Just as Chicago kisses so many pieces of the Stanley Cup champs goodbye, the Chicago Fire have added some serious firepower for the second half of the season in hopes of emulating the success of the Blackhawks and bringing home some silverware. With the addition of two designated players Fredrik "Freddie" Ljungberg and Nerry Castillo, they’ve suddenly become, on paper at least, a contender. Granted, Ljungberg is far, far past his prime and Castillo has had his own issues, but if coach Carlos de los Cobos can conjure a way to fit them in with the Brian Mcbride, Collins John, Baggio Husidic, Marco Pappa, and Patrick Nyarko offensive core we started the season with, the Fire have a real shot. Here’s some background on Ljungberg. We'll have a post on Castillo later today. more ›

An Antioch man - 24-year-old John Thomas - was arrested Wednesday after police raided his home he shares with his father. Police were then looking for drugs but they also found what amounted to a small army's arsenal: "two dozen guns, TNT, a detonator cord, blasting caps and a military-issue AT-4 anti-tank launcher and rocket," according to a Sun-Times report. Cocaine and marijuana were also found. So why was Thomas released to begin with? The S-T explains: more ›