Chicago Blackhawks: Enter into another dimension

Rod Serling

You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Twilight Zone.  

 

Picture this, you a die hard Blackhawk’s fan having been removed from society for just one year.  You were in the Peace Corp or went on a mission trip.  Your journey took you to Brazil or Kenya.  You get the picture.  You fly into O’Hare airport on August 1, 2008.  After hours of reacquainting with family and friends, you want to sit back and relax.  You decide to read the Chicago Tribune.  What you didn’t imagine, did.

Headline, “Scotty Bowman has joined the Chicago Blackhawk’s as a senior advisor for hockey operations.“  You pause for a moment, try to refocus your eyes as your brain is trying to comprehend what it just read.  You wonder, is it really Scotty Bowman, the winning-est NHL coach of all time and 11 time Stanley Cup winner, from the Detroit Red Wings?  You murmur why would he want to leave Detroit for Chicago?  And then you read a statement by him that says, “The Hawks with the team they have…” Team?  What team do they have?  Hmm…..

Your brother in-law walks by and you ask him about the Blackhawk’s.  The next hour long conversation was more than you expected.  The enthusiasm in his voive and his body language catches you off guard.  He tells you that the Blackhawk’s made quite a splash in the free agent signing by acquiring Brian Campbell who was the third leading scorer for defensemen last year and was coveted by a lot of teams.  Also, signing with the Blackhawk’s was goaltender Cristobal Huet.  You ask, what happened to Nikolai Khabibulin?  He tells you that “Khabi” is playing like the “Bulin Wall” again.  You begin feeling pretty good about the goaltending this year.  Next he tells you, the “Rookie of the Year” was won by Blackhawk Patrick Kane for the first time since goalie Ed Belfour in 1990-91.  He also edged out fellow line mate Jonathan Toews for the award and in doing so created a buzz in Chicago.  The last thing he talks about is Martin Havlat and what if he could stay healthy.  All this news has created a sensory overload.  You inform your brother in-law you need to rest.

Later that evening you awake and decide to watch some television.  While channel surfing, you stop on WGN-TV.  A commercial for the Chicago Blackhawks airs.  You see that 20 games will be broadcast on WGN-TV for the first time since 1975 and that for the first time in history, all 82 games will be broadcast either by cable or free television in the Chicago area.  And then Blackhawks Chairman W. Rockwell “Rocky” Wirtz says, “Our fans want to be able to follow our team on a consistent basis from opening night through the playoffs.  That’s why we are taking this step forward. Bringing Chicago Blackhawks hockey to our fans on both cable and free television will help us to continue the momentum and enthusiasm we have established this year. The combination of Comcast SportsNet and WGN-TV will give the Blackhawks two vehicles to expose both our young players and our seasoned veterans.”  The organization wants to please the fans after all these years.  The excitement of waiting years to watch a home game on television is overwhelming.  You start to hyper-ventilate.  It takes you awhile and a paper bag to calm down.  After all these years of imagining what if, that day has finally arrived.

 Well that day has finally come for Blackhawk’s fans to be excited again.  No longer do you have to deal with “Dollar Bill” Wirtz or the label given by ESPN in 2004 as the worst franchise in professional sports.  Those days seem to be gone.   Even other hockey players and front office people are excited to join your organization.  Shoot, the NHL is excited for Chicago.  The Winter Classic will be held in Chicago at Wrigley Field.  The team they are playing is Detroit.  “Rocky” Wirtz has asked famed Chicago singer Wayne Messmer to sing the national anthem should he would want to and hopefully for the 2009 Winter Classic.  I am excited for them and I am not a Blackhawk’s fan.  I do not know if they will make the play-offs next year.  What I do know is the Blackhawks are a better team and orgianization then a year ago.  And to think if someone told you a year ago all of this would happen, you would have thought they were from the Twilight Zone.

Scott