When it comes to Chicago sports, the rankings go like this: Cubs/Bears, Bulls, and then Blackhawks. At one point, during the MJ days, the Bulls were challenged by nobody. At one point, during the Blackhawks dynasty, they certainly had their firm seat at the table. However, in general, the Chicago Blackhawks are the runt of the litter on the Mount Rushmore of Chicago sports… at least for me.
Where do we start. Well, we start at the beginning, of my life, and for most of my life, the fact that I was unable to watch the Blackhawks on TV. “Buy Sports Channel then cheap ass”… we didn’t; it wasn’t even a serious consideration. We didn’t even have basic cable. We watched what was on free TV and that was it. Luckily for us, all Bears games were on the major networks, while the Cubs and Bulls resided on WGN. Not being able to see the Hawks play really put my fandom behind the 8 ball; we’ve been over this. Finally, just before the Cup run, they were back on TV for all to see; I was all in! Just as I started watching (and remember) basketball around the time MJ was drafted, being able to watch the Hawks on TV as they started getting good again, was really nice timing. Being able to watch those games as they made their way back to the top of the NHL, winning 3 Cups in 6 years, kind of made up for all those lost years in my mind; it’s amazing what a championship can do… the 2016 Cubs washed away lots of pain. After the Blackhawks started declining, my viewership did too. I don’t consider myself a bandwagon fan at all; I still love to watch them, regardless of how bad they are, it’s just that… there are other priorities; first and foremost, the Bulls. In my household, my wife and son are much more into basketball, and the fact that I can sit at home and watch sports, regardless of what it is, especially since it’s one of my teams anyways, I’m not going to complain. Of course, this year, with the whole switch to “the Chicago first” network, and elimination of programming from my cable package, it took another hit; this time it was brief. This time I bit the bullet, bought the antennas, and am able to watch both the Bulls and Hawks again. Thing is… I haven’t really watched much of the Blackhawks still… until this weekend.
Friday night against the Predators, I sat down, and watched the entire game; it was a blast. Sure, I picked a good game to watch for one. For two, I had money on the Hawks. After the whole “pond hockey” comments by the TNT crew, putting an unfair microscope to our young star, I figured they’d come out inspired; they did. Nashville sucks too, so… and plus, they beat us in the first two matchups; it worked out well. The Hawks looked great; the tide is turning!!! Saturday night there was much more competition, so I only watched a bit here and there, but did get to tune into the entire, painful, shootout. You’re going to tell me all those guys couldn’t get the game clinching (and bet winning) goal for us/me?!?! Tough one, but a competitive one at that. The Blues are a better team and we were on the road. You have to think at some point, it will start to click for the boys. Already having another top draft pick lined up this year, maybe it’s wait until next year? Playoffs are out of the picture, but certainly can get some good mojo going, no?
Hopefully I’ll get to tune in a bit more as the year progresses, but until then… there was another game happening this Sunday. How’d that go?
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