VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3MARCH 2010

DEEP FROM THE HEART

Notes from the Chairwoman

Well, it sure isn’t any fun to write thisafter last week’s results, but I always tryand look on the bright side. This is ourblip, a huge ugly blip and best to get itover and done with. I would rather havea really horrible time for one or twomatches than a big one that goes overfour or six. So I am going to staypositive, put the blip behind me andbring it on!

There is so much going on, we are stillﬁghting on three fronts. At the end of the day, following Chelsea has neverbeen about winning every match; it's justmore fun when we do.

So on to news...

As some, or maybe most of you know,Setanta will be o

the air the ﬁrst of March. But in some markets it is beingreplaced with the new FSC Plus orwhatever they are calling it. So the goodnews is that there is another HD channelto watch our beloved Chelsea on. Thebad news is that FSC basically has amonopoly for the balance of the season.The worst news, ChelseaTV is o

the airin America for the time being. So withthat I have made a number of pleading,crying and non-stop demands from theClub as to what they are going to do. Ican’t tell you that they have a solutionworked out. But I can tell you they areinvestigating a new partner in Americafor ChelseaTV and will keep me, andconsequently you, informed as itprogresses. They know how much welove our ChelseaTV and are looking tobring it back to us. Maybe in the end itwill be a partner that actually listens tous more and gives us moreprogramming. I can also tell you that aredoing a major upgrade to the onlinesubscription service for ChelseaTV in thelate spring/early summer, and I think itcould involve more on-demand options.At least they know that is my major beef,and they sound like they hear all of us.And I did hear that you can go month tomonth with ChelseaPlus for just 3.99pounds, which seems like a bargain tome, and that allows you to have accessto the archive, to the live broadcasts andto live radio Chelsea on all ﬁrst teammatches. At that price, it might be wortha test for a month if you have thoughtabout it and wondered if it is worth it.

Speaking of radio - now streaming liveas a video webcast - congratulations tothe OC Hooligans for the immenseturnout they had for the recent Arsenalmatch that Steven Cohen covered forWorld Football Daily. I got a copy of thevideo and I must say, I was SOIMPRESSED! Everyone at the Olde Shiplooked like they rocked that place. Thenumbers were huge, and the supportwas monumental. I have to tell you, Idon’t think they could ﬁnd a betterbunch of supporters, a more vocal andspirited bunch anyplace else outside of Nevada Smith's. Though I am headingdown to Cuatro’s for the last match of the season to do a little comparison. Butmy real point is, it blew Steven Cohenaway, and you guys all blew me away aswell. GOOD ON YOU GUYS! If you haven’tseen the video, go look for it; it is EPIC!

We also have the Dallas Cup less than amonth away. I have been talking to theorganizers of the event, and they arethrilled to have us back along with ourU19 team. They really are hoping wecome out strong, and they are hopingwe bring the celery as well! (Theyseemed to really miss us last year.) Theyare also trying to help us have somespecial access to the team. So if youwant more information, go to themembers section of the board, followthe directions and you will be in the

•Notes from theChairwoman•The PacificCoast Blueson Film•Left FieldBook Review•5 QuestionsFor....

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Congratulations to Petr Cech, whowas voted Czech Republic Footballerof the Year for 2009!The 27-year-old goalkeeperpreviously won the award in 2005 and2008 and ﬁnished ahead of Galatasaray forward Milan Baros andBordeaux midﬁelder Jaroslav Plasil inthis year's election.

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!

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know about what is happening; it isquite exciting. And I have to tell you, myhat goes o

to the organizers from theDallas Cup; they went out of their way tobring our boys to North Texas. They aresponsored by Nike now, so as we are anAdidas club, the money to fundChelsea’s team to come is coming out of the proceeds from the ticket sales andsome other sponsorship and fundraisingthey have done. So my hats o

to them,and I hope we get a huge crew downthere to support our team as well as theDallas Cup. I have to tell you thecompetition is going to be tough - theUS is bringing their U19 squad in itsbeginning prep for the U19 World Cup,and I think they said Chile and Japan aredoing the same. Some of the otherteams (there are 16) are going to betough, too. Our work is cut out for us,and our little boys will really need usthere to sing them to victory. So pleasecheck out the thread in the memberssection and let me know you are comingso we can make this a great event for usand for our team.

The spring tour is decided, and it will befor the Stoke match. If you haven’tbought your ticket and are looking toattend, DON’T DELAY! Time is runningout. If you have any questions, just emailme at beth.wild@chelseainamerica.com.It should be loads of fun!

!!!!!!!!!

We still have no further info on thesummer tour. But it is still goingforward; there is lots of speculation, butuntil we hear the dates, venue, etc fromthe club, all I know is it is on. It will beon the east coast and it will be after theWorld Cup. So start saving thosepennies.

We also have joined the US Megastore ina partnership to advertise them and helpthem in exchange for them helping uswith some funding for technology andthings like that we need. The Megastorehas ﬁnalized the agreement with Chelseaand will be able to produce “exclusivefor America” items that will startshowing up on their website later in thespring and the summer. And the list of things they are working on is fantastic! ICAN’T WAIT! As they said when theystarted, when it got to a certain level of sales they would be able to do things,and they are making good on thatpromise. Their business is growing andwith that comes the opportunity forthem to do more things from our wishlist. It will never be the UK Megastore,but they are trying, and I hope you allunderstand that your support of themallows them to do more things from thewish list we gave them. Shortly I will beable to announce a CIA/US Megastoremember exclusive of some items withboth our name and the Chelsea crest onit! We cannot do apparel as it is aviolation of our club charter withChelsea and also a serious legal no-no,and we have in the past been able toorder a couple of things from the UK at ahuge expense in shipping and a lot of headache for me, so this should make itso much easier. They have been workingfor over a year with Chelsea to make thishappen for us, so look out for speciﬁcnews in a few short weeks.

We also want to thank the US Megastorefor the support they give to our Twittercontests. Last month there was a triviacontest through the month for a signedﬁrst team photo, a more than $50 value,available only if you are following on uson Twitter. And believe me I think Iheard the “OH YEAH!” from Jeremy inKansas when the winner was announced.I know he was thrilled and very thankfulto the Megastore.

Don’t forget there are loads of thingsyou get for your membership and loadsof things we are doing. If you aren’ttaking advantage of them, we can’tmake you, but you are losing out. Wehave:- The bulletin board, the best andfastest way to stay in touch with allthings Chelsea, and a great way to meetother members- The Twitter (CFCinAmerica), a greatand fun way to stay in touch and thequizzes and games are really fun andwonderful- The many pages on Facebook we have;so many groups have Facebook pages,so check that out- The Podcast, if you don’t listen you aremissing out (we are actually quite highlyrated as an amateur sports program) andby all means if you ﬁnd yourself withnothing else to do on a Monday night,CALL IN!We have folks involved in the newsletter,

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On Sunday, Feb 7th, while the rest of thecountry was gearing up for the SuperBowl, I was getting ready for a matchthat was much bigger in my book.

Don’tget me wrong, I grew up watching avariety of sports, and do have a healthyappreciation for the American variety of football. (Super Bowl Sunday ispractically a national holiday after all.)

But I was deﬁnitely more excited to seeChelsea take on Arsenal in a classicLondon derby.

It was a big match tobegin with, but there were a couplemore factors that contributed to myexcitement.First of all, I have a young cousin who’san Arsenal fan.

Now, he’s probablyreally more of a Seattle Sounders fan,but lately he’s been doing quite a bit of smack-talking, so I was really hoping toput him in his place. Second, we gotword that World Football Daily would bedown at The Olde Ship in Santa Anawhere a lot of us So Cal folks go towatch matches. They would be there tovideotape and interview folks andwhatnot. Now let me say that I’ve neverlistened to WFD or its predecessor,World Soccer Daily, so I really don’t havean opinion regarding its morecontroversial ﬁgure, Steven Cohen.

So itwasn’t really WFD that had me excited.

My excitement was more for theopportunity to show people who supportthose other clubs what true support islike (and boy did we show ‘em!), and tolet more Chelsea fans know aboutChelsea in America.

When I arrived at about 7:30am, therewere already at least 30 people there,and about that many more would arrivebefore kicko

The sing-song hadalready begun, and as I found a placenear some of our regulars, I noticed thatthere were indeed several new facespresent.

There were a couple of themnear me, so we introduced ourselves toMartin, who wore a Chelsea shirt, andSam, who wasn’t wearing a Chelseashirt, but was at least wearing blue.

Just before the match started, we lookedup to see all the signs in support of JT,and sure enough, we saw the KentBlues!

I always consider that a goodomen. Once the match got under way,the singing intensiﬁed.

I have to saythat I don’t think we had a full minutebetween songs the entire match, exceptfor halftime.

I don’t recall how soon thecelery started flying, but I do know that Igot my first beer shower (or maybe justa splash) after Drogba headed in thatfirst goal.

We were seriously goingmental!

Just after that, Sam leaned over to meand admitted he was actually an Arsenalfan, but he had a huge grin on his faceanyway. He simply could not get overthe atmosphere at the Ship.

He said hewas originally from North London, andthat he thought it was just like being in aLondon pub on match day.

(I haven’t yethad the privilege of being in a Londonpub on match day, so I’ll have to takehis word for it. The thought sincecrossed my mind that maybe it’s been awhile since he’s been back there, but I’lltake the compliment anyway!) I could tellhe was having a great time, and evencould not help but laugh as we sang toFabregas, “How wide do you want thegoal?” I did have to be honest with him(and you all) that we aren’t quite so loudand boisterous every match.

But it wasnormal for a big match, and not simplybecause the guys from World FootballDaily were there.Speaking of WFD, they were prettyimpressed with our support as well.They also joined in the fun, with Cohenlaughing in the midst of being pelted bya bit of celery.

(I swear I didn’t hit himon purpose!)

They even went so far asto claim that we were the bestsupporters club in the country.

Now, Inormally take those kinds of superlativeswith a grain of salt. (He hasn’t seenevery supporters club in America, sohow can he compare?)

But I tend tothink he’s right.

Chelsea in America ISthe best supporters club in the country!Well, you all know how the match ended,so I suppose I don’t need to describeLampard’s great run to set up anotherDrogba goal.

After another beer shower(and that one was indeed a shower), andseveral more songs, both traditional (youname it, we sang it) and original (you’llhave to ask Danny “Blue Celery” aboutsome of those), Chelsea went on to winthe match. The folks at the Ship weregreat, not even minding having to mopup all the spilled beer and ﬂattenedcelery.

(One employee even got in onthe fun by tossing coasters into thefray.)

I must have hung around for atleast an hour after the match to revel inthe excitement.

Like many other Americans, I laterattended a Super Bowl party with friends,but I couldn’t help sitting there thinking,“It’s as quiet as the Emirates in here!”P.S. In case you’re wondering, my cousinhas indeed been put in his place!

THE PACIFIC COAST BLUES GET A VISIT FROMWORLD FOOTBALL DAILY

by Julie Carlson, photos by Sarah Drake

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