October 12, 2014: Learning To Win

posted in: Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls | 0

There is a lot to learn from the Blackhawks, including the very important lesson of finding ways to win.  This was on full display in their season opener.

For a team that got outplayed for 2 periods, they found a way to get the 2 points, on the road, against a very good team, in their home opener.  This is not something that most teams can do, especially the other teams in our city.  I am not recommending that this is the best way to win either.  Getting outplayed is never good, and will hurt you in the long run, example 1A, last year’s Western Conference Finals.  It’s like the Hawks took the Kings for granted; I know I did.  It’s like they knew they could beat them, and knew they could turn it on when they wanted.  They did, well, sort of.  This is the problem of getting outplayed, and not pressing 100% the entire time.  You back yourself into a corner where everything has to go right for you to come out on top.  You’re in a place where there is no room for mistakes and/or no room for any bounce to go against you.  Well, it almost worked out.

Going into this season, that should be the lesson.  If the Hawks get that, I think we all get what we want: another Cup.  The thing that does carry the Hawks a lot is that regardless of how the stat sheet looks, or how bad we’re getting outplayed, they still find ways to win most of the time.  This is important, especially in an 82 game regular season.  Finding ways to win some games when you’re not ON your game makes the difference between the elite and the very good teams.  This is why we are lucky to have the Hawks right now.  It’s nice to have an elite team to watch night in night out.  It’s nice to have a team that knows how to get that W regardless of the circumstances.  It would be nice to have more teams like that.

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The Bulls are a team that seems to be close to figuring it out.  In fact, it appeared that they HAD it figured out, before the first Derrick Rose injury.  The progression since Rose joined the team, rookie of the year, league MVP, NBA’s best record, Conference Finals was looking great.  The team was poised to take that next step before that fateful game against Philly.  The Bulls and Rose have never been the same since.  It really sucks when an injury dumps your formula down the drain.  It really sucks when it happens twice.  So the progression has been delayed, or at least that’s how I like to look at it.  Now prepared to start the season with a healthy Rose, the deepest team in Bulls history should be hungry, and should be poised to take the next 2 steps: making the NBA finals and winning the NBA finals.  With all the options they have, if this team gels quickly with these new pieces, and finds different ways to win, they could join the Hawks atop the Chicago sports world.

So as we sit back and enjoy the Hawks, let’s hope that this winning formula rubs off on our other teams.  Let’s hope the Bears figure it out before it’s too late.  In a 16 game season, there is a lot less time to figure it out, and a lot less room for error.  We’ve already missed 2 opportunities; we can’t afford many more.  Let’s hope this deep Bulls team gels and has different guys stepping up for them night in night out.  If they figure out how to win together, with the playoff experience that is on this team AND the hunger that has been building for years, they may get back to the biggest stage come June.  As for the Hawks, let’s keep using that winning formula all year long, and let’s not put ourselves in any kind of hole this year, either in the regular season or playoffs.  No matter how good we are, it’s not easy to dig out of a hole.  Let’s push it every game all year long.  Let’s challenge records.  Let’s be the 1995-1996 Bulls.  Let’s put our stamp on NHL history and give Chicago and the world the greatest hockey team ever.

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