There's No Suck Like Metro, er, Red Bull Suck

I've been critical of the new Fire front office on many occasions for their handling of business matters since original General Manager Peter Wilt was unceremoniously dumped at the outset of the 2005 season. In particular, I thought the new regime overvalued their product in negotiations -- ultimately leading to a bad deal on naming rights, among other things -- while being tone-deaf to the vagaries of Chicago business.

Leave it to the team formerly known as the MetroStars to slam that into perspective. Ives Galarcep documents just how much of a mess Red Bull has made of the New Jersey franchise since taking it over last year, and anything Guppy and Co. have done seems pale by comparison.

Does that get the Fire off the hook? Of course not. If they do something dumb, I'll call them on it, but between the guys running the business side of Red Bull and the guys running the player side of Real Salt Lake, things certainly aren't looking so bad anymore. Plus, we've got a better slate of TV games this season, which was one of my biggest front office gripes of last year.