Editor’s Note: This is an opinion piece on a fairly touchy subject. It’s more harsh than a good portion of the FC Cincinnati fan base likely feels. But The Pride is open to everyone, it’s our mission, and we want everyone’s voice to be able to contribute to the FCC fan space. So if you are a member of The Pride and disagree, great! We invite you to write your opinion. If you have an opinion on something else, please reach out and we can give you a platform to talk about it. Hopefully this is the start of a new dialogue between fans

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Opinion: Drinking, Driving, and Adi

Kevin Wallace

Fenando Adi, what have you done man?102 miles per hour with a .124 BAC is not a smart move.It’s not even a dumb move, it’s a stupid move.And to top it off, this comes right after the team held a moment of silence for a family who tragically lost their lives to a drunk driver on their way home from watching the previous match. If you were looking to become a villain, this was a great start.

So I guess the question now is, how do we act as fans? Do we ask the team to cut him? Do we let the league’s substance abuse policy take its course and be thankful nobody was hurt? I’m landing more in the middle.

A huge reason why I have fallen in love with FC Cincinnati is that it is a positive representation of my city. It’s an international billboard for the amazing things going on in my hometown, and paints a city that is at best forgotten and at worst mocked, in an exceedingly positive light. That’s why when reporters from the BBC or ESPN make their way to our games, I get so excited. Finally, someone is going to write a positive Cincinnati story. While they’re here hopefully they check out our breweries, museums, galleries, and more breweries. FC Cincinnati has been the keystone in a positive “comeback” story for this city.

So when FC Cincinnati’s star player gets arrested doing something criminally stupid, it makes me get defensive. Trade him, cut him, bench him, whatever it is, I don’t want him on the field representing my city. That’s my gut reaction. Why let one person ruin a four year long success story? Not to mention, it’s not as if Adi is burying goal after goal, nor did he in the USL. So The idea of life after Adi seems... fine.

But then I also think, that’s a fairly harsh punishment. Not only on the player, but on the team. FC Cincinnati has a lot of money wrapped up in Adi. And after this, his market value has taken a hit. Trading him to an MLS team right now would be irresponsible given what would becoming back our way. Cutting him would be absurdly irresponsible. Hanging on until the summer window and selling him to another league? Well, that’s seems plausible.

I can probably wrap this up by saying “but Adi deserves a second chance, just like the city of CIncinnati has been given a second chance” and turn this whole thing into an attempt to pacify a fan base who feels offended by what happened. But I don’t think that’s where I’m at with this. Adi has put the the team in a terrible position. And given how much of this team was built around getting him, specifically him, the opportunity to score, I don’t think the team moves on any time soon. But that doesn’t mean I have to like the guy. If people want to boo him the next time he’s on the field for FCC, that’s fine with me. If you celebrate his next few goals a little less, I’ll probably be joining you. But given the dynamics of the MLS salary cap, DPs, and transfer windows, I’m not sure there’s much else we can realistically do.

So, in short, you embarrassed us Adi. You embarrassed the fan base, the front office, your teammates, and everyone else involved. Hopefully you’ve learned your lesson and it doesn’t happen again. And when you inevitably move from Cincinnati, I won’t be sad to see you go.