It Was 8 Years Ago - May It End Tonight

I truly thought it would not take this long. I was sure the pieces were in place for future advancement. It was 1999 when the Dallas Burn, now FC Dallas, last won a playoff series. Many of my Soccer-Point Teammates were there for this series. It is still considered one of the greatest MLS series, the infamous Chicago Fire-Dallas Burn series of 1999. All those who were there say, "aye!"

The series had plenty of drama being that these two teams hated each other already. This series became one of the founding pieces for the Brimstone Cup. In those days, teams had to win two games to advance, so some series played the full three games. The first two games went as follows:


October 16, 1999 @ Cotton Bowl
Dallas Burn 2–1 Chicago Fire
Ariel Graziani 52' John Ball 79'
Mark Santel 75'

October 23, 1999 @ Soldier Field
Chicago Fire 4–0 Dallas Burn
Peter Nowak 18'
Roman Kosecki 36'
Ante Razov 42'
Dema Kovalenko 47'

Game 2 was a crusher for Dallas, but optimism still remained. The Burn were coming home and nobody beats the Big Red Wall at home (or, so we thought). The Game 3 scene started with the Country-Western singer Brian Houser "The Beer Man" singing the national anthem. He is a friend of our family (Isabella is a big fan of his). From that intro, I had a great feeling to the game. Lloyd "the Polish Beer Slinger" was selling in the stands and wanted to talk polkas and about "Weird" Al Yankovich's father. The drums were tight, Inferno was kicking, and so was La Mara Loca. Life was good. But within 5 minutes, that all changed. And, our season was soon to be over. I am not sure which beer was the one that changed our luck that night, but all I remember is that the last one I launched for joy thanks to Graziani brilliant junk. Those two hours would go down as one of the most exciting sporting events ever viewed. Remember these?

• Chad Deering's screaming while on TV as he throws in the ball, "Get in the f***ing box!"
• Jorge "Zarco" Rodriguez
• John Jairo Trellez = "Reggae Boy"

Open a beer and check out the article from 1999 on the following link:

http://web.mlsnet.com/history/archive_game.jsp?year=99&content=1027chidal

Tonight may be a changing of the guard, a new sheriff in Texas. The opportunity is there for FC Dallas to advance. The rains of this year have replenished the reservoirs. Hopefully, our 8 year drought is over too.

The match is on TV somewhere at 7:30 PM CST. Come on Dallas!