Friday, June 11, 2010

Respect The Blackhawks

First for winning the Stanley Cup, but more importantly for their nearly 48-hour tour-of-the-city/bender. After the Hawks won the cup in Philly they got on a plane and flew back to Chicago where many lesser folk would have headed for home and bed. Instead they immediately went to a bar in the suburbs at about 7:00 AM yesterday morning. They then proceeded to the city where they stopped at The Pony Inn on Belmont, Stanley Cup in tow, at about 8:00. By this time word had spread via the interubes and the Twitter and all that jazz and people started following them around. As far as I can tell, this has not stopped:

"I've been following around the Cup (all night)," said Parry, who said her favorite players are Keith and Brian Campbell because they came back from injuries.

The players took the Cup to Tavern on Rush, Gibsons, Harry Caray's, Market and other hot spots.

Babies were placed in it. Beer was poured into it. Lucky fans got to touch it.

Old Town resident Justin Jancaric, 29, said he was jogging near Tavern On Rush with his dog Elwood Blues when he saw Toews and other players sitting on the patio.


A good chunk of Chicago now has a story like this. It's like a big ESPN commercial.

Today the Hawks have their victory parade after which (by all accounts) they will be heading to the Cubs-White Sox game, again with Stanley Cup in tow. That's pretty cool.

I'm a complete bandwagon Blackhawk fan, but I have to say that they were a really fun team this season, and played a very attractive brand of up-tempo, skill-based hockey but aside from that, they also seem to genuinely like each other and appreciate fans. Can you remember tales of any other championship team basically taking a 36-48 hour tour of the city drinking establishments while being followed by throngs of average, everyday fans?

Nice work, Blackhawks.
at

2 comments:

  1. Mr. SparkleJune 11, 2010 at 11:21 AM

    Everybody is on the bandwagon down here. Hawk gear is everywhere and those guys have been partying non-stop... it's awsome!

    They really do seem like they genuinely appreciate their fans.

    There was an article in the Trib a couple months back about a Father/Daughter project where they sent cards to be signed to Chicago-area athletes in self-addressed and stamped envelopes. Of 53 athletes, they only received 16 back. The Hawks had by far the best response with 8 of 15 players returning the cards... that's 50% of what the little girl got back. Shame on the other Chicago teams for not instilling the importance of fan appreciation in their players.

    http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-04-10/sports/ct-spt-0411-haugh-blackhawks-chicago--20100410_1_autographs-scott-robertson-card

    ReplyDelete
  2. JonJune 11, 2010 at 11:57 AM

    Yea, the same could apply to alot of Cup winning teams. Hockey athletes are so much nicer/better people than athletes of other sports and its not even close. Its really ridiculous how much more awesome they are, another reason why its the best sport. When the Devils won when i was a teenager, standing outside the stadium, several players came out and hi-fived us, Scott Stevens let me touch the Cup as he carried it out, etc etc.

    ReplyDelete