Fire Sale!

Author: Trey Feagles
Date: September 4, 1990

If Week 1 was the indication of anything, it would be that nobody is safe in this league, especially if you’re in the range of the trading frenzy made popular by such teams as Louisville, Chicago, and St. Louis, who all seem to be making one blockbuster trade after the other. Some players in the league have quickly conditioned themselves to be moved around much to the dismay of friends and relatives, who protest for a little bit of sanity to be added to the madness that is the ‘trading impulse’.

ILB Dave Finneran, who one can argue had the best defensive showing for the Louisville Colonels, was shipped away to the Windy City along with DT Alton “Killer” Kooistra and FS Daryl Taylor in a mega-trade that should make both GMs very happy. The Chicago Fire in return, traded away FS Jason Davis who in Week 1, registered 9 tackles in the backfield along with a great developmental prospect in ILB Dick Edwards and DT “Studly” Steve Studwell.

And if that wasn’t enough, late this evening it was announced that Chicago was involved with an even bigger trade with Philadelphia involving two star running backs, two star receivers, a star offensive lineman, two D-Line starters, and a 1st, 2nd, and 4th Pick in next year’s draft.

Looks like the nameplates in the Chicago locker room should be written on masking tape, or they could seriously go into debt. And I’m not even joking about this.

Okay, maybe I am. But only just a little.

In other crazy Chicago news, as predicted by many insiders in the league, Head Coach and General Manager Jerrell Sanchez was fired by Owner Bill French via telephone. Why telephone? Because at the very moment Sanchez received the call from French, he was spotted in the Seattle skybox, negotiating with Tritons Owner Louis Phillips a deal that would make him their new Special Teams Coordinator.

Literally a few minutes later, and he was a Triton.

This brings up an interesting hypothetical dilemma. If French hadn’t decided to give Sanchez the pink slip, what was he doing in Triton-town? And what would become of the Tritons contract?

Chicago fans were outraged, and French had this to say about what transpired. “I don’t usually like to say this to an ex-employee especially on such a public level, but good riddance. He was a bad influence on our players, and the rest of the coaching staff. I will take over the GM position in the meantime, and we hope to hire a head coach shortly.”

So what’s the definition of a bad influence to the team? Try $9M in dead salary money.