VOLUME 1, ISSUE 7NOV 2009

It’s a secret few people share. A clubwith very few members. It’s most timesbeing the only guy cheering Chelsea atthe pub, vastly outnumbered by thosebandwagon-jumping muppets known‘round the world as Man U supporters(there’s always one or two lurking in theshadows, it seems).It’s a knowing nod and a smile to therare stranger on the street in a Bluesshirt. It’s pride. Joy. Excitement. Walkingon air after a win. Week-long bouts of depression when we lose. Wearing a jersey to work every day leading up tobig games—and having said jerseyoccasionally mistaken for a NASCARshirt (“Who in the hell is Lampard andwhy’s he got Dale Jr’s number?!”)

It’s waking up at 7:45 in the morning towatch the match in a postage-stamp-sized window on my computer. InTurkish. That cuts in and out every ﬁveseconds. But still being able to tell who’swho on the pitch because of how theyrun and move.It’s having the opening credits of BlueRevolution on my laptop dock so I canlaunch it anytime I feel the urge, whichis probably way too often consideringI’m usually at work when I use mylaptop.It’s obsessively memorizing the ﬁxturesso I know what days I can watch thematch delayed, what days I can leavework a little early to catch it at the pub,and when I’ll have to take o

altogetherto make sure I don’t miss anything—withall the dates kept on a color-codedcalendar tacked up on the wall at mydesk, just underneath my framedautographed photo of Super Frank(Thanks, Mick!).

It’s having more Chelsea gear thaneveryday clothes, including just aboutevery home and away jersey from thepast six years.It’s going beyond just buying both theMillenniums and the NUAs—it’s makingsure every pair of sneakers I buy areAdidas and have some form of Chelseablue in them so they match all thosedamn shirts and jackets.It’s teaching my kids the Chelsea chantsand songs (with a few choice edits of course). Getting my wife to come alongto a game, and watching her get sosucked into the atmosphere that sheactually sings the “Celery Song.” About ahundred times. With a great big smile onher face.

From Stamford Bridge to Louisville, I’llbe keeping the blue ﬂag ﬂying high,don’t you worry. Now you’ll have toexcuse me, I’m pretty sure there’s aChelsea episode of Classic EnglishLeague Soccer about to start that I’ve just got see again. Cheers!

Thanks to our Kent Blues, Gill and Graeme, and their efforts to display the CIA flag at each and every Chelsea match, our flag was prominently displayed for the world to see at the Reebok stadium! (screencap thanks to Burgerbitz)

What It Means to Be Chelsea in America…

in Louisville, Kentucky

by Josh Hampton

aka Wordnerd1975

•What it Means toBe Chelsea inAmerica•Deep from theHeart•Tales from theColumbus Meet-up•CIA Investigates:Malouda•November Dates to Remember•5 Questions For...•Tel's Season inQuestion

Okay boys and girls, can you believe this- four matches, 17 goals! And if thatwasn’t sweet enough, none against us!Now, don’t get delirious just yet, it is along season, but... sorry, I just had to jump up and down in absolute glee! TOPOF THE LEAGUE, WE ARE HAVING ALAUGH!Okay, I am sitting down again. It is still along season, and we have a lot of toughmatches ahead of us in fourcompetitions. We all have to keep thefaith, and just like our boys we can’t getlazy and not support at the same fullforce that we want them to play at!

Today was also twice as sweet as ourlovely Gill and Graeme hung their ﬂag -the one we all signed on tour - at thematch away at Bolton, and there it was,full screen for nearly forever on all of our television screens! That wasamazing, and from the state of my textson my phone it was as exciting for youall as it was for me. That was really,really exciting. There you go everyone, itis o

cial that we are known. Let theworld be warned, Chelsea in America is agrowing Blue Army! We are loud and weare proud and we are here, there andeverywhere (as is Joey Cole; aren’t we allglad he is back!).

Just a bit of business: don’t forget, if youhave not renewed your CIA membershipor your True Blue membership, theability to renew will end in December. If you forget, you will be out until nextseason. So, if you are still thinking aboutthe spring trip or just becoming a card-carrying member of our beloved Chelseaand our fantastic Chelsea in America,then don’t delay and get on it. Signingup for CIA is easy, just go towww.chelseainamerica.com and click onthe banner on the top of the home page.It will take you to a short form to ﬁll outand then a click to use to PayPal to pay.At only $8, it is a real bargain.To get a True Blue membership, it is justabout as easy. Go to www.chelseafc.comand look for membership, then followthe links to renew or get your ﬁrstmembership. The least expensivepackage is the Ticket only ROW (rest of the world), only 25 pounds! If you havealready done your CIA membership andnow are doing your True Blue, please besure to let us know! We can’t help you if we don’t know, and we can only ordertickets for members whose True Bluemembership is registered with us, whichwe have to report. So if this is the case, just email us atdatabase@chelseainamerica.com andgive us your True Blue number and wewill do the rest. That way when thespring tour comes, we can get you aticket or a ticket for any other match.Also, you can send any changes - if youmove, email changes, etc. - at the samedatabase email, so help us help you.

And don’t forget all the things that yourmembership brings; not just thenewsletter, not just special privileges onthe board, the IM on the board if you areat home alone for games, the podcastevery Monday night at 8:30pm Easterntime, twitter updates from us and fromyour regional club, Facebook pages tocheck, and the competitions, but also,coming to your mailboxes in lateDecember, the ﬁrst O

cial Chelsea inAmerica Summer Tour in Review DVD!Yes, it is your special bonus for being amember. All the information is on ourwebsite, or on the board if you can’t ﬁndit - feel free to ask.

Okay, back to the fun... TOP OF THELEAGUE, WE ARE HAVING A LAUGH! KEEPTHE FAITH!

CAREFREE,

Beth

CONTRIBUTORS:

A big thanks to everyone whohelps make the CIA Bluesletterpossible!Editor: Jamie EdwardsChairwoman: Beth WildLogo and Graphics: Raciel DiazDates to Remember: Tel StevensProofreaders: Dorothy Cooperand Sarah DrakeCIA Crest done in collaborationwith Who Are Ya Designs -www.whoareyadesigns.comWant to contribute or make asuggestion? Send Jamie anemail at newsletter@chelseainamerica.com!

DEEP FROM THE HEART

Notes from the Chairwoman

A few of the fabulous Chelsea Chicks gather in Columbus to see the Blues take on Liverpool... read more about the trip on the next page!

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Last April, seven Midwest Blues madethe trip to Columbus to watch a littleMLS then gather with fellow supportersat Fado Irish Pub the next day forChelsea vs. Arsenal. We had a wonderfultime and met several new blue friends inColumbus. The Midwest Blues cover alarge area and it is very hard to find asuitable place for a get together.Columbus gave us members in the tri-state and province area a chance tosupport our Blues in force. For Beckieand I, our typical Chelsea matchexperience is usually spent at homewatching on FSC or ,even worse, at workstreaming the match on-line. So whenKevin said, “Let’s do a Columbus tripagain,” I was looking forward to sharinga weekend of footie with my blue family.Thanks to the brilliant planning of Kevin,Andy and our Columbus mate Ky, wehad a date, a pub, and two matches towatch! The plan was to gather onSaturday and take the party bus fromFado to the Columbus Crew vs. SeattleSounders match, then back to the pubon Sunday for Chelsea vs. Liverpool.After planning, and a little prodding, wehad fourteen C.I.A. signed up to attend.Beckie and I had a conference to attendin Columbus on Friday and part of Saturday so we checked into the hotelearly Saturday then went to establish abeachhead at the pub and await theothers. We arrived at the pub andordered our ciders just as Ky (Presidentof the Ohio Chelsea Supporters Union)came in. After an exchange of hellos,one of the young Liverpool supporterscame up to Ky and said “Hey you oughtto meet this guy on the other side of thebar. He is Chelsea and came in fromOntario!” I should have known thatBurger would be “first on the beach!”Burger had been there for a couple of hours already, had “quality tested” the Jameson’s, and it seemed to be just fine.After a short chat, I noticed anotherChelsea jersey at the bar and sureenough it was Bob P. from Virginia.Things were starting to get fun andBurger regaled us with the story of theten or twelve ManUre supporters whodecided that they needed to try to kicksomething o

with the one loneSunderland man. Typical.As the beers, ciders, and shots wentdown, we kept running into more Blues.Three young ladies from Indiana hadmade the trip in and were also planningto ride the party bus, more Columbussupporters came in and then the rest of our crew; Andy, Kevin, Eric, Monique andMarie (our Texas guests) arrived. With a“Chelsea here, Chelsea there” we gotinto full voice and turned a few heads atthe pub.The trip to the Crew match was a greattime. We had about 25 people riding inan old school bus with a keg in the back.We also had two guests on the bus. Twoyoung ladies from Seattle had won an allexpenses paid trip to Columbus to watchthe Sounders play the Crew. They werequite excited to be there and made a funaddition to the group. Thanks to ournew mate Carey, a Crew season ticketholder, we learned a few Crew songs andwere ready to cheer the Crew to victory.Unfortunately, that was not in the cardsand the Crew lost 1-0 to the Sounders.Back to the bus and to the keg to cheerus up. As we were waiting to leave, wehad an incident that led to a newnickname for Eric. We were standing infront of the bus having a beer whensomeone ran up purse-snatching styleand ripped the scarf o

the neck of oneof the Sounders girls. Before we knew it,young Eric was after the scumbag ando

like a shot. Even though he did notretrieve the scarf, he did earn thenickname Eric the Sprinter!A short ride later, we were back to thepub for a few more beers, songs andChelsea. Some of the diehards stayed toclose the pub and I am sad to say Imissed the dance routine put on byMonique and one of the Sounders girls!We arrived Sunday to the pub around9:30 a.m. to ﬁnd the place alreadypacked. The best sight was to see ourmate and fellow Midwest Blue, DetroitBob, sitting at the bar! He made the tripdown from Michigan just for the match,having left Detroit at 6:00 a.m. Loyalsupporter!The sta

at Fado treated us wonderfullywith free breakfast and discounts on ourpints. Throughout the morning we hadmore and more Blues streaming in andas Andy wrote, we ended up with around60 Chelsea in the pub. We took up aboutthree quarters of the pub, and Liverpoolhad one-quarter of the pub. We hadBlues from all over the state of Ohio plusfrom Michigan, Indiana, Texas, Virginiaand Ontario.We had been told that the Liverpoolsupporters were much di

erent than theArsenal (who didn’t make a peep inApril) and that they “knew their songsand would give it to us large.” Well,someone must have been taking the pissbecause their support was miserable.We started the sing song about 20minutes before the match with “Whenthe Blues Go Steaming In” and didn’tstop until after the match. Many of thetraditional Chelsea songs and anti-Liverpool songs were sung. Some of myfavorites were “We all agree, Gerrard andTorres are lovers” and, to Gerrard,“You’re supposed to be in jail.”Meanwhile the Scousers stood instunned silence. “Have you heard theScousers sing?” “Scousers, give us asong,” and “Shall we sign a song foryou?” elicited no response from theirsupport. No matter, we had plenty of song and plenty of voice for everyone.We had a bit of a shaky start, but Ithough our back four did very well.Brana and Ashley seemed to be all overthe pitch, and Riccy and JT shored thingsup well. Frankie seemed quiet the entirematch, but Essien made up for it. I wasnot pleased to see Drogba falling downso much, but he made up for it with thebrilliant set up for Anelka. In the end, awonderful victory on the pitch and at thepub!

THE MIDWEST BLUES TAKE OVER COLUMBUS, OHIO

by Rick Finch

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