Little late on this one, but Rocky Wirtz, the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, passed away suddenly a little more than a week ago. He would have been 71 years old later this year.
Few things come to mind, but the first and foremost, is that he brought the Blackhawks back to Chicago, and for that, I couldn’t be more thankful. Forget about the Cups just for a second… the simple fact that everyone was able to watch the Blackhawks on TV again was huge. I was robbed of this during my childhood by his dad, Dollar Bill Wirtz. Sure, could my parents have sprung for Sports Channel to watch them, yeah, but… we didn’t even have cable OK? And that was OK for the most part. The Cubs, Bears, and Bulls were always on TV. The Lead Off Man and 120 start times during the summer on WGN for the Cubs were a staple. Watching the Bulls during the MJ days was must watch TV, again mostly on WGN. The Bears were on CBS back in the day; I believe they had the NFC games. The Blackhawks??? Nowhere to be found; there were ZERO free games. There was no question why I wasn’t as big of a Blackhawks fan as the rest of MY teams. Rocky changed all that, and yeah, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
We were finally able to watch the Blackhawks! This change started to happen during the 2007-2008 season, and then went full blast the following season, which just so happened to be the year the Hawks went to the Western Conference Finals. The following year we raised our 1st Stanley Cup in 49 years, followed by the franchise’s 5th and 6th in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Rocky was in charge for all of this. The Blackhawks became the model franchise under his watch; the city of Chicago embraced the Hawks like never before. THEY were the #1 team in Chicago for a period of time there. They were a dynasty. 3 Cups in 6 years… It was the Golden Era of Chicago Blackhawks hockey.
Of course, nobody, nothing is perfect… The Hawks scandal that came out in recent years from back during the early Cup years was ugly, no doubt. How much did Rocky know about this? I’m guessing not much; I didn’t follow the details of the case that closely. Regardless, he was the owner, so… you have to take accountability for it, just like when things are going well, you get the praise. Still, I dislike the fact that folks want to immediately point that out, when the body is still warm. Sure, is it part of his story? Yes. Is it the main story? No. Is it the only negative thing you can find about him and thus need to balance things out and point out a person’s faults on the day he dies? Probably not the only negative thing, but maybe the biggest, sure; why the need to immediately point that out? I don’t get it.
As I mentioned, nobody is perfect… nobody. This goes for our beloved athletes as well. Folks want to dump on Bobby Hull for his off-the-ice dirt; “take down the statue!” I don’t get it. Was Bobby a scumbag off the ice? He seemed fine to me when I personally met him, but from the things out there, yeah… didn’t seem like a great guy. Is that why there is a statue of him outside the UC? No. The statue is to commemorate his ON the ice performance; for some folks, it’s hard to separate the two… not for me though. Do you think I stopped listening to Michael Jackson or R. Kelly music because of their faults? Take every person in the spotlight, in history, and you can find things about them that are ugly. Even Michael Jordan… although his people did a great job keeping all his womanizing ways under the covers. I guess maybe that’s why our sports heroes shouldn’t be our life heroes… don’t you have parents for that? And guess what? They ain’t perfect either… it’s all good though.
So yeah, let’s start a movement to add every persons’ faults to their headstone when they die; how about that? How about not. Let’s celebrate the good in people. Let’s celebrate the joy that Rocky brought to millions of people when he put the Blackhawks back on TV, when he served as the owner of a franchise that won 3 Cups on his watch. Each one of us will have to deal with the ultimate judge when we leave this earth; Rocky will too. Let him do his job… RIP Rocky.
Leave a Reply