My First Writing Sample

Okay, so for the writing job I applied to this summer I at least made the first cut, and at that point they asked me for a writing sample. The directions were to write why I'm looking forward to this season in 250-500 words. My submission was apparently not good enough to land me the position, but I still thought that I would post it here to be read by anyone who is interested. Future posts will have a lot more to do with the team and be a lot less about me, but I since I already have this written I figured I might as well put it up. I'll also get one up about Thursday night's game soon. Here's my writing sample:

While spring hasn’t quite sprung here in the Midwest, the longest off-season in professional soccer has finally come and gone. As a diehard of the Chicago Fire, it’s safe to say that I could not be more excited that the MLS season is finally here.

MLS brings a passion, an excitement, and an incredible amount of emotion to my life that few other things can. After four months of daydreaming about evenings spent at Toyota Park and goals scored by Chris Rolfe, the wait is over and that excitement is finally back.

It comes with the territory that I live vicariously through the Chicago Fire – the club is a huge part of my life whether MLS is in season or not – and I cannot wait to experience the range of emotions that come standard with the inevitable plot twists of any MLS season.

I’m looking forward to this season, because I’m looking forward to the unimaginable thrill that I experience when the Fire score a goal and my friends and I jump around the living room hugging and pumping our fists as though we had just scored ourselves. I’m looking forward to this season, because I can’t wait for the experience of standing in section 8 for home matches, and of finishing the game completely soaked in beer and with my voice totally gone as if I had just been to a rock concert. I’m looking forward to this season because I still love the feeling that I get when I wake up on the day of an important match as excited as an eight year old on Christmas morning – even though that also means that I usually can’t sleep the night before. I’m looking forward to the season because I can’t wait for the next time that my stomach is in my throat the way it was every time David Beckham swerved a ball into our six yard box when we needed a result against LA on the final day of the season last October.

I’m also excited for the season, because I can’t wait to experience the drama and the ups and downs of another campaign. I can’t wait to learn the answers to the questions that other Fire fans and I have been mulling over in our heads for months. Will Blanco, in his first full season in the league, be the same magician we saw last term, or should we be worried about a Yourie Djorkaef like dive in form? Can Denis Hamlett push the right buttons in his first season as an MLS head coach? Can Rolfe and Mapp stay healthy for an entire season, and can Mapp regain the scintillating form that made him an MLS Best XI selection in 2006? Can our forwards produce up front, and will the team’s lack of depth elsewhere catch up with it? I certainly have opinions on all of these issues, and I cannot wait to see how these questions will be answered.

There’s so much more I could say about the club, and about the euphoria I feel now that the season is finally here, but there’s one thing that has me looking forward to this season above all else: this could be the year we finally win another MLS Cup.