Cuauhtemoc Blanco likes watching old Bulls games, he has been to U.S. Cellular Field for a White Sox game and he fell so hard for Wrigley Field that he has decided to be a Cubs fan.
As for football — well, the other football — Blanco admits he never has heard of Mike Ditka and says he never has seen a game in person. But that’s on the Mexican striker’s to-do list.
Clearly, the Fire’s newest star is eager and ready to embrace the Chicago sports landscape.
But will a city rich in sports tradition embrace him?
The scene has been well-documented by now.
The Fire puts out less than 24 hours notice in April that it will have a pep rally at Toyota Park for its newest signee, Blanco. The Fire expects about 1,000 fans. It gets more than 5,000.
Evidently, the general public took notice. It may not know how to pronounce Cuauhtemoc (quaw-TEH-mok) — but he got its attention. And at $2.7 million annually for three seasons, Blanco was brought in to put the Fire on the local map.
Now in its 10th season, the Fire is still largely an unknown commodity and its 1998 MLS Cup title is but a blip on the Chicago area’s sports landscape.
Blanco could give the Fire a greater identity in the area if he attracts the Latino market that traditionally has passed on professional soccer here. The Fire is averaging 14,055 fans per home game this season — ninth of Major League Soccer’s 13 teams. He needs to bring in this demographic group — and give it a reason to stay.
For now, Blanco’s Fire teammates are counting on him to help the team out of last place in MLS’ Eastern Conference. Normally a contender, the Fire is 4-8-4 and has only one victory in its last 12 games.
The Fire is asking a lot of a 34-year-old striker nearing the end of his career, but one wouldn’t know it by talking to Blanco.
“I’m not nervous,” he said over the phone from his home in Mexico City four days before coming to Chicago. “It’s going to be fun.”
When asked to name the last time he was nervous, he responded, “Never … never.”
He left Club America, the team he grew up supporting, for the Fire, a team he hadn’t heard of until negotiations before his April signing.
For someone known for being controversial, someone who once said a coach didn’t include him on Mexico’s roster because “he didn’t have big enough trousers to select me,” Blanco is trying to say all the right things as he talks about how he is going to give his all for the Fire.
But the soft-spoken man on the phone is a far cry from the aggressive, temperamental, showboat seen on the field.
The bad guy
Outside of Estadio Azteca, home of Club America, fans can purchase Blanco-inspired T-shirts that say “Odiame Mas” (Hate me more). Blanco thrives off the sound of jeers.
Blanco celebrated one goal in 1999 by getting down on all fours and pretending to urinate on the inside of the goal. That same year he followed up a goal by lying down in front of the opposing coach, Ricardo La Volpe, the “trousers” coach.
His temper also has contributed to his status as a villain. He once crept up on and sucker-punched a TV Azteca reporter who had criticized him in 2003. He elbowed an opponent in the 2004 Copa Libertadores tournament, which led to a brawl.
Blanco’s elbow got him in trouble again June 10 in the Gold Cup tournament when he hit a Honduran player who was blowing kisses in his ear.
“Yeah, I made an error,” Blanco has said of the elbow, showing brief emotion. “It happened. I’ve moved on.”
Blanco says he knows he will be a target for opponents and their fans hoping to frustrate the Mexican star.
“It’s hard for me to be a fan [of his],” said ESPN soccer analyst Eric Wynalda, who played against Blanco when he was a forward with the U.S. national team. “We never got along. I think he enjoys getting under people’s skin.
“But when you look at the big picture, the league needs heroes and villains.”
‘The people’s player’
With Mexico down 2-1 to the United States late in the Gold Cup final June 24, Blanco received a hero’s welcome when he entered the match in the 78th minute. Upon seeing him step on the field, most of the 60,000 fans at Soldier Field chanted “Si, se puede” (Yes, we can).
After La Volpe left Blanco off of Mexico’s 2006 World Cup roster, more than 100 fans protested in front of Mexican soccer federation headquarters.
They fought for Blanco because Blanco had fought for them.
When Mexico was at risk of missing the 2002 World Cup, Blanco returned from a serious knee injury and carried El Tricolor on his back in the qualifying round. The Mexican striker scored two-second half goals in his first game back to lift Mexico to a 2-1 victory against Jamaica.
“[His fans] identify him as the people’s player,” soccer commentator Andres Cantor said. “He’s feisty in character and his temper makes him a leader. He fights until the end. Everyday folk identify with his struggle to survive.”
Blanco grew up in Mexico City and signed with his hometown team, America, at 17. Although he also played for Mexican clubs Necaxa and Veracruz, and even Spain’s Valladolid for two seasons, he returned to his beloved America after each stint.
As a sign of gratitude, America recently retired his coveted No. 10 jersey, the number Pele and Maradona made famous. Blanco nearly walked away from America with the perfect Hollywood ending, but he and his teammates came up a goal short against Pachuca in the Mexican league final May 27.
Blanco, however, did give his fans and teammates one last memory.
With his team down a goal on aggregate, Blanco delivered a masterpiece free kick that sailed over the wall of players in front of him and curved into the net.
Blanco is an entertainer. After scoring a goal, he traditionally gets on one knee and poses like the Aztec emperor for whom he is named.
In his time with Veracruz — which is nicknamed the Tiburones Rojos (Red Sharks) — he celebrated goals by putting his hand on his head to look like a fin.
Fire fans aren’t used to trademark goal celebrations from their team, so Blanco will add a little personality to the Fire’s games and locker room.
“I hope he brings a lot more life to this team,” Fire captain Chris Armas said. “Maybe he’s the personality we need.”
Chicago’s large Mexican population should help ease Blanco’s transition. He says it’s one of the biggest reasons he chose to join the Fire.
And with the recent hiring of Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio as head coach, Blanco is really in no rush to learn English — although he wants to do so.
Past mistakes
Blanco is one of a handful of Mexican stars to join the league since its inception in 1996, including Jorge Campos, Carlos Hermosillo and Luis Hernandez.
Like Blanco, Hernandez was a colorful personality who was given a hefty contract to attract Mexican fans, and the Los Angeles Galaxy drew a crowd of more than 40,000 to the Rose Bowl for his MLS debut in 2000.
But the Galaxy’s home attendance topped 20,000 only three more times the rest of the season.
Hernandez scored 17 goals in 40 MLS games and returned to Mexico in 2002.
Will Blanco succeed where Hernandez failed?
“Teams are more established now and the connection with the Hispanic market is deeper,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said. “Now is the right time.
“What’s great about [Blanco] is that any time he has the ball, you feel something special could happen. Few guys in MLS can provide that feeling.”
Obviously, expectations are high for Blanco, who will make his debut against Scotland’s Celtic FC on Sunday at Toyota Park.
The fans are counting on him, the Fire is counting on him and the league is counting on him.
Good thing he never gets nervous.
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larroyave@tribune.com
