A Buzz in Chi-Town

by nufan91 on Oct 13, 2008 2:54 PM CDT

Greetings everyone:

I’m Scott and I’m from the NW suburbs of Chicago. I’ve never blogged before and I’m not sure how dedicated I will be, but I was thinking to myself that if I were to be a “Blogger”, that I would be a sports blogger.

There’s a buzz going on in Chicago, no it’s not about the Cubs (don’t want to go down that PAINFUL road), nor is it about the White Sox. There’s something going on with the Bears, not exactly a “buzz” though.

The buzz is the apparent reemergence of a “young”, “talented” and respectful professional NHL team, the Chicago Black Hawks. With the intensity, success level that the team experienced the later portion of last season, just missing out in advancing into the playoffs. Plus, with ALL of the Marketing efforts achieved by the Black Hawks during the off season, season ticket orders up over 300%, all Black Hawks games televised and aired on WGN Radio 720AM just to mention a few of the many achievements.

Tonight is the Home Opener against Nashville. With a crowd of 18,000+ in attendance expected, the tame environment of the UC that has typically prevailed over the last decade or so is giving way to the similar ROAR that once was heard only in the Old Barn on Madison, the old Chicago Stadium. That frankly is something that I thought would never occur.

I’m not saying that the Black Hawks will win the Cup or anything like that now, but oh how sweet it would be. The priority as I see it for the Black Hawks is to:

1) STAY Relatively Healthy

2) Earn and Maintain the RESPECT of the fans and of the opponents

3) Skate for a full 60 minutes and that will lead to wins

4) Don’t slide or back into the playoffs, BUT to BREAK DOWN the DOOR going FULL Throttle

Let the FUN at the UC BEGIN!!!

Thank you for reading,

Scott

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ok well

thanks for the overview, but i saw a team skate 65 minutes last night and then some more in a shootout and lose because of some bad goaltending. just skating didnt lead to a win. I know your a new fan to the hawks (well at least to this years team) and I appreciate that. So don’t get offended, but i have a couple of keys of my own for this season and priorities the Blackhawks (it’s one word, they officially changed it the summer of ’86 based on the spelling in the original franchise documents) should have.

1. – They’ll earn my respect when they start a winning streak and they don’t need to earn the respect of any other team, just win.

2. – NO TURNOVERS IN THE NEUTRAL ZONE!!! We’ve already seen too many of these that lead to stupid goals, refer to Patrick Kane’s un-needed pass to Seabrook that led to a break away goal last night

3. – Willingness to dig in the corners on both sides of the ice. Hit somebody damnit!!!!

4. – Do not expect the playoffs, this goes for the fans too. I’ve watched many bad games and teams the past ten years in the UC and there is no reason for us to just expect a playoff spot. Yes this a young talented team, but they are young and small. So this season could very well go not as planned.

This might have sounded a little harsh, but there is a reality here that not many fans are considering or even realize exists.

"I remember taking a look at him and saying ‘Anyone who perms his hair has got to go’. So we sent him to Fort Worth." - Don Cherry on Don Saleski

by Raj Binder's Labido on Oct 14, 2008 10:50 AM CDT reply actions

Amen

Raj has hit it on the head. Winning will get them all the respect they need. Points two and three are related to the first point. Specifically, not doing those things will not get you wins. And as for point four, I have not seen anything yet out of this team in any facet of the game to indicate they are going to the playoffs. The good news is there is a LONG season yet to go so things can be fixed. The bad news is a slow start will dig them a hole in a what has been a very competitive conference the last few years.

by Glenn Hall's Vomit Towel on Oct 14, 2008 1:33 PM CDT up reply actions