History suggests Blanco signing will be ill-conceived

	In Cuauhtémoc Blanco, the Fire will get a talented but controversial player who will command fans' interest. But for how long? AP
	SI.com's 2007 MLS Season Preview LALAS: 11 plots to follow for anticipated season HUNT: Around the league in our MLS Free Kicks FREEDMAN: Predictions for a star-studded year PÉREZ-FERREIRO: Ruíz, Dallas know chemistry BUENO: Why Blanco signing is iffy move for Fire FREEDMAN: Q&A with New York's Claudio Reyna GALLERY: 13 Players to Watch for the '07 season FREEDMAN: Pressure again on Landon Donovan
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A superstar Mexican with diminished yet first-rate skills, beloved for his national team accomplishments. A large city with a burgeoning Mexican population. A league trying desperately to lure Mexican eyes onto its Americanized product.

Everything was in place for Luis Hernández in 2000 when the then-Tricolor icon joined Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy. And everything is in order seven years later as Cuauhtémoc Blanco will sign a deal Tuesday to join MLS' Chicago Fire in July, after the Mexican season is complete.

Here's the bad news: Hernández was an utter flop. He drew attention for exactly one game and was then a non-factor at the gate.

In his Galaxy debut, 40,303 showed up at the Rose Bowl to watch a Galaxy-D.C. United match. But the Galaxy had just three games that season with more than 20,000: a Fourth of July encounter that drew 53,844; a match with Kansas City in August that drew 33,112 that Hernández didn't appear in; and a playoff game with the Wizards that lured 20,849.

Much has changed since then. MLS is entering its 12th year and will grab the world's attention when David Beckham joins the Galaxy this summer. Soccer-specific stadiums cover the league's landscape, which only add to the league's stability.

However, Mexican fans didn't flock to see Hernández in '00 and '01, nor have they fully embraced Chivas USA and its wide array of Mexican heroes, such as Claudio Suárez, Ramón Ramírez and Francisco Palencia. Furthermore, their impact hasn't carried over into Mexico.

In fact, Suárez said recently that while in Monterrey for a ceremony prior to Mexico's friendly against Paraguay, someone commented to him that he looked fit and asked him if he was exercising. In Mexico, MLS may as well be the Croatian First Division.

Recognizable Mexican players haven't helped MLS consistently draw Mexican fans in large numbers on this side of the border, either. Perhaps Mexican-Americans who prefer the Mexican First Division over MLS might follow Blanco's exploits in Chicago. But the born-in-Mexico, Club América-loving, Tri-crazy fan is not about to turn in his azulcrema shirt for a Fire jersey, no matter whose name is on the back.

On the field, Blanco has skills -- even at 34, that part is unquestionable. He was brought back into the Mexican national team as much for his popularity in Mexico as his form with América. Blanco helped the Águilas reach the Copa Libertadores with his play in InterLiga and has the club sitting with the second-most points in the current Clausura '07 season.

But past Mexican players have left MLS and gone on to perform well for club and country. Hernández and Jorge Campos each made the '02 World Cup team after leaving MLS. When Palencia left Chivas de Guadalajara, he hadn't been called into El Tri for a year, but rejoined the national team two months after leaving Chivas USA.

Complicating matters is Blanco's presence among U.S. fans. He's probably the most hated Mexican player in the U.S. Although Oswaldo Sánchez's cheap shot on Eddie Johnson on Feb. 7 has caused his own standing among Americans to plummet, Blanco is easily the lead villain, much more heinous to Americans than Hernández ever was. The image of Blanco standing over Pablo Mastroeni with a clenched fist during the U.S.-Mexico '02 World Cup game is still fresh in Americans' minds.

By landing Blanco, Chicago risks alienating its own fans in a blind attempt to reach the unreachable.