One of the stated goals of Nelson Rodriguez’ stewardship of the Chicago Fire is something that cuts against the grain a bit in the urban midwest - the idea that play should be gentlemanly, that the players should concern themselves with higher questions than mere pragmatism would require. Not only, “If I get there first, I can win the ball,” but also “providing I first make certain of the well-being of everyone in the area beforehand.”
Perhaps we should state, right up front, that that ain’t how we usually do things ‘round here.
So maybe it’s this new emphasis on fairness, even-handedness and absence of grift that informed this evening’s soporific 0-0 capitulation by the Chicago Fire to the impulse of charity.