries in key spots, as well as the off-field trouble, some of which became public and distracting, both of which combined to force the Fire to find a whole new back line?
Then there's the stuff that the players have managed to keep in the locker room. They only talk about that in generalities.
"As a whole we'd say we had a successful year, making it to the conference final and SuperLiga final, and of course we would've rather won a couple of cups," said retiring defender Brandon Prideaux. "But we went through a lot. A lot of different players stepped up and tons of injuries.
"It was a difficult year, and as a group I thought we overcame a lot of difficulties and did well. You get a couple of days and sort of reflect on things and yeah, we're still disappointed about the conference final, but there's a lot to be proud of as well."
You look at this roster - Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Brian McBride, Wilman Conde (who was named to the league's Best XI this week), Bakary Soumare, Chris Rolfe, Gonzalo Segares, John Thorrington, to name a few - and you wonder how this team could lose.
"Obviously, expectations were high for this group," Busch agreed.
You look at the team's injury report, which included all of those players at some point but the departed Soumare, and you wonder how the team could win.
You think back to the very public divorce with Soumare, that resulted in his August transfer to Boulogne, and wonder how chaotic that time must have been behind closed doors. There must have been some interesting team meetings.
"Well, we've had several meetings," Prideaux said with a laugh. "Probably too many. I'm not going to miss all those."
McBride earned MLS player of the month honors for April, ending May with 6 goals scored. He finished the season with 7 goals.
"It wasn't a bad season, just not exactly what we had hoped," he said. "... Part of being a forward is plugging away and making sure that you're not dwelling on it too much.
"For one reason or another it didn't happen for us or for me. I just have to refocus, come back and hopefully score goals."
We saw some new faces wearing red and doing well. We learned Peter Lowry can play; that rookie Baggio Husidic has a future; that other teams gave up on Tim Ward too soon; that with a little more consistency Patrick Nyarko can be a force in this league; that Marco Pappa doesn't play much defense, but he has some magic in his left foot; that Mike Banner is fast and versatile.
"All of them have grown up as professionals now, and they realize what it takes to be a pro, both on and off the field," Busch said.
Next week: Looking at what should be a busy off-season for the Fire.